Here are some of the regulatory developments of the last week of significance to broadcasters, with links to where you can go to find more information as to how these actions may affect your operations. About 200 radio and television stations have been randomly selected to be audited by the FCC for their EEO compliance…. Continue Reading…
FCC Issues First Broadcast EEO Audit of 2021– Reviewing the Basics of the FCC’s EEO Rules
Yesterday the FCC released another of its regular EEO audit notices (available here), asking over 200 radio and TV stations, and the station employment units with which they are associated (i.e., commonly owned stations serving the same area) , provide to the FCC (by posting the information in their online public inspection file) their EEO Annual Public File… Continue Reading…
March Regulatory Dates for Broadcasters: Copyright, White Spaces, and Zonecasting Comments; LPTV and Translator Analog-to-Digital Extension; Emergency Alerting for Streaming Companies, and More.
March brings springtime and, with it, a likely reprieve from the cold and extreme weather much of the country has been suffering through. As noted below, though, March brings no reprieve from the routine regulatory dates and deadlines that fill a broadcaster’s calendar. TV operators have until March 8 to file comments in the Copyright Office’s… Continue Reading…
This Week in Regulation for Broadcasters: February 13, 2021 to February 19, 2021
Here are some of the regulatory developments of the last week of significance to broadcasters, with links to where you can go to find more information as to how these actions may affect your operations. Bidding in the auction of the C-Band has concluded. The FCC’s auction page for Auction 107 states that a formal… Continue Reading…
No Class C4 FM To Be Permitted By Waiver – Where Things Stand on Proposal for New Class of FM Stations
At the end of last week, the FCC’s Audio Division released a letter decision denying a Class A FM station licensee (limited in power to 6 KW) a waiver that would have allowed it to upgrade its facilities to those that would be equivalent to what would be permitted if the Commission was to establish… Continue Reading…
This Week in Regulation for Broadcasters: February 6, 2021 to February 12, 2021
Here are some of the regulatory developments of the last week of significance to broadcasters, with links to where you can go to find more information as to how these actions may affect your operations. The FCC has started planning for its next AM/FM radio auction (Auction 109) scheduled to begin on July 27. Four… Continue Reading…
FCC to Hold Hearing to Determine What Felony Conviction of Station Owner Means for License Renewal – What Does the FCC Character Policy Require of Broadcast Applicants?
This week, the FCC designated for hearing the license renewal applications for a number of Alabama radio stations because of their owner’s conviction on felony ethics violations, stemming from misconduct while he served in the Alabama legislature. The hearing is to determine the effect of those felony convictions on the character of the licensee to… Continue Reading…
The Return of the Fairness Doctrine – What it Was and Why it Won’t Return
It seems like whenever Democrats are elected to serve as President and take control of Congress, there is talk about the revival of the Fairness Doctrine as some panacea for restoring balance and civility to political debate. In recent weeks, we have seen many articles blaming conservative talk radio for the current divisions in the… Continue Reading…
Want a New Radio Station? FCC Proposes Procedures for a July 2021 Auction, Lists Channels to be Sold, and Imposes a Freeze on Certain Applications
The FCC yesterday announced plans to hold an auction to award construction permits allowing the winners to build new radio stations. The auction notice includes 136 FM channels and, in a new wrinkle, 4 AM opportunities, for which bids will be able to be placed once the auction commences. The list of channels to be auctioned… Continue Reading…
This Week in Regulation for Broadcasters: January 30, 2021 to February 5, 2021
The past week was another light one for broadcast regulation at the FCC. But here are some actions of note for broadcasters, with links to where you can go to find more information as to how these actions may affect your operations. Two Kentucky FM translator stations filed their license renewal applications nearly four months… Continue Reading…
Looking at the Performance Complement and Other Rules that Apply to Webcasting Companies Relying on the Sound Recording Statutory License
We are waiting on the Copyright Royalty Board to release its decision setting the royalties that webcasters (including broadcasters who simulcast their over-the-air programming on the Internet) will pay to SoundExhange for the public performance of sound recordings in the period 2021 through the end of 2025. As we wrote here, that decision would normally… Continue Reading…
A TV Broadcaster’s Guide to Where Washington Regulatory Issues Stand
Where do all the Washington DC legal issues facing TV broadcasters stand in these early days of a new Administration? While we try on this Blog to write about many of those issues, we can’t always address everything that is happening. Every few months, my partner David O’Connor and I update a list of the legal and… Continue Reading…
