Posted on March 27, 2011 by David Oxenford

Digital Media Issues and a Washington Update for Broadcasters - Presentations to the Utah Broadcasters

Broadcasters are inevitably moving toward a digital future - exploiting new Internet and mobile platforms to supplement their traditional over-the-air operations.  Last week, I conducted two sessions in Salt Lake City for the Utah Broadcasters Association, one on the legal issues to be considered in connection with broadcasters' use of the digital media, and a second updating broadcasters on all the legal and regulatory issues that they face from Washington with their over-the-air operations.  Slides from the digital media presentation, Broadcasters Online: Legal Issues in the Cyber Jungle, are available here, and those from the broadcast update, the Top Ten Washington Issues that Should Keep Broadcasters Awake at Night, are available here.

To show how quickly things move in Washington, since the seminar, there have been two new developments that relate to topics discussed at the seminar.  On the day of the seminar, the Commission's Enforcement Bureau came out with a policy statement about a certification that broadcasters need to include in all of their advertising contracts certifying that the advertising was not sold with a discriminatory purpose - as there will be a specific question about the certification in all license renewal applications.  We have summarized the requirements for the clause to be included in the advertising contract here. 

At the seminar, we also discussed sponsorship identification, and how stations must acknowledge the sponsor of anything of value that they receive in exchange for any on-air statement.  On Friday, the FCC fined two television stations for receiving video news releases that were used on the air.  These cases made clear that the broadcaster must acknowledge who paid for the production of a video news release that overtly promotes a commercial product - even if the station received nothing from the sponsor except for the video news release itself.  A summary of those decisions can be found here.

Other material of relevance to the broadcasters who attended the seminar include the following:

  • A guide to the contents of a station's public inspection file can be found here.
  • A guide to preparing for the upcoming license renewal can be found here.
  • An article on the required on-air disclosures about the material rules of a broadcaster's contest can be found here
  • Slides from last year's Utah seminar on the FCC's EEO rules can be found here, and a guide to EEO compliance can be found here.
  • Information about the issues being considered in the FCC's proceeding on potentially repurposing some of the television spectrum can be found here.  
  • The FCC's call for stations to register by April 5 their translators, LPTVs and the paths to cable head-ends and satellite receive locations to protect them from white spaces devices is summarized in our article here.

Other issues of importance to broadcasters are routinely summarized the blog. 

 
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Posted on October 24, 2010 by David Oxenford

Top Ten Legal Issues to Keep Broadcasters Awake At Night - Presentations to Connecticut and Kansas Broadcasters Associations

So what Washington issues should be keeping broadcasters up at night? At the Connecticut Broadcasters Association Annual Convention in Hartford on October 14, and the Kansas Association of Broadcasters Annual Convention in Wichita on October 18, I presented my Top 10 list of issues for broadcasters – dealing with issues both practical and policy-based.  The PowerPoint presentation from Connecticut is available here, and that from Kansas is available here.   At these sessions, we discussed a variety of legal issues of importance to the industry, including the need for broadcasters to consider the upcoming license renewal cycle.   As we wrote a few weeks ago, that cycle begins with stations in Virginia, Maryland, DC and West Virginia in June 2011, and will continue across the country for the next few years, with radio stations in Kansas filing renewals in February 2013, and radio stations in Connecticut filing on December 1, 2013.   Television stations in each state will have applications due a year later. To be sure that stations are prepared for the renewal, they should be checking their public inspection files to make sure that they are complete, and should be preparing quarterly programs-issues lists detailing the programming that they broadcast to serve the public interest. A copy of Davis Wright Tremaine’s most recent advisory on the Quarterly issues programs list is available here. The most recent Quarterly Programs Issues List should have, by October 10, have been placed in the public files of all stations around the country, covering issue-responsive programming that was broadcast in the last quarter.  The DWT Advisory covering all of the other materials that should be in the public inspection file, and the retention period for that content, is availablehere.

We also discussed compliance with the FCC’s EEO rules, and how important such compliance is – and how each station’s EEO performance will be evaluated at license renewal time or if the station is randomly audited in the FCC’s EEO random audit process. We wrote about some of the complaints of certain public interest organizations about how they felt that the FCC had not been aggressive enough in EEO enforcement, here. With the scrutiny given to this issue, broadcasters should be observing their obligations carefully. DWT’s advisory on EEO compliance is available here, and our most recent reminder on the annual public inspection file reports for broadcasters is available here.  A PowerPoint presentation from a seminar that I just completed for the Washington and Oregon Broadcasters Associations will be posted on our blog shortly, which will highlight some of these EEO obligations. 

Many other issues, from the performance royalty to spectrum battles, to the kinds of day-to-day enforcement issues that can lead to fines are also covered in the PowerPoints, and more information on many of these issues can be found in the pages of this blog. Look to the Topic headings to the right of this article, and click on the relevant to topic to see some of the recent issues that we have identified in connection with those matters. 

At the Connecticut Broadcasters meeting, I also conducted a seminar on Digital Issues for Broadcasters. The PowerPoint for that seminar, along with links to other related material, can be found in our recent article on a similar presentation that I did for 11 state broadcast associations, available here.

 
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Posted on May 6, 2009 by David Oxenford

NAB President David Rehr to Leave - What's Next for His Replacement?

National Association of Broadcasters President David Rehr today announced his decision to leave the Association, leaving the NAB without a leader at a time when the Association is facing an incredible number of challenges in Washington. One can only hope that the NAB acts quickly to replace Rehr with someone prepared to aggressively address the needs of an industry hobbled by the current economic climate, and challenged by regulatory issues that could further undermine the ability of radio and television operators to compete in today’s media marketplace. The potential broadcast performance royalty, which could require that radio operators pay musicians and record labels for the rights to play their music on the air, is but one of a number of fundamental challenges that need to be addressed very shortly by broadcaster’s representatives in Washington - perhaps in the next week or two when the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee may take up the "performance tax" issue (as the NAB has called it in their arguments on Capitol Hill).

What else will a new NAB President have to contend with?  In addition to the performance royalty, there seems to be a perception in many quarters that broadcasting is no longer the special medium that it once was that demands regulatory deference because of the public interest service that it provides.  Because of the lessening of some of Washington's regard for broadcasters,  there are many issues now before the FCC, Congress, the courts, and other agencies in Washington – all of which could have a serious impact on broadcasters - including:

 

  • The final days of the DTV transition
  • The FCC’s implementation of their White Areas order allowing wireless users to use parts of the TV spectrum – and the appeals and other attempts to overturn or modify that decision
  • The reauthorization of SHVERA, to continue to allow satellite companies to beam local television signals into local markets – where parties are raising all sorts of extraneous issues about carriage rights and retransmission consent, possible changes in TV market boundaries, and changes in the rights of satellite carriers to import distant signals.
  • The FCC’s localism proceeding, which could impose new obligations on broadcasters at a time when broadcast competition has never been so intense - when the marketplace should dictate how broadcasters best serve their communities
  • Potential Congressional effort to bring back the Fairness Doctrine in some form or another
  • A number of FCC proceedings that could affect new methods of advertising meant to combat technological changes – like embedded advertising and product placement that are meant to partially overcome the effects of DVRs.
  • Congressional attempts to regulate advertising and programing – including potential efforts to restrict prescription drug ads, ED treatments, violent programming and programming that promotes unhealthy foods
  • FCC attempts to reign in technical changes in FM stations to allow them to take steps to increase power and to move into larger markets
  • Congressional moves to remove restrictions on LPFM stations on channels that are third-adjacent to full power facilities – and to potentially give these new stations rights to replace existing FM translators

The departure of David Rehr does not mean that the NAB will not be dealing with these issues.  Much will depend on what other changes occur in the Association as a result of his departure, and the degree to which the change at the top will distract the remainder of the staff when there are so many other pressing issues that need their focus.  The NAB's Legal team dealing with FCC issues is experienced, and many members were there before Rehr started in his position, and they are likely to remain in place dealing with the fires burning at the FCC.  The Government Relations staff, dealing with Congress, includes several newer recruits, but they are professionals who can hopefully mind the store on the Hill and address the issues while the NAB leadership transition is under way. 

And what will a new leader for the NAB need to bring to his or her position?   They will need to remind Washington of the continuing importance of broadcasters to the communities that they serve. They will need to convince Washington to treat broadcasters like a grown-up medium entitled to its full First Amendment rights to exercise its own journalistic judgment on how to best to serve the public interest - judgment derived from broadcaster's own experience in their communities and from marketplace realities, not by dictates from Washington. They will need to be able to remind the music industry that musicians were and are begging radio stations for the airplay of their music.   Washington needs to be reminded of the amazing broadcast service that has grown up in this country, that serves almost every corner of the country with radio and television service, which cannot be allowed to be nitpicked by needless regulation at a time that the industry is facing the biggest competitive challenges that it has ever faced. Let’s hope that the new head of the NAB can sufficient convey to Washington the magic of radio and TV - magic that cause these media to still be the most used media in the country - essential to most people in their day-to-day lives - so that legislators remember just how important the medium is.

 
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