September Regulatory Dates for Broadcasters – Annual Regulatory Fees; Nationwide EAS Test; Comment Dates on FM Translator Interference, Audio Competition, Children’s Television Requirements, and Reimbursement for LPTV and FM Repacking Costs; and More

While September is one of those months with neither EEO reports nor Quarterly Issues Programs or Children’s Television Reports, that does not mean that there are no regulatory matters of importance to broadcasters. Quite the contrary – as there are many deadlines to which broadcasters should be paying attention. The one regulatory obligation that in recent years has come to regularly fall in September is the requirement for commercial broadcasters to pay their regulatory fees – the fees that they pay to the US Treasury to reimburse the government for the costs of the FCC’s operations. We don’t know the specific window for filing those fees yet, nor do we know the exact amount of the fees. But we do know that the FCC will require that the fees be paid before the October 1 start of the next fiscal year, so be on the alert for the announcement of the filing deadline which should be released any day now.

September 20 brings the next Nationwide Test of the EAS system, and the obligations to submit information about that test to the FCC. As we have written before (here and here), the first of those forms, ETRS Form One, providing basic information about each station’s EAS status is due today, August 27. Form Two is due the day of the test – reporting as to whether or not the alert was received and transmitted. More detailed information about a station’s participation in the test is due by November 5 with the filing of ETRS Form Three. Also on the EAS front, comments are due by September 10 on the FCC’s proposal to require stations to report on any false or inaccurate EAS reports originated from their stations. See our articles here and here.

September also brings comment deadlines in numerous other important FCC proceedings. September 5 is the date for reply comments on the FCC’s Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on how to simplify the resolution of complaints about interference from new FM translators (see our summaries here and here). One of the most debated issues in the initial comments is whether to ignore complaints from full-power FM licensees and other existing FM broadcasters if those complaints originate outside of the complaining station’s 54 dBu contour. Many FM licensees, as well as the licensees of LPFM stations who are also protected from interference from new translators, contend that a substantial portion of their listening audience resides outside that contour and should not be left unprotected from new translators who interfere with such listening.

Reply comments are due September 10 on the FCC’s Notice of Inquiry as to whether to create a new class of C4 FM stations, and to make changes to allow for more short-spaced FM stations using Section 73.215. See our articles here and here on that proceeding.

Congress has also requested that the FCC provide it with a report on the state of competition in the Audio Marketplace. As we wrote here and here, we expect that, while this report is directed to Congress so that it can use this information in assessing statutory changes, as the report will be prepared at the same time as the FCC is working on the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in its next Quadrennial Review which will likely review the radio ownership rules, the facts gathered in preparing the report to Congress are likely to be important in the Quadrennial review. Comments on this report to Congress are due September 24.

The potential for changes in the Children’s Television rules, particularly the rules mandating three hours of weekly educational and informational programming directed to children on each programming stream broadcast by a TV station, are being reviewed by the FCC. Comments on the FCC’s Notice of Proposed Rulemaking looking at potential changes in these rules (about which we wrote here) are also due September 24.

As the Incentive Auction repacking marches on (with the testing period for repacked stations in Phase 1 of the repacking starting in September), the FCC is also considering the reimbursement of expenses incurred by LPTV stations, TV translators, and FM broadcasters whose operations are affected by the repacking. Comments are due September 26 on the FCC’s proposals on eligibility and administration of the finds to reimburse these stations. See our article here for more details on these proposals.

Commercial radio stations that have been paying the newest Performing Rights Organization, GMR, under an interim license while litigation continues between GMR and the Radio Music License Committee (RMLC) to determine if GMR should be subject to any sort of antitrust regulation, have an interim license that expires at the end of September (see our article here). As the litigation is unlikely to be resolved in the next few months, GMR is reportedly offering yet another extension of its interim license through March 31, 2019. Look out for notice of that extension directly from GMR but, if you have not received it, you may want to reach out to them before the end of the month.

And watch for the agenda of the FCC meeting on September 26. That agenda should be released next week, and we will see what broadcast items may be on it just in time for the Radio Show at the end of the month. Plenty of issues to keep broadcasters busy. As always, check with your legal advisor to make sure that there are no other legal issues that may affect your station’s operations.