In today’s Federal Register, the FCC has given notice of its proposal to abolish the main studio rule. That notice, here, sets the date for comments on this proposal as July 3. Reply comments are due two weeks later on July 17. We wrote about the FCC’s proposal and the questions being asked in this...… Continue Reading
The FCC released a Public Notice announcing that its window for Class C and D AM stations to file for new FM translators to rebroadcast their stations will open on July 26. The notice does not say much more except that there will be another notice coming soon providing more details on the filing process....… Continue Reading
The FCC yesterday announced a consent decree with TEGNA, the licensee of a television station in Jacksonville, Florida, which used simulated EAS tones in a promotional announcement for the Jacksonville Jaguars football team. According to the consent decree, the station ran the announcement only 4 times. It was apparently produced by the team and inserted...… Continue Reading
Just in time for the unofficial start of summer, the FCC has issued its 2017 Regulatory Fee Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM), beginning a process that culminates with the payment of regulatory fees sometime between late August and the end of September. Although there aren’t any big fee hikes like we saw last year,...… Continue Reading
June brings some of the normal regulatory deadlines for stations in certain states. EEO Public Inspection File Reports need to be placed in the public file (or uploaded to the FCC-hosted public file for TV and large-market radio stations) by Full-Power and Class A Television Stations and AM and FM Radio Stations in Arizona, Idaho,...… Continue Reading
FAA Violated Clear Language of the Law The United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit last week, in Taylor v. Huerta, determined that the FAA’s registration rule cannot apply to small unmanned aircraft (aka, sUAVs, or drones) operated for recreational purposes. Drones operated for recreational purposes, which FAA terms “model aircraft”, are defined...… Continue Reading
I was recently interviewed by Steve Goldstein of Amplifi Media, a firm that consults for podcast companies, on the difficulties with the use of music in podcasts. That interview has been turned into an article on Steve’s blog, here, discussing these legal issues. That article discusses the same issues that we’ve written about here several...… Continue Reading
When press reports first started to emerge that the FCC was investigating for possible indecency violations a Stephen Colbert bit from his Late Show television program suggesting that the President had engaged in certain sex acts with the Russian President, we wrote that the controversy was much ado about nothing (see our article here). We...… 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: Headlines: Former Broadcast Licensee Faces $144,344 Fine for Operating Kentucky LPTV Station Without a License for 18 Years FCC Proposes $20,000 Fine Against California Noncommercial […]