The FCC today released a Public Notice announcing a 60 day settlement window for resolving conflicts between mutually exclusive Low Power Television applications for digital companion channels. Between now and December 15, applicants in 192 separate groups can file engineering amendments to remove the conflict between their applications. Parties cannot pay more than the reimbursement
Cable System Requests Must Carry for TV Station
In one of those "man bites dog" situations, the FCC yesterday decided a case where a cable television system asked that the FCC add the communities that it serves to a nearby television market so that it could carry a television station from that nearby market. This is in contrast to the usual market modification cases
Telco Merger Setting a Model for the Ownership Rules Process?
Last week, the FCC had on its open meeting agenda the approval of AT&T’s acquisition of BellSouth. After the Democratic Commissioners were not ready to vote for approval of the transaction, the Commission delayed approval of the deal to give the public the opportunity to comment on some possible conditions to be put on the
Arnold and Leno – Making Law?
This past week’s appearance of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger with Jay Leno on the Tonight Show raised the question of when the equal opportunities requirements of Section 315 of the Communications Act apply. While there has been extensive press coverage of the event, seemingly asking why the Democratic candidate is not by law entitled to equal time, the policy of the Commission has been to treat most interview programs, even ones that usually concentrate on entertainment matters, as "bona fide news or news interview" programs, exempt from the equal time obligations.
While, at one time, the FCC had considered only traditional news and news interview programs (like Meet the Press or Face the Nation) to be "bona fide news or news interview programs." But in the 1990s, the Commission began to realize that political discourse and the coverage of political races often occurred in programs much different than these traditional news programs. To encourage this expanded coverage of the political process, the bona fide news exemption had to be extended to programs that routinely featured newsmakers, though the programs themselves might more often focus on entertainment or less serious programming.
The morning "news" programs like Today and Good Morning America were quickly recognized as bona fide news interview programs, and then talk programs like Donahue, Geraldo and Sally Jesse Raphael were later recognized to be exempt. And, as time went on, the Commission recognized that the even programs that were far more entertainment oriented could still have serious discussions (or at least discussions relevant to their particular audiences) about political issues. Specific exemptions were granted to the Howard Stern program, Imus in the Morning, and to Entertainment Tonight, which all, from time to time, interviewed political figures or other newsmakers about topics of interest to their audience. And, while many of these programs filed with the FCC asking for specific declarations that the programs were indeed bona fide news interview programs and exempt from the equal time requirements, the exemption applies to any program that meets the FCC’s standards, without the need for a prior determination from the FCC that they are exempt.
Google’s Purchase of You Tube Highlights On-line Copyright Issues
Google’s recent announced plans to purchase You Tube has ignited a veritable blizzard of discussion about potential copyright litigation that could result from the user-generated content that forms the backbone of the You Tube experience. For broadcasters who have been venturing into the on-line world, this discussion highlights the cautions that they should exercise in
Copyright Royalty Board Announces Music Recordkeeping and Reporting Requirements for Internet Streaming
The Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) has just announced the required recordkeeping format for Internet webcasters streaming on the Internet. The full text of the decision can be found at http://www.loc.gov/crb/fedreg/2006/71fr59010-9.html
Basically, the requirements set forth by the CRB obligate those streaming their signals on the Internet must keep track of the music that they play for at least two weeks of every quarter, and report that music to SoundExchange in an ASCII format. The CRB found that an ASCII formatted report could be generated by Excel or Quattro Pro spread sheets. The Board’s decision also sets forth specifics as to format, headers and other details of the reported information.
SoundExchange had previously prepared model reports for recordkeeping using Excel and has been ordered by the CRB to develop one for Quattro Pro. The Excel model will presumably be modified to come into line with the CRB’s decision. A copy of SoundExchange’s model can be found at http://www.soundexchange.com/licensee/licensee_cws.html#reporting
Services have been required to keep information about the music that they play since an interim Order issued by the Copyright Office in April 2004. The new Order from the CRB contemplates that the information that has been retained by Internet services be provided using this newly mandated format. Continue Reading Copyright Royalty Board Announces Music Recordkeeping and Reporting Requirements for Internet Streaming
AM Tower Fencing Requirements Cannot be Delegated
In a decision released Friday, the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau imposed a fine of $7000 on a station for violation of Section 73.49 of the Rules, requiring AM station towers with the potential for RF radiation at their base to be completely enclosed within a fence or other secure enclosure. What was notable about this decision is
Obesity Task Force Announced
Recently, we wrote about reports that the FCC would be creating an Obesity Task Force. On September 27, Senator Brownback, FCC Chairman Martin, and FCC Commissioner Tate announced the formation of that task force. The task force will examine the impact of the media and advertising on children’s health. The press release stated:
“Given
The Censorship Issue – Dealing with Objections to Candidate Ads
From watching television in almost any state with a contested election, it’s clear that it’s political season again. As the ads multiply, one of the most common tactics to disrupt an ad campaign is to write a letter to a station saying that the ad is untrue and should be pulled. However, when an ad is purchased by the candidate or his authorized campaign committee in connection with the campaign, and contains the voice or picture of the candidate, the circumstances in which an ad can be pulled are quite limited. Nevertheless, the questions are rolling in.
In one race in the Midwest, stations received complaints about a Federal candidate ad that did not contain the full disclaimer required by BCRA (the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, which requires the now familiar statement from Federal candidates that “I’m John Smith, and I approved this ad”). A competing candidate urged stations to pull the ad that did not contain that disclaimer. In fact, stations cannot pull the ad that does not contain the disclaimer (as long as it has the FCC mandated “paid for” or “sponsored by” language at the end of the spot). While the candidate may get into trouble with the Federal Election Commission for not having the BCRA language, and the station may deny lowest unit rate if the required language is not on a spot that mentions an opposing candidate, the spot cannot be pulled from the airwaves.
In another race in a Western state, the question was raised about the use of one of the words that the FCC has ruled to be "indecent" in almost any circumstance. At the NAB Radio Show, the FCC’s Bobby Baker was asked if such an ad could be channeled to the "safe harbor" periods after 10 PM. Bobby answered that it was possible that such channeling would be permitted, but that the FCC has never addressed that question. So, for now, the issue is unsettled until someone asks for a declaratory ruling or the issue is otherwise put before the FCC.Continue Reading The Censorship Issue – Dealing with Objections to Candidate Ads
Radio Show Focus on New Media
The NAB Radio Show held the week before last, in conjunction with the Radio and Records Convention, was notable in its attention to new media. It’s been years since the NAB has devoted so much time to new media issues (remember the Streaming at NAB sessions that were held at the radio show early in the decade?). And the new media sessions have perhaps never been as central to the Convention. Sessions on streaming, podcasting, downloads, blogging and just generally dealing with the media competition abounded at the convention.
The emphasis on the new media was perhaps most evident and presented most starkly in a pre-convention Summit put on by Jacobs Media. There, one presenter, Gordon Borrell of Borrell Associates, Inc., talked about the reach of media and information on the Internet, and just how prevalent it has become – even in reaching fighting for local advertising dollars – perhaps the one place that over-the-air broadcasters thought was most securely their own. Mr. Borrell pointed to websites such as those run by the Cape May Herald and the Lawrence County Kansas Journal-World as ones which show the power of the Internet to contribute to or eclipse their traditional sponsoring media (he said that the Lawrence site did over a million dollars a year in on-line revenue),. Even sites with no traditional media partner, like Hartford.com, were said to be generating hundreds of thousands of dollars in local advertising revenue. What was perhaps most surprising was his assertion that in 40% of markets, there is an on-line site that has greater advertising revenue that the most successful radio station in the market.
Another presenter, Jason Calacanis, CEO of Weblogs, went so far as to suggest that the principal purpose of today’s radio station should be using the station to drive traffic to the station’s website before the station itself became obsolete. Videos of the Jacobs Media Summit are available on-line, here. While many others found this view to be extreme (Jack Isquith of AOL Music, in a session on streaming held several days later, talked at one point of the “elegance” of radio’s ability to reach local mass audiences more efficiently than on-line media), the whole convention seemed to be in agreement that radio needs to concentrate on the new media and develop their web presence. Continue Reading Radio Show Focus on New Media