As the ancient Mayans appear to have been wrong, and 2013 is indeed happening, we have once again published our broadcaster’s calendar to remind broadcasters of the dates that they need to keep on their radar to make sure that they remain in legal compliance in the coming year.  Like seemingly every year, it is a busy one, with ongoing radio and television license renewals still being filed and processed by the FCC, as well as the normal regulatory deadlines – EEO public file reports, quarterly programs/issues lists, children’s television reports, noncommercial ownership reports, regulatory fee filing deadlines, and children’s television reports. While not a major election year, there are at least two governor’s elections, several big city mayoral races, and several recently vacated Senate seats (including the Massachusetts seat that is not mentioned on the calendar as that soon-to-be vacant seat has only recently become evident), so there will be lowest unit rate issues to be considered in a number of states.  There are also special regulatory deadlines coming up this year, including new obligations for captioning of TV programming repurposed to the Internet, an FM auction in April (with filing deadlines in February), and a Low Power FM window expected in October.  We’ve also included in the calendar reminders about the filing dates for SoundExchange royalties for audio streaming. And don’t forget your obligations to ASCAP, BMI and SESAC, which are not included on the calendar.

While the calendar is not exhaustive, it gives the broadcaster a place to begin in planning their regulatory compliance for 2013.  Check out our broadcaster’s calendar, and be ready for the regulatory obligations in the year ahead.