Discussion of FCC, copyright, advertising and other legal issues of importance to radio and television broadcasters and other media companies
Principal Editor: David O’Connor
Here are some of the regulatory developments of significance to broadcasters from the past week, with links to where you can go to find more information as to how these actions may affect your operations.
It’s a new year, and as has been our custom at the beginning of each year, we dust off the crystal ball and take a look at what we think may be some of the significant regulatory and legislative issues that broadcasters will be facing in 2025. This year, there is an extra layer of uncertainty given a new administration, both in the White House and at the FCC. Already, it appears that a new administration will bring new priorities – some barely on the radar in past years – to the top of the list of the issues that broadcasters will need to be carefully monitoring.
One of those issues has been a possible FCC review of the meaning of the “public interest” standard under which all broadcasters are governed. As we wrote when President-Elect Trump announced his pick for the new FCC Chair starting on Inauguration Day, Chair-Designate Brendan Carr has indicated that this public interest proceeding will be a high priority. In his opinion, broadcasters, or perhaps more specifically the news media, have suffered from an erosion of trust, and it has been his expressed opinion that a reexamination of the public interest standard might help to restore public trust. We noted in our article upon his selection that this is not the first time that there has been a re-examination of that standard. It has traditionally been difficult to precisely define what the standard means. In the coming days, we will be writing more about this issue. But suffice it to say that we are hopeful that any new examination does not lead to more paperwork obligations for broadcasters, as seemingly occurred whenever any broadcast issue was addressed by the current administration. As we note below, there are several paperwork burdens that we think may disappear in the new administration, so we are not expecting more paper – but we will all need to be carefully watching what develops from any re-examination of the public interest standard.Continue Reading Looking Into the Crystal Ball – What Legal and Policy Issues are Ahead for Broadcasters in 2025?
With the election over, broadcasters and their Washington representatives are now trying to decipher what the next administration will have in store at the FCC and other government agencies that regulate the media. Already, the DC press is speculating about who will assume what positions in the government agencies that make these decisions. While those speculations will go on for weeks, we thought that we would look at some of the issues pending before the FCC affecting broadcasters that could be affected by a change in administration.
There are two issues presently before the courts where the current Republican Commissioners dissented from the decisions which led to the current appeals. The FCC’s December 2023 ownership decision (see our summary here) is being appealed by both radio and television interests, arguing that the FCC did not properly relax the existing ownership rules in light of competition from digital media, as required by Congress when it established the requirement for Quadrennial Reviews to review the impact of competition and assess whether existing radio and TV ownership rules remain “necessary” in the public interest. While briefs have already been filed in that case, it will be interesting to see how the new administration deals with the issues raised, as both sitting Republican Commissioners dissented, saying that the FCC should have considered digital competition in substantially relaxing those rules (see Carr dissent here and Simington Dissent here). Even if the change in administration does not change the Commission’s position in court, the 2022 Quadrennial Review has already been started (see our article here), so a new administration already has an open proceeding to revisit those rules.Continue Reading How FCC Regulation of Broadcasters May Change in a New Administration – Looking at the Pending Issues
October is, on paper, another busy month of regulatory deadlines for broadcasters. But there is again the looming possibility of a 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). While as of today there are reports of a plan to extend funding through December, until a continuing resolution is passed, the threat remains. If a shutdown does occur, the FCC, the FTC, and the Copyright Office may have to pause their operations which may result in some of the regulatory deadlines discussed below being delayed. However, in some cases agencies have leftover funding to keep them functioning for a few extra days. Stay tuned to see if any of the dates below have to be rescheduled. [Update – 9/26/2024, 9:00 AM – a continuing resolution extending government funding through December 20 was passed late yesterday by both the House and the Senate averting, for now, the shutdown about which we were concerned. Thus, the deadlines listed below are in effect as scheduled]
Assuming this recurring issue is resolved, let’s look at some of the October dates and deadlines, starting with the routine dates of importance to broadcasters. October 1 is the deadline for radio and television station employment units in Alaska, American Samoa, Florida, Guam, Hawaii, Iowa, Missouri, Northern Mariana Islands, Oregon, Puerto Rico, the 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).Continue Reading October 2024 Regulatory Dates for Broadcasters – Quarterly Issues Programs Lists, Annual EEO Public File Reports, ETRS Form One, Comment Deadlines, and More
Here are some of the regulatory developments of significance to broadcasters from the past two weeks, with links to where you can go to find more information as to how these actions may affect your operations.
Although many, including Congress, may be taking the last of their summer vacations, there are still many dates to which broadcasters should be paying attention this August. One that most commercial broadcasters should be anticipating is the FCC’s order that will set the amount of their Annual Regulatory Fees, which will be paid sometime in September before the October 1 start of the federal government’s new fiscal year. As we wrote here, the FCC has proposed to decrease fees for broadcasters from the amounts paid in prior years. The FCC has also proposed to end its temporary regulatory fee relief measures implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic as well as ending its presumption that silent stations are entitled to fee waivers without providing evidence of financial hardship – which, as we wrote here, broadcasters largely oppose ending because the policies enable struggling broadcasters to avoid costly paperwork and regulatory consequences, helping to avoid loss of service to local communities. Sometime in August (or possibly in the first days of September), the FCC will make a final determination on the amount of the fees, and then announce the deadlines for payment of the fees.
August 1 is the deadline for radio and TV station employment units in California, Illinois, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Wisconsin with five or more full-time employees to upload their Annual EEO Public File Report to their stations’ Online Public Inspection Files (OPIFs). 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 public file, 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).Continue Reading August 2024 Regulatory Dates for Broadcasters– Annual Regulatory Fee Details, EEO Annual Filings, Effective Date of Reinstated FM Non-Duplication Rule, Opening of Window for Class A/ LPTV/ TV Translator Channel Change Applications, and More
Here are some of the regulatory developments of significance to broadcasters from this past week, with links to where you can go to find more information as to how these actions may affect your operations.
Last week, we wrote about the impact of the FCC’s decision to standardize certifications from program buyers verifying that they are not representatives of foreign governments – and the accompanying decision to expand that requirement to political issue advertising and paid PSAs. In that article, we noted the August 15 effective date for most…
Here are some of the regulatory developments of significance to broadcasters from this past week, with links to where you can go to find more information as to how these actions may affect your operations.
Update, 7/26/2024 – We understand that the FCC has decided that the requirement for verification of the buyers of issues ads and paid PSAs will not go into effect on August 15, as this article stated. Instead, as we report in this article, the new requirement will require approval of the Office of Management and Budget, thus delaying its implementation for some time. As the FCC has not released any document specifically confirming the delay in the implementation of this verification requirement, we suggest that you confirm this understanding with your own counsel.
The FCC this week issued a Public Notice announcing the effective date of certain portions of the FCC Order released in June adopting changes to its requirements that broadcasters obtain certifications from buyers of program time on their stations that the sponsors are not foreign governments or agents of those governments. As we wrote when the Order was released, the order had some good parts and some that could add additional burdens on broadcasters. It is the latter that become effective on August 15, with most of the rest awaiting approval for the information collection requirements from the Office of Management and Budget under the Paperwork Reduction Act.
What is the “bad part” that will become effective on August 15? It is the portion of the Order that requires broadcasters to get certifications not only from the buyers of program time (certifications that have been required since March 2022 – see our article here), but that they also get these certifications from buyers of spot advertising time unless the ad is for a commercial product or service. That means that broadcasters, when they are selling political issue ads and paid PSAs, will need to go through the same process as they do when they sell blocks of program time. They will need to get the sponsor of these ads to provide a certification consistent with the the certification requirements for all leased programming time, to demonstrate that the buyer is not a foreign government or the agent of a foreign government. As we will be entering the peak of political advertising time just about the time that this Order becomes effective, and as so much money is not spent by candidates but instead by PACs and other non-candidate political organizations, this will immediately impose new information gathering requirements from these political buyers – right in the heat of a campaign. Continue Reading August 15 Is the Effective Date of Requirements for Foreign Government Certifications for Political Issue Advertising and Paid PSAs
