Broadcasters Want Non-GSO Satellite Operators (Meaning SpaceX) to Shoulder More FCC Fees

WASHINGTON, June 17, 2026 – Broadcasters are pushing back against the Federal Communications Commission's proposed fee hike for earth stations, arguing that low-Earth-orbit broadband operators like Elon Musk’s Starlink should shoulder more of the agency’s regulatory costs.

The National Association of Broadcasters told FCC staff last week that the agency’s proposed 46% increase in regulatory fees for earth station licenses would unfairly burden broadcasters that use fixed satellite facilities to distribute programming.

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In a June 16 ex parte filing, Sophia Gonzalez , associate general counsel for legal and regulatory affairs at NAB, said the group met with FCC Space Bureau and Office of Economics and Analytics staff to discuss the agency’s fiscal year 2026 regulatory fee proposal.

The FCC collects regulatory user fees from the industries it oversees to fund its annual budget, which is set at $416.1 million for fiscal year 2026.

The group asked the agency to cap the fee at $2,500 per earth station license, which NAB said would still amount to a 21.36% year-over-year increase.

NAB said that broadcaster-operated earth stations are “fixed facilities requiring minimal oversight from the Commission” because they “do not move or change operating parameters.”

The association argued the proposed increase was disproportionate to fee hikes for other Space Bureau-regulated entities, pointing to non-geostationary orbit small constellation space stations, whose fees it said are set to rise by about 9% from 2025.

The filing also urged the FCC to shift costs to non-GSO space stations, the regulatory category that includes low-Earth-orbit constellations like SpaceX’s Starlink, which NAB argued are “better positioned to bear those costs” and appear to be the focus of the Space Bureau’s priorities.

The group acknowledged that a decline in the number of earth station licenses explained part of the increase, but said the hike did not appear to align with the number of FCC employees working on earth station issues.

The filing comes as the FCC has been pushing satellite policy changes under Chairman Brendan Carr , including new satellite spectrum-sharing rules and a broader modernization effort Carr has described as “Space Race 2.0.”

The fee fight adds another front to NAB’s push to change how the FCC allocates regulatory costs. Cable groups have opposed that effort, with NCTA urging the FCC to reject new regulatory fees on broadband providers.