The Commission has announced that the next auction of FM broadcast permits has been scheduled to start on September 1, 2009. Mark your calendars and get your checkbooks ready.… Continue Reading
Only Congress can grant the FCC authority over patent royalties. Besides, if the problem is all that urgent and important, why is CUT FATT coming forward only now, when the DTV transition is just about over?… Continue Reading
A bill that would statutorily eliminate the third-adjacent channel protection to full-power FM stations has been introduced in the House. In addition to adding one more back (or maybe it's one more forth) to the long-running back-and-forth struggle over third adjacent protections, the bill - if ultimately passed - is also likely to fan the FCC's ardor for "localism".… Continue Reading
The Second Report and Order and Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (SRONPRM) which the FCC adopted last Friday night relative to the on-going DTV transition will be published in the Federal Register tomorrow, Friday, February 27. That will establish the effective dates of some new rules and the deadline for comments on the Commission's proposals.… Continue Reading
The Commission has lowered the boom on telecommunications carriers who apparently didn't file their Customer Proprietary Network Information (CPNI) certifications when they were supposed to last March. A Notice of Apparent Liability assesses $20,000 fines against each of the 600 of the non-filing carriers.… Continue Reading
The ink had not even dried on the Stimulus Package before troubled industries began feverishly scanning the hundreds of pages of legislation to see if there were any goodies in there for them. The funding is supposed to begin by mid-June, so hitch up the wagons and get ready to giddy-up. There's gold in them thar hills!… Continue Reading
Talk about a 24/7 agency. The FCC has, for the second week in a row, kept its own nightlight burning beyond the usual Friday afternoon quitting time: during the evening of February 20, it adopted new rules and proposed others to govern the recently-extended DTV transition.… Continue Reading
February 18 has come and gone, and the new application fee schedule which was supposed to go into effect on that day has NOT gone into effect.… Continue Reading
The latest word is that the adjusted application fee schedule which the Commission adopted six months ago, and which was supposed to go into effect on December 30 -- no, wait, make that January 29 . . . no, no, that's not it . . . wasn't it February 18? - will NOT be going into effect on February 18 after all.… Continue Reading
The National Association of Broadcasters ("NAB") and SoundExchange, the designated "receiving agent" that collects and distributes copyright royalties paid as part of the statutory license applicable to webcasting, have announced a settlement under the "Webcaster Settlement Act" which sets the royalty rates to be paid by broadcasters streaming music on the Internet during the years 2009-2010.… Continue Reading
The white space rules have been published in the Federal Register -- BUT certain rule sections will not take effect until further notice, probably at least a few months. Without these, the other rules are useless.… Continue Reading
That loud cracking noise you may have heard on your way home from your long Presidents' Day weekend out of town was probably the sound of the FCC breaking its arm trying to pat itself on the back about - what else? - the DTV transition.… Continue Reading
On President's Day itself, the Commission issued a public notice along with what should be the final list of which TV stations will shut down their analog operation the next day - Tuesday, February 17 - and which will stay on the air analog or broadcast "nightlight" or "enhanced nightlight" services.… Continue Reading
The D.C. Circuit has upheld the Commission's 2007 Order relating to the necessary mechanism for obtaining customer approval for release of CPNI. That mechanism imposes greater burdens on carriers than had been the case prior to 2007.… Continue Reading
Late on Friday, February 13 -- just as the long Presidents' Day weekend was starting for many -- the FCC issued more items affecting post-February 17 DTV operations.… Continue Reading
A contest on a website that does not toe the line with FCC disclosure requirements for on-air contests can raise the FCC's ire. Who knew? A Los Angeles FM licensee recently found out the hard way.… Continue Reading
In a case viewed with considerable interest by many wireless industry participants, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has denied a request by a jilted auction participant for money damages against the FCC.… Continue Reading
The FCC has changed the ground rules for early shut-down of analog TV service, advising 123 stations that, contrary to what the Commission had previously said, they may not do so. If you're one of those stations, the good news is that you can get off the list if you jump through the right hoops. The bad news is that those hoops may pose more of a burden than it's worth.… Continue Reading
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit has held that "retention marketing" practices used by Verizon violate Section 222(b) of the Communications Act. As a result, it may be more difficult for Verizon - and other incumbent carriers - to avoid losing customers in the competitive telephone market.… Continue Reading
As previously reported, the FCC issued a blanket waiver permitting TV stations to turn off their analog as of February 17. However, a February 10 public notice re-emphasizes the potential for "limit[ing]" or "reconsider[ing]" that waiver "in the event that the Commission determines that analog termination on February 17 by a station or group of stations is contrary to the public interest."… Continue Reading
