The Federal Communications Commission (“FCC” or “Commission”) has issued a public notice, DA 24-1065, which announces the opening of a filing window for applications for construction permit for new noncommercial educational (“NCE”) TV stations in 12 specified communities in various areas of the United States. This window opens at 12:01 a.m. EST on December 4, … Continue Reading
The Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) has announced in an order published on September 17, 2019 that it will delay the filing deadline to January 31, 2020, for broadcast ownership reports (two months later than the original deadline). This applies to licensees of commercial and noncommercial AM, FM, TV, Class A, and Low Power Television (LPTV) … Continue Reading
Last week, the FCC’s Incentive Auction Task Force and Media Bureau launched an updated DTV Reception map aimed at helping consumers during the post-Incentive Auction repack. The new DTV Reception Map (available here) will reflect changes to TV stations as they begin transmitting on new channels between now and July 2020 during the post-Incentive Auction … Continue Reading
On Oct. 24, 2017, the FCC issued a Report and Order eliminating the Commission’s rule requiring each AM, FM, and television broadcast station to maintain a main studio located in or near its community of license (i.e. the Main Studio Rule). In the same Order, the FCC eliminated existing requirements that are associated with the … Continue Reading
This is a reminder to not snooze on next week’s CPB compliance webinar! On Wednesday, Oct. 25 at 2:00 p.m. EDT. Fletcher, Heald, & Hildreth’s CPB Compliance guru Bob Winteringham will present a FREE one-hour webinar to help you navigate the twists and turns of CPB compliance. You can register for the webinar, for free, via this … Continue Reading
The FCC on Sept. 1 postponed the due date for the submission of 2017 biennial broadcast ownership reports to the FCC until March 2, 2018. Biennial ownership reports are required to be filed every two years by all commercial and (starting this year) noncommercial AM, FM, TV, Class A, and LPTV stations and entities holding … Continue Reading
Following our lead, the FCC has now reminded TV licensees of the upcoming Pre-Auction Licensing Deadline -- and it has officially released Form 2100, Schedule 381.… Continue Reading
A heads up reminder to all full-power and Class A TV licensees expecting protection in the spectrum repack: Failure to complete construction or to find, and correct, discrepancies in the FCC databases could result in less protection than expected.… Continue Reading
The seismic wave from Comcast and its aftershocks could reach well beyond the obvious targets. Local TV broadcasters, in particular, might want to pay attention to how Comcast might play out in their corner of the regulatory universe.… Continue Reading
Readers of this blog know that full-power analog TV stations will go off the air for good on February 17, 2009, leaving only their digital counterparts. Sadly, though, not everyone is so
well-informed. Come that Tuesday morning, a lot of people will turn on their trusty old TVs, ready to start the day with a little news or Gilligan's Island, and instead see . . . nothing.
With a little advance warning, those folks can either upgrade to digital TVs or attach a government-subsidized adapter to the old one. But some people -- many of them ...… Continue Reading