In the News

The FCC sent out a flurry of reminders to broadcasters who did not file their Biennial Ownership Reports by the December 1, 2021 deadline.  As we wrote in our reminder in November, these reports were to be filed by licensees of all full-power radio and TV stations (commercial and noncommercial), as well as by LPTV… Continue Reading…

Before we jump into February dates, let’s take a look at some important dates still to come in January.  Noncommercial radio applicants whose applications were found to be mutually exclusive (MX) with one or more other applications filed in the reserved band window have through January 28 to submit technical amendments or work with others in their MX group… Continue Reading…

Here are some of the regulatory developments of significance to broadcasters from the last week, with links to where you can go to find more information as to how these actions may affect your operations. The FCC issued a Public Notice urging all communications companies to take steps to ensure the security of their facilities… Continue Reading…

My law firm partner, Jonathan Cohen, has been closely monitoring the developments in the regulation of social media and other big tech platforms by the current administration.  He offers these thoughts on likely areas of legislative and regulatory action in this area in the coming year.  Many nights, the last thing I do before falling… Continue Reading…

Here are some of the regulatory developments of significance to broadcasters from the last 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 CDBS, the database where all broadcast applications were filed before most migrated to the newer LMS… Continue Reading…

2022 has begun – and we are all wondering what will lie ahead in the New Year.  Each year, at about this time, we put together a look at highlights of the regulatory dates ahead for broadcasters.  This year is no different – and we offer for your review our Broadcaster’s Regulatory Calendar for 2022.  While… Continue Reading…

Since the 1990s, the FCC’s Consolidated Database System (CDBS) has been used for filing broadcast applications.  In recent years, though, much of the filing activity has been migrated to the FCC’s Licensing and Management System (LMS).  While in some ways not as user-friendly as CDBS, LMS apparently has some advantages in, among other things, its… Continue Reading…

The FCC, at its January 27 monthly open meeting, will be voting on the adoption of two relatively minor changes to its political broadcasting rules.  While some press reports suggested that the changes would expand the FCC’s jurisdiction into online political advertising, in fact the draft of the FCC’s Report and Order released last week… Continue Reading…

Here are some of the regulatory developments of significance to broadcasters from the last week, with links to where you can go to find more information as to how these actions may affect your operations. The FCC this week announced that it will vote on two items of interest to broadcasters at its next Open… Continue Reading…

A conditional settlement of the long-running litigation between Global Music Rights (GMR), a relatively new performing rights organization formed to license the public performance rights to certain musical works, and the Radio Music License Committee (RMLC) was announced this week.  The terms of the agreement are confidential, so we can’t comment on the specifics of… Continue Reading…

As 2021 wound down, there were significant developments on SoundExchange royalties for webcasters – including broadcasters who simulcast their on-air programming through IP channels (such as on their websites and on mobile apps).  While we covered many of these matters in our weekly Sunday updates on regulatory matters of importance to broadcasters, we thought that… Continue Reading…

Here are some of the regulatory developments of significance to broadcasters from the last 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 the results of the August 11 Nationwide EAS Test, finding that, compared to the 2019 test… Continue Reading…