The fall chill in the air must mean one thing – and no, it’s not just pumpkin spice lattes! It’s time to go out for a night of bidding, imbibing, and banter all for a good cause. Pull up your calendars and mark Thursday, Nov. 1, 2018 for the 29th Annual FCBA Charity Auction hosted … Continue Reading
Deadlines! Get your deadlines here! With summer in the rearview mirror, it’s time to get back to work and look ahead to the rest of the year. Here’s a list of FCC-related broadcast and telecom deadlines. Please note that the list is NOT exclusive, so there may be others. For help meeting these deadlines or … Continue Reading
In coordination with FEMA, the FCC has postponed the nationwide tests of the Emergency Alert System (EAS) and Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) to Wednesday, Oct. 3 due to ongoing response efforts to Hurricane Florence. The test was originally scheduled for this Thursday, Sept. 20. On Oct. 3, the WEA test will begin at 2:18 p.m. … Continue Reading
Unless it is delayed by a real national emergency, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the FCC are on track to conduct a combined nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System (EAS) and the Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) system on Thursday, Sept. 20, at 2:20 p.m. EDT. Should you decide to air any news coverage or … Continue Reading
The FCC issued a Public Notice activating its Disaster Information Reporting Service (DIRS) as Hurricane Florence, a Category 4 storm, is set to make landfall in the Carolinas and Mid-Atlantic regions causing catastrophic flooding, high winds, and heavy rains. Broadcasters and other communications providers in those regions are encouraged to voluntarily supply certain filings with … Continue Reading
While we all hit the beach for the last time this Labor Day weekend, the FCC today released the final listing of regulatory fees for 2018 and their due dates. Although the FCC has not yet activated the Fee Filer system for 2018 regulatory fees, we expect that to happen very soon. Fees must be … Continue Reading
Do you know what FCC telecom and broadcast deadlines are approaching? We do. Time to mark up your calendars so you’re not late on these important deadlines. Call FHH at (703) 812-0400 if you have trouble meeting these deadlines or need assistance. Broadcast deadlines: Sept. 20, 2018 – EAS National Test – Participants’ ETRS Form Two … Continue Reading
As we reported yesterday, the FCC was set to conduct a voluntary DIRS exercise Aug. 23 – Aug. 24. However, due to the possible activation of the DIRS for Hurricane Lane set to hit Hawaii this week, the FCC has postponed the DIRS exercise until Sept. 13. The FCC will send out additional information in … Continue Reading
On Aug. 15 many broadcast stations received an e-mail from the FCC regarding a Disaster Information Reporting System (DIRS) exercise scheduled for later this week: Aug. 23-24. The DIRS keeps track of the status of both broadcast and non-broadcast communications facilities during natural disasters, including whether a facility is operating, the availability of electric power, … Continue Reading
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the FCC have announced Thursday, Sept. 20 at 2:20 p.m. EDT as the scheduled date and time for this year’s annual nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System (EAS). (Note that unlike the past two years, the scheduling date is on a Thursday, not a Wednesday as some … Continue Reading
Do you know what FCC telecom and broadcast deadlines are approaching? We do. Time to mark up your calendars so you’re not late on these important deadlines. Call FHH at (703) 812-0400 if you have trouble meeting these deadlines or need assistance. Telecom Deadlines: August 3, 2018 – Quarterly 911 Live Call Data Reports – Nationwide CMRS … Continue Reading
We wrote on July 5 that the FCC released a Draft NPRM intended to significantly relax the Kid Vid rules. The Commission officially adopted the NPRM at its July meeting on July 12. The Commission’s Media Bureau has now announced that comments will be due for the Children’s Television Programming NPRM on Sept. 24 and … Continue Reading
On July 10, the FCC released an Order on adjustments to the application fees that the Commission collects from applicants. The Commission is required to adjust these fees every two years to keep pace with the changes in the Consumer Price Index (CPI). This year’s application fees will go up by 3.7 percent in response … Continue Reading
We wrote on June 10 that the FCC has launched a Notice of Inquiry looking toward the creation of a new “C4” class of FM broadcast station in areas outside the Northeast and Southern California, with an effective radiated power (ERP) limit of 12 kW. These stations would have more power than Class A stations, … Continue Reading
The FCC’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau announced today that all EAS participants (which includes most broadcasters and cable and DBS operators) must complete their 2018 ETRS Form One on or before Aug. 27. The substance of Form One in ETRS is essentially the same as last year and requests identifying information on a … Continue Reading
CommLawBlog Update: On Saturday, July 7 a CommLawBlog post was republished due to a website error. The republished blog post entitled, “July 18 Filing Deadline Approaching for FSS Receive Only Earth Stations in the 3.7-4.2 GHz C Band” said that a filing deadline was approaching for all FSS Receive Only Earth Stations in the 3.7-4.2 … Continue Reading
Do you know what FCC telecom and broadcast deadlines are approaching? We do. Time to mark up your calendars so you’re not late on these important deadlines. Call FHH at (703)812-0400 if you have trouble meeting these deadlines or need assistance. Telecom Deadlines: July – No scheduled reporting/ certification deadlines for this month. August 1, 2018 – … Continue Reading
When FCC Commissioner Michael O’Rielly published a blog post back in January that called for the reexamination of the Children’s Programming Requirements, we questioned whether the requirements would still exist in the near future. We can now report that we are not likely to see the complete demise of the FCC’s Children Programming Requirements (colloquially … Continue Reading
If you were waiting to let the FCC know your thoughts on eliminating the requirement that broadcasters post their licenses, wait no more! The FCC has announced the comment deadline is Aug. 1 with reply comments due Aug. 16. As Matt McCormick wrote last month, the FCC’s push to eliminate the pesky license posting rules … Continue Reading
The FCC announced yesterday that it is extending the deadline for comments and reply comments on proposed rule changes to the FCC’s procedures for resolving complaints of interference caused by FM translators. The new deadline is set for Aug. 6 with reply comments due Sept. 5. Several parties requested an extension because of the complexity of the issues … Continue Reading
The filing window for receive only C Band earth stations closes July 18. As a reminder, the FCC instituted a filing freeze on applications in the 3.7 – 4.2 GHz Band but allowed for a 90-day filing window exception (which we wrote about here) to allow the filing of new or modification applications for C … Continue Reading
A summary of the FCC’s proposed rule changes regarding procedures to resolve complaints of interference caused by FM Translators to primary stations was published in the Federal Register today. That event established July 6 as the deadline for initial comments and August 6 as the deadline for replies. The FCC proposals are designed to streamline … Continue Reading
The FCC on Tuesday announced the establishment of the Uniendo a Puerto Rico Fund and the Connect USVI Fund in an effort to help “rebuild, improve, and expand voice and broadband networks in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.” These funds are part of the FCC’s ongoing efforts to rebuild communications networks in Puerto … Continue Reading
As we pack up our swimming trunks and beach umbrellas for the unofficial start of summer, the FCC this week issued its 2018 Regulatory Fee Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM). This NPRM puts in motion the process for payment of regulatory fees which will likely be due sometime in September. For the most part, the … Continue Reading
