Obligation to Provide Emergency Information to Persons with Hearing Disabilities August 2007 Mindful of Hurricane Dean, and with three months left in this year’s hurricane season, it is imperative that television station broadcasters ensure they have adequate policies in place and reliable procedures tested to insure that persons with hearing…
June 2007 Topics include: FCC Fines Radio Station $4,200 for Lack of Effective Tower Fences FCC Fines Television Station After Discovering Deserted Main Studio FCC Fines Radio Station for Airing Prank Phone Call FCC Officially Increases Maximum Fine for Indecency and Profanity A PDF version of this entire article can…
November 2006 This Advisory provides a review of political broadcasting rules of the FCC. In this Advisory, of particular note are new regulations imposed on political broadcasting by the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (“BCRA”) of 2002, popularly known as “McCain-Feingold.” BCRA contains several provisions that affect the way stations handle…
November 2006 On November 20, 2002, the FCC released a Second Report and Order and Third Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (the “Second R&O”) in which it adopted new equal employment opportunity rules and policies for broadcasters and for multi-channel video programming distributors (the “new EEO Rule”). A complete copy of…
November 2006 In an effort to reduce the risk of reversal by the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, the FCC successfully persuaded the Court to allow it to pull back and review four indecency decisions. Earlier this week, the FCC announced the outcome of that review.…
By Kathryn R. Schmeltzer and Jarrett S. Taubman November 2006 Sample questions include: What is the source of the Commission’s authority to limit “obscene,” “indecent,” and “profane” program material? What FCC regulations prohibit “obscene” or “indecent” program material? What Commission regulations prohibit “profane” program material? What about the First Amendment?…
By Kathryn R. Schmeltzer, Scott R. Flick, Lauren Lynch Flick and Paul A. Cicelski October 2006 TV, Class A TV, LPTV and TV translator stations licensed to communities in New York and New Jersey should be receiving soon a postcard from the FCC reminding them that their license renewal applications…
October 2006 Annual DTV Ancillary/Supplementary Services Report for Commercial Digital Television Stations Each commercial and noncommercial educational television broadcast station that has received its digital television license must file FCC Form 317 to report to the FCC whether its station provided ancillary or supplemental services at any time during the…
By Kathryn R. Schmeltzer and Tony Lin October 2006 On September 29, 2006, the FCC released the Second Order on Reconsideration and Second Report and Order (hereafter “Second Order”) regarding the children’s television rules and policies it had established in 2004 but for which it had suspended implementation pending reconsideration.…
By Kathryn R. Schmeltzer, Lauren Lynch Flick and Paul A. Cicelski October 2006 Content of the Quarterly List The next Quarterly Issues/Programs List (“Quarterly List”) must be placed in stations’ local Public Inspection Files by October 10, 2006, reflecting information for the months of July, August, and September. A PDF…