While May is one of those months that does not have any routine, scheduled FCC filing deadlines, there are still a number of regulatory dates and deadlines that are worthy of note for broadcasters.  As detailed below, this includes comment deadlines in several FCC rulemaking proceedings, the effective date of the FCC’s application fee increases (including fees for broadcast station applications), the deadline for LPTV to Class A conversion applications, and the tentative deadline for TV stations to begin complying with the FCC’s audible crawl rule if it is not extended again.  As always, remember to keep in touch with your legal and regulatory advisors to make sure that you don’t overlook any other regulatory deadlines we may have missed here or ones that are specific to your station.

One May date with potential broad interest is May 23 – the effective date of the FCC’s January Order increasing its application fees by an average of more than 17%, including those for broadcast station applications, to reflect changes in the Consumer Price Index.  We previously provided more details on our Broadcast Law Blog on the increases and suggested that, where possible (e.g., in connection with internal company reorganizations or for planned technical changes), broadcasters file applications as soon as possible to beat the implementation of these increased fees.Continue Reading May 2025 Regulatory Dates for Broadcasters – Comment Deadlines on ATSC 3.0 and EAS, Application Fee Increases, Audible Crawl Rule, Political File Windows, and More