October 1, 2026 is the deadline for commercial TV stations to (1) upload to their online Public Inspection File their must-carry/retransmission consent carriage election statements for the three-year cycle covering January 1, 2027 to December 31, 2029, and (2) directly notify MVPDs of any changes to their carriage elections. Under the FCC’s electronic carriage election […]
As we reported last week, the FCC adopted its Report and Order establishing the annual regulatory fees for Fiscal Year (FY) 2026. Today, the FCC released a Public Notice announcing that those regulatory fees must be paid no later than 11:59 PM, Eastern Daylight Time, on September 24, 2026. In a second Public Notice, the […]
Yesterday, the FCC released its Report and Order adopting a schedule of regulatory fees to cover the Commission’s Fiscal Year 2026 salaries and expenses appropriation of $416,112,000.00. The Order largely follows the approach set out in the FCC’s April 2026 Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (“NPRM”), continuing the full-time employee (“FTE”)-based methodology the FCC has used […]
August 1 is the deadline for broadcast stations licensed to communities in California, Illinois, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Wisconsin 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 units (“SEUs”), regardless […]
This advisory is directed to television stations with locally-produced programming whose signals were carried by at least one cable system located outside the station’s local service area or by a satellite provider that provided the station’s signal to at least one viewer outside the station’s local service area during 2025. These stations may be eligible […]
Pillsbury’s communications lawyers have published the 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: Texas FM Translator Licensee Agrees to $50,000 Consent Decree for Multiple Rule Violations Public File Violations Result in $41,000 Consent Decree for Pennsylvania Television […]
Broadcasters’ next Quarterly Issues/Programs List (“Quarterly List”) must be placed in stations’ Public Inspection Files by July 10, 2026, reflecting information for the months of April, May, and June 2026. Content of the Quarterly List The FCC requires each broadcast station to air a reasonable amount of programming responsive to significant community needs, issues, and […]
Pillsbury’s communications lawyers have published the 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: FCC Warns New York Property Owners Over Pirate Radio Broadcasts New Jersey AM Radio Station Cited for Tower, Power, and EAS Violations FCC Targets […]
Time moves slowly in the regulatory universe, at least until you are facing a deadline. It was in 2022 that I first wrote about the then-upcoming September 15, 2022 deadline for broadcasters to disclose whether all content “aired pursuant to the lease of time on the station” had a “foreign governmental entity” behind it, in […]