FCC 2025 Regulatory Fees Set – Dates and Payment Procedures to Follow
September 4, 2025
David Oxenford
By: David Oxenford & Keenan Adamchak, Wilkinson Barker Knauer
Last Friday (8/29), the FCC released its Order adopting the regulatory fees to be paid by broadcasters and other regulated entities at some point before the October 1 start of the federal government’s new fiscal year. The Commission slightly increased fees for TV stations by 1.2% from last year (from $0.006598 to $0.006674 per population served) after the FCC refined its fee estimates made earlier this year to account for exempt stations. Fees for radio stations, however, generally decreased slightly from last year.
While the Order setting the fees has now been released, the dates and procedures for making those payments will follow. If done in the same manner as in recent years, the FCC and its respective Bureaus will soon release Public Notices and Fact Sheets detailing how and when the payments must be made, procedures for requesting waivers or deferrals of the payments, and specifics for the different industries regulated by the Commission.
While these subsequent notices should follow in the next week or so, broadcasters should start computing their fee obligations so that they are ready to make the payments when the procedures and dates are established. The fees for TV stations are determined by the population covered by the station, with the specific fees set forth in a table in Appendix F (pages 52-95) of the Order. There are flat fees for LPTV stations, Class A TV stations, TV translators, FM translators, and FM boosters ($275), for construction permits for new full-power TV stations ($5,200), and for new AM and FM construction permits ($585 and $1025 respectively). The are also flat fees for transmit/receive and transmit-only earth stations ($2,060), while receive-only earth stations are exempt from fees.
Radio fees will be paid based on the class and population coverage of the station, as set forth in the Table below:
| FY 2025 RADIO STATION REGULATORY FEES | ||||||
| Population Served | AM Class A | AM Class B | AM Class C | AM Class D | FM Classes A, B1 & C3 | FM Classes B, C, C0, C1 & C2 |
| <=10,000 | $545 | $395 | $340 | $375 | $600 | $685 |
| 10,001 – 25,000 | $910 | $655 | $570 | $625 | $1,000 | $1,140 |
| 25,001 – 75,000 | $1,365 | $985 | $855 | $940 | $1,500 | $1,710 |
| 75,001 – 150,000 | $2,050 | $1,475 | $1,285 | $1,405 | $2,250 | $2,565 |
| 150,001 – 500,000 | $3,075 | $2,215 | $1,925 | $2,115 | $3,380 | $3,855 |
| 500,001 – 1,200,000 | $4,605 | $3,315 | $2,885 | $3,160 | $5,060 | $5,770 |
| 1,200,001 – 3,000,000 | $6,915 | $4,980 | $4,330 | $4,750 | $7,600 | $8,665 |
| 3,000,001 – 6,000,000 | $10,365 | $7,460 | $6,490 | $7,120 | $11,390 | $12,985 |
| >6,000,000 | $15,550 | $11,195 | $9,740 | $10,680 | $17,090 | $19,485 |
Check out the Order for more details – and get ready to make your payments by the September deadline that will be established shortly.