Friday, the Federal Communications Commission released its Report and Order setting this year’s annual regulatory fee amounts. Payments will be made electronically via the FCC’s Commission Registration System (CORES), but...more
This advisory is directed to television stations with locally-produced programming whose signals were carried by at least one cable system located outside the station’s local service area or by a satellite provider that...more
Yesterday, the FCC released its Fourth Report and Order, Order on Reconsideration, and Second Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in its Review of the Commission’s Broadcast and Cable Equal Employment Opportunity Rules and...more
I. Phased-In Expansion of Audio Description Requirements: The FCC adopted rules in 2011 requiring certain broadcast television stations in Designated Market Areas (DMAs) 1-60 to provide audio description (i.e., audio-narrated...more
12/15/2023
/ Broadcasting ,
Certifications ,
Children's TV Programming ,
Copyright ,
EEO ,
EEO-1 ,
FCC ,
Filing Deadlines ,
Inspections ,
License Renewals ,
Radio Broadcasting ,
Radio Stations ,
Royalties ,
Television Broadcast Stations
The Federal Communications Commission released its annual Public Notice setting the deadline for paying annual regulatory fees. Payments can be made via the FCC’s Commission Registration System (CORES) beginning today...more
The FCC announced this afternoon that due to continuing difficulties with its Licensing Management System (“LMS”) and Online Public Inspection File (“OPIF”) filing systems, the deadlines to file or upload a number 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’s Public Safety & Homeland Security Bureau has announced that technical updates to the EAS Test Reporting System (“ETRS”) have been completed and the ETRS is open and available to accept filings of Form One by EAS...more
Items of Note in 2023 -
I. Commercial and Noncommercial Biennial Ownership Report: December 1, 2023 is the deadline by which all commercial and noncommercial radio and television stations must file their biennial ownership...more
The FCC released its Report and Order adopting the final amounts that regulatees must pay in annual regulatory fees for FY2022, and opened the filing window for making those payments. The window closes at 11:59 p.m. Eastern...more
Items of Note in 20221
I. Applications for Renewal of License: The three-year long state-by-state license renewal cycle ends in April 2022 for radio services (AM, FM, FM Translator, and LPFM) but will continue for...more
Each year with the end of summer comes an announcement from the FCC as to how it is divvying up its operating costs to then charge its regulatees in the form of regulatory fees. This annual ritual, required by Congress,...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
A Note to Our Readers -
The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has been felt by every sector of the economy. Due to the unique challenges it poses to broadcasters, however, the FCC has made several changes to its filing...more
With much of the United States under COVID-19 stay-at-home directives, and frost warnings still in the forecast, it’s as good a time as any to review the upcoming cable and satellite carriage election process for television...more
Full power commercial and noncommercial radio stations and LPFM stations, licensed to communities in Michigan and Ohio, and full power TV and Class A TV stations, as well as LPTV stations capable of local origination,...more
April 1 is the deadline for broadcast stations licensed to communities in Delaware, Indiana, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Texas to place their Annual EEO Public File Report in their Public Inspection File and post...more
Full power commercial and noncommercial radio stations and LPFM stations licensed to communities in Indiana, Kentucky, and Tennessee must begin airing pre-filing license renewal announcements on February 1, 2020. License...more
More than fifteen years after the adoption of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (“BCRA”) of 2002, popularly known as “McCain-Feingold,” Congress’s and the Federal Communications Commission’s interest in political...more
Items of Note in 2020
I. Applications for Renewal of License: June 1, 2020 is the first filing deadline in the three-year long license renewal cycle for stations in the television services (full-power television, Class A,...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
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
The state-by-state license renewal cycle for radio stations that will take place over the next three years commenced on April 1, 2019. That was when the first batch of radio broadcasters (DC, MD, VA, and WV) began airing...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