Dates to Remember
October 30, 2026
All EAS Participants must file ETRS Form One.... Read More
From time to time, we write about the FCC assessing monetary forfeitures (fines) against broadcast licensees for violating FCC rules or policies. Some pay those fines; others wait until the FCC asks the Department of Justice to actually begin an action to collect the fine. Licensees can also become indebted to the FCC via other […]
Read More →The FCC has granted a one-week extension for reply comments to be filed in its ongoing rulemaking proceeding addressing post-incentive auction issues affecting LPTV stations. The extended reply comment deadline is February 2, 2015.
Read More →The FCC continues to pound away at the sanctity of the audible tone used in official emergency alert system messages. First, after a lengthy investigation into a Univision FM station that transmitted emergency warning tones in a comedy sketch, Univision settled the matter by agreeing to pay a $20,000 civil penalty and implementing a comprehensive […]
Read More →Approximately two weeks after the comment periods close in the FCC’s proceeding addressing the impact of the incentive auction on LPTV and TV translator stations, the Media Bureau plans to host a webinar to – in their words – “facilitate public input and understanding of issues” related to the anticipated impacts. That strikes us as […]
Read More →During the first several days of each calendar year, the FCC unceremoniously publishes a one-page news release on the total numbers of broadcast stations licensed as of the end of the prior year. This year’s news release happened on January 7, 2015. We took a little time to compare it to last year’s report, just […]
Read More →In early January 2015, the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau’s Western Region Director issued four forfeiture orders on the same day, fining tower owners from Alaska to Nevada for violating the FCC’s tower rules. The fines included one for $6,000 and three for $8,000, all for failing to exhibit required lighting. Efforts to promptly correct lighting outages, […]
Read More →The FCC has fined a TV station $3,000 for filing several quarterly Children’s Television reports late, and admonished the same station for failing to comply with the FCC’s limits on the amount of commercial matter in children’s programming. According to the station’s renewal application, four quarterly reports were filed late, varying from one day to […]
Read More →January 1, 2015: TV stations intending to claim an exemption from Closed Captioning based on 2014 revenue: verify with accounting department that 2014 revenue did not exceed exemption levels. If not, consult counsel for new captioning obligations. Full-power and eligible Class A & LPTV stations: confirm that you are being carried on all cable and […]
Read More →Yes, you read correctly. The FCC has formally proposed rule changes that would impose a requirement on radio stations to migrate their public files to an FCC-hosted site. While the FCC has indicated that it will proceed slowly, and phase-in the requirement for some stations with small staffs, it appears that the radio online public […]
Read More →It has been awhile, but the FCC has just issued a few fines against broadcasters for failing to follow the EEO broad outreach regulations when recruiting for a job vacancy. Each case involved EEO reviews in connection with renewal applications filed in 2011 in some of the first states to begin the radio renewal cycle. […]
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