January 2014 Broadcast Newsletter

All FCC Online Systems, Including Online Public Files, Are Offline Due to Shutdown

Full power television and Class A television licensees who have become accustomed to having their public files online are now faced with another casualty of the shutdown of the federal government.  The FCC has taken offline all of its online portals, including online public files.  This means that nothing can be uploaded to the online […]

Regulatory Fees Payments Now Due

It’s that time of year for commercial stations to pay annual regulatory fees.  The FCC’s automated filing and payment system, called “Fee Filer” is now available for filing and payment of FY 2013 regulatory fees.  Stations need their FRN and password to log in and properly submit payment. Those payments must be received by 11:59 […]

FCC Hosts Low Power FM Webinars

On August 20, 2013, the FCC hosted its first of two webinars to answer questions about its October 15-29, 2013 Low Power FM (LPFM) filing window.  In the first webinar, the FCC staff discussed its LPFM Channel Finder program, how to create a CDBS account, and how to fill out the FCC Form 318 to […]

Incentive Auction Update

The FCC continues to inch closer to a Report & Order on the TV spectrum incentive auctions, expected later this year.  As part of those efforts, it continues to hold seminars and conduct various other actions to gather information necessary to adopt auction and repacking procedures.  On August 22, 2013, the FCC held a webinar […]

Another Consent Decree For Noncommercial Rules Violation

Ten or fifteen years ago, the FCC regularly issued decisions fining noncommercial stations for airing commercial matter.  It was common to see at least a half dozen such decisions each year.  But in recent years, that has changed dramatically, and to actually see a decision that fines a NCE station is now unusual.  Part of […]

When Your Address Can Cost You

Sooner or later, the FCC will want to contact or send a station official correspondence, and when it does, the FCC staff will look up the station’s official mailing address in the FCC’s Consolidated Database System (CDBS).  The accuracy of that address is always important, but can become critically so if the FCC is sending […]

Biennial Ownership Report Deadline Set for Commercial Stations

Commercial stations must file a biennial ownership report every two years (or every odd year for those of us looking for easy reminders).  So that means that 2013 is an ownership report filing year.  The good news is that the FCC is going to give stations more time to file those reports.  The FCC has […]

Advertising Discrimination and License Renewal

The FCC has issued what appears to be its first written decision addressing an admitted violation of its policy requiring broadcasters to include non-discrimination clauses in advertising agreements. At license renewal, commercial broadcasters must certify that their advertising agreements do not discriminate on the basis of race or ethnicity and that all such agreements contain […]

FCC Revises Rules Protecting AM Stations From Nearby Tower Construction

The FCC has now clarified its rules for deciding when construction of a new tower can distort the antenna patterns of AM stations, and when tower owners have to pay for interference remedies.  New tower construction is classified as “significant” if distortion of an AM pattern by more than 2 db occurs, and are covered […]