Breaking Bad: Is Final Episode a Trade Secret?
The Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC or Commission) Closed Captioning Display Settings Report and Order (Order) takes effect on September 16, 2024. Subject to Office of Management and Budget (OMB) approval, covered...more
Section 317 of the Communications Act requires broadcast licensees to inform their audiences of when programming is being aired in exchange for payment or compensation to the station....more
On July 18, 2024, the Federal Communications Commission ("FCC" or "Commission") adopted a Report and Order ("R&O") imposing new rules on manufacturers and multichannel video programming distributors ("MVPDs") requiring them...more
As you are aware, the general election date is Tuesday, November 5, 2024. This means that the FCC's lowest unit charge ("LUC") obligations for the general election begin Friday, September 6, 2024 (or earlier, if there are...more
The FCC has fined Nexstar Media Group, Inc. and Mission Broadcasting, Inc. $1.8 million after finding Nexstar exercised de facto control over Mission’s Station WPIX (TV) in New York without FCC consent. The FCC also found...more
The deadline to file the 2023 Annual Children’s Television Programming Report with the FCC is January 30, 2024, reflecting programming aired during the 2023 calendar year. In addition, commercial stations’ documentation of...more
If there was any doubt that the late-2023 confirmation of Anna Gomez as the fifth commissioner would bring a flurry of FCC activity in 2024, the FCC has laid those questions to rest. In addition to a $150,000 good faith NAL,...more
Bookending the Christmas weekend, the FCC’s long-awaited 2018 Quadrennial Review Report and Order was adopted on Friday, December 22 and released Tuesday, December 26. The Commission is required by Congress to conduct a...more
The next Quarterly Issues/Programs List (“Quarterly List”) must be placed in stations’ Public Inspection Files by January 10, 2024, reflecting information for the months of October, November, and December 2023. Content...more
Pillsbury’s communications lawyers have published the FCC Enforcement Monitor monthly since 1999 to inform our clients of notable FCC enforcement actions against FCC license holders and others....more
This past Friday, the FCC released a Third Report and Order and Fourth Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (Multicast Licensing Order), setting forth rules regarding Next Gen multicast hosting arrangements and seeking...more
The leadup to the Super Bowl LVII Halftime Show was filled with speculation about who would be the special guest that Rihanna teased. Would it be Adele, who said she was “going just for Rihanna”? Eminem? Someone else? Of...more
The deadline to file the 2022 Annual Children’s Television Programming Report with the FCC is January 30, 2023, reflecting programming aired during the 2022 calendar year. In addition, commercial stations’ documentation of...more
The FCC announced late this afternoon that all items required to be placed in the Online Public Inspection File (“OPIF”) between January 1 and January 31, 2023 may now be uploaded to the OPIF by January 31, 2023 and be...more
The deadline to file the 2021 Annual Children’s Television Programming Report with the FCC is January 30, 2022, reflecting programming aired during the 2021 calendar year. Note that because this deadline falls on a weekend,...more
On September 29, 2021, the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) Enforcement Bureau released an Order adopting a Consent Decree to resolve an investigation into Pluto, Inc., and its parent company, ViacomCBS Inc., over...more
The next Quarterly Issues/Programs List (“Quarterly List”) must be placed in stations’ Public Inspection Files by July 10, 2021, reflecting information for the months of April, May and June 2021. Content of the Quarterly...more
The deadline to file the 2020 Annual Children’s Television Programming Report with the FCC is January 30, 2021, reflecting programming aired during the 2020 calendar year. Note that because this deadline falls on a weekend,...more
The next Quarterly Issues/Programs List (“Quarterly List”) must be placed in stations’ Public Inspection Files by January 10, 2021, reflecting information for the months of October, November, and December 2020. Content of...more
Television stations licensed in Alabama and Georgia must file license renewal applications by Tuesday, December 1, 2020. Pursuant to the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC’s or Commission’s) new public notice rule,...more
On October 26, 2020, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC or Commission) released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) in which the Commission proposes to amend its sponsorship identification rules to require...more
On October 1, 2020, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted to change its rules governing the required notices that cable operators must give to customers and local or state franchise authorities when changing...more
The next Quarterly Issues/Programs List (“Quarterly List”) must be placed in stations’ Public Inspection Files by October 10, 2020, reflecting information for the months of July, August, and September 2020. Content of the...more