Articles Posted in Low Power & Class A Television

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This afternoon, the Commission released an Order announcing that, due to technical difficulties, it was temporarily suspending the use of the new FCC Form 323 and, as a consequence, was postponing the January 11, 2010 deadline for the filing of Biennial Ownership Reports for commercial broadcast licensees. The Commission stated that it would announce the reactivation of the new form and the new filing deadline in a subsequent Public Notice. The Order states that the Commission “will temporarily suspend the ability to start a new biennial Form 323 during this interim suspension period but will allow filers to complete and file forms that they have already started should they wish to do so.” The Order also states that the new filing deadline will be at least 90 days from the date that the new form is made available for new biennial filings.

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December 2009
Today, the FCC released a Public Notice announcing that as of December 9, 2009, the new FCC Form 323 will become available online in the FCC’s CDBS filing system.

Additionally, the FCC announced the availability of a “Special Use FRN” option in reporting attributable interest holders on the new FCC Form 323. The FCC stated that if a filer “is unable to obtain an FRN for any specific individual required to be reported on Form 323, the electronic form contains a mechanism for generating an interim ‘Special Use FRN’ solely for the purposes of completing the form.” The Special Use FRN is only to be used in filing biennial ownership reports on FCC Form 323 and may not be used for any other purpose at the FCC. According to the Public Notice, this option should be used only when necessary and filers should use their “best efforts” to obtain FRNs from all attributable interest holders. The FCC indicates that those who take advantage of the Special Use FRN are still expected to later obtain a “fully compliant” FRN which must be used in all future biennial ownership report filings.

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November 2009
In a Public Notice released by the FCC today, the Media Bureau has announced that it has extended to January 11, 2010, the prior December 15, 2009 deadline for commercial radio and television broadcast station licensees to file their Biennial Ownership Reports on revised FCC Form 323.

This announcement comes as a great relief to licensees of commercial broadcast stations given that the electronic version of revised FCC Form 323 is not yet available on the FCC’s CDBS system for uploading of data.

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September 2009
Federal Communications Commission has announced that full payment of all applicable Regulatory Fees for Fiscal Year 2009 must be received no later than September 22, 2009. The price of missing the deadline is a 25% up-charge.

On August 21, 2009, the Federal Communications Commission released a Public Notice officially announcing September 22, 2009 as the deadline for payment for its annual regulatory fees for FY 2009. Licensees and permittees subject to annual regulatory fees must make their payments no later than 11:59 pm, EDT, on September 22, 2009.

The penalty for late or non-payment of the annual regulatory fee is 25% of the total amount owed and not paid. In addition, the Commission will refuse to process a licensee’s/permittee’s applications until full payment, including any applicable penalty, has been received. Lastly, failure to pay in full may also subject a regulatee to loss of its FCC authorizations.

This year the FCC mailed assessment notices to licensees/permittees reflecting the FCC’s understanding of their required payment obligations. Those notices may not include all of your stations and do not take into account any of your auxiliary licenses for which fees are also due. Accordingly, you should not assume that the notice is correct or complete.

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August 2009
The FCC has released its final schedule of Annual Regulatory Fees for FY 2009. It is expected that those fees will become due and payable sometime in September. We will issue a further Client Advisory as soon as the Commission issues a Public Notice announcing the applicable deadline.

The FCC has released the text of its Report and Order adopting a new schedule of annual regulatory fees. The fees for FY 2009 are almost 10% more than for FY 2008. A copy of the FCC’s Report and Order, including the FY 2009 fee schedule, may be viewed by clicking this link http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-09-62A1.pdf. Specifically, broadcaster related fees are provided in Appendix C, pages 21 – 23, of the FCC’s Report and Order. The FY 2009 regulatory fees are scheduled to become effective 30 days after publication in the Federal Register.

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7/1/2009
This week, the FCC issued a Public Notice announcing that it is finally lifting the freeze on the filing of new low power television (“LPTV”) and television translator stations. First, on August 25, 2009, the FCC will begin accepting applications for stations in “rural areas” for: (1) new digital-only LPTV and TV translator stations; (2) major changes to existing analog and digital LPTV and TV translator facilities; (3) and, in the case of current analog stations, for digital companion channels. “Rural areas” are defined as areas with antenna site coordinates that are located more than 75 miles from the reference coordinates of the largest 100 cities as defined by Nielsen Media Research and are listed in Appendix A of the Public Notice. Second, the Public Notice also announces that on January 25, 2010, the FCC will begin accepting the above-referenced three types of LPTV and television translator applications nationwide, without any geographic restrictions.

In all cases, applications will be considered on a first-come, first-served basis with a daily “cut off” policy, and if the FCC receives mutually exclusive (i.e., incompatible) applications, it will award the license by auction. Additionally, the Public Notice emphasizes that applications for new analog facilities will absolutely not be accepted and that applications for new digital LPTV and television translator stations and for replacement digital translators may only be filed specifying in-core channels 2-51. Applicants for digital companion stations may apply for channels 52-59, but only after certifying that a suitable in-core channel is unavailable.

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6/25/2009
Through the vehicle of a Notice of Proposed Rule Making (“NPRM”), Acting Chairman Michael J. Copps, and Commissioners Jonathan Adelstein and Robert McDowell are looking to change the way the FCC decides what communities and areas deserve new or modified commercial and noncommercial, full-power AM and FM radio stations.

Because the decisions the FCC makes as a result of the NPRM may well determine whether existing, as well as newly proposed, free, over-the-air radio stations thrive or perish, the rule making is likely to have a very significant effect on the radio broadcast industry, including its ownership and program diversity, going forward. If adopted, the FCC’s proposals would substantially reduce or eliminate the flexibility broadcasters currently have to locate or move small community and rural stations to areas where they can serve more listeners and/or listeners with different programming needs. Another effect of the NPRM could be to move more competing applications into an auction process which, in turn, may discourage filings altogether.

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6/19/2009
The next Children’s Television Programming Report must be filed with the FCC and placed in stations’ local Public Inspection Files by July 10, 2009, reflecting programming aired during the months of April, May and June 2009.

A PDF version of this entire article can be found at 2009 Second Quarter Children’s Television Programming Documentation Advisory.

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5/14/2009
The Commission has announced its proposed annual regulatory fees for Fiscal Year 2009. The final fee amounts and filing deadline will be announced in a Public Notice following consideration of Comments to be filed by June 4, 2009 and Reply Comments to be filed by June 11, 2009.

The proposed Annual Regulatory Fees for FY 2009 are projected to raise more than $341 million.

Commercial VHF television stations face the prospect of the following annual regulatory fee increases: in the top 10 markets, those stations will see their annual fee rise from $71,050 to $77,575, and in markets 11 to 25, the fee increases from $53,525 to $60,550. VHF construction permit fees will increase from $5,600 to $5,950 under the FCC’s proposal. Similarly, UHF television stations face fee increases: in the top 10 markets, those stations will see their annual fee rise from $21,225 to $24,250, and in markets 11 to 25, the fee increases from $19,475 to $21,525. UHF construction permit fees will increase from $1,800 to $1,950.

Consistent with past years, the FCC will not assess FY 2009 regulatory fees for both digital and analog licenses from a licensee in the process of transitioning from analog to digital. Stations that were broadcasting in both analog and digital on October 1, 2008 will be assessed FY 2009 regulatory fees for their analog licenses only. Stations that were broadcasting in digital only on October 1, 2008 will not be assessed regulatory fees for their digital license for FY 2009. Beginning in FY 2010, the FCC intends to begin collecting regulatory fees from digital television broadcasters.

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Posted in: Fees
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5/8/2009
On December 23, 2008, the FCC issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking proposing to create a new “replacement” digital television translator service.

Today, the FCC released a Report and Order creating that service, outlining the parameters of the new service, and setting forth application procedures. The purpose of the Digital Television Translator service is to permit full-power television stations to continue to provide service to viewers who have lost or will lose service as a result of a station’s digital transition. As a result, only the licensees of full-power television stations are eligible to apply, and the translators are to be used solely to serve a station’s analog loss areas created by the transition to digital. The FCC indicates that the service “is not intended for digital full-service stations to use in proposed digital service areas, where analog service did not formerly exist.”

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