October is, on paper, a busy month of regulatory deadlines for broadcasters.  As set forth below, the month includes the requirement for almost all broadcasters to complete and upload to their public file their Quarterly Issues/Programs Lists, as well as the date for broadcasters to submit to the FCC their ETRS Form One reporting basic information about their EAS equipment.  There are also routine EEO annual deadlines for stations in several states, and the response deadline for the 300 stations subject to the FCC’s first EEO audit under the new administration – which included new questions about stations’ DEI practices.  A “major change” filing window for LPTV stations and TV translators is also scheduled to open this month.  But these and other deadlines could be affected by the looming 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).  If a shutdown does occur, the FCC, the FTC, the Copyright Office and other federal agencies may have to pause their operations, which may result in some of the regulatory deadlines discussed below for the FCC being delayed.  Note that, in some cases, agencies have some funds set aside that allow them to keep functioning for a few extra days, which has been the case for the FCC during several of the last government shutdowns, but that is not assured.  Because of the potential of this extended operation even if there is a shutdown, do not assume that regulatory deadlines set forth below will be postponed by a funding impasse. 

In the past, when there has been a pause in government operations and after any residual funds to keep the agency operating have been expended, agencies like the FCC ceased the processing of routine applications and paused all other routine work, staying open only to the extent necessary to deal with emergencies and other vital activity.  In at least one shutdown, the FCC even limited access to its website and online systems. In the past, FCC filings have been suspended, with additional time being provided after the government reopens to make filings that were due during the shutdown.  But details are different in each shutdown.  If Congress cannot resolve the funding issues by October 1, we would expect that the FCC and other agencies important to broadcasters to issue public notices about specific policies to be applied after funding runs out.  Stay tuned to see if any of the dates below have to be rescheduled.

October 1 is the deadline for radio and TV station employment units in Alaska, American Samoa, Florida, Guam, Hawaii, Iowa, Missouri, Northern Mariana Islands, Oregon, Puerto Rico, 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).