FCC Rethinks Wireless Microphones

By |2014-10-10T04:48:58-05:00October 10th, 2014|Legal News|

The steady shrinkage of the TV bands is forcing the FCC to look elsewhere for wireless microphone spectrum. Having inadvertently threatened a key industry with extinction, the FCC is now trying to reactivate it. We see wireless microphones used on TV s...

Update: Text-to-911 Rules Now in Effect

By |2014-10-10T03:34:44-05:00October 10th, 2014|Legal News|

Sure, text-to-911 capabilities by December 31, 2014 is now the law, with mandated implementation by June 30, 2015 at the earliest. But your best bet, in an emergency, is still to make a voice call to 911, if possible. R U rdy 4 txt 2 911? For the texti...

FCC Continues EEO Audits, This Time Just For Cable and Satellite Television Systems – A Reminder for Broadcasters to Keep Up EEO Compliance and Paperwork

By |2014-10-09T11:52:11-05:00October 9th, 2014|Legal News|

The FCC has just announced another of its regular EEO audits, though this time it’s just for cable and satellite television systems, which also have EEO obligations (see the FCC Public Notice and list of affected systems here). The FCC will audit 5% of all broadcasters and cable companies each year to assess their EEO … Continue Reading

Why is a US Radio Station Getting a Notice about Webcasting Royalties in Canada? – Why Webcasters Geo-Block Their Streams to Avoid International Music Royalties

By |2014-10-08T10:12:41-05:00October 8th, 2014|Legal News|

An Alabama radio station recently received a notice about the new royalty rates that are payable to ReSound, the Canadian equivalent of SoundExchange, a collective set up to receive from webcasters royalties for the public performance of sound recordings and to distribute those royalties to the copyright holders (usually the labels) and the artists who … Continue Reading

What’s a Broadcaster to Do When a Candidate Complains About the Truth of an Attack Ad? – Dealing with Ads from Non-Candidate, Third-Party Organizations

By |2014-10-07T10:35:07-05:00October 7th, 2014|Legal News|

As we move into the final weeks of the election season, and races heat up, there are always issues about attack ads and what a station needs to do when they receive a “take-down” notice from a candidate who is being attacked. We recently wrote about candidate ads, and the “no censorship” provision of Section … Continue Reading

Laura Stefani Joins FHH

By |2014-10-06T15:27:25-05:00October 6th, 2014|Legal News|

Wilkommen, Bienvenue, Welcome! Fletcher, Heald & Hildreth is pleased to announce that Laura Stefani has joined us as Of Counsel. She’ll be focusing on emerging technologies, wireless, broadband, and RF equipment issues. Laura is no stran...

Will FCC Extend MVPD Rules to Online Video Providers – Including Retransmission Consent Fees and Program Access Rules?

By |2014-10-06T10:00:23-05:00October 6th, 2014|Legal News|

Could a change in the FCC treatment of Internet delivered video services be in the works – and how would that affect services like Aereo?  There were a number of published articles last week that suggested that the FCC was considering extending the definition of a Multichannel video programming distributor (MVPD) to over-the-top video providers … Continue Reading

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