With the heat of Summer now upon us, the FCC is gearing up for its annual regulatory fee filing window, which usually occurs in mid-September. Like other federal agencies, the FCC must raise funds to pay for its operations (“to recover the costs of… enforcement activities, policy and rulemaking activities,…
Surprise, surprise, the FCC has instituted yet another application filing freeze! The FCC effectively said “enough is enough” and stopped accepting applications for LPTV channel displacements and new digital replacement translators. Yesterday, the FCC released a Public Notice indicating that, effective June 11, 2014, the Media Bureau would cease to…
Earlier today, the FCC held its monthly Open Meeting, where it adopted rules to implement the Broadcast Television Incentive Auction.You can watch a replay of the FCC’s Open Meeting on the FCC’s website. Thus far, the FCC has released three documents relating to the actions it took today in this…
May 2014 This Advisory provides a review of the FCC’s political broadcasting regulations. Introduction More than ten years after adoption of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (“BCRA”) of 2002, popularly known as “McCain-Feingold,” Congress’ and the FCC’s interest in political broadcasting and political advertising practices remains undiminished. Broadcast stations must…
The FCC just gave broadcasters another reason to answer the door graciously. Earlier this week, the FCC whacked a Pennsylvania Class A Television broadcaster with an $89,200 Notice of Apparent Liability (NAL) for refusing to allow FCC inspectors to inspect the station’s facilities, not just once, but on three different…
May 2014 Class A and Full-Power Television Broadcasters in All Markets Regardless of Network Affiliation and Market Rank Must Comply with the Online Retention of Political Programming Materials as of July 1, 2014 The FCC recently published in the Federal Register a reminder that all Class A and full-power television…
April 2014 Pillsbury’s communications lawyers have published FCC Enforcement Monitor monthly since 1999 to inform our clients of notable FCC enforcement actions against FCC license holders and others. This month’s issue includes: FCC Proposes $12,000 in Fines for Contest Violations $20,000 Fine for Unlicensed Operation and Interference Violations of Sponsorship…
Back in March, the FCC’s Public Safety and Homeland Safety Bureau (PSHSB) issued a Public Notice seeking to update the record on a 2005 Petition for Immediate Interim Relief regarding proposals to make fundamental changes to the FCC’s EAS Rules with respect to requiring broadcast stations to air multilingual EAS…
Yesterday, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the Aereo case, providing the first indication of how the Justices view the case pitting Aereo against content providers, particularly broadcast networks. For background on Aereo’s technology and the previous lower court cases, Scott Flick of our office has written extensively…
As I have noted on several occasions in the past, the FCC requires that certain video programming delivered online by television stations be captioned if that programming previously aired on television with captions (for a quick refresher you can view my posts “FCC Seeks Greater Clarity on IP Video Captioning…