TV broadcasters know that every July 31st, they need to file with the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) to claim a share of the royalty fund for out-of-market carriage of their programming by cable and satellite TV systems. The details can be found in the Pillsbury Advisory we published earlier this…
This Broadcast Station Advisory is directed to radio and television stations in California, Illinois, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Wisconsin, and highlights the upcoming deadlines for compliance with the FCC’s EEO Rule. August 1, 2016 is the deadline for broadcast stations licensed to communities in California, Illinois, North Carolina, South…
The staggered deadlines for noncommercial radio and television stations to file Biennial Ownership Reports remain in effect and are tied to each station’s respective license renewal filing deadline. Noncommercial radio stations licensed to communities in Illinois and Wisconsin and noncommercial television stations licensed to communities in California, North Carolina and…
There is an old vaudeville routine I’ve found more useful for understanding lawmaking in Washington than any textbook. It goes something like this: (Scene: a nighttime street corner illuminated by a single streetlight; a short man (Joe) is frantically searching for something near the base of the streetlight when a…
This advisory is directed to television stations with locally-produced programming whose signals were carried by at least one cable system located outside the station’s local service area or by a satellite provider that provided service to at least one viewer outside the station’s local service area during 2015. These stations…
The next Children’s Television Programming Report must be filed with the FCC and placed in stations’ public inspection files by July 11, 2016, reflecting programming aired during the months of April, May, and June 2016. Statutory and Regulatory Requirements As a result of the Children’s Television Act of 1990 (“Act”)…
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: Headlines: FCC Refuses TV Licensee’s Request to Defer $15,000 Fine Until After Incentive Auction FCC Proposes $20,000 Fine for Radio…
Today, the FCC released a document entitled Fact Sheet: Updating Media Ownership Rules in the Public Interest. The driver behind the Fact Sheet is the Chairman’s promise to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals that draft multiple ownership rules would be circulated among the commissioners by June 30, with the…
May 2016 On May 18, 2016, the U.S. Department of Labor published final regulations under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) that more than double the minimum salary level necessary to be exempt from the Act’s overtime rules. While the changes affect all businesses subject to the FLSA, broadcasters in…
Friday will see the launch of the FCC’s new online public inspection file system, called, not surprisingly, the Online Public Inspection File (“OPIF”). With stations moving to a “next gen” public inspection file, Pillsbury today released its next gen Public Inspection File Advisory. Like earlier editions have done since the…