The FCC this week issued a Public Notice announcing the effective date of certain portions of the FCC Order released in June adopting changes to its requirements that broadcasters obtain certifications from buyers of program time on their stations that the sponsors are not foreign governments or agents of those governments. As we wrote when... Continue Reading…
Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the longstanding Chevron doctrine, which required courts to defer to expert regulatory agencies, like the FCC, when interpreting ambiguous statutes, unless the agency acted unreasonably. Since the decision, we have seen all sorts of TV pundits predicting the end of “the administrative state” (presumably meaning the end of the many... Continue Reading…
Last week, the FCC released its long-expected decision on foreign government sponsored programming. As you will recall, in 2022, the FCC adopted rules that required enhanced sponsorship identifications when program time bought (or, in the FCC’s words, “leased”) on broadcast stations was sponsored by a foreign government or an agent of a foreign government. In... Continue Reading…
Last week, the FCC released its long-expected decision on foreign government sponsored programming. As you will recall, in 2022, the FCC adopted rules that required enhanced sponsorship identifications when program time bought (or, in the FCC’s words, “leased”) on broadcast stations was sponsored by a foreign government or an agent of a foreign government. In... Continue Reading…
As we wrote in Sunday’s weekly summary of broadcast actions, last week was a very active one at the FCC. The FCC released the texts of rulemaking proposals on annual regulatory fees and on new regulatory proposals for LPTV and TV translator stations. The Commission also released orders reinstating rules prohibiting FM stations serving the... Continue Reading…
With the verdict in the first criminal case against former President (and now candidate) Trump having been released, we can envision a whole raft of attack ads likely to be airing before the November elections. The verdict is likely to also increase political divisions within the country, and potentially fuel many other nasty attack ads... Continue Reading…
We’ve written several times (see for instance our articles here, here, and here) about all of the action in state legislatures to regulate the use of artificial intelligence in political advertising – with approximately 17 states now having adopted laws or rules, most requiring the labeling of “deep fakes” in such ads, and a few... Continue Reading…
In recent weeks, we saw press reports on a recommendation from the Attorney General to loosen federal restrictions on marijuana – reclassifying it by moving it off Schedule I (an illegal controlled substance with no medical uses and a high degree of potential abuse) to Schedule III, where many other drugs, including some requiring a... Continue Reading…
Artificial Intelligence was the talk of the NAB Convention last week. Seemingly, not a session took place without some discussion of the impact of AI. One area that we have written about many times is the impact of AI on political advertising. Legislative consideration of that issue has exploded in the first quarter of 2024,... Continue Reading…