The Federal Communication Commission (“FCC” or the “Commission”) released the much-discussed changes in its rules relating to children’s television programming on July 12, 2019 in a Report and Order and Further Notice of Proposed Rule Making, which include a reduction in the frequency of filing Children’s Television reports and the information required in those reports,...… Continue Reading
At its October meeting, the FCC proposed to clear away further regulatory underbrush by eliminating, or drastically modifying, two rules. The first is the requirement that all TV stations engaged in digital broadcasting file annual reports concerning Ancillary/Supplementary services that might have been offered. Second is the requirement that licensees filing certain applications publish and/or...… Continue Reading
The FCC’s policies with regard to diversity generally have taken center stage over the past few days. First up, on Friday, April 21, the Commission released a Declaratory Ruling which updated its policy as to whether the use by broadcasters and multichannel video programming distributors (MVPD’s) of only Internet-based recruitment sources provides sufficiently wide dissemination … Continue Reading
The Commission has acted to restore the UHF discount used to calculate audience reach in connection with determining compliance with television ownership limits. The national ownership cap currently limits the number of stations one owner may control to those which reach no more than 39 percent of national television households (with reach defined as the … Continue Reading
Starting March 31, Form 398 will be filed through the Licensing and Management System portal Attention, all you Class A and commercial TV licensees. The Commission has announced that the next time you go to file a quarterly Children’s Programming Report (that would be Form 398), you’ll have to do it through the work-in-progress Licensing … Continue Reading
Long-awaited opportunity for AMers now at hand. If you’re an AM licensee interested in taking advantage of the opportunity to file for an FM translator, get your calendar out: the Media Bureau has announced the dates for the two 2016 “modification windows” during which AM stations will have first dibs on available FM translators. These … Continue Reading
Injuries, fatalities to tower workers prompt inquiry into possible regulation. Everyone in the communications industry must be concerned about the safety and well-being of the tower workers. Tower workers, quite literally, put their lives on the line t...
Dramatic “optimizing” of FM antenna gets the hairy eyeball from the Audio Division In the FM radio world, there are supposed to be only two kinds of antennas: directional and non-directional. While it has long recognized that that simplisti...
Attention LPTV, Class A TV and TV Translator CP and license applicants: Form 2100 is your ONLY option as of February 23. Last September we introduced our readers to the new “Licensing and Management System” (LMS) that the Commission plans t...