FCC Broadcast Filing Deadlines for January and February

January 30, 2023

Children's Television Programming Reports - Each commercial TV and Class A television station must electronically file its annual Children's Television Programming Report, on FCC Form 2100 Schedule H, to report on programming aired by the station and other efforts in 2022 that were specifically designed to serve the educational and informational needs of children.

January 31, 2023

Online Public Inspection File Uploads - The FCC issued a public notice extending the time for uploading all documents due to be uploaded on January 1, 2023 or after to the online public files to January 31^st. The FCC nonetheless encourages filers to upload documents as soon as possible and not to wait until the end of the month. The items to upload by this date include:

• Commercial Compliance Certifications- Each commercial TV and Class A television station must also post to its Online Public Inspection File (OPIF) a certification (or certifications) of compliance during 2022 with the statutory limits on commercial time during children's programming. The certification(s) should cover both the primary programming stream and all subchannels aired by the station.
• Q4 2022 Issues/Programs Lists - For all commercial and noncommercial radio, television, and Class A television stations, listings of each station's most significant treatment of community issues during the fourth quarter of 2022 (October, November, December) must be placed in the station's OPIF. The lists should include brief narratives describing the issues covered and the programs which provided the coverage, with information concerning the time, date, duration, and title of each program with a brief description of the program. The issues may be either local or national, so long as they are of concern to the local community.

February 1, 2023

Television License Renewal Applications Due - Applications for renewal of license for television stations licensed to New Jersey or New York must be filed in LMS. Schedule 396 must accompany these applications, the Broadcast EEO Program Report, also filed in LMS, regardless of the number of full-time employees. Under the current public notice rules, television stations (including LPTV stations that originate programming) filing renewal applications must begin broadcasts of their post-filing announcements concerning their license renewal applications between the date the application is accepted for filing and five business days thereafter and must continue for a period of four weeks. Once complete, full power and Class A TV stations must post a certification of broadcast, with a copy of the announcement's text, to the OPIF within seven days, and included LPTV stations should keep their certifications with station records. LPTV stations that do not originate programming and TV translators must post renewal notice texts on an acceptable website (station, licensee, parent or as otherwise described by the FCC), linked under the title FCC Applications, within five business days after the date on which the FCC issues PN of the acceptance of the renewal application and must remain posted for 30 days.

EEO Public File Reports - All licensed full-service radio and television broadcast stations, Class A television stations, cable television systems, direct broadcast satellite providers, and satellite radio employment units with five or more full-time employees that are licensed in Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, or Oklahoma must place EEO Public File Reports in their OPIFs. For all stations with websites, the report must be posted there as well. Per FCC policy, the reporting period may end ten days before the report is due, and the reporting period for the next year will begin on the following day.

February 28, 2023

EAS Test Reporting System - The EAS Test Reporting System for filings opened January 3, 2023. Parties subject to the Emergency Alert System (EAS) rules (radio and television stations, wired and wireless cable television systems, digital broadcast systems, digital television broadcast stations, Satellite Digital Audio Radio Service, digital cable and digital audio broadcasting systems, and wireline video systems) must submit their annual Form One filings for calendar year 2022 in the online EAS Test Reporting System (ETRS) by no later than February 28, 2023. Filers can access ETRS by visiting the ETRS page of the Commission's website at https://www.fcc.gov/general/eas-test-reporting-system . All EAS Participants are required to register and file in ETRS, with the following exceptions:

• Analog and digital low power television (LPTV) stations that operate as television broadcast translator stations;
• FM broadcast booster stations and FM translator stations that entirely rebroadcast the programming of other local FM broadcast stations; and
• Analog and digital broadcast stations that operate as satellites or repeaters of a hub station (or common studio or control point if there is no hub station) and rebroadcast 100 percent of the programming of the hub station (or common studio or control point). However, the hub station (or common studio or control point) is required to register and file in ETRS.

For more information regarding any of these FCC filing requirements, contact Fletcher, Heald & Hildreth.