Every year at about this time, with April Fools’ Day right around the corner, we need to play our role as attorneys and ruin any fun that you may be planning by repeating our reminder that broadcasters need to be careful with any on-air pranks, jokes or other on-air bits prepared especially for the day. While... Continue Reading…
The unusual story of the sale of TEGNA Inc. has seemingly (more on that below) come to an end after a four-year FCC review process, encompassing two attempted purchases, two administrative actions involving multiple rule waivers and novel questions of law, but no rulings by the Commissioners themselves. On Thursday, the FCC’s Media Bureau issued... Continue Reading…
This past weekend, we saw an ad posted on YouTube attacking Democratic Senatorial candidate James Tallarico – using words that were apparently from his own tweets, commenting on a number of social issues. What made the ad notable was that the words from the tweets were not just displayed on the screen or read by... Continue Reading…
The FCC’s Media Bureau released a Public Notice this week starting an examination of the marketplace for sports rights and how changes in that market have affected local broadcasters and consumers. The notice recognizes what is evident to all consumers – that the sports marketplace has changed as competition has grown for rights to transmit... Continue Reading…
In the last three weeks, we have noted three cases where the FCC’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau granted waivers to broadcast stations to temporarily disconnect their EAS equipment while changing tower sites (see decisions here, here, and here). FCC rules require stations to have operating EAS equipment during all hours of operation to receive or... Continue Reading…
In the last few days, there have been a series of articles and alerts that have alarmed broadcasters and caused worry that fines would be coming their way for not updating and correcting any FCC Registration Number (FRN) associated with their operations. While there is a new rule that went into effect recently that requires... Continue Reading…
Since the last opportunity for any applicant to file for FM translators in 2003, which resulted in thousands of applications and processing delays that still have not been totally eliminated (see, for instance, our articles here and here), the FCC has seemed hesitant to open another translator filing window. The only opportunity to file for... Continue Reading…
The FCC’s Media Bureau, in a Public Notice released this week, provided guidance that changed the common interpretation of one of the fundamental principles of political broadcasting law for the last thirty years – that a candidate appearance on a regularly scheduled talk program subject to broadcaster control was not subject to equal opportunities claims... Continue Reading…
It’s the start of another year, so it is time to dust off the crystal ball and look at what we expect to be the big regulatory and legislative issues facing broadcasters in the new year. Looking back on our forecast for 2025 that came out just over a year ago, I was surprised to... Continue Reading…