David Oxenford, Author at Tennessee Association of Broadcasters

$12,000 Fine to Translator Operator for Overpower Operations – Review Your Translator’s Operations to Ensure they Comply With All Requirements of Your License

By David Oxenford|2020-08-07T10:14:59-05:00August 7th, 2020|Legal News|

A $12,000 fine issued to an FM translator operator for operating with a transmitter power output that exceeded its licensed limits was upheld by the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau in a decision released this week. The Commission rejected the licensee’s argument that the Commission should have first given it notice and an opportunity to fix the... Continue Reading…

FCC Eliminates Rule Requiring Broadcast Station Tower Owners to Give Access to Competing Stations

By David Oxenford|2020-08-06T10:04:22-05:00August 6th, 2020|Legal News|

The FCC yesterday acted to resolve the proceeding begun a year ago (see our article here) to eliminate the rule that prevented an FM or TV broadcaster from denying space to a competing broadcaster on a broadcast tower that it controls. As expected, that rule was eliminated by an order to become effective when it... Continue Reading…

Identifying the Legal Issues in Using Digital and Social Media – A Video Webinar

By David Oxenford|2020-08-05T10:41:36-05:00August 5th, 2020|Legal News|

Almost every broadcaster and other media company uses digital and social media to reach their audiences with content and information that can be presented in ways different than those provided by their traditional platforms. Whether it is simply maintaining a website or streaming audio or video or maintaining a social media presence to reach and... Continue Reading…

This Week in Regulation for Broadcasters: July 18, 2020 to July 24, 2020

By David Oxenford|2020-07-25T18:34:52-05:00July 25th, 2020|Legal News|

Here are some of the FCC regulatory, legal, and congressional actions of the last week—and music licensing action in the coming week—of significance to broadcasters, with links to where you can go to find more information as to how these actions may affect your operations. The Media Bureau settled investigations into six major radio groups... Continue Reading…

FCC Enters Consent Decrees with Six Big Radio Groups – Looking at What the FCC’s Political File Rules Require

By David Oxenford|2020-07-24T11:09:15-05:00July 24th, 2020|Legal News|

The FCC this week announced consent decrees with six large radio groups over problems with the political files maintained by these groups. The consent decrees included very specific compliance plans for each company to ensure that it met all FCC political file obligations in the future. And it suggested that the penalties were mitigated by... Continue Reading…

Using Music in Podcasts – Talk to the Copyright Holders – Why You Can’t Rely on Your ASCAP, BMI, SESAC and SoundExchange Licenses

By David Oxenford|2020-07-22T10:28:44-05:00July 22nd, 2020|Legal News|

Our friends at Edison Research recently released a study on music discovery highlighting the ways in which people discover new music. Among their findings was that broadcast radio, YouTube and streaming services were among the largest sources for that discovery. That report caused one radio trade publication to suggest that podcasts, which ranked relatively low... Continue Reading…

A Deeper Look at the FCC’s Proposal to Eliminate Program Duplication Rules for AM But Not FM Stations – Looking to All Digital AM?

By David Oxenford|2020-07-21T09:39:59-05:00July 21st, 2020|Legal News|

FCC rules currently prohibit radio stations in the same service (AM or FM) that have over 50% overlap of their principal community contours (the 70 dBu for FM stations and the 5 mV/m contour for AM stations) from duplicating more than 25 per cent of the total hours in their average programming week. In preparation... Continue Reading…

This Week in Regulation for Broadcasters: July 11, 2020 to July 17, 2020

By David Oxenford|2020-07-18T13:27:06-05:00July 18th, 2020|Legal News|

Here are some of the FCC regulatory and legal actions of the last week—and congressional action in the coming week—of significance to broadcasters, with links to where you can go to find more information as to how these actions may affect your operations. The Media Bureau reminded broadcasters that July 13, 2021—the hard deadline for... Continue Reading…

FCC Reminder to TV Stations – July 31 Deadline for Adding to Their Public File Contacts for Must-Carry/Retransmission Consent Communications

By David Oxenford|2020-07-17T09:24:20-05:00July 17th, 2020|Legal News|

Broadcast TV stations have until July 31, 2020 to upload to their public file a phone number and email address to be used for receiving signal carriage notices and questions. This information must be kept current and will be used in the must-carry and retransmission consent carriage election statements that must be uploaded by stations to their online... Continue Reading…

About David Oxenford