Legislative Update
Looking at the Court Decision Which Led to the Shuttering of Locast’s Retransmission of Local TV on the Internet
By: David Oxenford, Wilkinson Barker Knauer LLP In recent weeks, decisions of a U.S. District Court judge in the Southern District of New York led to the suspension of service by the Internet streaming company Locast, which built its business on streaming local television stations generally without obtaining the consent of TV stations or the…
Read MoreBroadcast Regulation Update
By: David Oxenford, Wilkinson Barker Knauer LLP Here are some of the regulatory developments of significance to broadcasters from the last week (9/4-10), with links to where you can go to find more information as to how these actions may affect your operations. The FCC opened the window for Fiscal Year 2021 regulatory fees which…
Read MoreBroadcast Regulation Update
By: David Oxenford, Wilkinson Barker Knauer LLP Here are some of the regulatory developments of significance to broadcasters from the last week (8/28-9/3), with links to where you can go to find more information as to how these actions may affect your operations. In a significant win for television broadcasters, a federal district court in…
Read MoreA Win for Broadcasters: FCC Regulatory Fees Drop
On August 26, the FCC released its 2021 Regulatory Fee Order, which can be found here: https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/FCC-21-98A1.pdf. The efforts of various State Broadcast Associations, including your MAB as well as the NAB were very successful, and as a result: The proposed regulatory fees for broadcasters dropped by about 9%. As a result, the FCC’s large…
Read MoreBills Introduced to Bring Back Tax Certificate to Foster Diversity in Broadcast Ownership – Exploring the Proposals
By: David Oxenford, Wilkinson Barker Knauer LLP The minority tax certificate is back in the news with revised bills being introduced in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. We wrote about a version of this bill introduced in the last session of Congress here. The tax certificate offers perhaps the most meaningful route to…
Read MoreMIOSHA Encourages Employers to Follow Updated CDC Guidance to Contain the Spread of COVID-19
The Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration (MIOSHA) is strongly encouraging Michigan employers to follow recently updated Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines due to the Delta variant of COVID-19. “As transmission rates accelerate rapidly in many Michigan counties, Michigan employers should monitor the spread of COVID-19 in their local communities and follow the…
Read MoreMAB Signs 50 State Tax Certificate Letter; Thank You Sen. Gary Peters
Your MAB has joined 49 other state broadcast associations in signing a letter to Congress in support for the Minority Tax Certificate Program. During the 117th Congress, the Expanding Broadcast Ownership Opportunities Act (H.R. 4871) was introduced in the House, by Rep. G.K. Butterfield (NC-01) and Rep. Steven Horsford (NV-04). Additionally, Sen. Gary Peters (MI)…
Read MoreEmbedding Social Media Videos on Your Website? – Court Case Says Get Permission from Copyright Owner First
By: David Oxenford, Wilkinson Barker Knauer LLP Editor’s note: On Thursday, August 19 at 1 p.m., the MAB Third Thursday webinar will feature David Oxenford speaking on “Copyright Issues for Broadcasters.” Register for this webinar here. We’ve written before over the controversy as to whether embedding pictures or video served by a social media site on your website negates…
Read MoreThe Local Journalism Sustainability Act – Another Congressional Proposal to Help Local Media
By: David Oxenford, Wilkinson Barker Knauer LLP Editor’s note: On Thursday, August 19 at 1 p.m., the MAB Third Thursday webinar will feature David Oxenford speaking on “Copyright Issues for Broadcasters.” Register for this webinar here. Last week, another bill was introduced in both the House and the Senate with the intention of supporting local…
Read MoreFCC Broadcast Auction Ends. Here’s the Winners of Michigan Frequencies
The FCC’s Auction 109 of of 136 FM signals and 4 AM signals ended August 5 after eight days and 36 rounds of bidding with 97 of the potential licenses nationwide won. The auction brought in $13,770,950 in bids with a net of $12,344,110 following the use of bidding credits. In Michigan, there were six…
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