seizure of pirate radio equipment

Two Million Dollar Fine for Pirate Radio – Don’t Cross the Commission Again After You’ve Been Caught Once, Especially as More Enforcement Appears to be on the Way

By David Oxenford|2023-03-17T11:29:33-05:00March 17th, 2023|Legal News|

This week, the FCC released two Notices of Apparent Liability proposing to impose big fines on two pirate radio operators. Using the enforcement tools – particularly the higher fines – authorized by the PIRATE Act passed by Congress in 2020, the FCC proposed a to impose a fine of $2,316,034 on one alleged operator of... Continue Reading…

PIRATE Act Passes Senate, and Now on to the President for Signature – Provides for Big Fines and Enforcement Sweeps in Big Markets

By David Oxenford|2020-01-10T10:53:12-06:00January 10th, 2020|Legal News|

The PIRATE Act, to crack down on pirate radio, passed the Senate this week after having passed in the House of Representatives last year. It now goes to the President for signature. We’ve written about this legislation several times before (see for instance, our articles here and here). In this final version, it provides more... Continue Reading…

PIRATE Act Passes House of Representatives Imposing Fines of $100,000 a Day on Unlicensed Radio Operators – Now on to the Senate

By David Oxenford|2019-03-04T09:59:53-06:00March 4th, 2019|Legal News|

The PIRATE Act, imposing Federal penalties on pirate radio station operators, was passed last week by the US House of Representatives and referred to the US Senate for consideration. We wrote about versions of this bill introduced in prior Congressional sessions here and here. This bill, among other things, would impose penalties of up to...… Continue Reading

Another Pirate Radio Equipment Seizure, as Bill to Increase Pirate Radio Penalties Introduced in Congress

By David Oxenford|2018-05-16T11:11:57-05:00May 16th, 2018|Legal News|

Yesterday, the FCC announced that it had seized the equipment of another pirate radio operator, this time one who was operating from a high-rise in Manhattan. The pirate was operating an unauthorized FM radio station from a New York apartment building. As we recently wrote in connection with another seizure of the equipment of a pirate...… Continue Reading

FM Translators and Pirates on the FCC Agenda at the NAB Convention – New Rules on Translator Interference to be Proposed

By David Oxenford|2018-04-13T16:03:34-05:00April 13th, 2018|Legal News|

At this week’s NAB Convention, issues about FM translators and pirate radio dominated the radio news from the sessions that featured FCC speakers. On the translator front, FCC Chairman Pai, in his speech to the convention, announced that there is a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that has been drafted and is being considered by the...… Continue Reading

FCC Continues War on Pirate Radio – Seizes Equipment of Boston Stations While New Legislative Tools May Be on the Way

By David Oxenford|2018-03-29T10:56:34-05:00March 29th, 2018|Legal News|

The FCC yesterday announced that they had seized the equipment of two Boston-area pirate radio stations that had refused to cease operations after receiving FCC notices to do so. The FCC Public Notice on the seizure thanks the US Attorney’s Office and US Marshall’s Office, and the Boston Police Department, for assisting the FCC Field...… Continue Reading