On the surface, September appears to have few scheduled regulatory filing dates and deadlines. But it is period in which many broadcasters will be busy with deadlines that occur in early October and into the rest of the Fall. TV stations should be finishing their decision-making on must-carry/retransmission consent elections, which need to be in… Continue Reading…
This Week in Regulation for Broadcasters: August 21 to August 25, 2023
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. With the Labor Day holiday next week, unless the FCC is very active, we will not publish this update next… Continue Reading…
This Week in Regulation for Broadcasters: August 14 to August 18, 2023
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. Continue Reading…
RMLC Requests Consolidation of ASCAP and BMI Proceeding on Radio Music Royalties – A Step Toward a Unified Process for Resolving All Music Royalty Issues?
In recent weeks, some of the radio trade magazines have been carrying coverage of the litigation between the Radio Music License Committee (RMLC) and ASCAP and BMI over the rates that will be paid by commercial radio broadcasters for the public performance of musical compositions that are licensed through these Performing Rights Organizations (PROs). Negotiations… Continue Reading…
FEC Asks for Public Comment on Petition for Rulemaking on the Use of Artificial Intelligence in Political Ads
The Federal Election Commission last week voted to open for public comment the question of whether to start a rulemaking proceeding to declare that “deepfakes” or other AI technology used to generate false images of a candidate doing or saying something, without a disclosure that the image, audio or video, was generated by artificial intelligence and portrays… Continue Reading…
This Week in Regulation for Broadcasters: August 7 to August 11, 2023
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. Continue Reading…
This Week in Regulation for Broadcasters: July 31 to August 4, 2023
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. Continue Reading…
Nationwide EAS Test Set for October 4 – Start Your Preparations Now
FEMA and the FCC announced that this year’s Nationwide EAS Test is scheduled for October 4, 2023 (with a back-up date of October 11 in case there is a real or threatened event that occurs around October 4). FEMA will transmit the nationwide test of the EAS at 2:20 pm EDT on October 4, 2023… Continue Reading…
Looking at the Rules for the November Window for Filing for New LPFM Stations – and the September 1 Freeze on Changes in Existing FM Translator and LPFM Facilities
The FCC’s Media Bureau this week issued a Public Notice announcing the rules for filing applications for new Low Power FM stations during a filing window that will open on November 1 and close on November 8, 2023 at 6 PM EST. As part of that announcement of the rules for the preparation and processing… Continue Reading…
Court Rejects Appeals of Copyright Royalty Board Decision on 2021-2025 Webcasting Royalties
The US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit issued a decision last week rejecting all of the appeals of the decision by the Copyright Royalty Board (“CRB”) setting the rates that noninteractive webcasters pay to SoundExchange for the digital public performance of sound recordings in the period 2021-2025 (see our article here on the… Continue Reading…
August Regulatory Dates for Broadcasters: Reg Fee Order, EEO filings, HD Power Increase Proposal, and More
August may be a light month for regulatory dates, as everyone enjoys the end of the summer with many, including Congress, taking the last of their summer vacations. But there are still dates to which broadcasters should be paying attention. One that most commercial broadcasters should be anticipating is the order that will set the… Continue Reading…
This Week in Regulation for Broadcasters: July 24 to July 28, 2023
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. These changes would be made to a bill that includes many additional new requirements for captioning and audio description of… Continue Reading…