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6/11/2009
In its Public Notice released earlier today, the FCC reminded stations of the requirement that television stations that have not yet made the transition to all-digital broadcasting must be prepared to answer calls about the transition immediately after they make the switch from analog to digital. The FCC noted its specific concern that stations have the appropriate staff available to answer calls after business hours and reminded stations that they should be prepared to handle the expected increase in calls, including calls forwarded directly to stations from the FCC’s National Call Center, which will be staffed 24 hours a day. The Public Notice specifically requests that stations not transitioning to digital-only until June 12 should not only staff their customer referral locations the evening of June 12, but should also ensure that the phones are staffed over the following weekend, June 13 and 14.

According to the Commission, the customer referral telephone number can be staffed by individual station employees, by a group of stations in a market, or by a third party such as a state broadcasters association. In addition, the customer referral telephone number should be staffed with personnel “prepared to answer complex questions from viewers, particularly regarding necessary actions to take to get reception in specific locations, and other engineering issues.”

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5/19/2009
The FCC’s Notice of Inquiry seeks answers to the controversial question raised by “broadcasters, media organizations and others” whether Arbitron is undercounting the audience for stations that air programming targeted to minority audiences, potentially harming the financial viability of those stations. At issue is Arbitron’s commercial use of equipment called the Portable People Meter (“PPM”), a mobile-phone-sized device that consumers wear throughout the day to track their radio listening. Arbitron has replaced the audience-based rating systems with PPM in certain markets and intends to replace audience-based diaries with PPM in the top 50 radio markets next year.

According to the FCC, while it has “a strong interest in encouraging innovative advancements that lead to improved information and data,” it nonetheless wants to know “whether and how the PPM technological changes adversely affect diversity on the airwaves as well as the integrity and reliability of the Commission’s processes that rely on Arbitron ratings data.”

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5/14/2009
The Commission has announced its proposed annual regulatory fees for Fiscal Year 2009. The final fee amounts and filing deadline will be announced in a Public Notice following consideration of Comments to be filed by June 4, 2009 and Reply Comments to be filed by June 11, 2009.

The proposed Annual Regulatory Fees for FY 2009 are projected to raise more than $341 million.

Commercial VHF television stations face the prospect of the following annual regulatory fee increases: in the top 10 markets, those stations will see their annual fee rise from $71,050 to $77,575, and in markets 11 to 25, the fee increases from $53,525 to $60,550. VHF construction permit fees will increase from $5,600 to $5,950 under the FCC’s proposal. Similarly, UHF television stations face fee increases: in the top 10 markets, those stations will see their annual fee rise from $21,225 to $24,250, and in markets 11 to 25, the fee increases from $19,475 to $21,525. UHF construction permit fees will increase from $1,800 to $1,950.

Consistent with past years, the FCC will not assess FY 2009 regulatory fees for both digital and analog licenses from a licensee in the process of transitioning from analog to digital. Stations that were broadcasting in both analog and digital on October 1, 2008 will be assessed FY 2009 regulatory fees for their analog licenses only. Stations that were broadcasting in digital only on October 1, 2008 will not be assessed regulatory fees for their digital license for FY 2009. Beginning in FY 2010, the FCC intends to begin collecting regulatory fees from digital television broadcasters.

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5/8/2009
On December 23, 2008, the FCC issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking proposing to create a new “replacement” digital television translator service.

Today, the FCC released a Report and Order creating that service, outlining the parameters of the new service, and setting forth application procedures. The purpose of the Digital Television Translator service is to permit full-power television stations to continue to provide service to viewers who have lost or will lose service as a result of a station’s digital transition. As a result, only the licensees of full-power television stations are eligible to apply, and the translators are to be used solely to serve a station’s analog loss areas created by the transition to digital. The FCC indicates that the service “is not intended for digital full-service stations to use in proposed digital service areas, where analog service did not formerly exist.”

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5/1/2009
As previously reported, the Short-term Analog Flash and Emergency Readiness Act (the “Analog Nightlight Act”) required the FCC to develop a program to permit continued analog television service for 30 days after the DTV transition, thereby permitting stations to provide emergency and DTV transition information to the public in analog.

The Commission has now issued a revised list of stations that are pre-approved to participate in the analog nightlight program, as well as listing stations that have notified the Commission of their intent to participate. A total of 825 stations in 202 markets are listed, including 354 stations and 11 markets that have already completed the DTV transition. The full list of these stations is attached.

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Court Ordered Remand May Force the Supreme Court to deal with the First Amendment Issue

4/28/2009
In a 5-4 decision released today, the Supreme Court upheld the FCC’s so-called “fleeting expletives” policy which bans the radio and television broadcast of single so-called four-letter words that are considered indecent.

However, the narrow ruling of the Court stopped short of deciding whether the FCC’s change in policy violates the First Amendment. Justice Scalia’s majority opinion emphasized that it was dealing only with the question of whether the FCC’s new fleeting expletives policy was “arbitrary and capricious” as a matter of law. The majority determined that the FCC’s change in policy was “entirely rational” under the Administrative Procedure Act. In doing so, the Court reversed the decision of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals that had found the FCC’s new policy to be arbitrary and capricious and remanded the case to the Second Circuit for further review.

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April 2009
The FCC has released a new Federal Register notice indicating that the increase in certain FCC application fees will become effective April 28, 2009.

A PDF version of this entire article can be found at Reminder: Increased FCC Application Filing Fees Will Become Effective April 28, 2009

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4/16/2009
Upcoming Deadlines
FCC Form 499-Q is Due by May 1, 2009
All providers of interstate telecommunications within the United States, with limited exceptions, must file a FCC Form 499-Q Telecommunications Reporting Worksheet by May 1, 2009 containing revenue information for January 1 through March 31 and projections for July 1 through September 30. The completed FCC Form 499-Q should be mailed to:

Form 499 Data Collection Agent
Attn: USAC Customer Service
2000 L St NW
Suite 200
Washington, DC 20036
Providers who have obtained a USAC Filer ID number may file the form electronically at: https://forms.universalservice.org/usaclogin/login.asp. A late fee may be imposed for failing to file or filing the worksheet after the due date.

The 499-Q form and instructions can be found on USAC’s website at: http://www.universalservice.org/fund-administration/forms/. The Universal Service Fund (“USF”) contribution factor for the second quarter 2009 is 11.3%.

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4/16/2009
FCC Fines Texas Low Power Noncommercial Educational Station $20,000 for Airing Advertisements. The FCC issued a Public Notice late today providing guidance to broadcasters regarding the DTV walk-in center consumer education requirement it created last month. On March 13th, the FCC imposed a number of additional DTV consumer education requirements upon stations still operating in analog format or which are operating in digital format, but not with final post-transition facilities. One of those requirements is that such stations publicize the location and hours of any walk-in DTV help centers located in their market by including that information in a daily PSA or crawl.

Today, the FCC issued the attached Public Notice, which provides very specific requirements for what qualifies as a walk-in DTV help center. The FCC indicates that “walk-in centers that have the [listed] characteristics and are located in a station’s designated market area (DMA) must be identified in that station’s consumer education campaign.” It therefore appears that stations will not be required to publicize any walk-in centers that do not meet the FCC’s stringent standards, and the principal impact of today’s clarification will be to reduce the number of consumer assistance facilities that broadcast stations are required to publicize under the new consumer education requirements.

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