Update: Official Deadline Announced for Top Ten Nonbroadcast Video Net Exemption Requests

Last month we reported on the FCC's triennial designation of the Top Ten nonbroadcast video networks, a designation that looks like an honor of sorts (until you realize that larger (i.e., >50,000 subs) MVPD's must provide 50 hours per calendar quarter of video-described prime time or children's television on the designated Top Five nets). The Commission's January announcement offered listed networks an opportunity to try to get themselves excused from the list by seeking an exemption. That opportunity extends 30 days from publication of the announcement. The January public notice did not, however, state expressly what the triggering "publication" date was - and we suggested that it might be a good idea to assume that the issuance of the public notice itself constituted publication. As it turns out, the FCC planned to publish the notice in the Federal Register, an event that would officially start the 30-day period for requesting exemption. And now that notice has been published. As a result, petitions for exemption from inclusion on the list must be filed by March 5, 2015.