March 2015 This Broadcast Station Advisory is directed to radio and television stations in Delaware, Indiana, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Texas, and highlights the upcoming deadlines for compliance with the FCC’s EEO Rule. April 1, 2015 is the deadline for broadcast stations licensed to communities in Delaware, Indiana, Kentucky, Pennsylvania,…
March 2015 The next Quarterly Issues/Programs List (“Quarterly List”) must be placed in stations’ public inspection files by April 10, 2015, reflecting information for the months of January, February and March 2015. Content of the Quarterly List The FCC requires each broadcast station to air a reasonable amount of programming…
March 2015 The next Children’s Television Programming Report must be filed with the FCC and placed in stations’ public inspection files by April 10, 2015, reflecting programming aired during the months of January, February and March 2015. Statutory and Regulatory Requirements As a result of the Children’s Television Act of…
Everyone with a cell phone has probably received an unsolicited telemarketing robocall or text made by a company using an automated dialing system at some point. As we have previously written, a federal statute, the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (“TCPA”), prohibits making any autodialed call or sending a text to…
Yesterday, the FCC released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking proposing that broadcast radio licensees, satellite TV/radio licensees, and cable system operators move the bulk of their public inspection files online. The FCC previously adopted an online public file requirement for broadcast TV, and sees this as the logical next step.…
At its Open Meeting this morning, the FCC adopted a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to “modernize” its station-conducted contest rule, which was originally adopted in 1976. The proposal would allow broadcasters to post the rules of a contest on any publicly accessible website. Stations would no longer have to broadcast…
Late today, the FCC released a Public Notice stating that “[e]ffective immediately, the expiration dates and construction deadlines for all outstanding unexpired construction permits for new digital low power television (LPTV) and TV translator stations are hereby suspended pending final action in the rulemaking proceeding in MB Docket No. 03-185…
March 2014 TV, Class A TV, and locally originating LPTV stations licensed to communities in Arizona, Idaho, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, and Wyoming must begin airing pre-filing license renewal announcements on April 1, 2014. License renewal applications for all TV stations in these states are due by June 2, 2014.…
A few minutes ago, the FCC released an Order extending the December 2, 2013 deadline for commercial broadcast stations to file their biennial ownership reports to December 20, 2013. The extension is meant to respond to the fact that the FCC took its website (including the Consolidated Database System used…
Beginning tomorrow, October 16, 2013, new FCC “robocalling” rules go into effect that require all businesses to obtain specific written consent from a consumer before sending that consumer marketing messages by telephone or text. While we did an earlier Pillsbury Advisory on these rules, they still appear to be catching…