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It’s a new year, and as has been our custom at the beginning of each year, we dust off the crystal ball and take a look at what we think may be some of the significant regulatory and legislative issues that broadcasters will be facing in 2025.  This year, there is an extra layer of uncertainty given a new administration, both in the White House and at the FCC.  Already, it appears that a new administration will bring new priorities – some barely on the radar in past years – to the top of the list of the issues that broadcasters will need to be carefully monitoring.

One of those issues has been a possible FCC review of the meaning of the “public interest” standard under which all broadcasters are governed.  As we wrote when President-Elect Trump announced his pick for the new FCC Chair starting on Inauguration Day, Chair-Designate Brendan Carr has indicated that this public interest proceeding will be a high priority.  In his opinion, broadcasters, or perhaps more specifically the news media, have suffered from an erosion of trust, and it has been his expressed opinion that a reexamination of the public interest standard might help to restore public trust.  We noted in our article upon his selection that this is not the first time that there has been a re-examination of that standard.  It has traditionally been difficult to precisely define what the standard means.  In the coming days, we will be writing more about this issue.  But suffice it to say that we are hopeful that any new examination does not lead to more paperwork obligations for broadcasters, as seemingly occurred whenever any broadcast issue was addressed by the current administration.  As we note below, there are several paperwork burdens that we think may disappear in the new administration, so we are not expecting more paper – but we will all need to be carefully watching what develops from any re-examination of the public interest standard.Continue Reading Looking Into the Crystal Ball – What Legal and Policy Issues are Ahead for Broadcasters in 2025?

As 2024 comes to an end, 2025 is beginning to come into focus – a new year that will likely bring big changes to the Washington broadcast regulation scene with the inauguration of a new President and installation of a new FCC chair who has already promised to move forward with policies very different than those of the current administration (see our discussion here and here).  But while we are waiting for the big changes that may occur, there are many more mundane dates and issues to which broadcasters need to pay attention.  Let’s look at what is coming up in the next month.

Broadcasters need to remember that January 10 is the deadline for all full power and Class A TV stations, and full power AM and FM radio stations, both commercial and noncommercial, to upload to their Online Public Inspection Files their Quarterly Issues/Program lists for the fourth quarter of 2024.  The lists should identify the issues of importance to the station’s community and the programs that the station aired between October 1 and December 31, 2024, that addressed those issues.  These lists must be timely uploaded to your station’s OPIF, as the untimely uploads of these documents probably have resulted in more fines in the last decade than for any other FCC rule violation.  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 January 2025 Regulatory Updates for Broadcasters – Quarterly Issues/Programs Lists, Children’s Television Programming Reporting, Expansion of Audio Description Requirements, Political Windows, and More

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.

  • The FCC’s Enforcement Bureau released its second EEO audit notice for 2024.  Audited stations and their station employment units (commonly
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October is, on paper, another busy month of regulatory deadlines for broadcasters.  But there is again the looming possibility of a federal government shutdown beginning October 1 if Congress fails to fund the government for the coming year (or pass a “continuing resolution” to allow government agencies to function at their current levels).  While as of today there are reports of a plan to extend funding through December, until a continuing resolution is passed, the threat remains.  If a shutdown does occur, the FCC, the FTC, and the Copyright Office may have to pause their operations which may result in some of the regulatory deadlines discussed below being delayed.  However, in some cases agencies have leftover funding to keep them functioning for a few extra days.  Stay tuned to see if any of the dates below have to be rescheduled. [Update – 9/26/2024, 9:00 AM – a continuing resolution extending government funding through December 20 was passed late yesterday by both the House and the Senate averting, for now, the shutdown about which we were concerned. Thus, the deadlines listed below are in effect as scheduled]

Assuming this recurring issue is resolved, let’s look at some of the October dates and deadlines, starting with the routine dates of importance to broadcasters. October 1 is the deadline for radio and television station employment units in Alaska, American Samoa, Florida, Guam, Hawaii, Iowa, Missouri, Northern Mariana Islands, Oregon, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Washington with five or more full-time employees to upload their Annual EEO Public File Report to their stations’ Online Public Inspection Files.  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 station’s OPIF, 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 October 2024 Regulatory Dates for Broadcasters – Quarterly Issues Programs Lists, Annual EEO Public File Reports, ETRS Form One, Comment Deadlines, and More

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.

  • The FCC announced that annual regulatory fees must be paid through its CORES database by 11:59 p.m., Eastern Time, on
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Here are some of the regulatory developments of significance to broadcasters from the past two weeks, with links to where you can go to find more information as to how these actions may affect your operations.

  • The FCC released its Second Report and Order setting the annual regulatory fees that broadcasters must pay for 2024. 
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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.

  • Some of the big news for broadcasters this week came not from the FCC, but from the Federal Trade Commission:
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This week, I spent some time at the Podcast Movement Annual Convention, this year held in the DC area.  While the convention is always a good time to catch up with industry friends and to spot new trends (AI was, of course, a topic that was discussed on several panels as it is at virtually every media conference these days), it was also a reminder that with all that has been going on at the FCC and with other regulations, we have not written much about podcasting in the recent past.  Previously, we have covered many issues related to the use of music in podcasts (see, for instance, our articles here, here, and here).  We’ve written about other legal issues that need to be considered in connection with podcasting including getting releases from guests, making sure that ownership of the podcast is clear (an issue potentially of more importance if the Federal Trade Commission’s ban on noncompete agreements in employment contracts goes into effect, as it could result in more changes in employment of employees working on podcasts, though the effective date of any noncompete ban is questionable based on a court action this week that throws out that ban – a decision likely to be appealed), and other issues that I covered in the slides from a presentation presented at the Podcast Movement conference several years ago that remain relevant.   Today, I thought that I would revisit another topic from my prior coverage of podcast legal issues, one that was given new urgency by another recent FTC ruling – sponsorship identification. 

Broadcasters are familiar with the FCC requirements for the identification of those who provide something of value to a station in exchange for any on-air content.  Fines can be issued (and big payments under consent decrees have resulted see, for instance, the cases we noted here and here) from broadcasters who do not follow the FCC’s sponsorship identification rules.  But broadcasters are not as familiar with the fact that the FTC also has rules about sponsorship identification requirements that go beyond the FCC’s obligations, looking at questions including the truthfulness of endorsements and testimonials for products and services.  FTC enforcement can be as severe, if not more severe, than that of the FCC (see, for instance, the FTC’s fines we wrote about two years ago on Google and a broadcaster for having DJs talk about their use of Pixel phones that they had not in fact used).  The FTC last week expanded on its policies by adopting a final rule prohibiting the purchase and sale of fake reviews and testimonials concerning products and services, and allowing the agency to seek civil penalties against knowing violators.  Among other things, the new rule prohibits activities including the buying or selling of fake consumer reviews or testimonials, buying positive or negative consumer reviews, using certain insiders to create consumer reviews or testimonials without clearly disclosing their relationships, creating a company-controlled review website that falsely purports to provide independent reviews, using certain review suppression practices, and selling or purchasing fake indicators of social media influence.  We plan to write more about this FTC decision in the near future, but it is important to note that these FTC policies apply with equal force to podcasters and any other online communications medium.Continue Reading Podcasters and Broadcasters – Disclose Those Sponsors! 

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 announced that oppositions are due August 27 in response to the National Association of Broadcasters’ petition for reconsideration
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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