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Today, we would normally publish our look back at the prior week’s regulatory activity of importance to broadcasters but, as we noted last week, we are taking this week off and will publish a summary of the regulatory activity during the two week holiday period next Sunday.  But, as the start of a new month is upon us, we instead offer our regular look ahead at regulatory dates and deadlines for January.   

With each New Year, there are a host of new regulatory deadlines to keep broadcasters busy.  In January, this includes some recurring FCC deadlines like Quarterly Issues/Programs lists for all full power broadcasters, and a host of other quarterly obligations that are not as widely applicable.  For TV broadcasters, the month brings obligations including the annual children’s television reports on educational and informational programming and a public file certification on commercial limits, as well as the extension to stations in 10 additional markets of the audio description requirements. 

In addition to comments in rulemaking proceedings described below, January brings some new obligations.  For commercial broadcasters streaming audio programming on the Internet, there are new SoundExchange royalties that cover performances made on and after January 1, and a requirement for a higher minimum fee due at the end of the month.  There is also a freeze that will be imposed on applications for major changes by existing LPTV stations and TV translators related to a window that will open in March, the first window in well over a decade for the filing of applications for new LPTV stations. 

Let’s look at some of the specific dates and deadlines for broadcasters in January, starting with the routine deadlines that come up every January, and then moving to some of new obligations for 2026.  After that we provide January deadlines for comments in rulemaking proceedings (including reply comments on proposed changes to the FCC’s ownership rules and initial comments on proposals to speed the ATSC 3.0 conversion), a look at lowest unit rate windows that open in January for 2026 elections, and finally a few deadlines in early February.Continue Reading January 2026 Regulatory Dates for Broadcasters – Quarterly Issues/Programs Lists, Children’s Television Programming Reporting, New Webcasting Royalties, Expansion of Audio Description Requirements, Comment Deadlines, Political Windows, and More

  • President Trump this week issued an Executive Order instructing various government agencies to take steps to move marijuana from Schedule
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Yesterday, we saw President Trump issue an Executive Order instructing various government agencies to take steps to move marijuana from Schedule I (an illegal controlled substance with no medical uses and a high degree of potential abuse) to Schedule III, which includes many other drugs, such as ketamine and Tylenol with codeine, that require a prescription and FDA approval. While a rescheduling to Schedule III may have an impact on research and on marijuana’s medical uses, broadcasters need to continue to take a very cautious approach to marijuana advertising while the details of any possible changes unfold, as it is likely that, even after any rescheduling that makes marijuana a Schedule III drug, advertising will still be restricted under federal law.

While many states have, as a matter of state law, legalized medical and even recreational marijuana use, there is still concern for broadcasters accepting advertising for its sale and use.  As we have noted many times before (see, for example, our articles here, here, and here), there is a concern that the sale and distribution of marijuana, even when legal under state law, remains a felony under federal law. Under 21 USC § 843 (b) and (c), to use communications facilities, including radio and the internet, to facilitate any sale of any federally controlled substance is a felony.  This should be of particular concern to broadcasters, which are federally regulated.  If the FCC is faced with a complaint about a broadcaster “facilitating” the sale of marijuana through running advertising – an act illegal under federal law – the FCC might feel a need to take action against the broadcaster. Continue Reading President Trump Issues Executive Order to Remove Marijuana from Schedule I – Concerns about Broadcast Advertising Remain

In the last few weeks, I’ve spoken to meetings of several broadcast organizations about important pending issues at the FCC and, unfortunately, had to cancel my planned appearance at the TVOT (TV of Tomorrow) conference in New York City where I was to have talked about the same issues.  In any such conversation, probably the most talked about issue is the potential change in the broadcast ownership rules.  Comments are due to be filed in the FCC’s Quadrennial Review of media ownership on Wednesday (December 17).  We recently explored the radio issues to be considered, and they are relatively straightforward – should the FCC retain or significantly modify the local radio ownership rules?  But I am finding that there is some confusion about the TV rules. The comments due on Wednesday address only the local TV ownership rules, but potential changes in the national rules are also being considered in a separate proceeding, and changes in both are needed to allow some of the pending transactions to go forward (like the Nexstar-TEGNA deal).  We thought that we would explore the TV issues in this article.

The national ownership caps were set by Congress and prohibit broadcast owners from holding an interest in TV stations reaching more than 39% of the national television audience (though, in practice, the real limit is much higher as the audience of UHF television stations, which are now the majority of stations, still count as half that of VHF stations, the dominant transmission standard in 2004 when the 39% cap was adopted by Congress – see our article here on the UHF discount).  The local TV ownership rules which currently limit any owner from having attributable interests in more than 2 TV stations in any market, are considered by the FCC in Congressionally mandated Quadrennial Reviews of the local ownership rules.  A waiver of both of these mandates, or a change in the rules themselves, is necessary before a deal like that proposed by Nexstar can be approved.  Is that likely to happen?  There are many issues to consider.Continue Reading The Limits on Ownership of Over-the-Air Television Stations – Looking at the Two FCC Proceedings that Could Change the Rules

  • The FCC’s Enforcement Bureau entered into a Consent Decree with a public broadcaster to resolve an investigation into whether false
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Using the EAS alert tones without a real emergency has led to several FCC fines in recent years – including many fines in the hundreds of thousands of dollars (see, for instance, our articles here, here, and here).  This week, the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau released a Consent Decree with a noncommercial radio group (American Public Media Group, Minnesota Public Radio d/b/a American Public Media, and Southern California Public Radio)  to settle an investigation into the use of these tones in a BBC program about chasing tornadoes that ran on the group’s stations, and on other public broadcasting stations around the country to which the group syndicated the program.  As part of this decree, the group agreed to pay $86,400 to the government.  According to the decree, the program included two instances where EAS tones were used, and pieces of NOAA tornado warning alert audio were also aired.  In total, 46 stations associated with the group, and about 500 other stations that received the program from the group, ran these tones. 

The use of EAS tones without a real emergency (or in connection with an authorized test) violated Section 11.45 of the Commission’s rules.   As noted in the Consent Decree, the Commission believes that the use of simulated or actual EAS Tones for non-authorized purposes—such as commercial or entertainment purposes—can lead to dangerous “alert fatigue” where the public becomes desensitized to the alerts, questioning whether the alerts are for a real, imminent threat or some other cause. Moreover, the broadcast of these EAS Tones could result in false activations of the Emergency Alert System, as any stations that monitor a station that runs a false alert may have their own EAS equipment triggered – theoretically cascading the alert throughout the system.Continue Reading $86,400 Penalty on Noncommercial Broadcaster for Use of EAS Tones in Programming When No Emergency Existed

The deadline for candidates in Texas to file for a place on the March 3 primary ballot was this week.  Deadlines for filing to become a qualified candidate in other states will follow soon for other primaries that occur in March, and then throughout the first part of 2026.  As a result, broadcast stations and cable companies across the country will be dealing with all of the FCC political rules that become important once you have legally qualified candidates.  Even before the deadline for candidates to file for their place on the ballot, stations are dealing with buys from potential candidates, PACs, and other third-party groups looking to establish positions for the important 2026 elections. Spending on political advertising is sure to increase as the new year rolls around, and some suggest that it could rival or even exceed the record amounts spent in prior elections. What should broadcast stations be thinking about now to get ready for the 2026 elections?

The week before Thanksgiving I did a webinar for over 20 state broadcast associations on these issues (check with your state association to see if they have access to an archived copy of that webinar).  We have also written about some of the issues that broadcasters should already be considering in our Political Broadcasting Guide (which we plan to update shortly). But there are many issues that broadcasters need to consider now.  Some of those are discussed below.Continue Reading Getting Ready for the 2026 Election – Steps Broadcasters Should Be Taking Now to Avoid Legal Issues with Political Broadcasting

  • The FCC’s Media Bureau announced that the deadline for broadcasters to comply with the new foreign sponsorship identification requirements has
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Even with the holidays upon us, there are many regulatory dates for broadcasters in December and early January.  That is particularly true this year, now that the federal government shutdown has ended and the FCC is playing catch-up on regulatory deadlines.  As we discuss below and in more detail here, many of these revised dates for the submission of documents that would have been due during the shutdown will fall in the month of December. 

But before we dive into the December dates, one item that broadcasters can scratch off their calendars this month is the Biennial Ownership Report, which would have been due December 1.  In August, the FCC’s Media Bureau waived the filing requirement while the FCC considers whether to even continue the requirement for the filing of these reports (see our discussion here).  Broadcasters now have until June 1, 2027 to file the report unless the FCC concludes its review before that date and announces a different filing requirement.  The Media Bureau made clear that ownership reports required at other times (e.g., after the consummation of an assignment or transfer of broadcast station licenses or after the grant of a new station’s construction permit) are still required.  It is simply the Biennial Report required from all full-power broadcasters and from LPTV licensees that is on hold. 

Here are some of the upcoming dates and deadlines in December that you should be watching:

December 1 is the extended deadline for all full power and Class A television stations and full power AM and FM radio stations, both commercial and noncommercial, to upload their Quarterly Issues/Program lists for the third quarter of 2025 to their Online Public Inspection Files (OPIFs).  These lists were originally due October 10 but could not be filed by stations due to the government shutdown.  The lists should identify the issues of importance to the station’s service area and the programs that the station aired between July 1 and September 30, 2025, 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 that the FCC has, in the past, placed on the Quarterly Issues/Programs list obligation.Continue Reading December 2025 Regulatory Dates for Broadcasters – Post-Shutdown Deadlines, EEO Public File Reports, Comment Deadlines, Political Windows, and more