- President Trump signed an Executive Order purporting to end federal subsidies for NPR and PBS provided through the Corporation for
Political Broadcasting
This Week in Regulation for Broadcasters: April 21, 2025 to April 25, 2025
This Week in Regulation for Broadcasters: April 14, 2025 to April 18, 2025
- The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit issued a decision that raises significant questions about the FCC’s ability
Less Than a Week to Go Before “Delete, Delete, Delete” Proposals on Eliminating Unnecessary FCC Regulations Are Due – What Should Be Included?
A few weeks ago, FCC Chairman Carr announced the beginning of the “Delete, Delete, Delete” proceeding at the FCC – looking at “alleviating unnecessary regulatory burdens” on the companies that it regulates, across all industries, to unleash companies to innovate, invest, and expand. Comments are due April 11 and replies April 28. With less than a week to go before comments are filed in this latest attempt to lessen the regulatory burden on broadcasters, we thought that we would look at some of the issues that may come up in this proceeding, and some of the policies that stubbornly remain on the books but should be addressed.
Broadcasters are expected to advance many ideas. But, before considering some of the issues likely to be addressed, it is important to put this proceeding in context. This is not the first time broadcasters have been asked to engage in this kind of exercise. In the 1980s, the FCC conducted multiple proceedings to address the “regulatory underbrush,” eliminating, among other things, rules that had required specific amounts of news and public affairs programming on every station, rules mandating a specific number of PSAs, rules requiring specific program and engineering logs as official records for every station, and policies restricting advertising for certain perceived vices like parimutuel betting and fortune tellers. In the 1990s, as a result of the 1996 Telecommunications Act, other obligations were changed (including the adoption of the current local radio ownership rules, the abolition of the ability of any party to file a competing application contending that it should get the right to operate a broadcast station every time a license renewal was filed, and extending the license renewal term from three to eight years (see our article on some of those changes, here). Just eight years ago, FCC Chairman Pai initiated the Modernization of Media Regulation Initiative (see our article here). That proceeding resulted in the abolition or streamlining of many FCC rules, such as the main studio rule (see our articles here and here), some children’s television rules (see our posts here and here), and rules prohibiting same-service radio program duplication by commonly owned stations, although the prohibition on FM/FM duplication by commonly owned stations serving the same area was reinstated by the last administration, though that action remains subject to a reconsideration petition (see our articles here, here, here, and here on some of the other changes brought about by Chairman Pai’s initiative). However, there were many other obligations left unaddressed. There are so many rules applicable to broadcasters, and so many competitive changes in the market have impacted the relevance of many of those rules, that no proceeding ever seems to address every issue it should. But we expect that many rules will be addressed in this “Delete” proceeding. Continue Reading Less Than a Week to Go Before “Delete, Delete, Delete” Proposals on Eliminating Unnecessary FCC Regulations Are Due – What Should Be Included?
This Week in Regulation for Broadcasters: March 24, 2025 to March 28, 2025
- FCC Chairman Carr stated on X that the FCC is prepared to block transactions among FCC-regulated companies, including broadcasters, where
April 2025 Regulatory Updates for Broadcasters – Annual EEO Public File Reports, Comment Deadlines, Quarterly Issues/Programs Lists, Political Windows, and more
April brings a number of routine regulatory dates for broadcasters across the country, including the requirement for posting Quarterly Issues Programs Lists to full-power station’s online public inspection files. April also brings comment deadlines in several rulemaking proceedings including one in which many broadcasters are interested – the FCC’s “Delete, Delete, Delete” proceeding looking to eliminate unnecessary broadcast regulations. Finally, we note lowest unit rate windows that open this month, including one for primaries in the New Jersey gubernatorial race, one of the more significant “off-year” elections in 2025. We look in more detail at some of the most significant deadlines below.
April 1 is the deadline for radio and television station employment units in Delaware, Indiana, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Texas 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 has in the past led to FCC fines (see our article here about a recent $26,000 fine for a single late EEO report).Continue Reading April 2025 Regulatory Updates for Broadcasters – Annual EEO Public File Reports, Comment Deadlines, Quarterly Issues/Programs Lists, Political Windows, and more
This Week in Regulation for Broadcasters: March 17, 2025 to March 21, 2025
- FCC Commissioner Starks announced that he informed President Trump and Senator Minority Leader Schumer (D-NY) that he will resign his
This Week in Regulation for Broadcasters: March 3, 2025 to March 7, 2025
- The FCC released a draft Notice of Inquiry to explore how the FCC can support industry efforts to develop new
March 2025 Regulatory Updates for Broadcasters – Daylight Savings Time, Comment Deadlines, FCC Ownership Rules in Court, Political Windows, and more
While there are only a few regulatory deadlines scheduled for broadcasters this March, with more coming in April, as has occurred so many times in the last few years, we need to remind you that even the FCC deadlines in late March and early April could be postponed if there is a federal government shutdown, as the federal government is funded only through March 14. As we have discussed here with respect to previous potential shutdowns, the FCC and other government agencies may have to cease all but critical functions if they do not have any residual funds to continue operations during a shutdown. Thus, some deadlines could shift if this new administration follows the precedent for shutdowns followed in the past.
Before any potential shutdown, comments are due March 7 responding to the reinstated Center for American Rights’ complaint against a CBS-owned TV station alleging news distortion in its broadcast of a “60 Minutes” interview with Vice President Kamala Harris. CAR’s compliant was originally dismissed as one of the FCC’s last major actions under former Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, but was reinstated one week later under FCC Chairman Carr further investigation (see our discussion here, here, and here). At the FCC’s request, CBS provided the FCC with an unedited transcript and video of the 60 Minutes interview. The FCC also released additional video of the interview that was posted on YouTube. The FCC stated that it wanted to open the proceeding to public participation given the value of transparency and the degree of public interest in the matter. Reply comments are due March 24. Continue Reading March 2025 Regulatory Updates for Broadcasters – Daylight Savings Time, Comment Deadlines, FCC Ownership Rules in Court, Political Windows, and more
This Week in Regulation for Broadcasters: February 17, 2025 to February 21, 2025
- In an effort to exert more control over independent federal agencies, including the FCC, President Trump signed an Executive Order