- The Senate voted 53-45 to confirm Olivia Trusty as an FCC Commissioner on a largely party-line vote. As a result
foreign ownership of US broadcast stations
This Week in Regulation for Broadcasters: May 19, 2025 to May 23, 2025
This Week in Regulation for Broadcasters: April 28, 2025 to May 2, 2025
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This Week in Regulation for Broadcasters: April 7, 2025 to April 11, 2025
- The NAB and SoundExchange filed with the Copyright Royalty Board a proposed settlement of the pending litigation over the 2026-2030
This Week in Regulation for Broadcasters: March 31, 2025 to April 4, 2025
- On the eve of its national convention in Las Vegas, the National Association of Broadcasters filed a letter with the
This Week in Regulation for Broadcasters: October 28, 2024 to November 1, 2024
- In a Press Release dated November 1, the Radio Music License Committee announced that its arbitration with SESAC over royalty
This Week in Regulation for Broadcasters: September 30, 2024 to October 4, 2024
- The FCC’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau announced that the deadline for EAS Participants to file their annual Emergency
This Week in Regulation for Broadcasters: August 19, 2024 to August 23, 2024
- Some of the big news for broadcasters this week came not from the FCC, but from the Federal Trade Commission:
FCC Allows 100% Ownership of US Radio Station by Canadian Owner – Once Again Demonstrating Openness to Foreign Investment in the US Broadcast Industry
The FCC last week issued a Declaratory Ruling approving the acquisition by a company owned by a Canadian citizen of 100% of the ownership interest in a company that owns an AM radio stations in Seattle. Until about a decade ago, a 25% limit in the parent company of an FCC broadcast licensee would have been the limit allowed by the FCC under Section imposed on foreign ownership of a US broadcast station by Section 310(b)(4) of the Communications Act. Section 310(b) limits non-US citizens from holding more than 20% of a broadcast licensee, and foreign owners cannot hold more than 25% of a parent company “if the Commission finds that the public interest will be served by the refusal or revocation of such license.” About a decade ago, as we wrote here, the FCC decided to permit, on a case by case basis, greater foreign ownership of US broadcast station owners. This has resulted in past cases where 100% foreign ownership of US broadcast stations have been permitted (see our articles here and here) and even many large US broadcast companies have been permitted to have foreign ownership in excess of the 25% allowed by Section 310(b)(4). The processing of these applications is, of course, not as straightforward as the normal acquisition of a station by US citizens.
Any foreign owner seeking to acquire a substantial stake in a US broadcast station must be reviewed by various Executive Branch agencies to ensure that there are no perceived security risks raised by the proposed acquisition. The FCC has to do its own review as well. The approval process for the first acquisition by a foreign owner often takes a full year or more (the deal approved last week was filed with the FCC almost exactly a year ago), so don’t expect to complete an acquisition by a foreign owner on the same timeline as that for the completion of a deal by US citizens. But, once a foreign owner is approved by the FCC, as long as the ownership of that acquiring company stays the same, it can in most cases acquire additional US stations without going through this extended review process. Continue Reading FCC Allows 100% Ownership of US Radio Station by Canadian Owner – Once Again Demonstrating Openness to Foreign Investment in the US Broadcast Industry
This Week in Regulation for Broadcasters: July 29, 2024 to August 2, 2024
- Through a Federal Register publication, the FCC announced comment dates on its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking proposing that broadcasters