FCC Streamlines Foreign Ownership Rules and Codifies Existing Practices

On January 30, 2026, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) released a Report and Order finalizing amendments to its foreign ownership rules under Section 310(b) of the Communications Act. The FCC largely adopted the proposals set forth in its April 2025 Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM).

The final rules, which apply broadly to FCC foreign ownership reviews under Section 310(b), are intended to codify existing practices, reduce processing delays, and provide greater regulatory certainty to petitioners. The Report and Order addresses several key areas applicable to both common carriers and broadcast licensees, and includes additional clarifications for broadcast licensees.

Background

The FCC reviews foreign investments in broadcast, common carrier, and aeronautical radio stations licensees to ensure compliance with Section 310(b) of the Communications Act. Section 310(b)(4) prohibits foreign entities from holding more than 25% of the equity or voting interests in a US-organized entity that controls a US radio station licensee. Section 310(b)(3) prohibits foreign entities from holding more than 20% of the equity or voting interests in a radio station licensee when the interests are not held through a controlling US-organized entity. The FCC can approve higher levels of foreign ownership if it finds that doing so would serve the public interest. Requests for such foreign ownership in the licensee or its controlling US parent must be made to the FCC through a petition for declaratory ruling (PDR). 

The Commission considers national security, law enforcement, foreign policy, and trade policy issues in its public interest analysis of foreign ownership petitions, and coordinates as needed with relevant Executive Branch agencies.

The FCC has long recognized the important role of foreign investment in US telecommunications networks and broadcast companies for promoting innovation, creating jobs and strengthening the US economy. Although it is increasingly taking measures to protect US communications infrastructure from foreign adversary threats, the action taken in this Report and Order seeks to codify and clarify certain policies and practices regarding the FCC’s review of PDRs and to streamline its approval processes. These rule changes aim to promote efficiency, provide regulatory certainty, and reduce administrative burdens for petitioners filing PDRs, while still allowing the FCC to ensure that foreign investment complies with statutory requirements.

The Report and Order

Remedial Procedures Extended to Privately Held Companies

Prior to the adoption of the new rules, the FCC established remedial safe harbor procedures for licensees that are US public companies (or controlled by US public companies) to avoid enforcement action for inadvertent exceedances of the foreign ownership limits. To be eligible for the safe harbor, such licensees need to notify the FCC no more than 10 days after learning of the noncompliance of the licensee’s intent to file a PDR or to take remedial action to eliminate the excess foreign ownership. In establishing that limited safe harbor, the FCC acknowledged that a public company whose shares are widely held may not always be able to determine the citizenship of direct and indirect owners. Noting that ownership structures for privately held companies have become increasingly complex, the FCC extended the remedial procedures previously available only to US public companies to privately held companies.

The FCC further clarified that a remedial petition must contain all of the information required for an initial PDR, not just the information related to the noncompliant interest(s). A complete PDR is required even when the licensee is subject to an existing Section 310(b) ruling. 

Rules for Common Carrier and Broadcast Licensees

The Report and Order updates the FCC’s rules governing PDRs to codify and clarify certain informational requirements and practices, largely tracking with the proposals in the NPRM. 

• Controlling US Parent definition: The FCC adopted its proposal to define “controlling U.S. parent” as “the first controlling entity organized in the United States that is above the licensee(s) in the vertical chain of control and does not itself hold a license subject to Section 310(b).” Control includes actual working control in whatever manner exercised and is not limited to majority stock ownership.
• Deemed voting interest and advance approval: The FCC’s rules regarding the calculation of voting interests treat limited partners in a limited partnership (LP) and members of a limited liability company (LLC) as holding voting interests that may be greater than their actual interests. When considering requests for approval for future increases of a foreign investor’s interest (referred to as “advanced approval”) in an LP or LLC, the Report and Order clarifies that a deemed voting interest of 50% or more is not considered control in and of itself. Therefore, a foreign investor with a deemed voting interest of 50% or greater, but that does not have de jure or de facto control of the controlling US parent, may request advance approval to increase its interest only up to a non-controlling 49.99% equity and/or voting interest.
• Trust and trustee requirements: The FCC adopted its proposal to require petitioners to identify both trusts and trustees that meet the ownership disclosure thresholds specified in the rules for PDRs. Specifically, if a trust would hold a direct or indirect interest of 10% or more, or a controlling interest, in the controlling US parent, the trust and its trustees must be identified as disclosable interest holders.
• Filing amendments as complete restatements: The FCC codified the practice of filing an amendment to a PDR as a complete restatement, with a cover letter describing the changes. Ministerial changes — such as correcting duplicate entries, updating addresses, or correcting misspellings — may be filed as amendments detailing only the relevant changes, rather than a complete restatement.
• US residency requirements: The Report and Order clarifies that foreign investors are not required to reside within the United States. A foreign investor’s lack of a US residence is not a factor in the FCC’s assessment of whether foreign ownership is in the public interest.

Rules for Broadcast Licensees

Certain rules adopted in the Report and Order apply specifically to broadcast licensees. 

• Processing broadcast applications during remedial petition pendency: In general, when a broadcast licensee is under investigation for a rule violation (such as an exceedance of foreign ownership limits), the Media Bureau places a hold on processing certain types of applications. Although enforcement action generally is not expected when a licensee satisfies the safe harbor established by the remedial PDR rule (discussed above), the foreign investment under review in a pending remedial PDR could warrant heightened scrutiny in the context of certain broadcast license applications. Therefore, the FCC concluded that processing guidelines would offer greater flexibility than rules addressing the variety of circumstances that may arise. The FCC delegated authority to the Media Bureau to establish processing guidelines for broadcast applications filed while a remedial PDR is pending.
• NCE/LPFM foreign ownership assessment: The FCC clarified how it will determine foreign ownership levels for noncommercial educational (NCE) and lower-power FM (LPFM) stations. NCE and LPFM stations are subject to the foreign ownership limitations in Section 310(b), but such stations typically do not have “owners” that hold traditional equity or voting shares, and instead are governed by a board of directors or an unincorporated association. The Commission will consider the composition of the governing board or other governing entity to determine the level of foreign voting percentage. For example, if a board has five members, each member would generally be deemed to hold a 20% voting interest unless bylaws provide otherwise.
• NCE/LPFM filing window processing: The FCC clarified that entities with foreign ownership exceeding the statutory benchmarks may participate in NCE and LPFM filing windows for new construction permits, even if they are not covered by an existing foreign ownership approval, provided they file a Section 310(b)(4) PDR at the same time as their application for a construction permit. 

Next Steps

The rules adopted in the Report and Order will become effective 30 days after publication in the Federal Register. Licensees contemplating a PDR filing or that have PDRs pending review should be prepared to provide information consistent with these new requirements.