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…
Although many, including Congress, take the last of their summer vacations in August, there are still many dates to which broadcasters should be paying attention this month. One deadline that most commercial broadcasters should be anticipating is the FCC’s order that will set the amount of their Annual Regulatory Fees, which will be paid sometime... Continue Reading…
The NAB last week submitted a letter asking the FCC to quickly repeal the 39% cap on national ownership of television stations. This cap precludes the ownership by one company or individual of an attributable interest in television stations capable of reaching more than 39% of the television households in the United States. The rule... Continue Reading…
A new year – and our annual opportunity to pull out the crystal ball and look at the legal issues that will be facing broadcasters in the new year. We’ve already published our 2024 Broadcasters Calendar and, as we noted before the holidays, it highlights the many lowest unit rate windows for the November election. ... Continue Reading…
The Senate this week approved Anna Gomez for the open Democratic FCC seat that has been vacant since the start of the Biden Administration. As we wrote in May when the President first nominated her, Gomez is experienced in government circles, having worked at NTIA (a Department of Commerce agency dealing with federal spectrum use... Continue Reading…
This week brought the news that the Biden administration has nominated Anna Gomez for the open Democratic FCC seat that Gigi Sohn was to fill until she asked that her nomination be withdrawn in March, after a prolonged debate over her confirmation. Gomez is experienced in government circles, having worked at NTIA (a Department of... Continue Reading…
It’s a new year, and it’s time to look ahead at what Washington may have in store for broadcasters this year. The FCC may be slow to tackle some of the big issues on its agenda (like the completion of 2018 Quadrennial Review or any other significant partisan issue) as it still has only four... Continue Reading…
The United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit today dismissed challenges to the FCC’s April 2017 decision to reinstate the UHF Discount. That discount allows broadcast television station owners to count only 50 percent of households served by UHF stations when calculating a station’s compliance with the FCC’s national ownership cap, which limits...… Continue Reading
Last Friday, the FCC published the December Notice of Proposed Rulemaking regarding the national ownership cap in the Federal Register. As we wrote about back in December, the NPRM addresses the current prohibition on any entity owning or controlling television stations that reach more than 39 percent of US television households. The NPRM requests comment...… Continue Reading