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With less than a month to go before the November election, we can expect more and more attack ads, some of which may lead to cease and desist letters from the candidate being attacked.  These letters can raise the risk of defamation claims against broadcasters and cable companies when the ads are not bought by candidates.  The use of artificial intelligence in such ads raises the prospect of even nastier attack ads, and its use raises a whole host of legal issues beyond defamation worries, though it raises those too (see our article here on defamation concerns about AI generated content, and our articles here, here and here about other potential FCC and state law liability arising from such ads – note that since our last article on state AI laws, there are now over 20 states with AI laws I place).  Given the potential for a nasty election season getting even nastier, we thought that we would revisit our warning about broadcasters needing to assess the content of attack ads – particularly those from non-candidate groups. 

As we have written before, Section 315 of the Communications Act forbids broadcasters (and local cable companies) from editing the message of a candidate or rejecting that ad based on what is says except in extreme circumstances where the ad itself would violate a federal criminal law and possibly if it contains a false EAS alert (see, for instance, our articles here, here and here).  Because broadcasters cannot censor candidate ads, the Supreme Court has ruled that broadcasters are immune from any liability for the content of those ads.  (Note that this protection applies only to over-the-air broadcasters and local cable companies – the no censorship rule does not apply to cable networks or online distribution – see our articles here and here)  Other protections, such as Section 230, may apply to candidate ads placed on online platforms, but the circumstances in which the ad became part of the program offering need to be considered. Continue Reading Broadcasters Should Evaluate Attack Ads for Liability Concerns in the Final Weeks Before the November Election

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 Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau announced that the deadline for EAS Participants to file their annual Emergency
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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 released a Report and Order permitting digital FM radio stations to operate at different power levels on their
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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 it has corrected its CORES database which had overstated the regulatory fees to be paid by
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The FCC yesterday released a Public Notice announcing that its CORES system, through which regulatory fees are submitted, has been updated and the incorrect regulatory fee amounts for radio stations have been corrected.  As we wrote last week, the FCC asked that radio broadcasters suspend their fee filings when it became apparent that many radio fees had been miscomputed and CORES reported those fees to be much higher than they were supposed to be.  The Public Notice says that problems that caused the misstated fees have been corrected, and that radio operators can now submit their fees. 

The Public Notice says that fees are still due by September 26 at 11:59 PM EDT.  No extension of time appears to have been granted.  The Public Notice also says that the FCC will “reconcile” with radio broadcasters who paid an incorrect amount before the issue with CORES was discovered -seemingly indicating that refunds will be provided to those who paid more than was due.  The FCC says that they will be reaching out to those broadcasters who paid incorrect amounts before the CORES problem was discovered. Continue Reading FCC Announces Filing of Radio Regulatory Fees is Back On – Due Date Still September 26

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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As we noted on our Blog earlier this week, there were reported problems with the system for filing annual regulatory fees.  Fee amounts in the FCC’s CORES system, where the fee payments are made, were not corresponding in some cases to the FCC’s look-up system for checking what a station’s regulatory fees were supposed to…

Update – 9/13/2024 – We are hearing that fee increases being reported by many radio stations may not have resulted, as we speculate below, on the use of new census data, but instead from incorrect FCC calculations. If your fees went up unexpectedly, you may want to investigate further to see if the population covered by your station was properly computed.

Further Update – 9/13/2024, 5:30 PM EDT – The FCC has acknowledged issues with its computation of fees for radio stations. As we note in a new article that we just posted, the FCC has asked that broadcasters wait to submit their fees until the issue has been resolved. The FCC has not yet extended the due date for the fees, and we expect that the FCC will work quickly to update their CORES fee filing system to correct the fee amounts.

As we noted this past weekend in our weekly update of regulatory actions, the FCC last Friday released its Order setting the regulatory fees due from broadcasters and other FCC regulated entities – fees that the FCC is required to collect each year the start of the federal government’s new fiscal year which begins in October.  This week, the FCC released a series of public notices detailing filing procedures.  First was a Public Notice setting the deadline for payment of the fees as 11:59 PM Eastern Time on September 26.  That Notice also stated that fees must be paid through the FCC’s CORES database, which is now open for such payments. That initial Notice promised a series of other public notices which followed, each addressing particular aspects of the fee filing process.  However, even with all the notices about procedures, there already have been issues reported and questions about some of the payments and processes.

The follow-up public notices included a Fact Sheet – “What You Owe” – from the Media Bureau setting out specific fee filing procedures for broadcasters.  That Fact Sheet, in addition to reiterating the requirement that fees be paid through the CORES system, notes that there is also a Media Services webpage from which broadcasters can view their fee obligations and get other information about the fee filing process.  It has been reported that this webpage has, in some cases, been providing information different than that contained in the CORES system – including different information about the amounts of the fees that are owed for specific stations.  We understand that the FCC is looking at these discrepancies and have been told that the CORES data should be the correct information.  But if this issue comes up for one of your stations, we suggest an inquiry to confirm which payment amount is correct.Continue Reading FCC Regulatory Fees Due September 26  – FCC CORES Database Available for Payment, Some Filing Glitches Reported

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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