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.
Television
June Regulatory Dates for Broadcasters – EEO, Rulemaking Comments, AM Congressional Hearings, and More
Though school is out for many, the FCC does not take a summer recess. Instead, regulation continues. While the pace of new FCC regulatory issues for broadcasters has slowed, perhaps pending the confirmation of a new Commissioner and the return of the FCC to full strength, there are still regulatory matters in June worth watching. Some are routine, others look more to the future – but all are worth watching just the same.
One of the routine regulatory deadlines comes on June 1, as it is the deadline for Radio and Television Station Employment Units in Arizona, District of Columbia, Idaho, Maryland, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico, Ohio, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wyoming with 5 or more full-time employees to upload to their online public inspection file their Annual EEO Public File Report. 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 5 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 a station’s website, if it has a website. …
Biden Administration Nominates Fifth FCC Commissioner, and Renominates Two Existing Commissioners – What Broadcast Issues Could a Full FCC Resolve?
This week brought the news that the Biden administration has nominated Anna Gomez for the open Democratic FCC seat that Gigi Sohn was to fill until she asked that her nomination be withdrawn in March, after a prolonged debate over her confirmation. Gomez is experienced in government circles, having worked at NTIA (a Department of…
This Week in Regulation for Broadcasters: May 15 to May 19, 2023
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.
- On May 17, the AM For Every Vehicle Act was introduced in both the US Senate and the House of
FCC Seeks Comments on Proposed Annual Regulatory Fees – Proposal Includes a Decrease in Fees To Be Paid By Broadcasters
By David Oxenford on
This week, the FCC released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking containing its proposal for the annual regulatory fees to be paid by broadcasters in September of this year. The annual fees are paid by all entities that the FCC regulates to reimburse the government for the cost of FCC operations. The FCC decides how much each industry pays based on the percentage of the FCC’s workforce which is dedicated to regulating that industry. In recent years, there has been significant debate over the amount of fees paid by broadcasters, with broadcast interests arguing that the FCC’s allocation of its workforce overestimated the number of employees working on broadcast matters. In the proposal released this week, the FCC appeared to agree, allocating to other industries the work done by certain employees who were at least partially counted against broadcasters in the past. This resulted in a proposal for the total fees to be paid by broadcast interests to decrease from the $62.07 million paid in 2022 to $55.68 million for 2023.
The Commission will take comments on the proposed allocations and come up with final numbers late in the summer. In recent years, the final order setting the fees has been released right around the Labor Day weekend. Fees are typically paid in mid to late September (because they must be paid before the new fiscal year begins on October 1).…
This Week in Regulation for Broadcasters: May 8 to May 12, 2023
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 a Public Notice announcing that EEO Mid-Term Reviews for radio and television stations will start
More FCC EEO News – FCC Reminds Broadcasters that EEO Mid-Term Reviews to Begin in June
By David Oxenford on
Yesterday, in our article about the recent FCC random audit of the EEO performance of over 200 radio and TV stations, we noted that the FCC also reviews the EEO performance of broadcasters in connection with complaints, license renewal applications, and at the midpoint of the license period of most TV stations and larger radio operations. The FCC’s Enforcement Bureau, in a Public Notice released yesterday, reminded us that this Mid-Term Review process is about to begin. The FCC will be reviewing the performance of larger radio clusters in Maryland, DC, Virginia, and West Virginia, who are required to upload their Annual EEO Public Inspection File reports to their online public file by June 1. While it is sometimes hard to believe how quickly time has passed, stations in these states are now at the mid-point of their licenses, as their last license renewal applications were filed on or before June 1, 2019.
The FCC’s Mid-Term EEO review in the past was conducted through the filing of a Form 397 Report. That report required that a licensee attach the last two years of EEO Public Inspection file reports and provide a contact person for EEO compliance at the station “employment unit” (a cluster of commonly controlled stations serving the same geographic area sharing at least one employee). In 2019, the FCC did away with that report, finding that the employment reports were already available in station online public inspection files (and that the person responsible for EEO was already identified in the materials submitted with the station’s last renewal application)(see our article here). So instead of filing a form, the FCC will simply review what is already in the public file. But the Mid-Term review is only required for larger radio groups, which required the FCC to implement a settings update in their online public files.…
Reminder About Broadcasters’ FCC EEO Obligations After the April’s First 2023 Audit of Station Performance
By David Oxenford on
At the end of April, we noted in our weekly summary of regulatory actions for broadcasters that the FCC had issued its first EEO audit notice for 2023 (available here), this time targeting over 200 radio and TV stations. Those stations, and the station employment units (commonly owned stations serving the same area) with which they are associated, must provide to the FCC (by uploading the information to their online public inspection file) their last two years of EEO Annual Public File reports, as well as backing data to show that the station in fact did everything that was required under the FCC rules. The response to the April audit is due to be uploaded to the public file of affected stations by June 8, 2023.
While we noted the release of the audit notice, we thought that we should post our customary article describing the audit requirements and the basics of the FCC EEO rules as a reminder to all stations as to their general FCC EEO obligations. The FCC has promised to randomly audit approximately 5% of all broadcast stations each year. As the response (and the audit letter itself) must be uploaded to the public file, it can be reviewed not only by the FCC, but also by anyone else with an internet connection anywhere, at any time. The recent fine imposed on Cumulus Media for a late upload of a single EEO Annual Public File Report (see our article here) and the FCC’s pending consideration of the return of the EEO Form 395 reporting on the race and gender of all station employees (see our article here), shows how seriously the FCC takes EEO obligations. So, whether you are on the list or not, this is a good time for broadcasters to review what is generally required by the FCC’s EEO rules.…
This Week in Regulation for Broadcasters: April 24 to April 28, 2023
By David Oxenford & Robert Primosch on
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 issued the first of its Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) audit letters for 2023 to randomly selected
May Regulatory Dates for Broadcasters – Rulemaking Comments on Various TV Issues and More
May is relatively light on scheduled regulatory deadlines for broadcasters, but the following dates are worthy of note. In addition, always remember to keep in touch with your legal and regulatory advisors to make sure that you don’t overlook any regulatory deadlines that are specific to your station.
Comments are due on May 15, with reply comments due on June 13, on the FCC’s Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) requesting comment on a variety of proposed rules implementing the Low Power Protection Act (LPPA). The LPPA provides certain low power television stations in small markets with a “limited window of opportunity” to apply to become Class A television stations with primary status, protecting them from interference from new or improved full-power stations. The FCC is seeking comment on interpreting the eligibility requirements for stations seeking this status.…