Recently, I’ve received many calls from broadcasters about the FCC public file obligations for issue ads (those ads not bought by legally qualified candidates or their authorized committees) – particularly concerning the different treatment between issue ads dealing with federal candidates or federal matters, and those dealing with state and local matters. There was much... 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: Turning Away FCC Inspectors Leads to a Notice of Violation for Florida Low Power FM Station Texas FM Stations Receive Short-Term License Renewals After Extended […]
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. July 18, 2022 was the reply comment deadline for the FCC’s Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on the its proposed regulatory... Continue Reading…
A new Chief Copyright Royalty Judge of the Copyright Royalty Board has just been named by the Librarian of Congress. According to the Press Release announcing his appointment, David Shaw will fill that position after having previously served as an administrative law judge on the International Trade Commission for over 10 years. There, he heard... Continue Reading…
The FCC’s Audio Division, in the latter part of the license renewal cycle for radio stations, seems to have adopted a more aggressive position on stations that were silent for extended periods of time during their license term. In our summary of last week’s events of importance to broadcasters, we noted one case where an... Continue Reading…
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. The US Court of Appeals this week determined that the FCC’s requirement that broadcasters confirm by searching DOJ and FCC... Continue Reading…
When providing briefings on FCC issues at a number of broadcast conventions in the past few months, I find that broadcasters are most often surprised by the relatively new FCC rule that requires that they verify that any buyer of programming time on their station is not an agent of a foreign government. This week,... Continue Reading…
Earlier this year, new FCC rules went into effect requiring radio and television stations to broadcast Sponsorship ID disclosures for programming provided by foreign governmental entities. Yesterday, the federal Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit struck down one part of those requirements: the requirement for broadcasters to independently confirm the sponsor’s status by consulting...… Continue Reading
The FCC in recent years has been upgrading their technical systems (even though, as many broadcasters and their attorneys know, the upgrades are often not without their own problems). The old CDBS database, in which broadcasters for years filed their applications, is shut down for all new filings as almost all broadcast applications have migrated... Continue Reading…