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.
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
The FCC last week released a Public Notice reminding TV stations and other video programming providers, including cable and satellite television providers, of their obligation to make emergency information accessible for all viewers. With a few tweaks, the reminder is very similar to what the FCC has issued in past years. This year, the reminder added smoke from Canadian wildfires as a possible emergency about which stations might be distributing important safety information, joining a list that was only two years ago updated to include pandemics. The FCC notice is to remind video providers of their obligations to make emergency information accessible to all of their audience, even those with visual or auditory disabilities.
The FCC notice, in addition to wildfires and pandemics, provides examples of the kinds of emergencies that the rules are intended to cover – including “tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, tidal waves, earthquakes, icing conditions, heavy snows, widespread fires, discharge of toxic gases, widespread power failures, industrial explosions, civil disorders, school closings and changes in school bus schedules resulting from such conditions, and warnings and watches of impending changes in weather.” The Commission considers the “critical details” about such emergencies to include “specific details regarding the areas that will be affected by the emergency, evacuation orders, detailed descriptions of areas to be evacuated, specific evacuation routes, approved shelters or the way to take shelter in one’s home, instructions on how to secure personal property, road closures, and how to obtain relief assistance.”Continue Reading FCC Reminder About Conveying Emergency Information in an Accessible Manner to All TV Audience Members
March is one of those months where no regularly scheduled FCC deadlines fall. But there are still plenty of other deadlines and dates of importance to broadcasters that fall during this month, from comment dates in rulemaking proceedings, to the start of an auction for new TV stations and the completion of the reimbursement cycle for certain stations involved in the TV repack, to deadlines for radio stations to sign up for the GMR license agreement, and even, with daylight savings time upon us, the time for certain AM stations to adjust their operating parameters.
Let’s start with the rulemaking proceedings. On March 11, comments are due on an FCC Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that seeks to enhance visual EAS messages to assist people who are deaf or hard of hearing. Reply comments on the NPRM are due by March 28. The same Federal Register notice that set these comment dates also references an associated Notice of Inquiry that asks for suggestions on how to improve the current EAS daisy chain architecture to better deliver alerts. Comments and reply comments on the NOI are due by April 11 and May 10, respectively.
Interested parties that want to reply to comments submitted on the FCC’s Second Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in the ATSC 3.0 (Next Gen TV) proceeding must have those reply comments in by March 14. In that proceeding, the FCC proposes to allow Next Gen TV stations to include within their license certain of their multicast streams that are aired on “host” stations during a transitional period. Under the FCC’s proposals that are designed to clear up which entity is responsible for legal and regulatory compliance, such multicast streams will be part of the originating station’s license, not that of the “host” station. See the Federal Register notice, here, and read the comments submitted to the docket, here.
Continue Reading March Regulatory Dates for Broadcasters: EAS and Next Gen TV Rulemaking Comments, Incentive Auction Reimbursements, TV Auction, GMR Licensing Deadline, and More
