It is an unusual occasion indeed when the FCC offers to revise its rules to provide regulatory relief to both television and radio stations. Yet that is precisely what the FCC proposed in a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to update its station-conducted contest rule to allow broadcasters to post…
January 2015 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: Individual fined $25,000 for Unauthorized “Chanting and Heavy Breathing” on Public Safety Station Failure to Timely Request STA…
In what has become an annual holiday tradition going back so far none of us can remember when it started (Pillsbury predates the FCC by 66 years), we released the 2015 Broadcasters’ Calendar last week. While starting a new year is usually jarring, particularly breaking yourself of the habit of…
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: Sponsorship Identification Violation Yields $115,000 Civil Penalty $13,000 Increase in Fine Upheld for Deliberate and Continued Operation at Unauthorized Location…
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.…
December 2014 The next Quarterly Issues/Programs List (“Quarterly List”) must be placed in stations’ public inspection files by January 10, 2015, reflecting information for the months of October, November and December 2014. Content of the Quarterly List The FCC requires each broadcast station to air a reasonable amount of programming…
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: $7,000 Fine for Late Renewal Application and Unauthorized Operation Missing Wood Planks Around Tower Lead to $5,600 Fine $39,000 Fine…
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…
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: Unenclosed and Unpainted Tower Leads to $30,000 in Fines $20,000 Fine for Missing Issues/Programs Lists at Two Stations Increased Fine…
I wrote a post here in June on the FCC’s release of its proposed regulatory fees for Fiscal Year 2014. Normally, the FCC releases an order adopting the official fee amounts and the deadline by which they must be filed in early to mid-August of each year. This year, however,…