October 2006
Topics include:
October 2006
Annual DTV Ancillary/Supplementary Services Report for Commercial Digital Television Stations
Each commercial and noncommercial educational television broadcast station that has received its digital television license must file FCC Form 317 to report to the FCC whether its station provided ancillary or supplemental services at any time during the twelve-month period ending on the preceding September 30. Only licensed DTV stations must file. Those operating pursuant to Special Temporary Authority or Program Test Authority need not file. The FCC Form 317 is due by December 1, 2006. Electronic filing of FCC Form 317 is mandatory beginning November 1, 2006. Paper versions will not be accepted for filing after October 31, 2006 unless accompanied by an appropriate request for waiver.
By Kathryn R. Schmeltzer and Tony Lin
October 2006
On September 29, 2006, the FCC released the Second Order on Reconsideration and Second Report and Order (hereafter “Second Order”) regarding the children’s television rules and policies it had established in 2004 but for which it had suspended implementation pending reconsideration. In the Second Order, the FCC rejected many of the petitions for reconsideration but adopted several changes to the 2004 rules that were requested by a coalition of broadcasters, programmers, and public interest groups in a “Joint Proposal” submitted earlier this year. The revised rules, which are discussed below, will take effect 60 days after publication in the Federal Register.
By Kathryn R. Schmeltzer, Lauren Lynch Flick and Paul A. Cicelski
October 2006
Content of the Quarterly List
The next Quarterly Issues/Programs List (“Quarterly List”) must be placed in stations’ local Public Inspection Files by October 10, 2006, reflecting information for the months of July, August, and September.
By Kathryn R. Schmeltzer, Lauren Lynch Flick and Paul A. Cicelski
October 2006
The next Children’s Television Programming Report must be filed with the FCC and placed in stations’ local Public Inspection Files by October 10, 2006, reflecting programming aired during the months of July, August, and September.
September 2006
The Commission has designated a Texas radio station’s license renewal application for hearing after determining that the licensee apparently made several false certifications to the Commission, calling the licensee’s basic character qualifications into question. In January 2003, the licensee applied for a license to cover a previously-granted construction permit, and certified that the station’s new facilities had been constructed as authorized. In May 2003, however, Commission personnel observed the station transmitting from a site approximately five miles from the location specified in the station’s license application. During the subsequent inspection of the station, the licensee acknowledged that it had not commenced construction at the authorized site as certified, but that it had filed the license to cover application in order to prevent the expiration of the construction permit.
By Kathryn R. Schmeltzer, Clifford M. Harrington and Richard R. Zaragoza
September 2006
FCC’s Office of Engineering and Technology Announces Schedule for Proceeding on Unlicensed Operation in the TV Broadcast Bands
As we reported earlier, on March 6, 2006, the FCC released an Order in Complaints Regarding Various Television Broadcasts Between February 2, 2002 and March 8, 2005, Notices of Apparent Liability and Memorandum Opinion and Order, FCC 06-17 (the “Omnibus Order”). After the release of the Order, Fox Television Stations, Inc. and CBS Broadcasting, Inc. filed a joint petition for review in the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and the ABC Television Network and Hearst-Argyle Television, Inc. filed a joint petition for review in the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit which transferred the petition to the Second Circuit. The Second Circuit consolidated the petitions on June 14, 2006.
September 2006
Topics include:
By Kathryn R. Schmeltzer, Scott R. Flick, Lauren Lynch Flick and Paul A. Cicelski
August 2006
TV, Class A TV, LPTV and TV translator stations licensed to communities in Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont should be receiving soon a postcard from the FCC reminding them that their license renewal applications must be filed by December 1, 2006.
July 2006
On July 24, 2006, the FCC released the text of the Further Notice of Proposed Rule Making (“FNPRM”) in the broadcast ownership proceeding that was adopted at the FCC’s June 21, 2006 agenda meeting. The FNPRM encompasses a number of docketed rule makings – a 2006 quadrennial regulatory review, the 2002 biennial regulatory review, cross-ownership of broadcast stations and newspapers, and rules and policies concerning local ownership of television stations and radio stations in the same market including the definition of radio markets. Basically, the FNPRM seeks comment on how the Commission should address the issues raised by the opinion of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in Prometheus Radio Project v. FCC, 373 F.3d 372, 382 (3d Cir. 2004), cert. denied, 125 S. Ct. 2902 (2005) (“Prometheus”); whether the media ownership rules are “necessary in the public interest as the result of competition;” and whether they should be changed in any way. Comments in the proceeding are due by September 22, 2006 and reply comments by November 21, 2006.
Comm Law Center