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.

• Olivia Trusty was sworn in as an FCC Commissioner, restoring the Commission’s quorum just before its regular monthly Open Meeting.  With there now being a 2-1 Republican majority,

Last week, the FCC released a Public Notice requesting comments to refresh the record compiled in 2018 in a proceeding that proposed to review the TV national ownership cap.  That cap limits any company from having attributable interests in full-power TV stations that reach more than 39% of the nationwide TV audience.  That 2018 proceeding was begun (with a late December 2017 Notice of Proposed Rulemaking)  to assess whether the FCC should raise the cap,

The lazy days of summer provide little respite from the regulatory actions of importance to broadcasters.  July brings quarterly requirements, including most importantly, the obligation to upload Quarterly Issues/Programs Lists to a station’s online public file.  There are comment deadlines in July in three FCC proceedings: on regulatory fees, on a proposal for LPTV stations to operate under the 5G Broadcast transmission standard,

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 Senate voted 53-45 to confirm Olivia Trusty as an FCC Commissioner on a largely party-line vote.  As a result of Trusty’s confirmation,

Just about a year ago, the FCC issued an Order which, as we wrote here, contained some good news and some bad news for broadcasters.  The good news was that the FCC came up with a relatively short form (far shorter than the multi-page form originally proposed) that broadcasters could use to assess whether a buyer of program time on the station was a foreign government or an agent a foreign government. 

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 announced that June 10 is the effective date for the FCC’s modified broadcast foreign sponsorship identification rules,

It was just a few weeks ago when we posted our article talking about how June would bring a Republican majority to the FCC, speculating as to what deregulatory issues would be on the Chairman’s agenda.  Last Wednesday morning, I was on a video call with a broadcaster’s association’s Board of Director, passing along the same message.  Only minutes after I left that call,

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 Commissioners Simington and Starks both announced that they were leaving the FCC as of June 6.  Starks stated at the FCC’s May open meeting that he intended to resign his seat before the FCC’s regular monthly open meeting on June 26 (see our discussion here),

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 sent to Congress its Budget Estimates request for Fiscal Year 2026.  The budget request contains a few specific references to broadcast matters (along with more general information about inflationary increases in fees and proposals for FCC staffing). 

Though school may be letting out for many, the FCC does not take a summer recess.  Instead, regulation continues.  Perhaps most importantly, Chairman Carr will have a Republican majority on the FCC for the first time since the change in administration, as Democratic Commissioner Starks has said that he is leaving the Commission before its June meeting.  See our article from earlier in the week for our views on some of the issues that may be prioritized once the Chairman’s majority is in place. 

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 U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit rejected the FCC’s 2024 attempt to reinstate Form 395-B which,

At Thursday’s FCC monthly open meeting, FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks announced that it would be his last meeting.  In March, he said that he would be departing soon, so the announcement that he would be gone before the FCC’s next scheduled open meeting on June 26 was not a surprise.  But as one of two remaining Democratic FCC Commissioners, even though the nomination of Olivia Trusty as the third Republican Commissioner has not yet been approved by the Senate,