Discussion of FCC, copyright, advertising and other legal issues of importance to radio and television broadcasters and other media companies
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.
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Here are some of the regulatory developments of significance to broadcasters from the last week, with links to where you can go to find more information as to how these actions may affect your operations.
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The FCC this week released a Public Notice (that we mentioned in our update on regulatory dates for May) announcing that, on May 17, many new applications and other filings will be migrating to the FCC’s newer LMS filing platform. These include many of the documents that had been until recently filed in the FCC’s old CDBS platform. These applications had, since CDBS was closed for new filings, been submitted through emails to the FCC (see our articles here and here).
Most notably, the new LMS filings will include requests for Special Temporary Authority – and future requests for extensions of STAs. The FCC notes that for STAs that had originally been filed in CDBS, rather than filing an extension request for such STAs, applicants should initially file for a new STA in LMS and indicate in an exhibit that the request is for an extension of an existing STA that was filed in CDBS (or by email in the interim processing period). The full list of applications that will, as of May 17, be filed in LMS is as follows:
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Continue Reading More FCC Broadcast Applications Moving to LMS – Including Requests for STAs
Here are some of the regulatory developments of significance to broadcasters from the last week, and two important deadlines in the week ahead, with links to where you can go to find more information as to how these actions may affect your operations.
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Since the 1990s, the FCC’s Consolidated Database System (CDBS) has been used for filing broadcast applications. In recent years, though, much of the filing activity has been migrated to the FCC’s Licensing and Management System (LMS). While in some ways not as user-friendly as CDBS, LMS apparently has some advantages in, among other things, its searchability. Given the migration that has already occurred for most FM and TV technical applications, ownership reports, and assignment and transfer applications, CDBS had few continuing uses. Thus, the FCC yesterday announced that it is ending the filing of new applications in the CDBS system at the end of the day today, January 12, 2022, at 5 PM Eastern Time. All filings that were still being made in CDBS and that cannot be submitted via LMS are now to be made by email to an email address set out in the FCC’s Public Notice: audiofilings@fcc.gov.
What is left that is not filed in LMS? Filings that, until 5 PM ET today were made in CDBS, include the following:
In connection with the last bullet, the FCC noted that some parties had been filing pleadings related to applications filed in CDBS in LMS (which usually contains a reference to the CDBS-filed application). The FCC asks that pleadings filed in connection with applications submitted through CDBS be filed with the email system described above, and not through LMS. Pleadings concerning LMS-submitted applications should, of course, be filed in LMS.
Continue Reading FCC Announces End of Filings in their CDBS Database As of 5 PM Eastern Time Today!
Everyone knows that a fundamental principle of American democracy is the First Amendment – guaranteeing many freedoms to US citizens including freedom of the press and freedom of speech. It is one of those concepts that underlies our society, but is often mentioned only in passing, and rarely considered in practice. Few people – even broadcasters and other media companies – have cause to think about First Amendment principles in their day-to-day operations. The concepts embodied by the First Amendment are almost a given – except when they are not.
In our politically polarized society, there are more and more arguments made about regulation of speech in various contexts – often made without significant consideration of those First Amendment principles. On the broadcast side, we have seen Commissioner Carr react to two cases where the FCC has seemingly been called on to regulate the speech (or anticipated speech) of broadcasters. One case involved a call to deny the sale of a broadcast station allegedly based on a perceived change in the political orientation of its programming from liberal to conservative (see the Carr statement here), and another calling for the FCC to investigate a TV station in Baltimore for allegedly being too focused on investigations into a local government official (see the Carr statement here and an NAB statement also weighing in on the controversy here). While there may well be issues in each case that go beyond the question of the proposed speech of the broadcasters involved, the issue of whether the FCC can get involved in the regulation of political positions taken by broadcasters is one that is addressed both by the Communications Act and past FCC precedent.
Continue Reading The First Amendment’s Role in Broadcast and Online Regulation
While last Tuesday’s elections may well affect broadcast regulation in the future, there were several regulatory developments in the last week of immediate significance to broadcasters. Here is a summary of some of those developments, with links to where you can go to find more information as to how these actions may affect your operations.…
While much of the world was focused on election results, the FCC announced its transition of a few more of its applications from the CDBS database that it has used for several decades to its newer LMS database. The FCC’s Public Notice released earlier this week announced that assignments and transfer applications (both long-form…
Earlier this week, the FCC announced that changes in its processing of LPFM and Noncommercial (NCE) full-power station applications became effective on October 30. We wrote about some of those changes here and here. Of immediate importance is the need to include a certification of reasonable transmitter site assurance in any application for any…
Last week we wrote about the October 30 effective date of new FCC rule changes on the public notice requirements for certain broadcast applications, including applications for the assignment of license or transfer of control of a station and applications for renewal of license. On Friday, the FCC’s Media Bureau released a Public Notice…
