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.
Last week, as we noted in our monthly look ahead at the regulatory dates of importance to broadcasters in August, the reinstatement of the rule prohibiting the duplication of programming on FM stations went into effect. The FCC Order reinstating the rule is interesting both for its substance, and for the parties pushing for that reinstatement – principally representatives of the music industry. As we note below, even though the rule is now back in effect, the NAB has asked for reconsideration of that action.
First, let’s look at what the rule provides. The reinstated rule prohibits any commonly owned or operated (e.g., through a time brokerage agreement) commercial FM station from duplicating more than 25% of its weekly programming on another FM station if there is overlap of the 3.16 mv/m (70 dbu) contours of the two stations, and that area of overlap constitutes 50% of the 3.16 mv/m predicted coverage area of either of the overlapping stations. Program duplication is not limited to simultaneous transmission of the same programming – the rule by its terms defines “duplication” to include the broadcast of the same programming any time within a 24-hour period. Continue Reading FM Programming Nonduplication Rule Goes Back into Effect – A Win for the Music Industry While the NAB Objects
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.
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.
Last week, we wrote about the impact of the FCC’s decision to standardize certifications from program buyers verifying that they are not representatives of foreign governments – and the accompanying decision to expand that requirement to political issue advertising and paid PSAs. In that article, we noted the August 15 effective date for most
Earlier this year, we posted updated guidelines about engaging in or accepting advertising or promotions that directly or indirectly allude to the Super Bowl without a license from the NFL or the Final Four Tournament without a license from the NCAA. See here, here and here. Now, it is time to think about these issues in the context of the 2024 Paris Olympics!
The guidance from our prior blog posts addressed the following subjects, and offered warnings about conducting any of these activities when tied to any trademarked phrase referring to events like the Super Bowl or March Madness:
The concepts advanced in those discussions apply equally to the Olympics, but the US Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC), formerly the United States Olympic Committee (USOC), has a unique weapon in its arsenal, so there are additional considerations of which you should take note.
Ted Stevens Olympic and Amateur Sports Act
In addition to having trademark rights based on registration and use of its marks, the USOPC is the beneficiary of a special federal statute, the Ted Stevens Olympic and Amateur Sports Act, which grants it the exclusive right to use various words and logos commercially or in connection with an athletic event, performance or competition. These marks include “United States Olympic Committee,” “Olympic,” “Olympiad,” “Pan American,” “Cities Altius Forties,” “Paralympic,” “Paralympic” and the symbol of the International Olympic Committee – the five interlocking, blue, yellow, black, green and red rings (shown below).
As a result, unlike other trademark owners, to make a claim against a third party’s use of a mark, the USOPC does not need to assert that the use of the mark is likely to create consumer confusion, dilute the distinctiveness of the USOPC’s marks or tarnish the USOPC’s marks. If any of the marks are used, even in a context far removed from the events beginning in Paris this weeknd, liability can be found. Only if the mark being used is similar, but not identical, to an Olympic insignia, must the USOPC show a likelihood of confusion.Continue Reading Ring! Ring! Ring! Ring! Ring! It’s the Olympics Calling!
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.
Update, 7/26/2024 – We understand that the FCC has decided that the requirement for verification of the buyers of issues ads and paid PSAs will not go into effect on August 15, as this article stated. Instead, as we report in this article, the new requirement will require approval of the Office of Management and Budget, thus delaying its implementation for some time. As the FCC has not released any document specifically confirming the delay in the implementation of this verification requirement, we suggest that you confirm this understanding with your own counsel.
The FCC this week issued a Public Notice announcing the effective date of certain portions of the FCC Order released in June adopting changes to its requirements that broadcasters obtain certifications from buyers of program time on their stations that the sponsors are not foreign governments or agents of those governments. As we wrote when the Order was released, the order had some good parts and some that could add additional burdens on broadcasters. It is the latter that become effective on August 15, with most of the rest awaiting approval for the information collection requirements from the Office of Management and Budget under the Paperwork Reduction Act.
What is the “bad part” that will become effective on August 15? It is the portion of the Order that requires broadcasters to get certifications not only from the buyers of program time (certifications that have been required since March 2022 – see our article here), but that they also get these certifications from buyers of spot advertising time unless the ad is for a commercial product or service. That means that broadcasters, when they are selling political issue ads and paid PSAs, will need to go through the same process as they do when they sell blocks of program time. They will need to get the sponsor of these ads to provide a certification consistent with the the certification requirements for all leased programming time, to demonstrate that the buyer is not a foreign government or the agent of a foreign government. As we will be entering the peak of political advertising time just about the time that this Order becomes effective, and as so much money is not spent by candidates but instead by PACs and other non-candidate political organizations, this will immediately impose new information gathering requirements from these political buyers – right in the heat of a campaign. Continue Reading August 15 Is the Effective Date of Requirements for Foreign Government Certifications for Political Issue Advertising and Paid PSAs
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.
