FCC Issues EEO Audit Letters to MVPDS

The FCC has issued a BOLO for EEO audit letters, which it says select MVPDs should be receiving anytime now.

The Media Bureau says it mailed the third batch of EEO audit letters Oct. 19 to a random sample of providers, including systems owned by Comcast, Charter, Cable One, Cox and Mediacom.

The FCC annually checks on the EEO compliance of about 5% of all broadcasters and MVPDs. Broadcasters got their letters in February and June.

Reponses must be back to the FCC by Dec. 2.

Operators with fewer than six full-time employees have only to provide the FCC with job titles, the number of work hours for each job, and information relevant to "any pending or resolved complaints involving the unit filed during the past five years before anybody having competent jurisdiction under federal, state, territorial or local law, alleging unlawful discrimination in the employment practices of the unit on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, age, or sex."

For systems with more than six employees, there are a raft of inputs including "all advertisements, bulletins, letters, faxes, e-mails, or other communications" announcing job openings, descriptions of efforts to analyze EEO policies and practices regarding "seniority, promotions, pay, benefits, selection techniques, and tests," and more.

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.