The FCC on Thursday issued a Public Notice announcing that, at the end of the day on November 27, 2017, the current versions of FCC Forms 323 and 323E will be retired. These forms will be replaced in the near future by a new version of the ownership report in the FCC’s LMS database. If you are currently working on an ownership report following the completion of a purchase of a station or other event triggering the need for such a report, you must file it on the old form by 11:59 Eastern Time on November 27, or wait until the new form is available (if that will allow you to comply with the filing deadline for your report).

As we wrote here and as highlighted in the Public Notice released on Thursday, the FCC will be conducting a workshop on November 28, available online, to review the new form. For live attendees, registration is requested by November 22. No pre-registration is required for online viewing. The new form will be available on December 1 to be used for all broadcast licensees, commercial and noncommercial, to prepare an ownership report for the Biennial Ownership Report filing deadline of March 2 (extended from December 1, see our article here).