We often write about issues concerning the royalties paid by radio stations for their various uses of music. It is not just paying the royalties that are important, but stations must also observe all of all the other obligations under each of their license agreements. The Radio Music License Committee asked us to remind commercial... Continue Reading…
President Biden’s signing of the Continuing Resolution last week (see our discussion here) has kept the federal government open, with the FCC and FTC having money to stay open through March 8. So the FCC will be open and thus there are February regulatory dates to which broadcasters should be paying attention. February 1 is... Continue Reading…
February 1 is the deadline for broadcast stations licensed to communities in Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, and Oklahoma to place their Annual EEO Public File Report in their Public Inspection File and post the report on their station website. Under the FCC’s EEO Rule, all radio and television station employment […]
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. As we discussed on our Blog this week, the Copyright Royal Board corrected the deadline for interested parties to file... Continue Reading…
The FCC last week issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking aimed to give incentives to broadcasters to air more local journalism and local programming by prioritizing the processing of certain applications by stations that feature local programming. That decision drew dissents from both of the FCC’s Republican Commissioners, not because of the proposal for the... 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: TV Broadcaster Faces $150,000 Fine for Failure to Negotiate Retransmission Consent in Good Faith Sponsorship ID and Political File Violations Lead to $500,000 Consent Decree […]
The deadline to file the 2023 Annual Children’s Television Programming Report with the FCC is January 30, 2024, reflecting programming aired during the 2023 calendar year. In addition, commercial stations’ documentation of their compliance with the commercial limits in children’s programming during the 2023 calendar year must be placed in their Public Inspection File by […]
On January 17, 2024, the FCC released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (“NPRM”) seeking comment on a newly proposed requirement for cable operators and direct broadcast satellite (“DBS”) providers, which, if enacted, would require those cable operators and DBS providers to make available rebates to their subscribers for programming blackouts caused by failed retransmission consent...… Continue Reading
The Copyright Royalty Board has published in the Federal Register a correction to its notice announcing the commencement of the next proceeding to set rates for the royalties paid by webcasters (including broadcasters who stream their music through the internet) to SoundExchange for the public performance of sound recordings in the period 2026-2030. The correction... Continue Reading…