FCC Launches Consumer Complaint Data Center

The FCC has launched a new Consumer Complaint Data Center, which will provide the public greater access to consumer complaints and allows the data to be massaged and reconfigured and used on other websites.

The database will be updated daily, according to the FCC, and will include informal as well as formal complaints.

The FCC has historically released periodic aggregate complaint figures broken out by type of complaint—indecency, rates, do-not-call—and service.

"Today’s launch expands the data that the Commission produces from a handful of charts and graphs to a comprehensive database of individual complaints filed at the Commission since 2015," the FCC said.

But wait, there's a lot more, says the FCC: "The Consumer Complaint Data Center allows users to easily track, search, sort and download information.  Consumers can build their own visualizations, charts and graphs. The data is also available via API (application programming interface), which allows developers to build applications, conduct analyses and perform research. The data can also be embedded on other websites."

Just this week, FCC commissioner Ajit Pai was saying the FCC needed to provide more, and better complaint data, but he would extend it to information on the status of a complaint's resolution. The center has a lot of data, but that does not extend to an FCC action timeline on them.

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.