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November is one of those few months with no routine FCC filing obligations (no renewals, reports, fees or other regularly scheduled deadlines.  While that might seem to suggest that you can take time that you normally devote to regulatory actions to begin your holiday preparations even in this most unusual year, there are still many issues to consider, and you can also use this month to plan for complying with deadlines that fall in December.

While there are no significant comment dates on broadcast matters yet set in November, look for dates to be set in the FCC’s proceeding to determine whether there should be a limit on the number of applications that one party can file in the upcoming window for the filing of applications for new noncommercial, reserved band FM stations.  See our article here on the FCC’s request for comments in this proceeding.…
Continue Reading November Regulatory Dates for Broadcasters: Rulemaking Comments, Hearings on Diversity and a New Commissioner, an FCC Open Meeting and More

There were several reports in the broadcast trade press today about an article in the Hill newsletter from retiring Congressman Greg Walden about his proposals to increase diversity in broadcast ownership.  Congressman Walden, a former broadcaster, seeks in his Broadcast Diversity in Leadership Act to foster minority ownership and ownership by new entrants by establishing in legislation an incubator program similar to the one adopted by the FCC in 2018, but put on hold by the Third Circuit Court of Appeals in their decision on broadcast ownership (which is now before the Supreme Court – see our post here).  While, given the short time before the end of the Congressional session, the Congressman’s bill stands little chance of passing both houses of Congress and being adopted before the end of the year, the bill is worth reviewing as it has the support of both the NAB and minority-advocacy organizations, so it could well resurface in a new Congress.

The bill adopts much of the framework of the FCC’s incubator program (which we outlined in our article here).  Under the proposed legislation, an existing broadcaster could work with an aspiring broadcaster to help that new entrant purchase and operate a broadcast station. The bill asks the FCC to adopt rules outlining the support that could be provided to the new entrant, including training, financing and access to resources of the established broadcaster. The established broadcaster could even hold a non-controlling equity interest in the emerging broadcaster, as long as the new entrant retains control.  In exchange for providing the services or financing, if the incubation is determined to be successful after a two-year period, the existing broadcaster would be allowed to acquire one station in a similarly sized market that exceeded the current cap on broadcast ownership allowed by Section 73.3555 of the Commission’s rules.  So, if the existing broadcaster operates in a market where one party can only own 6 stations, it could acquire a seventh.…
Continue Reading Congressman Walden Urges Adoption of Broadcast Diversity in Leadership Act – An Incubator Program to Assist New Entrants to Broadcast Ownership

The FCC’s abolition of the rule that prohibited same-service radio stations serving the same area from substantially duplicating their programming becomes effective today, as the FCC order repealing the rule was published in the Federal Register.  The rule had prohibited radio stations in the same service (AM or FM) that have over 50% overlap…

The 2017 deregulatory changes to the FCC’s ownership rules have been on hold since December 2019, when the decision of the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, overturning those rule changes, became effective (see our post here).  The court’s decision has put any broadcast ownership changes on hold (including potential changes in the radio ownership rules which were not part of the 2017 FCC decision) while the FCC contemplated how to deal with the fallout from the Third Circuit’s decision.  The potential for another way forward arose last week when the Supreme Court decided to hear the appeal of the Third Circuit decision – granting a petition for “cert” (a petition asking the Court to hear the appeal) – the announcement of that grant coming out on Friday.

As we wrote here, the Third Circuit rejected the FCC’s 2017 ownership rule changes, finding that the FCC had done an inadequate job of assessing how prior ownership relaxations had affected the ability of minorities and other potential new entrants to break into the ranks of broadcast ownership.  Despite arguments from the FCC that it had already analyzed the impact of changes on new entrants and taken steps to mitigate any adverse impact, the Court seemed to be directing the FCC to do a more searching analysis of the historical impact of the relaxation of ownership restrictions on new entrants.  Because this analysis would affect any ownership rule change, including those proposed for radio (see our article here), the decision effectively froze further FCC consideration of all broadcast ownership rule changes.…
Continue Reading Supreme Court to Hear Appeal of Third Circuit Rejection of FCC Changes to Broadcast Ownership Rules

Here are some of the regulatory developments and legal actions of the last week of significance to broadcasters, 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 decided to consider the appeals by the FCC and industry groups of the

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Where do all the Washington DC legal issues facing TV broadcasters stand? While we try on this Blog to write about many of those issues, we can’t always address everything that is happening. Every few months, my partner David O’Connor and I update a list of the legal and regulatory issues facing TV broadcasters.…

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

  • Political advertising will continue to blanket the airwaves for the next month and a half and

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As broadcasters continue to respond to the coronavirus while sometimes juggling work duties with family responsibilities like at-home virtual schooling, it would be easy to overlook regulatory dates and responsibilities.  This post should help alert you to some important dates in September that all stations should keep in mind – and we will also provide a reminder of some of the dates to remember in early October.  As in any year, as summer ends, regulatory activity picks up – and this year appears to be no different.

Each year, in September, regulatory fees are due, as the FCC is required to collect them before the October 1 start of the new fiscal year.  We expect that the final amount of those fees, and the deadlines and procedures for payment, should be announced any day.  For broadcasters, one of the big issues is whether those fees will be adjusted downward from what was initially proposed by the FCC in their Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in this proceeding.  The National Association of Broadcasters has been leading an effort (we wrote about this here and NAB detailed recent meetings between CEO Gordon Smith and members of its legal department with FCC staff here and here) urging the FCC to reduce the amount of fees owed by broadcasters, in part because of the financial toll the pandemic has taken on the industry and in part because the proposed fee structure, which is determined by estimates as to how many FCC staffers are detailed to regulating an industry and the related benefit that industry receives, inaccurately reflects the number of FCC employees who work on radio issues.  Look for that decision very soon.…
Continue Reading September Regulatory Dates for Broadcasters: Annual Regulatory Fees, Lowest Unit Rate Window Opening, C-Band Reimbursement, Rulemaking Comments and More

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

  • The FCC acted this week on two media modernization items that had been teed up for

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