This Week in Regulation for Broadcasters: June 3, 2025 to June 6, 2025

By David Oxenford & Keenan Adamchak on June 7, 2025

Posted in AM Radio, Assignments and Transfers, Broadcast Auctions, Cable Carriage, FCC Fees, FCC Fines, FM Radio, FM Translators and LPFM, General FCC, License Renewal, Multiple Ownership Rules, Noncommercial Broadcasting, Programming Regulations, Public Interest Obligations/Localism, Television

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.

FCC Commissioners Simington and Starks both announced that they were leaving the FCC as of June 6. Starks stated at the FCC’s May open meeting that he intended to resign his seat before the FCC’s regular monthly open meeting on June 26 (see our discussion here), Simington had not previously publicly disclosed his intention to leave the FCC. With their departures, the FCC now has only two Commissioners (Chairman Carr and Commissioner Gomez) until the Senate confirms the appointment of Republican Olivia Trusty. The FCC requires three Commissioners for a quorum. While there are some provisions in the FCC’s rules for limited Commission activity without a quorum, with the FCC deadlocked with one Republican (Carr) and one Democratic (Gomez) Commissioner, no action on any controversial items will likely be taken until Trusty is seated.
The FCC released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking proposing its fiscal year 2025 regulatory fees for broadcasters and for those operating earth stations. The FCC proposes to continue calculating each full-power TV station’s regulatory fee using the population-based methodology in use since 2020. The FCC proposes adopting a factor of $0.006379 per population served for the full-power TV station regulatory fee, representing roughly a 3% decrease from the prior year ($0.006598). Radio fees are proposed to change very little from those paid last year. In February, the FCC proposed expanding regulatory fees to non-operational earth stations (those which have a construction permit but are not yet licensed) and creating additional earth station fee categories beyond the current single fee category of transmit/receive and transmit-only earth stations (see our note on that proposal here). Since that proceeding remains pending, the FCC is proposing an earth station fee of $2,840 under both its existing and proposed earth station fee methodologies because it may not finalize its proposed changes in time for the fees to be paid by September 30 – the annual deadline for payment of FCC regulatory fees before the October 1 start of the new fiscal year. Comments and reply comments responding to the NPRM on the fees to be paid by all FCC regulated entities are due July 7 and July 21, respectively.
The FCC released a draft Report and Order proposing to streamline its cable rate regulations, many of which are now obsolete or unworkable due to the end of most cable rate regulation years ago. The draft NPRM will be considered at the FCC’s regular monthly open meeting on June 26. If adopted, comment and reply comment dates will be set when the NPRM is published in the Federal Register.
The FCC imposed a $2,391,097 fine against a pirate broadcaster for operating an unauthorized radio station in North Miami, Florida. The FCC found that the pirate operator has been illegally operating his station since at least 2012, has been fined several times and even had his equipment seized, yet continues to operate – the FCC most recently documenting illegal operation on at least 22 days during February and March 2023. The pirate radio operator now has 30 days to pay the fine or the FCC may refer the case to the U.S. Department of Justice for collection. The FCC itself cannot sue to collect fines or take actions against individuals who ignore the penalties issued by the FCC under the PIRATE ACT. Instead, it must rely on the DOJ to enforce such penalties in Court.
The FCC’s Media Bureau granted an assignment application permitting a broadcaster to acquire all of the top-4 network affiliated TV stations in the Greenwood-Greenville, MS Designated Market Area (DMA). The FCC’s Local Television Ownership Rule prohibits the transfer or assignment of a group of top-4 affiliated TV and LPTV stations in the same DMA using multicast channels and/or LPTV stations, subject to certain combinations being allowed where shown to be in the public interest. Here, the Bureau found that allowing the same broadcaster to own the ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC affiliate in the Greenwood-Greenville DMA (one full power TV station carrying both ABC and Fox and two LPTV stations carrying CBS and NBC) was in the public interest because it would preserve local news and network-affiliated programming services in the market. The Bureau found that splitting up the market’s top-4 network affiliated stations would lead to viewers losing over-the-air access to their only local source of news and network programming because the market’s geographic, population, and economic characteristics made it unlikely that the market could support independent, top-4 affiliated stations.
The Media Bureau entered into a Consent Decree with a Virginia LPFM station to resolve an investigation into whether the station violated the FCC underwriting rules by broadcasting commercial advertisements which impermissibly promoted for-profit underwriters’ products or services. LPFM stations operate under the same rules as noncommercial broadcasters, being forbidden from running commercials for for-profit businesses. But they can run “underwriting” announcements acknowledging sponsors without being promoting those sponsors (e.g., no calls to action, qualitative claims, price information or other purchase incentives). The Consent Decree also stated that the Bureau examined the unusual relationship between this LPFM station and other LPFM stations that had formed a co-op and hired an agent to sell underwriting and to operate facilities for the stations in the co-op. The FCC’s order did not find any violation in this co-op arrangement, but did warn that it would scrutinize such arrangements carefully in the future. The Consent Decree requires that the station implement a compliance plan to ensure that future underwriting violations do not occur. The Bureau noted that while consent decrees involving underwriting rule violations usually require payment of a civil penalty, the Consent Decree did not include one due to the station’s inability to pay.
Senator Cruz (R-TX), Chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, released the text of the committee’s reconciliation version of the One Big Beautiful Bill, which includes provisions restoring the FCC’s spectrum auction authority that lapsed in 2023. FCC Chairman Carr released a statement congratulating Senator Cruz for proposing to restore the FCC’s auction authority. In an article on our Broadcast Law Blog, we explained how the lack of auction authority has precluded the FCC from conducting any auctions for new broadcast stations, and noted last week that the FCC’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2026 anticipates an auction for new FM stations, presupposing that this auction authority will be reinstated.
President Trump submitted his budget proposal to Congress late last week, which included clawing back $1.1 billion of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting’s funding for fiscal years 2026 and 2027. Congressman Burchett (R-TN) also announced that he will file legislation to codify President Trump’s Executive Order issued last month blocking the CPB from distributing funding to PBS and NPR (see our discussion here).
Late last week, the Chairs of the California State Senate Energy, Utilities & Communications Committee and the Judiciary Committee sent a letter to Bill Owens, the former Executive Producer of 60 Minutes, and Wendy McMahon, the former President and CEO of CBS News, asking them to testify before their committees regarding Paramount’s proposed settlement of President Trump’s lawsuit against CBS and whether such settlement would be intended to influence FCC approval of its merger with Skydance. Last Fall, President Trump sued CBS for its supposed deceptive editing of the 60 Minutes interview with then-Vice President Harris which, as we noted here, here, and here, is the basis of a pending news distortion complaint at the FCC. The letter states that the California State Senate is investigating whether Paramount’s proposed settlement violates California laws against bribery and unfair competition and requests that the former CBS executives voluntarily testify before the committees on whether there were any newsroom staff objections to, or any editorial decisions impacted by, the proposed settlement. The state senators express concerns that the proposed settlement potentially creates a chilling effect on investigative and political journalism and could damage public trust in news outlets. As we noted here, here, here, here, here, here, and here, the Paramount-Skydance transfer applications, which are still pending before the FCC, propose that David Ellison acquire a controlling stake in the company and become its Chairman and CEO.
The Media Bureau and Office of Managing Director (OMD) reinstated the licenses of two Texas FM stations that they revoked last week due to their failure to pay their delinquent regulatory fees or show that the debts are not owed or should be waived or deferred by responding to the Bureau and OMD’s Order to Pay or to Show Cause issued against the stations in February (see our discussion here and here). The Bureau and OMD did not provide a reason for reinstating the licenses.