Legislative Update
July Regulatory Dates for Broadcasters: Quarterly Issues/Programs Lists and Other Public File Obligations, Lowest Unit Charge Periods, License Renewal, Copyright Filings and More
By: David Oxenford, Wilkinson Barker Knauer LLP The lazy days of summer continue to provide little respite from the regulatory actions of importance to broadcasters. The good news is that there are no license renewal or EEO deadlines during the month of July. Nonetheless, there will be a number of July deadlines that require attention.…
Read MoreThis Week in Regulation for Broadcasters
David Oxenford By: David Oxenford, Wilkinson Barker Knauer LLP Here are some of the regulatory developments of significance to broadcasters from the last week (6/11-17), with links to where you can go to find more information as to how these actions may affect your operations. Comment dates have been announced in the Federal Register for the FCC’s…
Read MoreThis Week in Regulation for Broadcasters
By: David Oxenford, Wilkinson Barker Knauer LLP Here are some of the regulatory developments of significance to broadcasters from the last week (6/4-10), with links to where you can go to find more information as to how these actions may affect your operations. The FCC this week announced that in-person meetings at its new headquarters…
Read MoreFCC Proposes 13% Hike in 2022 Regulatory Fees
MAB Washington Counsel David Oxenford shares news that the FCC, in a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, has proposed a 13% increase in the annual fees paid by radio stations. NAB President and CEO Curtis LeGeyt issued a statement saying, “The FCC’s regulatory fee proposal subjects local radio broadcasters to a staggering 13% fee increase from last…
Read MoreJune Regulatory Dates for Broadcasters: TV Renewals, EEO Public File Reports, Comments on Zonecasting, Start of Channel 6 FM Rulemaking and More
By: David Oxenford, Wilkinson Barker Knauer LLP With the traditional beginning of summer upon us, there is no vacation from the regulatory actions of importance to broadcasters. Let’s start with the routine actions for the upcoming month. With the radio license renewal cycle having ended with the filing of the last set of renewal applications…
Read MoreThis Week in Regulation for Broadcasters
By: David Oxenford, Wilkinson Barker Knauer LLP Here are some of the regulatory developments of significance to broadcasters from the last week (5/14-20), with links to where you can go to find more information as to how these actions may affect your operations. The FCC issued a draft Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to be considered…
Read MoreDoes the FCC Regulate Internet Content and Companies?
By: David Oxenford, Wilkinson Barker Knauer LLP In our summary of last week’s regulatory actions, I was struck by a common thread in comments made by several FCC Commissioners in different contexts – the thread being the FCC’s role in regulating Internet content companies. As we noted in our summary, both Republican commissioners issued statements last…
Read MoreLandowners Warned of Potential Liability of Up to $2,000,000 for Pirate Radio Operations on Their Property
By: David Oxenford, Wilkinson Barker Knauer LLP The FCC (5/4/22) made public four letters to landowners warning them that there were unlicensed FM radio operations coming from their properties and warning that, if the transmissions continued past the 10-business day response period, the landowners could be held liable for penalties up to $2,000,000 for the unlicensed operations coming from their…
Read MoreMore FCC Broadcast Applications Moving to LMS – Including Requests for STAs
By: David Oxenford, Wilkinson Barker Knauer LLP The FCC this week released a Public Notice (that we mentioned in our update on regulatory dates for May) announcing that, on May 17, many new applications and other filings will be migrating to the FCC’s newer LMS filing platform. These include many of the documents that had been, until recently, filed in the…
Read MoreGovernor Whitmer Signs Legislation Expanding Open Meetings Act
On May 2, Governor Whitmer signed House Bill 4705, which expands the Open Meetings Act to require certain state public bodies to create and maintain audio recordings of their meetings, expanding transparency and accountability. This brings the total of bipartisan bills signed to 811. “Transparency and accessibility are critical to ensuring people trust their state…
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