Articles Posted in

Published on:

By and

On August 29, 2025, the FCC released its Report and Order establishing the annual regulatory fees for Fiscal Year (FY) 2025.  The Commission followed that release with a Public Notice announcing that regulatory fees must be paid no later than 11:59 PM, Eastern Daylight Time on September 25, 2025. The fees must be paid for all licenses and initial construction permits granted on or before October 1, 2024.

As in recent years, the FCC requires all regulatees to pay fees electronically through its CORES system, which can be found here.  Payments may be made by credit card, debit card, ACH transfer, or wire transfer.  The Commission will not accept payments made by check, money order, or cashier’s check.

For FY 2025, the FCC will collect a total of $390,192,000 in regulatory fees, the same amount it collected in 2024 and 2023.  For the third year in a row, however, radio broadcast licensees will see a year over year reduction in their fees, averaging between 2.5-3% across station classes and population tiers.  Television station fees are set individually based on the station’s population coverage.  This year, the FCC is charging $0.006674 per pop, which marks a slight increase following two consecutive years of reductions.  To determine the precise regulatory fees owed, broadcasters should consult Appendices B (Radio) and F (Television) at the end of the Report and Order.

The FCC is once again encouraging early payment, particularly for those using wire transfers or ACH payments, to ensure processing delays do not cause a late payment.  Late payments trigger a mandatory 25% penalty, along with interest charges on any unpaid fees.  The FCC will credit partial payments, but any unpaid balances are still subject to the 25% penalty and interest.  Failure to pay all regulatory fees can also result in dismissal of pending applications, a stop on all future application processing, and potentially license revocation.

Licensees seeking relief from regulatory fee obligations may request a waiver, reduction, deferral, or installment payment plan by the payment deadline.  The filing procedures are outlined in a separate Public Notice titled Procedures for Filing Requests for Waiver, Reduction, Deferral and Installment Payment of Fiscal Year 2025 Regulatory Fees.  Requests citing financial hardship must include supporting documentation sufficient to demonstrate that payment of the fees would impose a financial hardship on the regulatee.  As late or unsupported requests are generally denied, filers should make sure to read the Public Notice carefully before submitting their request.

Published on:

By , and

October 1 is the deadline for broadcast stations licensed to communities in Alaska, American Samoa, Florida, Guam, Hawaii, Iowa, the Mariana Islands, Missouri, Oregon, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and Washington to place their Annual EEO Public File Report in their Public Inspection File and post the report on their station website.

Under the FCC’s EEO Rule, all radio and television station employment units (“SEUs”), regardless of staff size, must afford equal opportunity to all qualified persons and practice nondiscrimination in employment.

In addition, those SEUs with five or more full-time employees (“Nonexempt SEUs”) must also comply with the FCC’s three-prong outreach requirements.  Specifically, Nonexempt SEUs must (i) broadly and inclusively disseminate information about every full-time job opening, except in exigent circumstances, (ii) send notifications of full-time job vacancies to referral organizations that have requested such notification, and (iii) earn a certain minimum number of EEO credits based on participation in various non-vacancy-specific outreach initiatives (“Menu Options”) suggested by the FCC, during each of the two-year segments (four segments total) that comprise a station’s eight-year license term.  These Menu Option initiatives include, for example, sponsoring job fairs, participating in job fairs, and having an internship program.

Nonexempt SEUs must prepare and place their Annual EEO Public File Report in the Public Inspection Files and on the websites of all stations comprising the SEU (if they have a website) by the anniversary date of the filing deadline for that station’s license renewal application.  The Annual EEO Public File Report summarizes the SEU’s EEO activities during the previous 12 months, and the licensee must maintain adequate records to document those activities.

For a detailed description of the EEO Rule and practical assistance in preparing a compliance plan, broadcasters should consult The FCC’s Equal Employment Opportunity Rules and Policies – A Guide for Broadcasters published by Pillsbury’s Communications Practice Group.

Deadline for the Annual EEO Public File Report for Nonexempt Radio and Television SEUs

Consistent with the above, October 1, 2025 is the date by which Nonexempt SEUs of radio and television stations licensed to communities in the states identified above, including Class A television stations, must (i) place their Annual EEO Public File Report in the Public Inspection Files of all stations comprising the SEU, and (ii) post the Report on the websites, if any, of those stations.  Once the new Report is posted on a station’s website, the prior year’s Report may be removed from that website. Continue reading →