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.
- FCC Chairman Carr announced the agenda for the Commission’s regular monthly open meeting scheduled for August 7, and it contains several items relevant to broadcasters. In anticipation of the meeting, the Commission released drafts of the decisions that will be considered:
- The FCC released a draft Final Rule, that if adopted, would repeal 98 broadcast rules identified by the FCC through the Delete, Delete, Delete proceeding as obsolete, outdated, or unnecessary. The broadcast rules slated for repeal include procedures for applying for approval for over-the-air subscription TV systems (single channel linear pay TV services using an over-the-air TV channel – used in many markets prior to the turn of the century when many current pay TV options did not exist), the requirement that radio and TV stations be equipped with specific instruments for determining station power levels, technical provisions related to international broadcast stations, a rule describing how to calculate operating power, and rules containing references to FCC policies (the proposal is to delete a set of references to the policies set out in the rules, references that have no independent effect and which are in many cases are incomplete or outdated – the underlying policies will remain effective). As we noted in last week’s update here, the FCC is using its “direct final rule” process to expeditiously delete clearly outdated or overturned rules. The Commission votes to delete the rule, but there is a 10-day period in which the public can object to the deletion. If significant comments are filed arguing that the rule should not be deleted, the deletion can be held in abeyance while the FCC proceeds with a traditional notice and comment process, allowing comments and reply comments, before finally acting to delete the rule.
- The FCC released a draft Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that, if adopted, will reexamine the Emergency Alert System (EAS) and the Wireless Emergency Alerts system. For EAS, the FCC seeks comment on what goals EAS should aim to achieve, whether EAS is currently effective at achieving these goals, whether there are any additional EAS transmission capabilities necessary to achieve these goals, what steps the FCC should take to modernize EAS, which entities should be allowed to send alerts via EAS, how well EAS is currently working in practice, and whether other changes should be made to better serve the public.
- The FCC released a draft NPRM, which, if adopted, could lead to significant revisions to the FCC’s rules implementing the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA). The FCC’s NEPA and NHPA rules determine if the construction of communications facilities, including broadcast towers, will affect the environment and historical sites. The FCC seeks comment on ways to streamline its NEPA and NHPA review procedures following President Trump’s January Executive Order directing federal agencies to streamline such regulations.
- The FCC released a draft Second Report and Order, which if adopted, would streamline and expedite earth station application processing. The changes include allowing earth station operators to receive a license without identifying a specific point from which they will operate (so that they can operate wherever they find customers), adopting streamlined processes for adding or removing points of communication, expanding the types of license modifications that do not require prior authorization, expanding timeframes to file license renewal applications, and adopting a 30-day “shot clock” in which the FCC will process earth station renewal applications.
- The FCC released a draft Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking and Order on Reconsideration, that if adopted, would streamline Disaster Information Reporting System (DIRS) filing obligations, which are currently voluntary for broadcasters. As we noted here and here, under FCC Chairwoman Rosenworcel, the FCC proposed in a January 2024 NPRM to require TV and radio stations to report their operating status during disasters in the FCC’s DIRS database. This item, however, does not address whether the FCC still intends to extend this reporting obligation to broadcasters.
- Congress passed a bill rescinding $1.1 billion in funding that had previously been appropriated to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting for fiscal years 2026 and 2027, cutting funds that were to be allocated to many NPR and PBS stations. FCC Commissioner Gomez issued a statement describing the bill’s passage as “a key step in a coordinated campaign to silence public media, and the latest attempt by this Administration to censor and control speech” and otherwise decrying this action. Both Chairman Carr and President Trump applauded the action on social media, suggesting that the cuts were appropriate as these services had lost the trust of the American people and no longer merited government support.
- The FCC’s Media Bureau entered into five Consent Decrees (see here, here, here, here, and here) with several TV stations to settle a September 2024 Forfeiture Order imposing monetary penalties on their licensees ranging from $20,000 to an aggregate $120,000 for exceeding the limits on commercialization in programming directed to children ages 12 or under. The stations had broadcast “program-length commercials” (Hot Wheels programs in which an ad for a Hot Wheels product was run which, under FCC policy, turns the whole program into one big commercial). We noted the FCC’s 2024 decision here. The Consent Decrees eliminate the financial penalties on the licensees, but they do require that the stations implement compliance plans to ensure that future violations of the FCC’s commercial limits rule do not occur. As we noted last month, here, the Bureau entered into a Consent Decree with Sinclair, which provided the program, to settle its $2.6 million penalty under the Forfeiture Order, along with other issues particular to Sinclair’s stations, through a $500,000 financial penalty and a compliance plan.
- The Media Bureau entered into Consent Decrees with a Puerto Rico AM station and with a New York AM station to resolve its investigations into the stations’ unauthorized transfers of control. In each case, controlling interests in the station licensee were sold without filing transfer of control applications seeking FCC approval. The Puerto Rico station’s Consent Decree requires that the station pay a $5,000 voluntary contribution to the U.S. Treasury for a single unauthorized transfer, while the New York station (which actually had two transfers, first of 50% negative control, and later of the remaining 50%, both without prior FCC approval) requires a $10,000 voluntary contribution.
- The FCC’s Media Bureau announced that some of the FCC’s actions on cable rate regulations taken in a Report and Order released last month will become effective August 13. The actions eliminated or amended many of the FCC’s cable rate regulations, which became obsolete or unworkable due to the end of most rate regulation years ago. Some of the amended rules, however, require approval of the Office of Management and Budget before becoming effective. The FCC will announce when those amended rules take effect.
- The FCC announced that comments and reply comments are due August 18 and September 2, respectively, responding to the Media Bureau’s NPRM seeking comment on a petitioner’s proposed substitution of Channel 24 for Channel 4 at Jacksonville, Oregon due to the inferior quality of VHF channel signals.
- The FCC’s Enforcement Bureau issued a Notice of Illegal Pirate Radio Broadcasting to a Quinault, Washington landowner for allegedly allowing a pirate to broadcast from its property. The Bureau warned the landowner that the FCC may issue a fine of up to $2,453,218 under the PIRATE Radio Act if the landowner continues to permit pirate radio broadcasting from the property.
- The Media Bureau dismissed a California LPFM construction permit application based on an objection claiming that the applicant failed to meet the FCC’s LPFM localism requirement. The Bureau found that the applicant’s possible headquarters (it was unclear to the Bureau whether either applicant’s main studio and “principal office” addresses listed in the application were for its headquarters) and all of its directors’ residences were located more than 10 miles from the proposed station’s transmitter site (the limit for LPFM applicants within one of the top 50 urban markets). Following the application’s dismissal, the Bureau granted the objector’s mutually exclusive application.
