Dates to Remember
October 30, 2026
All EAS Participants must file ETRS Form One.... Read More
We don’t often see enforcement actions for violations of the FCC’s underwriting restrictions for noncommercial stations, so any such published action gets our attention. On July 2, 2020, the FCC issued a Notice to a low power FM station that it must pay $15,000 for airing commercials (LPFM stations must operate noncommercially). All NCE stations […]
Read More →Full power commercial and noncommercial television stations are required to supply a carriage election email address and phone number in their online public file by July 31, 2020. The FCC issued a reminder public notice about this on July 15, 2020. To do so, log in to the station online public file and select the […]
Read More →The FCC’s Enforcement Bureau recently issued two separate decisions fining stations for violations of its contest rules. The first was for a station’s failure to conduct a station contest as advertised. A caller won concert tickets, but the station never delivered them despite the winner’s multiple attempts to pick them up. The Bureau found that […]
Read More →Commercial television stations have grown accustomed to placing documentation in their online public files each quarter related to their compliance with the FCC’s rules limiting the amount of commercial material in children’s television programs. In fact, that habit has become so ingrained that many stations are still doing so each quarter even though this requirement […]
Read More →With the three-year post-auction transition now complete, the FCC’s Media Bureau has announced certain deadlines that were previously mandated by the statute authorizing the TV auction. Specifically, LPTV stations still operating in analog have until July 13, 2021 to terminate all analog operations, even if their digital facilities are not yet operational. No extensions of […]
Read More →July 3, 2020 Deadline for all TV stations assigned to Phase 10 to transition to their post-auction channels; also the formal end of the post-auction transition July 10, 2020 TV & Class A stations (commercial only): for those stations that did not already do so on previously announced deadlines for this report, complete and electronically […]
Read More →Back in April, the FCC temporarily waived its sponsorship identification rules through June 30, 2020 to allow advertisers on commercial broadcast stations to donate purchased airtime to be used for COVID-19 public service announcements sponsored by governments or governmental agencies. Under the sponsorship identification rule, the entity donating the time would have to be identified, […]
Read More →The decade long process of relocating television stations to channels 2-36 will officially end on July 3, 2020, though a small number of stations will have a bit longer to complete their transitions based on unique circumstances. For stations entitled to reimbursement, it is critically important to continue to file for reimbursement and provide any […]
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 […]
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