Commission Allows License Renewals for TV Stations that were Non-compliant with Children’s Programming Rules

Pursuant to section 73.671(d) of the Commission’s rules, the Media Bureau had referred five (5) TV station renewal applications to the Commission for assessment of whether the licensees complied with their obligation to offer programing designed to serve the educational and information needs of children (Core Programming) because they could not “demonstrate compliance with the “safe harbor” processing guidelines.  In its September 21, 2026 order, the Commission stated that “[d]uring the course of the term covered by the Renewal Applications, the Commission adopted the Children’s Modernization Order revising its rules implementing” the Children’s Television Act and that they were “subject to different safe harbor processing guidelines at different times during the license term.” The Commission also stated that “during this period of time [the stations] faced not only significant regulatory change from prior renewal cycles due to the revised safe harbor processing guidelines, but also significant operational change due to the completion of the Incentive Auction, the implementation of channel sharing, and unique factual scenarios, including from the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on those “unique factors, the Commission directed the Media Bureau to complete processing the renewal applications. We note however, that the Commission made clear that this “pass” was limited stating “we do not anticipate future scenarios compelling enough for us to return to the Bureau for processing those renewal applications that do not certify compliance with the safe harbor processing guidelines.”