Legal News

Ted Cruz Demands Takedown of PAC Ad Attacking His Voting Record – Issues that Broadcast Stations Need to Consider When Threatened by Candidate Wanting an Ad Pulled

By David Oxenford|2016-02-17T11:20:06-06:00February 17th, 2016|Legal News|

According to Politico, Ted Cruz’ campaign has demanded that TV stations pull certain PAC ads which he claims distort his voting record on immigration issues. This kind of claim from a political candidate about the unfairness of attack ads is common. Here, Cruz’ representatives apparently don’t threaten lawsuits against the stations for running the ads,… Continue Reading

Drones and Newsgathering? Now May Not Be The Best Time …

By Kevin Goldberg|2016-02-17T11:06:05-06:00February 17th, 2016|Legal News|

But legislation currently in the works could improve prospects considerably. It seems like everybody’s been talking about drones and the myriad ways that they will make our lives better. Even we here in the CommLawBlog bunker have devoted considerable attention to the topic (although we’re trying to get our readers used to the proper terminology: … Continue Reading

Looking at the Decision of the Copyright Royalty Board on Internet Radio Royalties for Commercial Webcasters – What are the Issues that the Judges Considered?

By David Oxenford|2016-02-16T11:30:16-06:00February 16th, 2016|Legal News|

The text of the Copyright Royalty Board decision on Internet Radio Royalties for 2026-2020 was released last Friday. While it is 203 pages long, the basis for the decision is relatively simple. As required by the Copyright Act, the Copyright Royalty Judges looked at all of the evidence presented to determine what rate a willing… Continue Reading

The FCC Has Written Good Contest Rules, Now You Should Too

By Lauren Lynch Flick|2016-02-15T20:36:54-06:00February 15th, 2016|Legal News|

The FCC’s new Licensee-Conducted Contest Rule became effective this past Friday. Under the new rule, a broadcast licensee conducting a contest still has the obligation to disclose the material terms of the contest “fully and accurately” and to conduct the contest substantially as announced. However, as we wrote last September, the new rule allows broadcasters to […]

Attention, Reverse Auction Applicants: An Important Letter from the FCC is on its Way to You!

By Harry Cole|2016-02-14T13:56:07-06:00February 13th, 2016|Legal News|

First Confidential Status Letters advising of potentially fatal incompleteness flaws have been sent to would-be reverse auction applicants; Deadline for corrections: February 26, 2016 at 6:00 p.m. (ET) If you’re a TV licensee who submitted an application to participate in the upcoming reverse auction component of the Incentive Auction, you should be checking your mail … Continue Reading

Full Copyright Royalty Board Decision on Webcasting Royalties Now Public

By David Oxenford|2016-02-12T10:40:48-06:00February 12th, 2016|Legal News|

The full decision of the Copyright Royalty Board on Internet Radio royalties, excluding confidential information, has now been made public and is available here. In December, we wrote about the rates and terms of the royalties that webcasters pay to SoundExchange for the public performance of sound recordings as set by the CRB decision, and… Continue Reading

Update: Revised Broadcast Contest Rules Now In Effect

By FHH Law|2016-02-12T06:09:33-06:00February 12th, 2016|Legal News|

It’s official! Last fall’s overhaul of the rules governing licensee-conducted broadcast contests has finally become effective. According to a notice in the Federal Register, our friends at the Office of Management and Budget gave the new rules the big thumbs up last week, and the rules have now taken effect as of February 12, 2016. … Continue Reading

New Broadcast Contest Rules Becoming Effective – OMB Approval to Be Published In the Federal Register

By David Oxenford|2016-02-11T18:28:58-06:00February 11th, 2016|Legal News|

The FCC’s new contest rules for broadcasters, allowing the disclosure of material terms on the Internet rather than reading them on the air, becomes effective upon the publication in the Federal Register of their approval by the Office of Management and Budget. OMB approval has been obtained, and the Federal Register publication is scheduled to… Continue Reading

FCC Announces Millimeter Wave Workshop

By FHH Law|2016-02-11T16:29:02-06:00February 11th, 2016|Legal News|

We’ve written about the great potential for putting the millimeter wave band to use through emerging technologies currently in active development. If you didn’t believe us, maybe you’ll believe the FCC, which will be presenting a “Spectrum Frontiers and Technological Developments in the Millimeter Wave Bands” workshop at its Washington, D.C. headquarters on March 10, … Continue Reading