Broadcast Law Blog

AUGUST 16, 2018

I was in the audience for the Chairman’s remarks, and audience reaction was muted – perhaps because so few people regularly use the term “Class A AM” when referring to what many call the “clear channel” stations – those big 50 kW AM stations that can often be heard halfway across the country at night because of their “skywave” service bouncing off the atmosphere to be received hundreds and sometimes thousands of miles from where the signal originates.

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Media Law Prof Blog

AUGUST 16, 2017

Lake Isabella/Mount Pleasant, Michigan, radio station WRAX-FM has surrendered its license to operate to the FCC, before the agency held a scheduled hearing on whether the station's license should be renewed.

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THR, Esq. Entertainment & Media Law Blog

NOVEMBER 30, 2017

A magistrate judge potentially deals a blow to some 10,000 radio stations fighting licensing demands over songs by Bruce Springsteen, Prince, and Bruno Mars, among other superstars. read more. THR, Esq. Business Music Business THR Online

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Broadcast Law Blog

JULY 12, 2018

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Communications And Entertainment Law Blog

AUGUST 18, 2018

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Broadcast Law Blog

JULY 21, 2017

Developments continue, with the FCC yesterday issuing a Public Notice announcing that stations that relinquished their spectrum in the incentive auction will be receiving their payouts from the proceeds of the auction – with such payouts beginning immediately as they can be processed by the Treasury Department. The Public Notice also details the process for these stations to cease operating on their current channels.

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Broadcast Law Blog

JUNE 17, 2017

The FCC’s public notice announcing the commencement of the audit includes the audit letter that was sent to all of the targeted stations. The list of about 80 radio stations subject to the audit is here. As employment information for all stations within a named station’s “employment unit” must be provided in response to the audit, the reach of this notice goes beyond the 80 stations named in the audit notices.

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THR, Esq. Entertainment & Media Law Blog

MARCH 15, 2012

Matthew Belloni Kyle Hunter has filed an employment discrimination lawsuit against CBS Broadcasting and its stations KCBS and KCAL. read more. THR, Esq. THR, Esq. Television Television

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Broadcast Law Blog

MARCH 16, 2017

We wrote here and here about the FCC’s new rules to relax the limits on where licensees of AM stations can use FM translators to rebroadcast their stations. The new rules allow the location of these translators so that their 1 mv/m coverage area does not extend beyond 25 miles from the AM station or beyond the AM station’s 2 mv/m contour – whichever is greater. AM Radio FM Translators and LPFM FM translators for AM stations

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Broadcast Law Blog

JULY 14, 2017

The FCC yesterday released an online tutorial for the upcoming windows for filing for FM translators for AM stations. The first window will run from July 26 until 6 pm ET on August 2, where Class C and D AM stations that did not receive a translator in last year’s 250-mile waiver windows can file for a new FM translator to rebroadcast their AM station. AM Radio FM Translators and LPFM AM on FM translators FM translators for AM stations

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Broadcast Law Blog

AUGUST 4, 2017

The FCC yesterday took what some may suggest is an unprecedented action to potentially deny the license renewal of an FM broadcast station that was silent for all but one day each year during its license renewal term. As the FCC points out, if the station is not operating, it cannot fulfill the obligation of a licensee to serve the public interest.

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Broadcast Law Blog

MAY 5, 2017

Earlier this week, we wrote about a number of proceedings affecting FM translators , including the Petition for Reconsideration (available here ) of the FCC decision relaxing the rules governing the locations at which AM stations using FM translators to rebroadcast their signal can locate those translators (see our summary here ). As many AM stations with FM translators have already filed applications relying on the new rules, there are bound to be oppositions to this petition.

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Broadcast Law Blog

JUNE 2, 2017

The FCC released a Public Notice announcing that its window for Class C and D AM stations to file for new FM translators to rebroadcast their stations will open on July 26. We know that the window will be open to any AM station that did not acquire a translator using a 250 mile waiver in last year’s translator window. AM Radio FM Translators and LPFM 250 mile waiver for translators AM on FM translators FM translators for AM stations

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Broadcast Law Blog

AUGUST 3, 2017

The window for filing applications for new FM translators for Class C and D AM stations has now closed. According to a statement from FCC Chairman Pai , over 1000 AM stations took advantage of the filing window. One would think that this will happen principally in spectrum-congested markets where there are multiple AM stations eligible for the auction, but few available channels for translators.

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Broadcast Law Blog

SEPTEMBER 8, 2017

We yesterday wrote about Chairman Pai’s promise to start the process of modernizing media regulation by abolishing a simple but outdated rule – one requiring that each broadcast station have a physical copy of the FCC rules on the station premises. AM Radio FCC Fines FM Radio General FCC Television FCC rulesbook at station Modernization of Media Regulation Initiative

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Broadcast Law Blog

MAY 14, 2017

At the NAB Convention, Chairman Pai announced that the promised windows for AM stations to apply for new FM translators would open this summer (see our article here ). The first will be for Class C and D AM stations. Once those applications have been filed, a second window will open for Class A and B AM stations. Stations that acquired translators through other means can still apply for a new translator in this window.

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Broadcast Law Blog

AUGUST 9, 2016

In a decision released last week , the FCC made clear that stations that have long periods in which they are not operated (perhaps being put back into operation for a day or two every year to avoid the automatic cancellation of their licenses) are not operating in the public interest , and are putting their license in jeopardy. AM Radio FCC Fines FM Radio General FCC License Renewal Public Interest Obligations/Localism short term license renewal silent station

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Broadcast Law Blog

APRIL 21, 2017

In fact, as we wrote here , the FCC has even allowed 100% ownership of a privately-held company with broadcast interests – where a husband and wife team from Australia purchased a number of primarily radio stations in Alaska and Texas. With the new rules now effective, the opportunity for more foreign investment in US broadcast stations is highlighted once again.

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Broadcast Law Blog

MAY 17, 2017

The FCC last week released a Public Notice describing the process for the filing of applications for replacement channels for LPTV stations and TV translators that are displaced by the incentive auction. As the announcement of the window will give LPTV and translator stations 60 days to prepare applications, and the window itself will last 30 days, it looks like we are looking at displacement applications being due late in the first quarter of 2018.

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Broadcast Law Blog

JULY 19, 2017

As the repacking of the TV band proceeds after the Incentive Auction , the FCC has issued some guidance as to what comes next for TV stations. Obviously, in the near future, TV stations that agreed to surrender their spectrum in the auction will get notice from the FCC to expect their payments from the proceeds collected from the wireless companies that purchased the repackaged surrendered TV spectrum.

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Broadcast Law Blog

FEBRUARY 4, 2014

In a decision released yesterday , the FCC proposed to fine a station and gave it a short-term license renewal as the station could not demonstrate that it had served the needs and interests of its community. Because the station had been silent for much of the renewal term – only turning on for a short time every now and then – enough to avoid having its license cancelled for being silent for more than a year.

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Broadcast Law Blog

FEBRUARY 18, 2014

Letters to over 280 affected radio and TV stations went out late last week, and the FCC’s Public Notice of the audit, listing all of the affected stations, has just been released. Responses from the audited stations are due to be filed at the FCC by March 31. Licensees should review the list of affected stations carefully to see if any of your stations are on the list. It is a new year, and the FCC is starting with a new round of EEO audits.

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Broadcast Law Blog

SEPTEMBER 29, 2017

The FCC yesterday released a Public Notice providing the details for its settlement window for mutually exclusive applications for new FM translators to rebroadcast AM stations. These applications were the ones filed earlier this summer in the FCC’s first window reserved for AM station licensees to file for new FM translators to rebroadcast their AM stations as part of the FCC’s AM revitalization proceeding.

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Media Law Prof Blog

MAY 13, 2014

The station was immediately evacuated, and and a nearby school is CNN and local news media are reporting that someone drove a truck into the lobby of Baltimore ABC News affiliate WMAR, and then began shouting that he was God.

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Broadcast Law Blog

FEBRUARY 9, 2017

The FCC’s public notice announcing the commencement of the audit includes the audit letter that was sent to all of the targeted stations. The list of over 200 radio stations subject to the audit is here. The list of almost 80 TV stations is here. As employment information for all stations within a named station’s “employment unit” must be provided in response to the audit, the reach of this notice goes far beyond the 300 stations targeted in the audit notices.

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Broadcast Law Blog

FEBRUARY 12, 2015

Letters to over 250 radio and TV stations went out asking for evidence of their compliance with the FCC’s EEO rules. The Commission has pledged to audit 5% of all broadcast stations and cable systems each year to assure their compliance with the Commission’s EEO rules – requiring wide dissemination of information about job openings and non-vacancy specific supplemental efforts to educate their communities about job opportunities in the media industry.

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Broadcast Law Blog

FEBRUARY 25, 2016

Letters to about 280 radio and television stations went out on February 24 asking for evidence of their compliance with the FCC’s EEO rules. In today’s notice, the FCC released the form audit letter and list of stations that will be audited. Responses from the audited stations are due to be filed at the FCC by April 11. AM Radio EEO Compliance/Diversity FM Radio Television annual EEO public file report FCC EEO audit station employment unit

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Broadcast Law Blog

JUNE 10, 2015

The FCC just took another step toward the TV incentive auction, and set one of the first of what will no doubt be many deadlines for stations to meet as part of the process. The FCC released a list of all stations that they find to be eligible to participate in the incentive auction. These are also the stations that will be protected in the post-auction repacking of the television spectrum if their licenses are not surrendered as part of the auction process.

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Broadcast Law Blog

JUNE 15, 2016

The FCC today released its most recent EEO audit letter for broadcasters – and it is a relatively brief list – just one page with 58 radio stations listed (compare this with the last audit that targeted about 280 radio and TV stations, see our article here ). The FCC’s public notice includes the audit letter that was sent to all of the targeted stations. The FCC reminds stations that were targeted by the audit to put a copy of the audit letter in their public file.

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Broadcast Law Blog

MARCH 31, 2017

A noncommercial station can raise funds for nonprofit groups during normal program breaks in PSAs or other similar brief announcements, but under current policy, they cannot conduct a telethon or radiothon to raise funds for the Red Cross, a local charity, a religious organization or even for the football team or orchestra at a college or university that owns a noncommercial broadcast station.

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Broadcast Law Blog

MARCH 17, 2015

The FCC has announced that it plans to hold an auction to award construction permits allowing the winners to build new FM radio stations. The FCC’s freeze on applications that could impact these new stations is in place until the winning bidders file their post-auction applications. If you are interested in starting a station from scratch, look through this list of channels to see if there are opportunities for a construction permit for a new station in an area of interest.

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Communications And Entertainment Law Blog

AUGUST 8, 2017

Pro-Trump corp targets local news stations as propaganda outlets | MSNBC

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Broadcast Law Blog

AUGUST 2, 2016

Recently, we wrote about two cases seeking declaratory rulings from the FCC that non-US ownership of companies owning broadcast stations should be permitted even though that ownership would exceed the 25% standard that had been, until that last few years, the limit on such ownership. Last week, the FCC announced the filing of another such request – this one by Hemisphere Media Group looking to operate Spanish-language stations in the US.

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Broadcast Law Blog

JANUARY 4, 2017

This decision noted that it was based not on the new rules for analyzing foreign ownership in broadcast stations approved by the Commission in late September (see our summary here ), as those rules were not yet effective as they were only published in the Federal Register last month and certain aspects still needed to undergo analysis under the Paperwork Reduction Act.

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Broadcast Law Blog

JULY 6, 2017

At its April meeting, the FCC voted to allow noncommercial stations not affiliated with NPR or CPB to raise funds for third-party nonprofit organizations , even where such fundraising appeals interrupted normal programming, as long as the licensee did not devote more than 1% of its yearly airtime to such appeals. So the change in the rules allowing noncommercial stations to raise funds for third party non-profit organizations is now in effect.

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Broadcast Law Blog

APRIL 19, 2011

The sale of a noncommercial radio station is often controversial, especially when it's clear that the format of the station will change after the transfer. In a decision released last week denying a Petition to Deny challenging the application for the sale of KTRU, the noncommercial radio station owned by Rice University, the FCC again made clear that they are not in the business of regulating the formats of broadcast stations.

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Broadcast Law Blog

OCTOBER 7, 2016

All this year, the FCC has been busy processing applications by AM broadcasters to buy an FM translator or a translator construction permit , and to move the translator as much as 250 miles to rebroadcast an AM station. These translator moves have been very successful for many AM stations, giving them an opportunity to put their programming on an FM channel in their market for the first time.

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Broadcast Law Blog

JULY 28, 2009

Each day, there seems to be a report about broadcast stations going off the air because of the current economic downturn - some permanently (witness several Montana full-power television stations formerly owned by Equity Broadcasting whose licenses were surrendered two weeks ago), some temporary, and some being given away to charity (like Clear Channel's announcement of its donation of 4 AM stations to the Minority Media and Telecommunications Council ).

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THR, Esq. Entertainment & Media Law Blog

FEBRUARY 17, 2012

Eriq Gardner TV stations almost always have to run attack ads. Truth is not a factor. read more. THR, Esq. Television Television Mitt Romney Newt Gingrich Politics

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Broadcast Law Blog

MAY 27, 2015

EEO Mid-Term Reports on FCC Form 397 must be filed at the mid-point of the renewal cycle of radio stations if they are part of a station employment unit with more than 10 full-time employees , or 5 or more full-time employees for TV. A station employment unit is one or more commonly-controlled stations serving substantially the same area, and sharing at least one employee. The FCC yesterday issued a reminder to stations about this obligation.

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