It’s that time of the year when we need to dust off the crystal ball and make predictions about the legal issues that will impact the business of broadcasters in 2016. While we try to look ahead to identify the issues that are on the agenda of the FCC and other government agencies, there are always surprises as the regulators come up with issues that we did not anticipate. With this being an election year, issues may arise as regulators look to make a political point, or as Commissioners look to establish a legacy before the end of their terms in office. And you can count on there being issues that arise that were unanticipated at the beginning of the year.
But, we’ll nevertheless give it a try – trying to guess the issues that we will likely be covering this year. We’ll start today with issues likely to be considered by the FCC, and we’ll write later about issues that may arise on Capitol Hill and elsewhere in the maze of government agencies and courts who deal with broadcast issues. In addition, watch these pages for our calendar of regulatory deadlines for broadcasters in the next few days.
So here are some issues that are on the table at the FCC. While the TV incentive auction may well suck up much of the attention, especially in the first half of the year, there are many other issues to consider. We’ll start below with issues affecting all stations, and then move on to TV and radio issues in separate sections below.
Continue Reading What Washington Has in Store for Broadcasters in 2016 – Looking at the Legal Issues that the FCC Will Be Considering in the New Year