It took a while to get to this point, but at the first public meeting of the Pai FCC, the Commission voted today to eliminate the requirement that stations maintain “Letters and Emails from the Public” in their public inspection files. As discussed below, that decision will have differing impacts…
January 2017 This Broadcast Station Advisory is directed to radio and television stations in Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, and Oklahoma, and highlights the upcoming deadlines for compliance with the FCC’s EEO Rule. February 1, 2017 is the deadline for broadcast stations licensed to communities in…
Last May, Jessica Nyman and I wrote about the potential impact of an FCC Notice of Proposed Rulemaking proposing to eliminate the requirement that stations keep “Letters and Emails from the Public” in their Public Inspection File. In moving public inspection files online, the FCC recognized that posting such letters…
If trying to maintain the required paperwork for political advertising aired by your station gives you a headache, prepare for a migraine of biblical proportions. With the departure of Commissioner Rosenworcel leaving the FCC in a 2-2 partisan split, there are really only two types of broadcast orders coming out…
The next Children’s Television Programming Report must be filed with the FCC and placed in stations’ public inspection files by January 10, 2017, reflecting programming aired during the months of October, November, and December 2016. Statutory and Regulatory Requirements As a result of the Children’s Television Act of 1990 (“Act”)…
The next Quarterly Issues/Programs List (“Quarterly List”) must be placed in stations’ public inspection files by January 10, 2017, reflecting information for the months of October, November, and December 2016. Content of the Quarterly List The FCC requires each broadcast station to air a reasonable amount of programming responsive to…
Being close observers of the FCC, Congress, and the federal government in general, we get a lot of questions about what the next year will likely bring in DC. While changes in administrations tend to increase the number of questions like that, rarely have I been as deluged with such…
Noncommercial stations caught a break today. For many years, broadcast stations filed annual ownership reports on the anniversary date of their license renewal deadline. Since those deadlines varied from state to state (and even between radio and TV in the same state), determining whether a station had filed its reports…
At the end of Stage 2 of the Spectrum Auction, I wrote about bidder fatigue and the hope that the FCC would drop its spectrum clearing target a couple of notches for Stage 3 to expedite the conclusion of a now seemingly interminable auction. Unfortunately, the FCC held fast to…
November 2016 This Broadcast Station Advisory is directed to radio and television stations in Alabama, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Dakota, and Vermont, and highlights the upcoming deadlines for compliance with the FCC’s EEO Rule. December 1, 2016 is the deadline…