To close out 2025, the Space Bureau has conducted one last check of its open docket list, adding a final name to its packed post-President’s Day comment window. An end of year Public Notice asks commenters to refresh the record on a five-year old rulemaking that proposes permitting non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) satellite systems to communicate […]
Today, we would normally publish our look back at the prior week’s regulatory activity of importance to broadcasters but, as we noted last week, we are taking this week off and will publish a summary of the regulatory activity during the two week holiday period next Sunday. But, as the start of a new month... 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. On our Broadcast Law Blog, we looked at some of the issues raised by the Senate Judiciary Committee’s recent hearing... Continue Reading…
Yesterday, we saw President Trump issue an Executive Order instructing various government agencies to take steps to move marijuana from Schedule I (an illegal controlled substance with no medical uses and a high degree of potential abuse) to Schedule III, which includes many other drugs, such as ketamine and Tylenol with codeine, that require a... Continue Reading…
Beginning January 1, 2026, the FCC’s audio description requirements will expand to commercial television stations affiliated with ABC, CBS, FOX, or NBC in 10 additional Nielsen Designated Market Areas (DMAs): Tyler-Longview (Lufkin & Nacogdoches), Sioux Falls (Mitchell), Fargo, Springfield-Holyoke, Lansing, Youngstown, Yakima-Pasco-Richland-Kennewick, Traverse City-Cadillac, Eugene, and Macon. Audio-described programming is intended to make video programming […]
Last week, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on the American Music Fairness Act bill which proposes to adopt a new music royalty to be paid by over-the-air radio stations. The royalty would be payable to SoundExchange for the public performance of sound recordings. This means that the money collected would be paid to performing artists... Continue Reading…
In the last few weeks, I’ve spoken to meetings of several broadcast organizations about important pending issues at the FCC and, unfortunately, had to cancel my planned appearance at the TVOT (TV of Tomorrow) conference in New York City where I was to have talked about the same issues. In any such conversation, probably the... 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. On our Broadcast Law Blog, we discussed steps broadcasters should be taking now to avoid legal issues with political broadcasting... Continue Reading…
Using the EAS alert tones without a real emergency has led to several FCC fines in recent years – including many fines in the hundreds of thousands of dollars (see, for instance, our articles here, here, and here). This week, the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau released a Consent Decree with a noncommercial radio group (American Public... Continue Reading…