From Broadcast Law Blog

The agenda for the Federal Election Commission’s August 15 Open Meeting was released last week, and it contains a proposed Notification of Disposition of the FEC’s review of a July 2023 petition for rulemaking filed by the advocacy group Public Citizen seeking to initiate a proceeding to address the use of Artificial Intelligence in campaign communications. 

Here are some of the regulatory developments of significance to broadcasters from this 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 Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau announced that October 4 is the deadline for EAS Participants to file their annual Emergency Alert System Test Reporting System (ETRS) Form One – which requires EAS Participants,

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

• Some of the big news for broadcasters this week came not from the FCC, but from the Federal Trade Commission:
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Last week, as we noted in our monthly look ahead at the regulatory dates of importance to broadcasters in August, the reinstatement of the rule prohibiting the duplication of programming on FM stations went into effect.  The FCC Order reinstating the rule is interesting both for its substance, and for the parties pushing for that reinstatement – principally representatives of the music industry. 

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

• Through a Federal Register publication, the FCC announced comment dates on its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking proposing that broadcasters and cable operators be required to disclose,

The FCC last week issued a Declaratory Ruling approving the acquisition by a company owned by a Canadian citizen of 100% of the ownership interest in a company that owns an AM radio stations in Seattle.  Until about a decade ago, a 25% limit in the parent company of an FCC broadcast licensee would have been the limit allowed by the FCC under Section imposed on foreign ownership of a US broadcast station by Section 310(b)(4) of the Communications Act. 

Although many, including Congress, may be taking the last of their summer vacations, there are still many dates to which broadcasters should be paying attention this August.  One that most commercial broadcasters should be anticipating is the FCC’s order that will set the amount of their Annual Regulatory Fees, which will be paid sometime in September before the October 1 start of the federal government’s new fiscal year. 

Last week, we wrote about the impact of the FCC’s decision to standardize certifications from program buyers verifying that they are not representatives of foreign governments – and the accompanying decision to expand that requirement to political issue advertising and paid PSAs.  In that article, we noted the August 15 effective date for most of these rule changes,

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

• The FCC released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking proposing that broadcasters and cable operators make on-air disclosures regarding the use of AI-generated content in political advertisements,

Earlier this year, we posted updated guidelines about engaging in or accepting advertising or promotions that directly or indirectly allude to the Super Bowl without a license from the NFL or the Final Four Tournament without a license from the NCAA.  See here, here and here.  Now, it is time to think about these issues in the context of the 2024 Paris Olympics!

Here are some of the regulatory developments of significance to broadcasters from this 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 August 15 is the effective date of the FCC’s expanded foreign government sponsorship identification rules. 

The FCC this week issued a Public Notice announcing the effective date of certain portions of the FCC Order released in June adopting changes to its requirements that broadcasters obtain certifications from buyers of program time on their stations that the sponsors are not foreign governments or agents of those governments.  As we wrote when the Order was released,