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.

• The FCC released three drafts of Notices of Proposed Rulemaking (one on ATSC 3.0 and two relevant to earth station operations) which, despite the federal government shutdown,

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 released a Public Notice announcing that, effective 12:01 AM on October 1, the agency will “suspend most operations” in the event of a government shutdown,

With the federal government shutdown now in its third day, having started on October 1, 2025, after Congress failed to fund the government for the coming year or to pass a “continuing resolution” to allow government agencies to function at their current levels, we thought that we should summarize the FCC’s guidance as to what is and what is not functional at the FCC during this period. 

October is, on paper, a busy month of regulatory deadlines for broadcasters.  As set forth below, the month includes the requirement for almost all broadcasters to complete and upload to their public file their Quarterly Issues/Programs Lists, as well as the date for broadcasters to submit to the FCC their ETRS Form One reporting basic information about their EAS equipment. 

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.

• Congress has thus far failed to pass any legislation to provide funding for government operations after the September 30 end of the fiscal year. 

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

• FCC Chairman Carr suggested in a podcast interview that the FCC could penalize ABC/Disney if the company failed to discipline late-night host Jimmy Kimmel over comments he made on Charlie Kirk’s assassination and urged ABC affiliates to preempt Kimmel’s show. 

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 released a draft Notice of Proposed Rulemaking initiating its 2022 Quadrennial Review of its media ownership rules.  Congress requires the FCC to review its media ownership rules every 4 years to determine whether,

Every four years, the FCC is supposed to conduct a review of its local broadcast ownership rules – the rules that govern the number of radio or television stations in a market in which one person or entity may have an “attributable” interest (some form of control rights defined under very complicated FCC attribution rules). The FCC is supposed to do this regular assessment of these local ownership rules to determine if they continue to be necessary in the public interest as a result of changes in competition. 

The Federal Trade Commission last week announced that it was dropping its appeal of a court decision which put on hold an FTC order adopted during the Biden administration which banned noncompete agreements in all industries across the country (see our note here). This ban was a concern to many in the broadcast industry as it would allow station employees,

As we noted in our weekly summary of regulatory activity of interest to broadcasters, the FCC on Friday released a number of public notices and fact sheets providing details of how broadcasters are to pay their annual regulatory fees. Included among the public notices was one setting the deadline for paying the regulatory fees as September 25th.

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

• The FCC released its Report and Order setting its annual regulatory fees for 2025.  The FCC increased TV station fees by approximately 1.2% from last year,

The FCC’s Media Bureau released a Public Notice announcing the opportunity to file applications for major changes in the channel and location of LPTV, Class A, and TV translator stations starting on October 22, with a subsequent opportunity to file applications for new LPTV and TV translator stations starting on January 26.  These are not technically “windows” for filing applications as they do not have defined end dates,