Client Alert: Biennial Ownership Reports are due by June 1, 2011 for Noncommercial Educational Radio Stations in AZ, DC, ID, MD, NV, NM, UT, VA, WV, and WY and for Noncommercial Educational Television Stations in MI and OH

The staggered deadlines for filing Biennial Ownership Reports by noncommercial educational radio and television stations remain in effect and are tied to the anniversary of stations’ respective renewal filing deadlines.

Noncommercial educational radio stations licensed to communities in Arizona, District of Columbia, Idaho, Maryland, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wyoming, and noncommercial educational television stations licensed to communities in Michigan and Ohio must file their Biennial Ownership Reports by June 1, 2011.

In 2009, the FCC issued a Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking seeking comments on, among other things, whether the Commission should adopt a single national filing deadline for all noncommercial educational radio and television broadcast stations like the one that the FCC has established for all commercial radio and television stations. That proceeding remains pending without decision. As a result, noncommercial educational radio and television stations continue to be required to file their biennial ownership reports every two years by the anniversary date of the station’s license renewal filing.

A PDF version of this article can be found at: Biennial Ownership Reports are due by June 1, 2011 for Noncommercial Educational Radio Stations in Arizona, District of Columbia, Idaho, Maryland, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wyoming and for Noncommercial Educational Television Stations in Michigan and Ohio