Legal News

Congressman Walden Urges Adoption of Broadcast Diversity in Leadership Act – An Incubator Program to Assist New Entrants to Broadcast Ownership

By David Oxenford|2020-10-23T10:34:54-05:00October 23rd, 2020|Legal News|

There were several reports in the broadcast trade press today about an article in the Hill newsletter from retiring Congressman Greg Walden about his proposals to increase diversity in broadcast ownership. Congressman Walden, a former broadcaster, seeks in his Broadcast Diversity in Leadership Act to foster minority ownership and ownership by new entrants by establishing... Continue Reading…

Looking at FCC Non-Vacancy Specific EEO Outreach Efforts – the “Menu Options” – in a Pandemic World

By David Oxenford|2020-10-22T10:31:51-05:00October 22nd, 2020|Legal News|

In the last few weeks, we have received several inquiries from broadcasters about the FCC’s enforcement of its requirements that broadcasters conduct non-vacancy specific outreach efforts to educate their communities about broadcast employment opportunities and to train their staff to assume greater responsibility at stations and otherwise assist them in their career development (not to... Continue Reading…

Abolition of the Radio Program Nonduplication Rules Effective October 22, 2020

By David Oxenford|2020-10-22T10:17:39-05:00October 22nd, 2020|Legal News|

The FCC’s abolition of the rule that prohibited same-service radio stations serving the same area from substantially duplicating their programming becomes effective today, as the FCC order repealing the rule was published in the Federal Register. The rule had prohibited radio stations in the same service (AM or FM) that have over 50% overlap of... Continue Reading…

FCC Announces 2021 Filing Window for NCE Stations

By FHH Law|2020-10-21T08:01:54-05:00October 21st, 2020|Legal News|

In correspondence with members of Congress, Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) Chairman Ajit Pai had signaled that an application filing window for new Noncommercial Educational (“NCE”) stations would be opening sometime fairly soon. In a Public Notice (“PN”) released October 19, the FCC confirmed that a filing window will be coming. The specific dates of the...… Continue Reading

Next Step to a Filing Window for New Noncommercial FM Stations – FCC Asks for Comments on Limits on How Many Applications One Applicant Can Submit

By David Oxenford|2020-10-20T10:08:24-05:00October 20th, 2020|Legal News|

The FCC yesterday issued a Public Notice announcing that it will in fact be opening a window for the filing of applications for new reserved-band noncommercial FM stations (those stations operating in the portion of the FM band below 92.1 FM, which is reserved for noncommercial educational broadcasters). We anticipated that this window was coming... Continue Reading…

The Upcoming FCC Noncommercial FM and LPFM Filing Windows: What You Need to Know

By FHH Law|2020-10-19T12:08:12-05:00October 19th, 2020|Legal News|

FCC Chairman Pai recently announced that for the first time in a decade, the FCC will in the near future accept applications for full-power noncommercial radio stations across the nation. This filing window is expected to be followed by a filing window for new low-power FM (LPFM) stations. What’s involved in filing an application with...… Continue Reading

This Week in Regulation for Broadcasters: October 10, 2020 to October 16, 2020

By David Oxenford and Adam Sandler|2020-10-18T08:08:35-05:00October 18th, 2020|Legal News|

Here are some of the regulatory developments of the last 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 FCC set the comment dates for its proposal for changing the cost to file various broadcast applications. The new... Continue Reading…

More FCC Consent Decrees for Political File Violations – Issues to Watch in the Last Weeks of the Election

By David Oxenford|2020-10-16T11:14:41-05:00October 16th, 2020|Legal News|

As the campaign enters its final weeks, the FCC has begun to send out the next round of proposed consent decrees to radio broadcasters unable to certify in their license renewal applications, because of perceived deficiencies in their political file, that that every document was placed into their FCC-hosted online public inspection file on a... Continue Reading…

Music in Podcasts – As Podcasts Shut Down Following Infringement Notices, Looking at the Required Music Rights

By David Oxenford|2020-10-15T11:25:31-05:00October 15th, 2020|Legal News|

The use of music has long been an issue for those looking to provide music-oriented podcasts to the public. As we have written before (see, for example, our articles here and here), clearing rights to use music in podcasts is not as simple as signing up with ASCAP, BMI and SESAC (or even adding GMR... Continue Reading…