This week, Commissioners Carr and Starks issued a joint statement congratulating Chairwoman Rosenworcel for circulating an order to resolve the FCC’s long-pending proceeding about whether to authorize “zonecasting” or “geo-targeting” for FM stations. Zonecasting would allow FM broadcasters to use FM booster stations operating on the same channel as their main signal, within a station’s... Continue Reading…
Mitchell Stabbe, our resident trademark law specialist, today takes his annual look at the legal issues in Super Bowl advertising and promotions (see some of his past articles here, here, and here). Take it away, Mitch: As a life-long fan of the Baltimore Ravens (the life of the Ravens, not my life), my interest... Continue Reading…
We often write about issues concerning the royalties paid by radio stations for their various uses of music. It is not just paying the royalties that are important, but stations must also observe all of all the other obligations under each of their license agreements. The Radio Music License Committee asked us to remind commercial... Continue Reading…
President Biden’s signing of the Continuing Resolution last week (see our discussion here) has kept the federal government open, with the FCC and FTC having money to stay open through March 8. So the FCC will be open and thus there are February regulatory dates to which broadcasters should be paying attention. February 1 is... Continue Reading…
February 1 is the deadline for broadcast stations licensed to communities in Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, and Oklahoma to place their Annual EEO Public File Report in their Public Inspection File and post the report on their station website. Under the FCC’s EEO Rule, all radio and television station employment […]
Here are some of the regulatory developments of significance to broadcasters from the past week, with links to where you can go to find more information as to how these actions may affect your operations. As we discussed on our Blog this week, the Copyright Royal Board corrected the deadline for interested parties to file... Continue Reading…
The FCC last week issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking aimed to give incentives to broadcasters to air more local journalism and local programming by prioritizing the processing of certain applications by stations that feature local programming. That decision drew dissents from both of the FCC’s Republican Commissioners, not because of the proposal for the... Continue Reading…
Pillsbury’s communications lawyers have published FCC Enforcement Monitor monthly since 1999 to inform our clients of notable FCC enforcement actions against FCC license holders and others. This month’s issue includes: TV Broadcaster Faces $150,000 Fine for Failure to Negotiate Retransmission Consent in Good Faith Sponsorship ID and Political File Violations Lead to $500,000 Consent Decree […]
The deadline to file the 2023 Annual Children’s Television Programming Report with the FCC is January 30, 2024, reflecting programming aired during the 2023 calendar year. In addition, commercial stations’ documentation of their compliance with the commercial limits in children’s programming during the 2023 calendar year must be placed in their Public Inspection File by […]