As I sit here typing radio waves are going through me, broadcasted by numerous companies. Now I know that the FCC is in control and if I started my own broadcast I would be in deep trouble. Here is my question how much do the companies pay the FCC to broadcast on say 91.5 fm or channel 3?
The fees page can be found here. The rates are roughly proportional to market size.
Technically radio and TV licences are free in the U.S. However, as Bryan Ekers’ link reviews, there are annual fees charged commercial stations to cover administative costs. These range from $275 to $4,975 for radio stations, and $1,075 to $47,050 for TV stations, based on station power and market size. Note that 91.3 is an Non-commercial Educational FM frequency, so stations operating on that frequency would not be charged anything.
The general philosophy has been that broadcast stations are providing a public service in exchange for their free licences. Originally radio and TV stations had to meet fairly extensive programming requirements to prove they were worthy of keeping their licences. Bu in the last 15 years or so, with deregulation, virtually all of the programming requirements have been eliminated for commerical stations.