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The FCC last week issued a Declaratory Ruling approving the acquisition by a company owned by a Canadian citizen of 100% of the ownership interest in a company that owns an AM radio stations in Seattle.  Until about a decade ago, a 25% limit in the parent company of an FCC broadcast licensee would have been the limit allowed by the FCC under Section imposed on foreign ownership of a US broadcast station by Section 310(b)(4) of the Communications Act.  Section 310(b) limits non-US citizens from holding more than 20% of a broadcast licensee, and foreign owners cannot hold more than 25% of a parent company “if the Commission finds that the public interest will be served by the refusal or revocation of such license.” About a decade ago, as we wrote here, the FCC decided to permit, on a case by case basis, greater foreign ownership of US broadcast station owners. This has resulted in past cases where 100% foreign ownership of US broadcast stations have been permitted (see our articles here and here) and even many large US broadcast companies have been permitted to have foreign ownership in excess of the 25% allowed by Section 310(b)(4).  The processing of these applications is, of course, not as straightforward as the normal acquisition of a station by US citizens.

Any foreign owner seeking to acquire a substantial stake in a US broadcast station must be reviewed by various Executive Branch agencies to ensure that there are no perceived security risks raised by the proposed acquisition. The FCC has to do its own review as well.  The approval process for the first acquisition by a foreign owner often takes a full year or more (the deal approved last week was filed with the FCC almost exactly a year ago), so don’t expect to complete an acquisition by a foreign owner on the same timeline as that for the completion of a deal by US citizens.  But, once a foreign owner is approved by the FCC, as long as the ownership of that acquiring company stays the same, it can in most cases acquire additional US stations without going through this extended review process. Continue Reading FCC Allows 100% Ownership of US Radio Station by Canadian Owner – Once Again Demonstrating Openness to Foreign Investment in the US Broadcast Industry

Here are some of the regulatory developments of significance to broadcasters from this 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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Although many, including Congress, may be taking the last of their summer vacations, there are still many dates to which broadcasters should be paying attention this August.  One that most commercial broadcasters should be anticipating is the FCC’s order that will set the amount of their Annual Regulatory Fees, which will be paid sometime in September before the October 1 start of the federal government’s new fiscal year.  As we wrote here, the FCC has proposed to decrease fees for broadcasters from the amounts paid in prior years.  The FCC has also proposed to end its temporary regulatory fee relief measures implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic as well as ending its presumption that silent stations are entitled to fee waivers without providing evidence of financial hardship – which, as we wrote here, broadcasters largely oppose ending because the policies enable struggling broadcasters to avoid costly paperwork and regulatory consequences, helping to avoid loss of service to local communities.  Sometime in August (or possibly in the first days of September), the FCC will make a final determination on the amount of the fees, and then announce the deadlines for payment of the fees. 

August 1 is the deadline for radio and TV station employment units in California, Illinois, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Wisconsin 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 having 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 public file, 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).Continue Reading August 2024 Regulatory Dates for Broadcasters– Annual Regulatory Fee Details, EEO Annual Filings, Effective Date of Reinstated FM Non-Duplication Rule, Opening of Window for Class A/ LPTV/ TV Translator Channel Change Applications, and More

Here are some of the regulatory developments of significance to broadcasters from this 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 this past week, with links to where you can go to find more information as to how these actions may affect your operations.

  • The FCC’s Media Bureau announced that August 15 is the effective date of the FCC’s expanded foreign government sponsorship identification
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Here are some of the regulatory developments of significance to broadcasters from this 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 this past week, with links to where you can go to find more information as to how these actions may affect your operations.

  • The National Religious Broadcasters, American Family Association, and the Texas Association of Broadcasters jointly requested that the FCC stay the
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Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the longstanding Chevron doctrine, which required courts to defer to expert regulatory agencies, like the FCC, when interpreting ambiguous statutes, unless the agency acted unreasonably.  Since the decision, we have seen all sorts of TV pundits predicting the end of “the administrative state” (presumably meaning the end of the many rules passed by administrative agencies like the FCC).  In the broadcast space, we’ve heard many suggest that this might mean that the broadcast ownership rules (most recently upheld by the FCC in their December decision on the 2018 Quadrennial Review) would soon be a thing of the past.  As we wrote several months ago, when this case was argued before the Supreme Court, we think that many of these predictions are overblown.  While certainly last week’s decision gives challengers to agency decisions more ammunition to use in bringing such challenges, and likely will cause the federal courts to be flooded with more challenges generally, the decision will not end the authority of administrative agencies to adopt rules affecting businesses, nor will it bring about any immediate change in rules adopted by the FCC on complex issues affecting broadcasters, like the local radio and television ownership rules. 

First, we need to look at what the Chevron doctrine was all about.  Chevron did not deal with the power of agencies themselves to make rules, but instead it dealt with the relatively narrow question of the standards that courts should use in evaluating challenges to those rules.  Under Chevron, if an agency’s rules relied on an interpretation of arguably ambiguous Congressional legislation, the courts would defer to the agency’s interpretation of the law if that interpretation was a plausible one.  In other words, under Chevron, the agency’s interpretation of the law would stand if there was a reasonable argument that the law meant what the agency said that it did, even if a reviewing court thought that there was a better reading of the law.  So, the doctrine dealt only with issues that arose when there were arguably ambiguous statutes being interpreted by an agency like the FCC.Continue Reading Supreme Court Rejects the Chevron Doctrine – What Does it Mean for Broadcasters Regulated By the FCC? 

Here are some of the regulatory developments of significance to broadcasters from this past week, with links to where you can go to find more information as to how these actions may affect your operations.

  • The U.S. Supreme Court overturned the longstanding Chevron doctrine, which required Courts to defer to expert regulatory agencies, like the
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The lazy days of summer continue to provide little respite from the regulatory actions of importance to broadcasters.  This month brings quarterly requirements, including most importantly, the obligation to upload Quarterly Issues Programs Lists to a station’s online public file, and a number of comment deadlines in important FCC proceedings, as well as the opening of political windows in this major election year.  So, even if the beach chair is calling, remember to keep an eye on dates that can affect your stations. 

The regulatory date that all full-power broadcasters should have circled on their calendars is July 10, the deadline by which all full-power radio and TV stations (as well as Class A television stations), both commercial and noncommercial, must upload to their online public inspection files their Quarterly Issues/Program lists for the second quarter of 2024.  The lists should identify the issues of importance to the station’s community and the programs that the station aired between April 1 and June 30, 2024 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.Continue Reading July Regulatory Dates for Broadcasters – Quarterly Issues/Programs Lists, Comment Deadlines in Multiple Proceedings, Political Windows, and More