With FCC’s Children’s Rules in Transition, Interim Reporting Requirements Apply.
Quarterly documentation of stations’ compliance with their obligations under the Children’s Television Act of 1990 for the Third Quarter of...more
Each full power and Class A TV station being repacked must file its next quarterly Transition Progress Report with the FCC by October 10, 2019. The Report must detail the progress a station has made in constructing...more
October 1 is the deadline for broadcast stations licensed to communities in Alaska, American Samoa, Florida, Guam, Hawaii, Iowa, the Mariana Islands, Missouri, Oregon, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and Washington to place...more
Full power commercial and noncommercial radio stations and LPFM stations licensed to communities in Alabama and Georgia must begin airing pre-filing license renewal announcements on October 1, 2019. License renewal...more
The FCC has released its finalized schedule of annual Regulatory Fees for Fiscal Year 2019, and thanks to the collective efforts of all 50 State Broadcasters Associations and the National Association of Broadcasters, there is...more
At its July 2019 Open Meeting this week, the FCC voted to make several changes to its Children’s Television Programming rules. It released its final Order adopting the changes this afternoon. ...more
Last week, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) formally notified the FCC that FEMA has scheduled the next nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System (EAS) for August 7, 2019 at 2:20 p.m. ...more
Broadcasters were spared some of the uncertainty related to the December 22, 2018 government shutdown because the FCC was able to independently fund its operations until January 3, 2019. ...more
Many thought the broadcast incentive auction was the most complex task ever undertaken by the FCC, but the ten-phase spectrum repack following the auction is running a close second. ...more
The FCC and FEMA have established September 20, 2018 as the date for the next nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System (EAS). The nationwide test is designed to study the effectiveness of the EAS and to monitor the...more
This past Friday, the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit released its long-awaited decision in ACA International et al. v. FCC, a case involving the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) that has...more
The FCC today released an Order waiving, at least for this year, the requirement that full power, Class A and low power television stations file what has traditionally been known as a Form 317 report by December 1. More...more
The FCC announced late today that the freeze that has been in place since April 2013 which prevents full-power and Class A TV stations from filing applications to expand their coverage areas will be lifted temporarily, likely...more
As we noted back in April (has it really been that long ago?) when the FCC first announced the TV spectrum repack deadlines, TV stations being repacked now have yet another quarterly filing obligation. Television stations...more
Earlier this week, the FCC and FEMA released a final reminder that this year’s nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System will occur today, September 27, 2017 at 2:20 PM Eastern Time. The test will be transmitted in both...more
The FCC announced yesterday that repacked and band-changing television and Class A television stations will have the opportunity to file applications to specify a new channel or expand their proposed facilities between...more
Breaking News: Moments before the release of this post, the FCC issued a Public Notice announcing an extension of time to the end of the government’s fiscal year for regulatory fee payors in areas affected by Hurricanes...more
The FCC announced on Friday afternoon that it would push back the December 1, 2017 deadline for commercial and noncommercial broadcast stations to file their biennial ownership reports. Rather than opening the filing window...more
The FCC and FEMA have established September 27, 2017 as the date for the next nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System (EAS). Like last year’s test, all EAS participants must file Form 1 a month before the test. The...more
According to a newly-released Public Notice, the FCC has directed the U.S. Department of Treasury to pay all broadcasters who had winning bids in the recently concluded spectrum incentive auction. The only exceptions are...more
Ever since the idea of holding an incentive auction to reclaim and repurpose broadcast spectrum for new wireless uses first surfaced, a major concern has been how to balance full power stations’ need to replicate their...more
To use a metaphor those headed to Vegas for the NAB Show will appreciate, two of the three wheels on the Spectrum Repack slot machine had stopped spinning, and all eyes have since been anxiously watching that third and final...more
Just 29 days ago, the FCC’s Media Bureau issued an unusual decision denying Petitions for Reconsideration of an order adopted by the commissioners themselves, raising questions as to who’s in charge at the FCC. The petitions...more
Those trying to keep up with the news surrounding the upcoming nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System (“EAS”) know that a lot has been happening in a short period of time. Below, we pull together the many recent FCC...more
Today, the FCC released a document entitled Fact Sheet: Updating Media Ownership Rules in the Public Interest. The driver behind the Fact Sheet is the Chairman’s promise to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals that draft...more