With the reopening of the Federal government (at least for the moment), regulatory deadlines should begin to flow in a more normal course. All of those January dates that we wrote about here have been extended by an FCC Public Notice released yesterday until at least Wednesday, January 30 (except for the deadlines associated with the repacking of the TV band which were unaffected by the shutdown). So Quarterly Issues Programs lists should be added to the online public file by January 30, and Children’s Television Reports should be submitted by that date if they have not already been filed with the FCC. Comments on the FCC’s proceeding on the Class A AM stations are also likely due on January 30 (though the FCC promised more guidance on deadlines that were affected by the shutdown – such guidance to be released today).
February will begin with a number of normal FCC EEO deadlines. Commercial and Noncommercial Full-Power and Class A Television Stations and AM and FM Radio Stations in Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nebraska, NewJersey, NewYork, and Oklahoma that are part of an Employment Unit with 5 or more full-time employees need to include in their public files by February 1 the Annual EEO Public Inspection File Reports. TV stations in New Jersey and New York in Employment Units with 5 or more full-time employees also need to file their FCC Form 397 Mid-Term EEO Reports. While the FCC appears ready to abolish that form (see our article here), it will remain in use for the rest of this year, so New Jersey and New York TV stations still need to file. Note that the FCC considers an “employment unit” to be one or more commonly controlled stations serving the same general geographic area and sharing at least one common employee.
As we wrote here, February 4 also brings the date for filing a petition to participate in the Copyright Royalty Board proceeding looking to set rates for the public performance of sound recordings by noninteractive webcasters for 2021-2025. These are the royalties paid to SoundExchange by webcasters – including broadcasters who stream their signals on the Internet and through other digital platforms (see, for instance, our article here about how these royalties include streams played by Alexa and other smart speakers).
The FCC should also have its open meeting this month, currently scheduled for February 21. Certainly, we can expect the broadcast items that the FCC had initially intended to include on its January agenda – the abolition of the Form 397 and a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking looking at the process for issuing new construction permits to noncommercial broadcast stations and LPFMs.
It is possible that we could also see the Federal Register publication of the FCC’s Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in its next Quadrennial Review of the FCC multiple ownership rules. That NPRM was adopted in December (here), and addresses issues including the potential relaxation of the local radio ownership rules. Comments will be due 60 days after publication in the Federal Register, and reply comments will be due 30 days later.
There will no doubt be other important dates both to broadcasters generally and to specific stations. Be sure to stay in touch with your legal counsel to make sure that you do not miss any dates that may be particularly relevant to your station.
