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.
- The FCC’s Media Bureau extended the deadline for TV broadcasters to comply with the audible crawl rule’s until the earlier of May 27, 2026 or until the FCC rules on the National Association of Broadcasters’ petition for rulemaking proposing that broadcast stations be permitted to comply by providing “textual crawls that provide emergency information duplicative or equivalent to the information conveyed by the visual image” (see our previous coverage here, here, and here). The audible crawl rule requires all commercial and noncommercial full-power TV, Class A TV, LPTV, and TV translator stations to use the station’s secondary audio channel to provide aural descriptions of visual but non-textual emergency information (e.g., weather radar images) broadcast during non-news programming. This requirement has been consistently delayed since the FCC adopted it in 2013, most recently through May 27, 2025 (see our note here), because no technology yet exists to automatically convert this graphic information into speech. The Bureau noted that any harm caused by extending the compliance deadline was minimal because the graphic information is generally duplicative of textual information that stations already describe aurally. The FCC urged broadcasters to make any emergency information accessible to all while the revision of the rule is being considered.
- FCC Commissioner Simington appeared in two media interviews this week discussing various FCC matters including the future of broadcast regulation:
- Simington posted a cable news interview on X in which he stated that there are “too many people regulating broadcast media and micromanaging it to a degree where there’s almost not even predictability over whether a deal will go through or whether a practice will be allowed,” and expressed his support for calls to “DOGE the FCC.” This follows an article published last week by Simington and his Chief of Staff, Gavin Wax, advocating for DOGE-style reform of the FCC, which we noted here.
- Simington also appeared on a British podcast in which he discussed various matters regarding broadcast regulation. On FCC regulation of news distortion, Simington stated that while the FCC should not be “a ministry of truth,” it should step in during limited but important circumstances, such as such the deliberate misrepresentation of a newsworthy event, citing the Center for American Rights’ news distortion complaint against CBS. On reverse retransmission consent fees, Simington stated that the government must take a serious look into whether they serve the public interest because the fees force broadcasters to choose between disaffiliating and losing access to network programming or staying affiliated and absorbing financial losses that force cuts to their newsrooms (earlier this month we noted Simington’s proposal to cap such fees).
- Related to the news distortion complaint against CBS, Senators Markey (D-MA) and Lujan (D-NM) sent FCC Chairman Carr a letter urging him to ensure that the Paramount-Skydance merger is approved through an affirmative vote by the full Commission, as opposed to delegating the matter to the Media Bureau for consideration, given the high-profile nature of the deal and because of the need for transparency because Paramount is considering settling what the letter terms its “frivolous” litigation with President Trump. The Senators state that the transaction is unique among mergers reviewed by the Commission given the unrelated lawsuit by President Trump against CBS for its supposed deceptive editing of the interview with then-Vice President Harris which, as we noted here, here, and here, is the basis of the news distortion complaint pending with the FCC. As we noted here, here, here, here, here, and here, the Paramount-Skydance transfer applications propose that David Ellison acquire a controlling stake in the company and become its Chairman and CEO.
- Democratic FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez continued her “First Amendment Tour” with a speech to the DC-based Media Institute, expressing concerns that the FCC licensing process is being used for political purposes, alluding to fallout from the CBS investigation in her examples of instances where she thinks that the FCC is stepping on First Amendment freedoms.
- The Enforcement Bureau has recently issued several Notices of Violation against tower owners warning them of observed violations of the FCC’s tower rules. These NOVs were issued after the Bureau’s field agents conducted investigations of the tower sites prompted by complaints about tower lighting outages. The Bureau issued an NOV against a New York tower owner for failing to comply with the FCC’s rules governing tower lighting and painting, the requirements to notify the FCC regarding tower ownership changes, and the tower lighting observation and outage reporting requirements. The Bureau also issued an NOV against a California tower owner for failing to provide the FCC with its updated contact information, failing to extend its Notices to Airmen (NOTAM) with the FAA concerning its tower lighting outage (a NOTAM is to be submitted by a tower owner to the FAA when there are tower lighting outages to warn pilots of the potential hazard), and failing to repair that outage. Last month, the Bureau issued an NOV against another New York tower owner for failing to notify the FCC regarding its acquisition of the tower. The tower owners must now explain to the Bureau how it will correct their FCC rule violations and prevent future violations from occurring. These NOVs should put all tower owners on notice that the Bureau is actively investigating tower lighting outage complaints, which can result in the Bureau finding additional FCC rule violations and potentially issuing fines for those violations. See our Broadcast Law Blog articles here, here, and here for more information about rule violations that led to FCC fines for failing to update the required Antenna Structure Registrations (FCC records of who owns a tower), for not keeping accurate records of the monitoring of tower lights, and for not reporting tower lighting outages.
- The FCC’s Enforcement Bureau entered into a Consent Decree with a Floria pirate broadcaster to resolve its investigation of his illegal operations. In January 2024, the Bureau proposed a $358,665 fine against the individual for its pirate broadcasting. Due to the individual’s demonstrated inability to pay the fine and because he ceased pirate broadcasting, the fine was reduced by the Consent Decree to a $11,000 civil penalty, but the individual must pay a further penalty of $347,665 if he engages or assists anyone else in pirate broadcasting during the Consent Decree’s 20-year term.
- Also on pirate radio, the Enforcement Bureau issued a Notice of Illegal Pirate Radio Broadcasting to a Bronx, New York 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 its property after receiving this notice.
- The Media Bureau granted a Massachusetts LPFM construction permit application over an objection alleging that the applicant did not provide acceptable evidence of its established community presence (meaning that the applicant existed as a nonprofit educational organization for at least two years and was either physically headquartered or 75% of its board members resided within 10 miles of its proposed station’s transmitter site) to qualify for points under the FCC’s point system analysis. The Bureau found that the applicant’s submission of documentation showing that it was incorporated in Massachusetts and a list of board members’ addresses was acceptable evidence of its established community presence.