March may not have any of the regular FCC filing deadlines, but there are still plenty of regulatory activities going on this month that should grab the attention of any broadcast or media company.  There are a few FCC proceedings in which there are dates in March worth noting, including the main event in the process that the FCC has been going through to give Class A TV, LPTV, and TV Translator operators the opportunity for major changes and, this month, applications for new  LPTV and TV translator stations. Here is a look at some of the important broadcast regulatory dates in March, and a look ahead to the filing deadlines in early April.    

Daylight Savings Time resumes on March 8, and thus AM daytime-only radio stations and stations operating with pre-sunrise and/or post-sunset authority should check their sign-on and sign-off times on their current FCC authorizations to ensure compliance with the requirements set out in those authorizations.  As all times listed in FCC licenses are Standard Time, don’t be fooled into thinking that your daytime-only station has extra time to keep operating once Daylight Savings time kicks in.

Last Fall’s federal government shutdown impacted dates during the FCC’s LPTV/TV Translator Window filing process that was to have opened in October.  See this Public Notice for details.  The new March dates, which mark the end of the process with the first opportunity in almost 20 years to file applications for new LPTV/TV Translator stations, are as follows:

• March 12 at 6:00 p.m. ET is the beginning of a filing freeze on all Class A TV, LPTV, and TV Translator Station Minor Modification Applications and LPTV and TV Translator Displacement Applications.
• March 19 at 12:01 a.m. ET is the end of the filing freeze and when applications for new LPTV and TV translator stations may be filed, as well as all major and minor modification applications for existing Class A TV, LPTV, and TV translator stations.  As we wrote here when these windows were first announced, applications will be processed on a first-come, first served basis, with applications filed on the same day being considered mutually exclusive.  To avoid being shut out, we expect many applicants to file on the first day – so start your filings early as we expect that FCC electronic filing systems will slow down as March 19 goes on as more and more users try to file applications. 

March 16 is the effective date of the FCC’s Direct Final Rule, released in November, which eliminated certain public safety and homeland security rules that it identified in the Delete, Delete, Delete proceeding as obsolete, outdated, or unnecessary, including several rules deemed unnecessary that dealt with the Emergency Alert System.  Some of the eliminated EAS rules include rules describing nonbinding procedures for voluntary EAS participations and local area EAS plans that would otherwise exist as part of the state EAS plan (eliminated as they were not binding and thus did not need to be expressed as a rule); a rule specifying that entities may contact the FCC for guidance on EAS participation (which the FCC deemed obvious and unnecessary as a rule); and a rule authorizing broadcast stations to transmit EAS alerts using subcarriers (which the FCC said is not used in practice).

Broadcasters located in Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, West Virginia, and Wyoming should also be aware of the opening of the following political windows tied to state and local elections occurring in March, April, and May 2026—meaning that Lowest Unit Rates apply to sales to candidates and their authorized committees.  As noted in our last two monthly updates (here and here), there are already LUR windows open in a number of states for elections in March and April (see our article here on the basics of computing LUR):

As a refresher, in the 45 days before a primary election, and 60 days before a general or special election, broadcasters must extend to legally qualified candidates their lowest unit rate and continue to follow all other applicable political broadcasting rules.  For a deeper dive on how to prepare for the 2026 elections, see our post here, which also includes a link to our comprehensive Political Broadcasting Guide.

Looking forward to April, there are a few regulatory deadlines broadcasters should be aware of.  April 1 is the deadline for radio and TV station employment units in Delaware, Indiana, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Texas with 5 or more full-time employees to upload their Annual EEO Public File Report to their stations’ Online Public Inspection Files (OPIFs).  A station employment unit is a station or cluster of commonly controlled stations serving the same general geographic area having at least one common employee.  For employment units with 5 or more full-time employees, the annual report covers hiring and employment outreach activities for the prior year.  A link to the uploaded report must also be included on the home page of each station’s website, if the station has a website.  Start the preparations now to get these reports into your public file on time, as even a single late report can lead to FCC fines (see our article here about a recent $26,000 fine for a single late EEO report).

Also, April 10 is the deadline by which all full-power radio and TV stations (as well as Class A TV stations), both commercial and noncommercial, must upload to their OPIFs their Quarterly Issues/Program lists for the second quarter of 2026.  The lists should identify the issues of importance to the station’s community and the programs that the station aired between January 1 and March 31, 2026 that addressed those issues.  It is important that these be timely uploaded to your public file, as the untimely uploads of these documents probably have resulted in more fines in the last decade than for any other violation of the FCC’s rules.  As you finalize your lists, do so carefully and accurately, as they are the only official records of how your station is serving the public and addressing the needs and interests of its community.  See our article here for more on the importance of the Quarterly Issues/Programs list obligation.

We’ll have more April regulatory dates at the end of March.  As always, consult your own legal and technical advisors for other dates of importance that might apply to your stations in the upcoming month.