In the News

As Fall approaches and kids head back to school, be sure not to lose track of the regulatory dates and deadlines in September.  We outline some of those dates below.  One date is applicable to all commercial broadcasters, the obligation to pay regulatory fees.  While the exact due date has not yet been announced, look… 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. On Friday, the FCC released its decision setting 2021 annual regulatory fees. In a win for broadcasters, the NAB and… 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. Two Federal Register notices set dates for changes to the FCC’s EAS rules. We wrote about these issues here and… Continue Reading…

The minority tax certificate is back in the news with revised bills being introduced in both the House of Representatives and the Senate.  We wrote about a version of this bill introduced in the last session of Congress here.  The tax certificate offers perhaps the most meaningful route to increasing diversity in broadcast ownership.  While… 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 and FEMA conducted their annual Nationwide Test of the EAS system on Wednesday, August 11. All broadcasters should… Continue Reading…

The FCC this week announced the end of Auction 109, which offered for sale construction permits for 139 new stations – 4 AM stations in the St. Louis area whose licenses were surrendered by the prior licensee, and 135 new FM channels.  97 of the channels were sold but 42, including all of the AM… Continue Reading…

We’ve written before over the controversy as to whether embedding pictures or video served by a social media site on your website negates the need to get explicit permission from the copyright owner for that use.  For years, many had relied on old court decisions that employed a “server test” – a site was only… Continue Reading…

As we wrote several months ago, the Nationwide EAS test is scheduled for tomorrow, August 11, 2021 at 2:20 pm ET, with “day of test” information to be filed with the FCC on ETRS Form Two by August 12.  The FCC issued a reminder last week, and FEMA sent an announcement of the test out… Continue Reading…

The FCC yesterday issued a Public Notice reminding all full-power and Class A TV stations that were repacked in Phases 1 through 5 of the post-incentive auction repacking of the TV band (and repacked stations that were granted permission to transition prior to Phase 1) that they must submit all remaining invoices for reimbursement from… Continue Reading…

On Friday, the FCC  released another of its regular EEO audit notices (notice and list of affected stations available here), asking approximately 200 radio and TV stations, and the station employment units with which they are associated (i.e., commonly owned stations serving the same area), to respond to the audit notices by September 20, 2021.  Audited stations must upload… 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. In the run-up to the August 11 National EAS Test, the FCC released a Public Notice reminding broadcasters to ensure… Continue Reading…

Last week, another bill was introduced in both the House and the Senate with the intention of supporting local media to help offset the erosion of their advertising base by digital media.  The Local Journalism Sustainability Act (text of House bill here, and summary of Senate bill here) proposes certain benefits for local newspaper subscribers,… Continue Reading…