Dates to Remember
August 1, 2025
Radio and TV Stations located in North Carolina... Read More
While the FCC recently adopted an Order substantially revising its broadcast local public notice rules, the effective date of most of those rule changes has not yet arrived. One notable rule change that already took effect is the elimination of the requirement for stations to air pre-filing renewal announcements, which became effective May 13, 2020. […]
Read More →When the FCC’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau recently issued a report of the August 7, 2019 Nationwide EAS Test, we noted that it made no reference to a 2020 test. We’ve now learned that FEMA has cancelled the annual test for this year, citing COVID challenges that broadcasters are facing, as well as […]
Read More →In an action designed to spur broadcast stations to begin providing ATSC 3.0 services, the FCC issued a Declaratory Ruling and simultaneously issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to foster growth of next-generation data services. The Declaratory Ruling clarified that the FCC’s television station ownership restrictions do not apply to the lease of spectrum to […]
Read More →The FCC’s Media Bureau has issued a public notice announcing a settlement opportunity for those LPTV and TV translator applications that are mutually exclusive with others filed during the 2018 displacement window. The notice identifies each application. These applicants can file unilateral engineering amendments, legal settlements, or engineering settlements during a June 1 – July […]
Read More →On June 9, 2020, the FCC announced a new round of broadcast station 2020 EEO audits (the first one was in February), listing another 35 randomly selected radio stations. The deadline for these stations to respond is July 24, 2020. Stations randomly audited in 2018, 2019 or 2020, and those whose renewal applications were granted […]
Read More →After receiving and inviting preliminary comments on an April 2020 proposal by GeoBroadcast Solutions, LLC to allow FM booster stations to locally originate some programming different from its primary station, comments filed in that proceeding by “Broadcasters for Limited Program Origination,” which also included a petition for rulemaking, have now received a separate file number […]
Read More →June 1, 2020 Radio Stations located in Michigan and Ohio – deadline to file license renewal application and EEO program report, and air first post-filing license renewal announcement; additional post-filing announcements are due June 16, July 1 & 16, and August 1 & 16. Television Stations located in DC, Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia – […]
Read More →Beginning with stations filing renewal applications in August 2020, the FCC has permanently eliminated any requirement for stations to broadcast pre-filing announcements about those applications. August 2020 renewal stations would have had to begin airing such announcements on June 1, and broadcast a total of four. The FCC had previously excused stations filing June 1, […]
Read More →he FCC recently adopted an Order substantially revising its broadcast local public notice rule. One significant change is the permanent elimination of requirements to publish any newspaper notices about filed applications, which were costly and more difficult to accomplish as newspapers folded. Instead, stations will publish such notices online, using a station or substitute website […]
Read More →In last month’s newsletter, we mentioned our firm’s ongoing efforts with the FCC staff seeking some relaxation of the EEO rules related to the COVID-19 pandemic. We are pleased to report that those efforts resulted in the issuance of a May 4, 2020 Media Bureau Order waiving the EEO outreach requirements in certain specific circumstances. […]
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