From Broadcast Law Blog

Here are some of the regulatory developments of significance to broadcasters from the past week, with links to where you can go to find more information as to how these actions may affect your operations.

• Judicial appeals of the FCC’s Media Bureau approval of the transfer of control of TEGNA to Nexstar have been filed by representatives of conservative media outlets,

With April showers come routine regulatory dates for broadcasters, including the requirement for posting Quarterly Issues/Programs Lists to the Online Public Inspection Files of all full-power radio and TV stations, and EEO Public File Reports for stations in a number of states.  Among the other dates in April is the reply comment deadline in the FCC’s inquiry on the sports broadcasting marketplace. 

Every year at about this time, with April Fools’ Day right around the corner, we need to play our role as attorneys and ruin any fun that you may be planning by repeating our reminder that broadcasters need to be careful with any on-air pranks, jokes or other on-air bits prepared especially for the day.  While a little fun is OK,

The unusual story of the sale of TEGNA Inc. has seemingly (more on that below) come to an end after a four-year FCC review process, encompassing two attempted purchases, two administrative actions involving multiple rule waivers and novel questions of law, but no rulings by the Commissioners themselves. On Thursday, the FCC’s Media Bureau issued an order approving the transfer of control of the company to Nexstar Media and the deal was closed by the parties that same day. 

Here are some of the regulatory developments of significance to broadcasters from the past week, with links to where you can go to find more information as to how these actions may affect your operations.

• The FCC’s Media Bureau released a Memorandum Opinion and Order granting the transfer of control of TEGNA to Nexstar Media.  The transfer,

This past weekend, we saw an ad posted on YouTube attacking Democratic Senatorial candidate James Tallarico – using words that were apparently from his own tweets, commenting on a number of social issues.  What made the ad notable was that the words from the tweets were not just displayed on the screen or read by some anonymous announcer,

Yesterday, I wrote about the history of the NCAA’s asserting the rights to an array of trademarks associated with this month’s college basketball tournaments.  Today, I will provide some examples of the activities that can bring unwanted NCAA attention to your promotions or advertising, as well as an increasingly important development that should be considered when considering whether to accept advertising.

Here are some of the regulatory developments of significance to broadcasters from the past week, with links to where you can go to find more information as to how these actions may affect your operations.

• Linking to a post from the President complaining about the accuracy of media coverage of the Iran conflict, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr posted the following on X – “Broadcasters that are running hoaxes and news distortions – also known as the fake news – have a chance now to correct course before their license renewals come up.

Here are some of the regulatory developments of significance to broadcasters from the past week, with links to where you can go to find more information as to how these actions may affect your operations.

• The FCC’s Media Bureau issued a Public Notice seeking comment on how changes in the sports programming marketplace have impacted consumers and broadcasters,

In the last three weeks, we have noted three cases where the FCC’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau granted waivers to broadcast stations to temporarily disconnect their EAS equipment while changing tower sites (see decisions here, here, and here).  FCC rules require stations to have operating EAS equipment during all hours of operation to receive or relay emergency alerts. 

March may not have any of the regular FCC filing deadlines, but there are still plenty of regulatory activities going on this month that should grab the attention of any broadcast or media company.  There are a few FCC proceedings in which there are dates in March worth noting, including the main event in the process that the FCC has been going through to give Class A TV,

Here are some of the regulatory developments of significance to broadcasters from the past week, with links to where you can go to find more information as to how these actions may affect your operations.

• FCC Chairman Carr announced the “Pledge America Campaign” which calls on broadcasters to pledge to provide programming promoting civic education, national pride,