On October 29, Fletcher Heald attorneys Frank Montero and Keenan Adamchak in cooperation with the National Federation of Community Broadcasters (“NFCB”) presented a webinar on the upcoming noncommercial educational (“NCE”) FM and lower power FM (“LPFM”) filing windows. In this webinar, they explored the NCE and LPFM application forms, processes, and FCC tie-breaking criteria, as well as pointing out … Continue Reading
FCC Chairman Pai recently announced that for the first time in a decade, the FCC will in the near future accept applications for full-power noncommercial radio stations across the nation. This filing window is expected to be followed by a filing window for new low-power FM (LPFM) stations. What’s involved in filing an application with … Continue Reading
The Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) has changed in its rules for selecting winners from groups of mutually exclusive (“MX”) noncommercial educational full-power radio (“NCE”) and Low Power FM (“LPFM”) applicants and has made it easier for MX applicants to negotiate voluntary time-sharing agreements. In the FCC’s Report and Order, it has also shortened the minimum … Continue Reading
Anyone who has filed an application for a new noncommercial educational (NCE) station or a new Low Power FM (LPFM) station knows that many traps beset the unwary throughout the process. If you fall into one of those traps, your chance of success can be severely injured. On Valentine’s Day, the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC” … Continue Reading
Many noncommercial educational (NCE) stations – and their lawyers – were caught by surprise last week when the FCC issued a $115,000 civil penalty against an NCE licensee. The Cesar Chavez Foundation (CCF) was hit for running underwriting spots promoting for-profit entities. CCF agreed to the monetary penalty as part of an FCC approved consent … Continue Reading
Attention, noncommercial educational (NCE, a/k/a “public”) broadcasters! If you have been wondering how much you’ll have to pay to broadcast musical compositions this year (and beyond), wonder no more. The rates for 2018 through 2022 were published in the Federal Register on January 19. For those new to the issue, these rates have been administered … Continue Reading
Back in early January, the FCC’s Media Bureau released an Order denying a number of Petitions for Reconsideration of an earlier Bureau Order that had adopted new requirements regarding FCC Registration Numbers (“FRNS”) and “Restricted Use FRNs” (“RUFRNS”) used in broadcasters’ biennial ownership reports. The Petitions had objected to application of certain new FRN and … Continue Reading
The (seemingly never-ending) saga of the FCC’s attempts to revise its biennial ownership reporting requirements for broadcasters has taken an interesting, and somewhat unexpected turn. As we have previously reported, the Media Bureau early last year adopted new requirements related to the FCC Registration Numbers (FRNs) and “Restricted Use FRNs” (RUFRNs) that interest holders would … Continue Reading
CPB's Inspector General thinks it may be time for CPB to re-think allowing stations to include the value of their in-kind trades in calculating CSG amounts.… Continue Reading
