From Broadcast Law Blog

As 2024 comes to an end, 2025 is beginning to come into focus – a new year that will likely bring big changes to the Washington broadcast regulation scene with the inauguration of a new President and installation of a new FCC chair who has already promised to move forward with policies very different than those of the current administration (see our discussion here and 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.

• Congress failed to include the AM For Every Vehicle Act in their year-end omnibus spending legislation, meaning that the bill is dead for this Congress. 

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.

• At its December regular monthly Open Meeting, the FCC issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking proposing to update several broadcast rules by making minor changes to its application processing procedures and by clarifying some ambiguous rule provisions. 

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 comments and reply comments are due December 13 and 18, respectively, in response to the National Association of Broadcasters’ request for an retroactive extension of the waiver of the FCC’s audio crawl rules,

For the last few years at this time of the year, we’ve departed from our usual coverage of legal and policy issues to talk about something else – broadcasters giving back.  With Giving Tuesday upon us, we wanted to urge our readers to consider ways to give back to our industry.  I guess it is now a tradition, so we’ll do it again this year and suggest some of the many ways we can express our thanks to the industry in which we work. 

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 announced that oral argument in the appeal of the FCC’s reinstatement of the FCC Form 395-B is “tentatively scheduled” for the week of February 3,

President-elect Trump this week selected sitting FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr to be the new Chairman of the FCC starting on Inauguration Day, January 20.  As a sitting Commissioner, Carr can become permanent Chair immediately – no Senate confirmation is necessary.  Current FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel announced that, as is traditional, she will not only step down from her position as Chair on January 20 and will also leave the Commission on that date – leaving one empty seat on the FCC to be filled by the new President (to permanently fill that vacancy,  

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 announced that comments are due January 13, 2025, in response to proposed community of license changes for several radio stations. 

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.

• On our Broadcast Law Blog, we reviewed  many of the broadcast issues pending before FCC that could be affected by the transition to Republican leadership as a result of the change in administration because of Tuesday’s presidential election. 

With the election over, broadcasters and their Washington representatives are now trying to decipher what the next administration will have in store at the FCC and other government agencies that regulate the media.  Already, the DC press is speculating about who will assume what positions in the government agencies that make these decisions.  While those speculations will go on for weeks,

In a Press Release issued on November 1, the Radio Music License Committee announced the results of its arbitration with SESAC.  Despite the arbitrators’ decision that rates for commercial radio broadcasters are going up modestly, RMLC declared the decision a win.  How can an increase in royalties be a win?  Let’s provide some background on this decision and why the radio industry may breathe a sigh of relief.

With much of everyone’s focus on the outcome of the November 5 general election, broadcasters can’t forget the regulatory dates and deadlines in November and early December.  While the dates and deadlines in November are lighter than in many other months, many routine deadlines do fall in early December, and even the upcoming month does have dates worthy of note.