By Kathryn R. Schmeltzer, Lauren Lynch Flick and Paul A. Cicelski
October 2006
The next Children’s Television Programming Report must be filed with the FCC and placed in stations’ local Public Inspection Files by October 10, 2006, reflecting programming aired during the months of July, August, and September.
September 2006
The Commission has designated a Texas radio station’s license renewal application for hearing after determining that the licensee apparently made several false certifications to the Commission, calling the licensee’s basic character qualifications into question. In January 2003, the licensee applied for a license to cover a previously-granted construction permit, and certified that the station’s new facilities had been constructed as authorized. In May 2003, however, Commission personnel observed the station transmitting from a site approximately five miles from the location specified in the station’s license application. During the subsequent inspection of the station, the licensee acknowledged that it had not commenced construction at the authorized site as certified, but that it had filed the license to cover application in order to prevent the expiration of the construction permit.
By Kathryn R. Schmeltzer, Clifford M. Harrington and Richard R. Zaragoza
September 2006
FCC’s Office of Engineering and Technology Announces Schedule for Proceeding on Unlicensed Operation in the TV Broadcast Bands
As we reported earlier, on March 6, 2006, the FCC released an Order in Complaints Regarding Various Television Broadcasts Between February 2, 2002 and March 8, 2005, Notices of Apparent Liability and Memorandum Opinion and Order, FCC 06-17 (the “Omnibus Order”). After the release of the Order, Fox Television Stations, Inc. and CBS Broadcasting, Inc. filed a joint petition for review in the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and the ABC Television Network and Hearst-Argyle Television, Inc. filed a joint petition for review in the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit which transferred the petition to the Second Circuit. The Second Circuit consolidated the petitions on June 14, 2006.
September 2006
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By Kathryn R. Schmeltzer, Scott R. Flick, Lauren Lynch Flick and Paul A. Cicelski
August 2006
TV, Class A TV, LPTV and TV translator stations licensed to communities in Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont should be receiving soon a postcard from the FCC reminding them that their license renewal applications must be filed by December 1, 2006.
July 2006
On July 24, 2006, the FCC released the text of the Further Notice of Proposed Rule Making (“FNPRM”) in the broadcast ownership proceeding that was adopted at the FCC’s June 21, 2006 agenda meeting. The FNPRM encompasses a number of docketed rule makings – a 2006 quadrennial regulatory review, the 2002 biennial regulatory review, cross-ownership of broadcast stations and newspapers, and rules and policies concerning local ownership of television stations and radio stations in the same market including the definition of radio markets. Basically, the FNPRM seeks comment on how the Commission should address the issues raised by the opinion of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in Prometheus Radio Project v. FCC, 373 F.3d 372, 382 (3d Cir. 2004), cert. denied, 125 S. Ct. 2902 (2005) (“Prometheus”); whether the media ownership rules are “necessary in the public interest as the result of competition;” and whether they should be changed in any way. Comments in the proceeding are due by September 22, 2006 and reply comments by November 21, 2006.
July 2006
The FCC’s new “junk fax” rules, which were adopted on April 6, 2006 pursuant to the Junk Fax Prevention Act of 2005 (“Fax Act”), will take effect on August 1, 2006.
The Commission’s junk fax rules generally prohibit for-profit, as well as non-profit, entities from sending facsimile “advertisements” — broadly construed — to recipients that have not given their “prior express invitation or permission.” Notwithstanding this general prohibition, the new rules provide that where the sender of a facsimile advertisement maintains an “established business relationship” (“EBR”) with the intended recipient, the advertisement will not be deemed “unsolicited.” The new rules also confirm that other forms of “prior express invitation or permission” will render the general prohibition inapplicable. To the extent that a sender transmits facsimile advertisements on a regular or even occasional basis, it should be aware of the requirements of the new rules.
July 2006
The Commission recently rescinded the license grants and cancelled the underlying construction permits of two low power television stations in California. The FCC discovered that the licensee of the two stations falsely certified in its license application that “all terms, conditions, and obligations” set forth in the underlying construction permit had been met.
July 2006
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 DMA or by a satellite provider which provided service to at least one viewer outside the station’s DMA. You are eligible to file royalty claims for compensation with the United States Copyright Office in Washington, DC. These filings are due by July 31, 2006.
July 2006
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