Even with the holidays upon us, regulation never stops.  There are several yearly deadlines in December which broadcasters need to review, particularly those in certain states with EEO requirements at the beginning of the month.  There is a short freeze on TV applications while applications in a window for new noncommercial TV stations are filed.  And, despite the transition to a Republican-led FCC next year (see our discussion here) and the “pencils-down” requests issued to the FCC by some Republican politicians (see our discussion here), the FCC will be voting on some changes to its broadcast rules at its December 11 open meeting.  What follows are some of the upcoming deadlines that you should be watching.

December 2 is the deadline for the filing of the Annual DTV Ancillary/Supplementary Services Report for the 12-Month Period Ending on September 30, 2024, and the submission of any payments that are due.  This applies to commercial and noncommercial full-power TV stations, Class A TV stations, and LPTV stations (including those operating on Channel 6) that have fee-based, non-broadcast revenues from their digital transmission capabilities.  This means that if TV stations earned fees for data transmission or other non-broadcast services, they must file the report and pay the fees.  If they did not, the report is not required.Continue Reading December 2024 Regulatory Updates for Broadcasters -Annual DTV Ancillary/Supplementary Services Report, EEO Deadlines, NCE TV Filing Window and Related Filing Freezes, Comment Deadlines, and More