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  • The FCC’s Media Bureau released a Public Notice reminding broadcasters that new foreign government sponsored programming identification requirements take effect
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This week, the FCC’s Media Bureau released a Public Notice to remind broadcasters that new foreign sponsorship identification requirements go into effect June 7, 2026.  These rules clarify the existing obligations of broadcasters to determine whether buyers of program time on a station are foreign governments or their representatives.  The obligation to get certifications from buyers of program time  as to whether they are foreign governments or their agents has actually have been in effect since 2022 (see our article here).  The June 7 effective date applies to a new method of compliance with the verification obligation, adopted by a Commission Order in 2024.  The 2024 Order also extended this certification obligation beyond leased program time, to cover commercial advertising on a station except for ads for commercial products or services and ads for political candidates (see our article here).  In other words, ads for Tide or Coca-Cola or by the John Smith for Congress official campaign committee are not subject to the rule, but ads that are not for commercial products and services or by political candidates are subject to the rule – including political issue ads and paid PSAs.  However, this week’s Public Notice put on hold the extension of the certification obligation to spot time while the Commission reassesses the costs and benefits of that requirement, except where the station has “actual knowledge” that the spots were provided by a foreign governmental entity.

This is a convoluted set of requirements, so let’s break it down.

As background, in 2021, the FCC adopted rules requiring broadcasters to determine whether any party “leasing” programming is a foreign government or an agent of a foreign government (a “foreign government entity”).  Broadcasters must also assure themselves that these foreign government entities have not paid for the furnishing of that time anywhere in the program’s production chain.  These rules became effective in March 2022.  Since then, broadcasters have been obligated to determine if buyers of program time are foreign government entities.  The FCC required that broadcasters obtain written certifications from program buyers as to whether or not they were representatives of foreign governments, but it did not specify the form of those certifications. 

Continue Reading FCC Announces Effective Date of New Certifications from Buyers of Program Time to Identify Foreign Government Sponsored Programming, But Puts Other Obligations on Hold

Though school may be letting out for many, the FCC does not take a summer recess.  Instead, regulation continues with the filing of Annual EEO Public File Reports due for some broadcasters on June 1.  There are also several other regulatory and comment deadlines coming up this June, including the deadline for all commercial full power TV, Class A TV, and AM and FM radio stations to begin complying with the FCC’s new foreign sponsorship identification requirements (with some exceptions), and comment deadlines in the FCC’s proceedings concerning its fiscal year 2026 regulatory fees, next year’s auction of vacant FM allotments, and the TV Parental Guidelines ratings system.  And there are political windows that open in June for elections that will occur in July and August. 

June 1 is the deadline for radio and television station employment units in Arizona, the District of Columbia, Idaho, Maryland, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico, Ohio, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wyoming with five 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 with at least one common employee.  For employment units with five 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.  Be timely getting these reports into your station’s OPIF, as even a single late report can lead to FCC fines (see our article here about a $26,000 fine for a single late EEO report).  Note that, for radio stations in Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia, this EEO Report will be one of the two assessed by the FCC in its review of their license renewal applications that will be due by June 1, 2027 – the start of a new license renewal cycle for radio and, a year later, for TV. 

The filing of the Annual EEO Public File Reports by TV station employment units with five or more employees triggers a Mid-Term EEO Review that analyzes the last two Annual Reports for compliance with the FCC’s EEO requirements.  The Mid-Term EEO Review begins June 1 for these larger TV station employment units in Arizona, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming subject to this review.  See our articles here and here on broadcasters’ Mid-Term EEO Review reporting requirements.

Continue Reading June 2026 Regulatory Dates for Broadcasters – Foreign Sponsorship Identification Requirements Compliance Deadline, Annual EEO Public File Reports, Comment Deadlines, Political Windows, and more
  • The language of the AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act, which would mandate the inclusion of AM radios in all
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Several recent broadcast trade press articles summarized a Public Notice released this past week by the FCC’s Media Bureau.  The Notice deals with the processing of certain broadcast applications when a licensee has a pending “remedial” petition for declaratory ruling seeking to correct noncompliance with the Commission’s foreign ownership rules.  The articles suggest that the Public Notice would have wide impact, and that several pending applications would be held up by the FCC’s new processing policy.  In fact, this decision is limited in its application only to broadcasters who, through no fault of their own, find that they no longer comply with the foreign ownership limits set out in Section 310(b) of the Communications Act and ask in a “remedial petition” for what is essentially retroactive approval of the foreign ownership that exceeds the 25% limit imposed on aggregate foreign interests (voting or equity) in companies that control broadcast licensees. 

The Public Notice does not deal with companies who ask for permission to have foreign ownership in excess of 25% in advance of those owners acquiring their interests.  In cases where a controlling interest in the company is proposed to be held by foreign owners who have not previously been approved by the Commission, specific FCC approval is required for that acquisition to occur through a forward-looking petition for declaratory ruling.  That is not a “remedial petition.”  Similarly, the Public Notice has no impact on companies that filed Petitions seeking approval for future changes in ownership that would exceed the 25% ownership threshold but would not involve a change in control.  Where a company is seeking advance approval for a non-controlling foreign interest in excess of 25%, the processing of currently pending applications by the company should not be impacted. 

Continue Reading FCC Media Bureau Public Notice on Processing Applications When “Remedial” Foreign Ownership Petition Is Pending – What Is It All About?
  • The FCC announced that it will hold Auction 114, beginning on February 2, 2027, making available 132 channels on which
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The FCC this week proposed an auction for the rights to construct new FM stations on 132 FM channels – the first such auction of new FM stations since 2021.  The auction is proposed for February 2027, although interested parties will need to submit “short form” applications to participate in the auction at some point prior to that date.  The proposed procedures for the auction are set out in a Public Notice – and those procedures contain new wrinkles from those of past FM auctions. The list of available channels is in a separate document here,  That document also lists the proposed minimum bids for those channels.  The FCC also issued a Press Release about the auction and a Public Notice announcing an immediate freeze on any application or rulemaking petition that would affect any of the channels listed in the auction notice.

The channels available to be auctioned comprise a mix of channels available in previous auctions that were not sold in those auctions, plus new channels that have been allotted since the last auction, and a few channels where active licenses for operating stations had been cancelled.  Following the last auction, we wrote about the number of channels that had gone unsold, and suggested that the high minimum bids might have been one reason that some channels did not sell in that auction. The Commission seemed to take the same message from the number of unsold channels in the last auction, as the opening bids in this auction are substantially lower for some of the holdover channels.

Continue Reading FCC Proposes Auction for New FM Stations – 132 Channels to be Available in February 2027 Auction

The Trump administration recently announced that it was taking steps to legalize some marijuana use under federal law.  In a Press Release from the Department of Justice, much was made of the relaxation of the marijuana rules – and many headlines trumpeted the action as if all marijuana use that has been “legalized” by state governments was now legal under federal law.  But a close reading of the accompanying Order released by the Department of Justice and the Drug Enforcement Administration reveals that the actions have only moved medical marijuana legalized in any state from Schedule I (those drugs with no approved uses that are not permitted to be sold or distributed in almost any circumstance), to Schedule III (drugs that have approved uses and can be distributed under rules set out by the FDA).  Non-medical marijuana, so-called “recreational marijuana” approved in many states, remains on Schedule I.  We have written many times (see, for instance, our articles here and here) about concerns with advertising marijuana on a federally-licensed broadcast station when marijuana was on Schedule I and its sale, possession and marketing, including broadcast and other advertising, constituted a felony under federal law even when “legal” under state law.  The recent action to legalize state-approved medical marijuana may, over time, lead to legal advertising, but it appears that there are still hurdles that remain.

Before looking at the steps that appear to be needed before legal advertising of marijuana is possible, there are a couple of things that readers should keep in mind.  First, we need to emphasize that the Trump administration’s actions affect only FDA-approved marijuana products (of which there are very few currently) and medical marijuana that is distributed and sold subject to a state medical marijuana license.  Recreational marijuana remains on Schedule I with no approved medical uses, and with advertising and distribution prohibited outside of some very limited, federally approved testing.  So, all of the concerns about advertising recreational marijuana continue – and are perhaps amplified by the decision to retain recreational marijuana on Schedule I.

Continue Reading Medical Marijuana Removed from Schedule I – Moving Closer to Broadcast and Online Advertising but Concerns Still Remain
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