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Articles Posted by Pillsbury's Comm Law Center Team

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Client Alert: FCC Sets September 13, 2012 Deadline for Payment of FY 2012 Annual Regulatory Fees

The FCC has announced that full payment of all applicable Regulatory Fees for Fiscal Year 2012 (FY 2012) must be received no later than 11:59 PM, ET, on September 13, 2012. As of today, the Commission’s automated filing and payment system, the Fee Filer System, is now available for filing…

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FCC Announces FY2012 Regulatory Fee Amounts

The FCC has released a Report and Order which includes its final determinations as to how much each FCC licensee will have to pay in Annual Regulatory Fees for fiscal year 2012 (FY 2012). The FCC collects Annual Regulatory Fees to offset the cost of its non-application processing functions, such…

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FCC Denies NAB Online Public File Stay Request as Focus Moves to Court

As I reported last week, the FCC’s new rules requiring television stations to replace the public files they maintain at their studios with electronic files to be hosted online by the FCC are currently set to become effective on August 2, 2012. Since that report, a lot of events have…

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FCC Online Public/Political File Rules Are Effective August 2

Earlier today, the FCC announced in the Federal Register that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has approved the FCC’s new rules requiring television stations to replace the public files that they maintain at their studios with electronic files that will be hosted online by the FCC. As a…

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FCC Piles $65,000 in Fines on Small AM Station in Less Than a Year

The FCC recently issued two separate Notices of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture (NALs), found here and here, for a combined sum of $40,000 against the licensee of a Class D AM radio station for failing to make available a complete public inspection file, and submitting what the FCC concluded was…

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Office of Management and Budget, Keeping in Character, Approves FCC Online Public File Rules

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has once again rubber-stamped and approved an FCC information collection request in apparent defiance of its statutory obligation to take a hard look at the burdens imposed under the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA). As I reported previously, the FCC adopted burdensome rules requiring…

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Broadcasters Challenge FCC’s Proposed Online Public/Political File Rules on Multiple Fronts

As I discussed last month, the FCC has adopted rules requiring television stations to replace their existing locally-maintained public inspection files with digital files to be placed online on an FCC-hosted website, including stations’ detailed political records. The majority of television stations will not be required to begin posting their…

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Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Retransmission Consent (but were afraid to ask)

If all goes well, next week I’ll fulfill one of my secret ambitions: to discuss how retransmission consent is affecting the business of television distribution. I’ve participated in many panel discussions on retransmission consent policy (because I work in Washington, and policy is what we talk about here). On Tuesday…

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FCC Proposes FY 2012 Annual Regulatory Fees

The FCC has issued its latest annual Notice of Proposed Rulemaking containing regulatory fee proposals for Fiscal Year 2012. Those who wish to file comments on the FCC’s proposed fees must do so by May 31, 2012, with reply comments due by June 7, 2012. The FCC’s NPRM includes an…

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Client Alert: FCC Votes to Require Online Posting of TV Public Inspection/Political Files

To follow up on my post from last week regarding the FCC’s open meeting on implementing its proposals to require online posting of TV station public inspection files, including the political file, the FCC today voted to require television broadcasters to post their entire public inspection files online. FCC Commissioner…