June 1, 2016:

AM & FM Stations in Michigan & Ohio: if full-time employee threshold is met, complete EEO public file report and place same in public file as well as post on station website. If station has 11 or more full-time employees, prepare and electronically file mid-term EEO Form 397 and place copy of filed report in your public inspection file. NCE Stations Only: also file biennial ownership report via Form 323-E and place copy in public file.

TV & Class A Stations in DC, Maryland, Virginia & West Virginia: if full-time employee threshold is met, complete EEO public file report and post same in public file as well as on station website and prepare and electronically file mid-term EEO Form 397 and place copy of filed report in your public inspection file. NCE Stations Only: also file biennial ownership report via Form 323-E and place copy in public file.

AM & FM Stations in Arizona, DC, Idaho, Maryland, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia & Wyoming: if full-time employee threshold is met, complete EEO public file report and post same in public file as well as post on station website.

TV & Class A Stations in Michigan & Ohio: if full-time employee threshold is met, complete EEO public file report and post same in online public file and station website.

TV & Class A Stations in Arizona, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah & Wyoming: if full-time employee threshold is met, complete EEO public file report and post same in online public file and on station website. NCE Stations Only: also file biennial ownership report via Form 323-E and place copy in public file.

July 10, 2016:

TV, Class A, AM & FM Stations (commercial & noncommercial): complete 2nd quarter 2016 issues/program reports. TV & Class A stations post same to your online public file. AM & FM Stations place in your public file.

TV & Class A stations (commercial only): complete and electronically file VIA LMS FCC Form 398 Children’s TV Programming Report for 2^nd Quarter 2016. Your report should be automatically linked by the FCC to your online public file. Also compile and post to online public file records relating to station’s compliance with children’s programming commercial limits.

Class A Stations Only: complete and post to your online public file certification of ongoing Class A eligibility.

July 28, 2016: 1^st AM window for Class C and D AM stations to file modification applications for commercial band FM translators CLOSES.

As of this writing, applicants who made an initial commitment in the auction by the March 29^th deadline are still waiting on the third confidential letter, which will also announce the mock auction schedule and start of the clock phase of the reverse auction. During the clock phase, the FCC will conduct at least one and probably two rounds per day, Monday through Friday. Bidders will find out their status electronically after each round.

And so we wait. The auctions portal remains inaccessible at the moment, likely a purposeful action by the FCC to prevent hacking or other nefarious activities. It will resurface when the FCC is ready. Participants should watch for overnight deliveries. And we’ll all be watching for the FCC’s announcement of the clearing target, which will establish the initial goal for how much TV spectrum the FCC hopes to clear. Could all of this happen late on the last Friday in April (today)? Quite possibly.

As a reminder, the FCC’s anti-collusion rules remain in place until the end of the reverse auction. Be cautious in your communications with others to stay clear of any rule violations.

The first is repacking the TV band, where many issues remain unresolved and the industry is pushing for repacking to be done on a regional basis as opposed to all at once on a nationwide basis. Citing the major crunch on tower climbers and antenna manufacturers, regional repack proponents believe a geographically restricted approach makes more sense. The FCC has not made any official comment on the regional repack proposal as of yet.

The second item receiving attention is a proposal by major representatives of the TV industry that the FCC modify its rules to allow a voluntary transition to new digital television standard ATSC 3.0, which will use 6 Mhz of TV spectrum to deliver signals via an IP based protocol and the use of multiple sites within a station coverage area.

The proposal, filed two weeks ago, asks for recognition of the protocol so that stations can decide on their own to transition to the new standard, on a time schedule that they chose. Some stations may be interested in making such a transition during the post-auction repack.

The FCC has acted quickly on this proposal, with the Chairman welcoming it with a “hooray” comment at the recent NAB convention in Las Vegas, and a public notice establishing a May 26, 2016 comment deadline so that the FCC can later consider it in a rulemaking proceeding. Comments can be filed electronically through the FCC’s electronic comment filing system.

The study, which is currently being peer-reviewed, suggests that Hispanic station ownership is associated with higher viewing by the Hispanic population, particularly of local programming.

The FCC intends to seek comment on the study when the peer-review process is complete. A copy of the FCC’s public notice announcing the posting of the report for review can be found here.

Ultimately, the FCC characterized the request for another booster as an attempt to circumvent its rule authorizing new AM stations, noting that the experimental authorization for the other two boosters had existed for a long period and that nothing new would be gained by adding a third booster. The FCC’s Media Bureau had previously denied the request, and the applicant appealed to the full Commission. The Commissioners denied the request by a Memorandum Opinion.

FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai, a strong proponent of the FCC’s ongoing AM revitalization efforts, issued a statement clarifying that while he voted to deny the appeal, other AM stations should not take that to mean that the FCC was stifling efforts at innovation in the AM band.

In Commissioner Pai’s words, “given its unique factual context, this Order should not deter any AM broadcasters who wish to perform legitimate experiments with AM synchronous boosters from coming to the Commission. If broadcasters wish to test whether synchronous transmission systems can help improve signal quality within their coverage area, I believe that the Commission should facilitate such experiments as we search for ways to revitalize the AM band.”

Apparently, the permit holder’s CDBS and FRN information was somehow accessed and used to file various FM translator applications that were not authorized. These became the subject of a lawsuit in Utah. The flaw in this argument? Well, the applicant admitted that its principal’s husband might have had some role in the “hacking” since he knew answers to personal security questions for the account numbers.

But that didn’t matter, of course, and the applicant went so far as to blame the Commission staff for releasing certain codes, even amongst the claims of hacking. This “hacking” scheme deterred the applicant from timely filing for a license application for the AM permit, in fear that the application would be hijacked by the hackers.

But wait, there’s more. The applicant also claimed gender-biased discrimination because the FCC had previously denied various applications of the applicant’s principal, a female. No other evidence was provided.

Interesting arguments, to be sure, but ultimately unpersuasive. The FCC thought so, pointing to the unverified nature of the petition and its allegations, dismissing it as speculation, and upholding the Media Bureau’s initial determination that tolling was not warranted.

Still curious? For a complete review of the drama, you can read the full decision here, including its interesting footnotes.

February 1, 2016: minimum fees are due to SoundExchange for year 2016 for stations streaming on the internet.

AM & FM Stations in Arkansas, Louisiana & Mississippi: if full-time employee threshold is met, complete EEO public file report and place same in public file as well as post on station website. If station has 11 or more full-time employees, prepare and electronically file mid-term EEO Form 397 and place copy of filed report in your public inspection file. NCE Stations Only: also file biennial ownership report via Form 323-E and place copy in public file.

AM & FM Stations in New York & New Jersey: if full-time employee threshold is met, complete EEO public file report and post same in public file as well as post on station website. NCE Stations Only: also file biennial ownership report via Form 323-E and place copy in public file.

AM & FM Stations in Kansas, Nebraska & Oklahoma: if full-time employee threshold is met, complete EEO public file report and post same in public file as well as post on station website.

TV & Class A Stations in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, New York & New Jersey: if full-time employee threshold is met, complete EEO public file report and post same in online public file as well as post on station website.

TV & Class A Stations in Kansas, Nebraska & Oklahoma: if full-time employee threshold is met, complete EEO public file report and post same in online public file as well as post on station website. NCE Stations Only: also file biennial ownership report via Form 323-E.

February 29, 2016: tutorial on bidding and post-auction process.

March 21, 2016: AM revitalization NPRM comments due.

March 29, 2016: at 6pm EST, last time for eligible full power and Class A TV stations to make an initial commitment to their opening round bid option. The beginning of the window will be announced later.

April 1, 2016:

AM & FM Stations in Indiana, Kentucky & Tennessee: if full-time employee threshold is met, complete EEO public file report and place same in public file as well as post on station website. If station has 11 or more full-time employees, prepare and electronically file mid-term EEO Form 397 and place copy of filed report in your public inspection file. NCE Stations Only: also file biennial ownership report via Form 323-E and place copy in public file.

TV & Class A Stations in Delaware, Indiana, Kentucky, Pennsylvania & Tennessee: if full-time employee threshold is met, complete EEO public file report and post same in online public file as well as post on station website.

AM & FM Stations in Delaware & Pennsylvania: if full-time employee threshold is met, complete EEO public file report and post same in public file as well as post on station website. NCE Stations Only: also file biennial ownership report via Form 323-E and place copy in public file.

AM & FM Stations in Texas: if full-time employee threshold is met, complete EEO public file report and post same in public file as well as post on station website.

TV & Class A Stations in Texas: if full-time employee threshold is met, complete EEO public file report and post same in online public file as well as post on station website. NCE Stations Only: also file biennial ownership report via Form 323-E.

This first window will close at 11:59 pm EDT on July 28, 2016. Each AM station can only file one such application. And remember, whether successful or not, the AM station will not be eligible to file in later windows, or in a scheduled 2017 auction after the modification windows are concluded.

If you are a Class A or B AM station, you have to wait until the second window, which will open on July 29, 2016 and close at 5:59 pm EDT on October 31, 2016. Again, only commercial band FM translators can be modified in this window. Class C and D stations that did not participate in the first window can participate in this one as well.

The largest reason for the confusion is a lack of clear instruction on ownership reporting procedures, and layers of reporting required for parent and subsidiary reporting. A number of modifications to the ownership reporting form, and litigation over the FCC’s requirement that owners obtain registration numbers for accurate tracking, have failed to provide the clarity the FCC believes it needs. The solution? Issue a new order and make new changes.

In a lengthy, detailed January 2016 order that has clearly been in the works for several months, the FCC tweaked the ownership reporting form again, mandated that all reportable owners obtain at least Restricted Use FCC Registration Numbers (which only require the last 4 social security number digits). Then, they blew the dust off of their long forgotten proposal to have all noncommercial stations file on the same schedule as commercial stations (i.e., once every two years by the same date), and adopted that requirement. Those non-profit board members and officers will also need RUFRNs (sigh), and will have to disclose race/ethnicity. Next, the FCC tweaked the two-year deadline from November 1 to December 1 of the filing year.

And on top of it all, the ownership reporting forms are going to be migrated into the new License Management System (LMS), which will add yet another curveball to report preparation. For those that aren’t aware, the LMS software designers are skilled at making forms “smart” to dictate rule provisions, and sometimes even things that aren’t rules. So surprises may await.

While the FCC has decreed that these changes will apply to ownership reports filed in 2017, the rule changes won’t take effect for a few months until they are published in the Federal Register. In the meantime, NCE stations with upcoming biennial reports due on their renewal application anniversary dates still have the joy of preparing and filing the Form 323-E.

We’re still combing through the lengthy order and will notify clients on all detail in coming weeks. If you have a question, please let us know.