CommLawBlog

FCC Chairman Pai recently announced that for the first time in a decade, the FCC will in the near future accept applications for full-power noncommercial radio stations across the nation. This filing window is expected to be followed by a filing window for new low-power FM (LPFM) stations. What’s involved in filing an application with...… Continue Reading

Yesterday, Fletcher Heald attorneys Frank Montero and Davina Sashkin with Pat Roberts of the Florida Association of Broadcasters (“FAB”), and their special guests Lisa Fowlkes and Christina Clearwater of the FCC’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau, and Craig Fugate, former FEMA Administrator and founder of Fugate Consulting, presented a webinar in consultation with the...… Continue Reading

The Federal Communications Commission recently released a Report and Order (“Order”) to promote the use of the STIR/SHAKEN framework (which we wrote a useful primer on) in combatting caller ID spoofing. The FCC is giving carriers until June 30, 2021 to implement STIR/SHAKEN. However, if a carrier wants to receive exemption from the Caller ID...… Continue Reading

As we reported last week, the United States Supreme Court has agreed to hear appeals by the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC” or the “Commission”) and the National Association of Broadcasters (“NAB”) of a decision by the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit that overturned a 2017 decision by the FCC attempting to relax...… Continue Reading

Attention all repacked television broadcast stations (and eligible LPTV and FM stations): the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC” or the “Commission”) has established final deadlines for submission of all reimbursement expenses invoices and documentation. The Commission also reminds stations to finish up and close-out, or money might be left on the table.The FCC’s Incentive Auction Task Force...… Continue Reading

Today the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to review the appeal issue of the Third Circuit’s reversal of the Federal Communication Commission’s (“FCC”) relaxed media ownership rules. The Third Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia last year again rejected the FCC’s most recent efforts to relax the media ownership rules which sought to eliminate a ban...… Continue Reading

Broadcast Deadlines: October 1, 2020 Must-Carry/Retransmission Consent Election Deadline – By October 1, all full power and Class A commercial TV stations must upload their must-carry/retransmission consent elections for the 2021-2023 election cycle to their online public inspection files. Stations are now required to send copies of their elections to MVPDs and to the FCC...… Continue Reading

The Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) under Chairman Pai has been nothing if not relentless in its quest to seek out underused or vacant spectrum and repurpose it for 5G uses. To that end, the FCC has announced its tentative agenda for its September 30, 2020 open meeting and it includes some pre-holiday gifts for spectrum-hungry...… Continue Reading

The uncertainty regarding the rates that commercial radio broadcasters will pay to play music in the repertory of SESAC, Inc. (SESAC) is over. Following extensive negotiations, the Radio Music License Committee (RMLC) and SESAC reached a new agreement extending the rates and terms of their existing music license agreement for commercial radio stations. That comes...… Continue Reading

The Federal Communications Commission’s (“FCC” or “Commission”) Wireline Bureau on September 3, 2020, released a Public Notice providing additional information regarding the upcoming $100 million Connected Care Pilot Program. You will recall that the Commission launched the pilot in April – joining it together in the same order approving the COVID-19 Telehealth Program (FCC 20-44)....… Continue Reading

On September 4, 2020, the Federal Communications Commission released a Public Notice laying out the procedures governing the filing of requests for waiver, reduction, deferral, and installment payment plans for the 2020 regulatory fees. As we explained yesterday in our blog post regarding the Federal Communications Commission’s (“FCC” or the “Commission”) Report and Order announcing...… Continue Reading

Capitol Hill Negotiations on a second large COVID-19 relief legislation effectively broke down August 7. While the President responded with several stop-gap executive actions, both parties seem to recognize relief legislation is urgently needed and there is speculation that some kind of deal will be cut by mid-September. In the meantime, with the Senate technically...… Continue Reading

On August 31, 2020, the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC” or the “Commission”) released its Report and Order (Order) establishing new methodologies for calculating 2020 annual regulatory fees, which are due September 25, 2020. In the Order, the FCC flatly rejected arguments by the National Association of Broadcasters and others that the FCC’s new calculation methodology...… Continue Reading

The Federal Communications Commission (“FCC” or the “Commission”) has released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) proposing the first major overhaul of FCC application fees in 30 years. Licensees (and hopeful licensees) should take heed: while certain fees are proposed to be lowered, many are proposed to increase, some by a substantial amount. Of particular...… Continue Reading

Broadcast Deadlines: September 4, 2020 Improving Low Power FM Radio Rules – Comments are due in response to two petitions for reconsideration in MB Dockets 19-193 and 17-105, filed by Foundation for a Beautiful Life and Todd Urick et al. September 14, 2020 Improving Low Power FM Radio Rules – Reply Comments are due in...… Continue Reading

You thought the Republican and Democratic conventions were nasty? Long festering rancor between Federal Communications Chairman Ajit Pai and Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel broke out into volleys of open epithets and acid-laced sarcasm this week. Strangely, the eruption of hostilities, as in real life, originated over something relatively unimportant: an innocuous draft of a Notice of...… Continue Reading

On Thursday, August 6, the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) voted to repeal Section 73.3556 of its Rules and Regulations – a rule that formerly prohibited more than 25% duplication of programming by commonly owned radio stations in the same service (AM or FM) that have 50% or more overlap of their primary service contours. We...… Continue Reading

Today, the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC” or the “Commission”) released a Public Notice that establishes the procedures for Auction 107, which will make available spectrum in the lower portion of the C-Band, at 3.7-3.98 GHz. The auction will be for new flexible-use overlay licenses, intended primarily to further the deployment of fifth-generation (5G) wireless, the Internet...… Continue Reading

In a rare move this week, Commissioner Michael O’Rielly – a Republican – had his re-nomination to the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) rescinded by President Trump. O’Rielly’s re-nomination first stalled last week when Oklahoma Republican Senator James Inhofe, Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, put it on hold over objections to an FCC decision allowing...… Continue Reading

On July 30, Fletcher, Heald & Hildreth attorneys, Frank Montero and Dan Kirkpatrick, along with the FCC’s political programming experts, Bobby Baker, Gary Schonman, and Sima Nilsson, discussed the requirements and latest developments in the FCC’s political broadcasting rules, including equal time, lowest unit rates, PAC ads, BCRA, and record keeping. If you didn’t catch the...… Continue Reading

In an Order adopted July 17th, 2020, the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) took another step in its mission to make the precise location of wireless emergency calls more and more granular, to help emergency responders to determine the location of a caller who is injured or held captive and unable to communicate his or her...… Continue Reading

Recently, we published an article regarding a Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) Consent Decree where a company agreed to pay a $240,000 penalty for violating the FCC’s rules by engaging in transactions where FCC wireless licenses were transferred without filing for and obtaining the prior consent of the FCC. Well, it’s happened again, so don’t say...… Continue Reading

Broadcast Deadlines: August 1, 2020 Radio Post-Filing Announcements – Radio stations licensed in Illinois and Wisconsin must begin broadcasts of their post-filing announcements concerning their license renewal applications on August 1. If the renewal application is not filed until the August 3 deadline, wait until then to begin the post-filing announcements. Either way, these announcements...… Continue Reading

On July 17, the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC” or “Commission”) released its latest Report and Order and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (“Order”) attempting to stop unwanted and illegal robocalls. The Order creates a “safe harbor” (i.e., legal protection from liability) to protect carriers that block calls based on reasonable analytics or other permissible criteria....… Continue Reading

Last month the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) ordered the carry-forward of $198 million in Rural Health Care (RHC) funding for use in 2020. Seems like good news, but it depends on how you look at it. But note this action simply makes the funding available — it does not waive or increase the RHC caps for 2020....… Continue Reading

On June 9, we wrote that the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) has tried to remove a potential barrier to the deployment of the ATSC 3.0 technical standard by TV broadcasters by ruling that a broadcaster’s lease of spectrum to a third party for provision of ancillary, non-broadcast services does not trigger attribution for the FCC’s...… Continue Reading

In an Order released today, the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC” or the “Commission”) revised the calculation of maximum permissible rates for cable TV commercial leased access by changing from a formula that sets a uniform rate for all cable tiers to a formula that will set a separate rate for each tier. The result may...… Continue Reading

The Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) has adopted its proposal to establish “988” as a nationwide abbreviated telephone dialing code to reach the National Suicide Prevention and Mental Health Crisis hotline. “988” will replace or supplement the existing 800 number (1-800-273-TALK). The proposal was discussed in our blog post on January 7, 2020. Congress has passed...… Continue Reading

The Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) has issued a Public Notice reminding analog Low Power Television (“LPTV”) licensees that all analog transmissions must cease by July 13, 2021, and that deadline will not be extended or waived. Most construction permits for new digital LPTV stations and CPs for existing stations to flash cut to digital on...… Continue Reading

On July 2, 2020, the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC” or the “Commission”) issued a Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture (“NAL”) against low power FM (LPFM) broadcast station KELS-LP, Greeley, Colorado, in which it assessed a $15,000 civil penalty for the station’s apparent violations of the prohibition on noncommercial educational (NCE) and LPFM broadcast stations...… Continue Reading

The Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) has just released a Public Notice that impacts operators of C-Band (3.7-4.2 GHz) earth station dishes to receive or transmit programming or data. Previously, the FCC reallocated the lower portion of that band for auction, with incumbents earth stations entitled to reimbursement for their expenses to move their operations to...… Continue Reading

The FCC recently released a Consent Decree in which the Archer Daniel Midlands Company (“ADM”) agreed to pay a $240,000 penalty for violating the FCC’s rules by engaging in transactions where five FCC wireless licenses were transferred without filing for and obtaining the prior consent of the FCC, and by failing to reveal in numerous...… Continue Reading

As we head into Summer, it’s important for TV broadcasters to remember the upcoming deadlines this Fall associated with notifying multichannel video program distributors (“MVPDs”) – primarily cable TV and direct broadcast satellite operators – of the station’s election of either must-carry or retransmission consent carriage status on the MVPD systems. Two critical deadlines are...… Continue Reading

Broadcast Deadlines: July 10, 2020 Children’s Television Programming Reports – For the first time, and after two delays, all commercial television and Class A television stations must file electronically annual children’s television programming reports with the Commission, although the first one will cover only the portion of the year which began with the effective date...… Continue Reading

The Media Bureau today extended the waiver it enacted in April to alleviate broadcast sponsorship identification requirements concerning air time donated by commercial advertisers for public service announcements (“PSAs”) provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (“CDC”) and other government agencies addressing the COVID-19 pandemic. Pursuant to this extension, commercial time donated for...… Continue Reading

Washington-area based telecommunications, media, and technology law firm Fletcher, Heald & Hildreth, P.L.C. is pleased to announce the arrival of Kristen Corra, who has joined the firm as an Associate. Having represented a major wireless carrier and assisted with securing commercial leasing, licensing, and potential acquisition of telecommunications infrastructure, Kristen brings her prowess to the...… Continue Reading

A group of 24 radio broadcast licensees has petitioned the FCC to expand the concept of localized program content beyond FM boosters and to allow localized origination by FM translators as well. On April 24, 2012, and April 13, 2020, we blogged about a proposal by GeoBroadcast Solutions, LLC, (“GeoBroadcast”) to allow FM radio stations...… Continue Reading

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (“FEMA”) has announced that it will not conduct a national test of the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (“IPAWS”) via the broadcast Emergency Alert System (“EAS”) and Wireless Emergency Alert (“WEA”) system this year. As we have written about in the past, EAS tests are sometimes postponed due to...… Continue Reading

The Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) has issued a Second Report and Order and Order on Reconsideration, largely leaving intact the rules it adopted in 2017 authorizing television broadcast stations to implement the ATSC 3.0 technical standard, now known as “NextGen” TV. Full Power and Class A TV stations converting to NextGen must continue to simulcast...… Continue Reading

Selected New Developments in Broadband – through June 16 Capitol Hill The Trump Administration has again voiced support for a $2 trillion stimulus and infrastructure package (that would presumably have a broadband component), but Senate Republicans are not there yet. In May, the House passed the Democrats’ multi-trillion dollar Heroes Act on a party-line vote....… Continue Reading

On June 9, we posted a discussion of the FCC’s invitation to comment on cost reimbursements for C-Band satellite rebanding expenses. We noted a short comment deadline, with Comments due Tuesday, June 16. Today, the FCC published a correction in the Federal Register, moving the Comment deadline back to Monday, June 15. We are not sure that...… Continue Reading

Three years ago, the FCC authorized deployment of a new IP-based broadcast TV standard, ATSC 3.0, with the hopes that TV broadcasters would implement innovative new data transmission services. That has not yet happened to any significant extent; so today the FCC voted to issue a Declaratory Ruling (“Ruling”) that it hopes will remove what...… Continue Reading

As is well known, the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) has decided to truncate the C-band satellite downlink band (3.7-4.2 GHz) from a bandwidth of 500 MHz to 200 MHz, with the other 300 MHz to be auctioned for terrestrial wireless services. Earth station (satellite dish) operators who have licensed or registered their dishes will be...… Continue Reading

Broadcast Deadlines: June 1, 2020 Radio License Renewal Applications Due – Applications for renewal of license for radio stations located in Michigan and Ohio must be filed in the Licensing and Management System (“LMS”). These applications must be accompanied by Schedule 396, the Broadcast Equal Employment Opportunity (“EEO”) Program Report, also filed in LMS, regardless...… Continue Reading

On May 6, 2020, we wrote about several steps taken by the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) to deter robocalls, implementing new authority given by Congress last year in the Pallone-Thune Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence Act (“TRACED Act”). In addition to adopting several new rules to be effective immediately, the FCC invited comments...… Continue Reading

On May 13, 2020, the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) adopted on circulation a Report and Order (“Order”) during its open meeting that would transform the 900 MHz band to enable broadband deployment. We wrote an article about the proposed changes last month. That article is still relevant as the draft report was adopted essentially as...… Continue Reading

On January 9, 2020, we blogged about a Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) decision resolving many of the issues that it had been considering with respect to limits on exposure of human beings to radiofrequency (“RF”) energy. The FCC also invited comments as to whether it should extend its regulation of RF emissions from the present range...… Continue Reading

On May 13, 2020, the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC” or the “Commission”) released a Report and Order (“Order”) announcing major changes to the local public notice obligations for broadcast applications. The Order eliminates the obligation to publish a public notice of certain broadcast applications in newspapers. Instead, applicants must now publish such notices online with...… Continue Reading

On April 2, 2020, we wrote about proposals by the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) to relax restrictions on Distributed Antenna Systems (“DTS”) for full-power television stations and to make DTS newly available to Class A and Lower Power Television stations. The proposals have now been published in the Federal Register, establishing deadlines for Initial Comments on June...… Continue Reading

The Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) has taken several steps in recent years to deter robocalls of all kinds, with some success, but not enough to give us poor ordinary folks the telephone peace and quiet for which we yearn. Last year, Congress passed the Pallone-Thune Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence Act (“TRACED Act”),...… Continue Reading