As noted yesterday, the FCC announced in a robocall proceeding that all individuals and entities that have a Federal Registration Number (FRN) in the FCC’s CORES database are now required to update it within ten business days of any change in the associated information. In the underlying Order, the FCC stated its reasons for doing […]
Let’s state the obvious. The FCC’s use of mandatory Federal Registration Numbers was a bad idea from the start. It became monumentally worse today, when the FCC quietly announced that anyone whose Federal Registration Number contact information isn’t updated within 10 business days is subject to a $1,000 per day fine until it is updated, […]
In a not all that surprising development for those who monitor Chairman Carr’s pronouncements, the FCC’s Media Bureau today released a “Guidance on Political Equal Opportunities Requirement for Broadcast Television Stations” narrowing the programs found exempt from the Equal Opportunities requirement. The clear target is appearances by candidates on the TV broadcast networks’ morning and […]
While there was much talk of broadcast deregulation at the FCC in 2025, the two big deregulatory changes of the past year were actually delivered by federal appeals courts. Specifically, the Eighth Circuit’s elimination of the TV Big-4 duopoly rule, and Pillsbury’s own victory in a Fifth Circuit ruling that the FCC lacks authority to […]
With a December 8 deadline to come into compliance with the FCC’s new sponsorship identification requirements for airing content connected to a foreign government, broadcasters have been racing to figure out how to comply in a practical way. As previously discussed here and here, the new rule requires that broadcasters determine whether leases of airtime […]
While at this stage it is only a temporary win, in the spirit of Chairman Carr’s Delete, Delete, Delete proceeding, the FCC today released a Public Notice announcing that the Commission is suspending the requirement that broadcasters file Biennial Ownership Reports until June 1, 2027 or further notice, whichever occurs first. The reports are normally […]
One thing about being part of a heavily regulated industry—you know well in advance most of the regulatory obligations and deadlines you’ll be facing in the year ahead. While that brings no solace to broadcasters, it does lend a certain level of predictability to an often unpredictable industry. For more decades than most of us […]
Back in May, I wrote about the Department of Labor’s new regulations under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) significantly increasing the salary thresholds for an employee to be exempt from overtime pay requirements. The reason for writing about it in CommLawCenter is that media businesses rarely operate on a 9am-to-5pm schedule, and have many […]
On April 23, 2024, the U.S. Department of Labor published final regulations under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) that ultimately raise the minimum salary necessary to be exempt from federal overtime rules by 65%. These changes affect all businesses subject to the FLSA, but broadcasters and other media employers may particularly feel the impact […]