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Pillsbury’s communications lawyers have published the FCC Enforcement Monitor monthly since 1999 to inform our clients of notable FCC enforcement actions against FCC license holders and others.  This month’s issue includes:

  • Low Power FM Licensee Cedes De Facto Station Control Through Contract
  • Pirate Radio Station Operator Arrested During Live Broadcast
  • Northeast Property Owners Warned Over Illegal Radio Broadcasts

Short-Term License Renewal and $2,000 Consent Decree for LPFM Control Violation

The FCC’s Media Bureau entered into a Consent Decree with the licensee of a North Carolina low power FM (LPFM) station to resolve an investigation into whether the licensee violated Section 310(d) of the Communications Act and Section 73.865 of the FCC’s Rules.  Under those provisions, an LPFM station cannot be transferred or assigned to another party without the FCC’s prior consent.

To determine whether control of a broadcast station has transferred, the FCC considers “actual or legal control, direct or indirect control, negative or affirmative control, and de facto as well as de jure control.”  An analysis of de facto control looks at the exercise of control over a station’s programming, personnel, and finances, among other things.  Surrendering control over these matters to another person transfers de facto control of the station.

Following receipt of a complaint alleging the station’s former licensee was controlling the station pursuant to a local marketing agreement, the FCC conducted an investigation.  It concluded that the current licensee had ceded control of the station to the former licensee by entering into an agreement that gave the former licensee “sole right and privilege to determine the selection of programs” and required the station to “broadcast the provided programming, in its entirety, as delivered by [the former licensee] without any editing, 24 hours per day, 7 days per week.”  Broadcast licensees are not allowed to convey such unfettered control over a station’s programming to another party. Continue reading →

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Following the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision affirming the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) authority to administer the Universal Service Fund (USF or Fund), a bipartisan, bicameral group of members of Congress are taking tangible steps towards potential USF reform.  In an effort to evaluate and propose potential reforms to the USF with the goal of developing a forum to guide education, awareness, and policymaking, the Congressional USF working group is currently seeking public input on how best to re-shape the Fund going forward to ensure the long-term effectiveness of each USF program.

Earlier this month, Senator Deb Fischer (R-NE) announced the launch of the USF working group’s public comment portal.  Interested parties, whether individuals or organizations, have an opportunity to provide initial responses to help guide Congress as it reviews the structure, priorities, and implementation strategy of the Fund.  The questionnaire directs respondents to share their input on specific topics concerning the effectiveness of existing programs and considerations for reform, including: Continue reading →

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On Thursday, August 7, the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC” or “Commission”) held its monthly Open Meeting, where it considered items spanning several industries, including broadcasting, satellite communications, and public safety, among others.  The expansive agenda reflected the Commission’s full court press on agency-wide regulatory streamlining, system modernization, and expansion of nationwide connectivity initiatives.  Below are high-level summaries of the items the Commission considered and adopted as part of the August meeting:

NEPA Review Modernization

The Commission adopted a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to re-examine its environmental review procedures in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) as amended in 2023, and to ensure such procedures are clear, facilitate greater and faster infrastructure deployment, and accelerate the federal permitting process.  To advance these objectives, the NPRM seeks comment on whether and how to revise the FCC’s rules to align with the updated definition of a “major federal action,” update or replace the Commission’s longstanding categorical exclusions, and streamline review timelines for environmental assessments and impact statements.  The NPRM further inquires whether geographic-area licenses and other Commission actions should trigger NEPA obligations and seeks comment on  proposed changes to related rules under the National Historic Preservation Act.

  • Comments on the NPRM are due by September 18, 2025; Reply Comments are due by October 3, 2025.

Streamlining Space Bureau Reviews

The Commission adopted a Second Report and Order (Order) in its Expediting Initial Processing of Satellite and Earth Station Applications proceeding, which focuses on further expediting processing of applications and removing certain regulatory barriers to modifying systems following authorization.  The Order facilitates the expansion of ground station as a service (GSaaS) by allowing operators to apply for baseline earth station licenses without pre-identified satellite points of communication and by streamlining the process by which operators can add or remove satellite points of communication to an existing earth station authorization.  Significantly, the Order also expands the types of modifications that will not require prior FCC approval, giving more post-authorization flexibility to space and earth station operators.  The Order also eliminates the paper copy retention rule, aligns renewal timelines across earth stations, geostationary, and non-geostationary satellite applications, adds a 30-day shot clock for certain renewals, and permits market access grantees to request special temporary access.

  • Except for those rules subject to the Paperwork Reduction Act, the Order will become effective on September 26, 2025.

Continue reading →

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The FCC’s rules require that all Emergency Alert System (EAS) Participants update their identifying information in the EAS Test Reporting System (ETRS) annually.  Accordingly, the FCC has released a Public Notice announcing that the deadline for updating and submitting the ETRS Form One for 2025 will be Friday, October 3, 2025.

For broadcasters, EAS Participants include full power radio and TV broadcast stations, including Class D noncommercial educational FM stations, and low power FM stations, program-originating FM booster stations, and low power TV stations that are not operating as TV translators.  Stations must file a Form One even if they are silent pursuant to a grant of Special Temporary Authority.

The following types of stations are exempt from this filing requirement:

  • TV translator stations
  • FM translator or booster stations that only rebroadcast the programming of a local radio station
  • Stations that operate as satellites or repeaters of a hub station (or of a common studio or control point if there is no hub station) which rebroadcast 100% of the programming of that hub station, common studio, or control point.  The hub station, common studio, or control point will still need to file its own Form One, however.

The Public Notice states that the Federal Emergency Management Agency will not be conducting a nationwide test this year, so stations will only be filing a Form One, and not a Form Two or Form Three, which are used when reporting on a national EAS test.  The last nationwide test was conducted nearly two years ago, on October 4, 2023. Continue reading →

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Earlier this year, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr initiated a sweeping initiative to review “every rule, regulation, or guidance document” that could be eliminated “for the purposes of alleviating unnecessary regulatory burdens.”  At its July Open Meeting, the Commission voted 2-1 to adopt a Direct Final Rule framework to enable it to act expeditiously in the In re: Delete, Delete, Delete proceeding to repeal certain legacy regulations that have become “outdated, obsolete, unlawful, anticompetitive, or otherwise no longer in the public interest.”  The principal feature of the Direct Final Rule approach is to permit the elimination of rules without the notice and comment procedures typically required under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA).  The FCC’s lone Democrat, Commissioner Anna Gomez, dissented, expressing concern that the Direct Final Rule process circumvents essential transparency and due process safeguards, sidestepping a mechanism for public involvement.

At the highest level, the APA establishes the framework by which federal agencies like the FCC propose, adopt, modify, and revoke regulations, thereby ensuring transparency and public participation in the process.  In adopting the Direct Final Rule, the FCC explained that there is “good cause” under the APA to forgo this notice and comment process where it is “unnecessary,” such as where the administrative rules to be modified or eliminated are insignificant or inconsequential to the public.  In its recent efforts, the FCC deleted 11 rule provisions comprising 39 regulatory “burdens” it said related to obsolete technology, outdated marketplace conditions, expired deadlines, or repealed legal obligations, and which therefore no longer serve the public interest. Continue reading →

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Pillsbury’s communications lawyers have published the FCC Enforcement Monitor monthly since 1999 to inform our clients of notable FCC enforcement actions against FCC license holders and others.  This month’s issue includes:

  • TV Group Owner Enters $222,500 Consent Decree Over Pornographic Broadcast Hack
  • Kentucky Radio Station License Revoked Over Unpaid Regulatory Fees
  • FCC Threatens Chinese Telecom Provider With Fines for Failure to Fully Respond to FCC Inquiries

Pornography on Background Monitor During Newscast Leads to Costly Consent Decree

A group owner of TV stations entered into a Consent Decree with the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau to resolve an investigation into the broadcast of indecent material during a 6 p.m. newscast.

Section 73.3999 of the FCC’s Rules prohibits the broadcast of obscene material at any time and prohibits the broadcast of indecent material between 6:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m., primarily to protect children from being exposed to inappropriate content.

After receiving a complaint about pornographic material appearing during a weather report in October 2021, the FCC sent a Letter of Inquiry (LOI) to the station’s licensee in November 2021.   The licensee’s parent company responded to the LOI and confirmed that the material aired for approximately 13 seconds on a monitor which was visible behind the weatherperson during the weather segment.  The broadcaster explained that the accidental airing of the material, which was aired without the station’s prior knowledge or involvement, was caused by an unauthorized third party who exploited a wireless screencasting feature of the on-set monitor to display the content.  The legacy wireless network had been installed prior to the licensee’s acquisition of the station and, as was discovered after the incident, it lacked password protection.

Upon spotting the material displayed on the monitor, the station promptly switched to a full-screen weather graphic to end the broadcast of the material, issued an on-air apology, and conducted an internal investigation which included working with local law enforcement to identify the party responsible for transmitting the material to the monitor.  The broadcaster reported that the content did not pass through the station’s normal production systems and attributed the breach to unauthorized access via the unsecured legacy wireless network.  Upon discovering that the monitor had a screencasting capability that had been exploited, the broadcaster subsequently disabled screencasting capabilities for all monitors located at its stations, deactivated the vulnerable network, and took the added step of removing all wireless components from its existing monitors and any newly acquired monitors at all of its stations.

Despite the police’s inability to determine who was responsible for exploiting the previously unknown wireless capability of the monitor, and the extraordinary steps taken by the broadcaster to prevent a recurrence not just at this station, but at all of its stations, the FCC pursued an investigation of the broadcaster.

To resolve the investigation, the broadcaster entered into a Consent Decree with the Enforcement Bureau.  Under the terms of the Consent Decree, the broadcaster agreed to make a “voluntary contribution” of $222,500 to the United States Treasury, implement a multi-year Compliance Plan (including appointing a Compliance Officer, creating a Compliance Manual, conducting employee training and establishing operating procedures to prevent such an occurrence in the future, and committing to promptly notify the FCC of any future violations of either the indecency rules or of the Consent Decree), and submit regular compliance reports to the FCC over a three-year period.

FCC Revokes Kentucky Radio Station’s License After Years of Unpaid Regulatory Fees

 The FCC revoked the license of a Kentucky AM radio station for failing to pay regulatory fees for six fiscal years, going back to 2013.

Under Section 9 of the Communications Act and Section 1.1151 of the FCC’s Rules, the Commission has the authority to assess annual fees to cover its operational costs.  Late payment of these fees incurs a 25% penalty plus interest. Continue reading →

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While at this stage it is only a temporary win, in the spirit of Chairman Carr’s Delete, Delete, Delete proceeding, the FCC today released a Public Notice announcing that the Commission is suspending the requirement that broadcasters file Biennial Ownership Reports until June 1, 2027 or further notice, whichever occurs first.  The reports are normally due by December 1 of odd-numbered years (like 2025) and report a broadcaster’s ownership as it existed on October 1 of that year.

A number of commenters in the Delete, Delete, Delete proceeding, including the State Broadcasters Associations and NAB, noted that the reports tend to be paperwork-heavy, and of limited utility given that broadcasters must already file Ownership Reports after each assignment, transfer, or initial grant of a broadcast station construction permit or license.  The FCC appeared today to at least tentatively agree, stating in the Public Notice that:

In the Commission’s proceeding “In re: Delete, Delete, Delete,” multiple commenters have urged the Commission to revisit the current biennial ownership filing requirement, which they maintain is a costly and burdensome requirement without a sufficient offsetting public benefit.  With the next filing window approaching, we find there is good cause to waive the biennial ownership report filing requirement for a period of 18 months and set a new filing deadline of June 1, 2027 or until further notice, whichever comes first.

Broadcasters certainly hope that today’s announcement is an indication the FCC is interested in permanently eliminating the biennial ownership reporting requirement, and just needs time to analyze and implement a longer-term approach to eliminating it.  Note that today’s waiver does not affect the requirement that broadcasters file Ownership Reports after each station assignment or transfer, as well as after grants of initial construction permits and licenses.  If the Commission should decide to permanently eliminate the biennial ownership reporting requirement, it is likely these other types of Ownership Reports that the FCC will rely upon for broadcast ownership information going forward.

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August 1 is the deadline for broadcast stations licensed to communities in California, Illinois, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Wisconsin 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, August 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 →

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This post is directed to television stations with locally-produced programming whose signals were carried by at least one cable system located outside the station’s local service area or by a satellite provider that provided the station’s signal to at least one viewer outside the station’s local service area during 2024.  These stations may be eligible to file royalty claims for compensation with the United States Copyright Royalty Board.  These filings are due by July 31, 2025.

Under the federal Copyright Act, cable systems and satellite operators must pay license royalties to carry distant TV signals on their systems.  Ultimately, the Copyright Royalty Board divides the royalties among those copyright owners who claim shares of the royalty fund.  Stations that do not file claims by July 31, 2025 will not be able to collect royalties for carriage of their owned programming outside their local service area during 2024.

To file a cable royalty claim, a television station must have aired locally-produced programming of its own and had its signal carried outside of its local service area by at least one cable system in 2024.  Television stations with locally-produced programming whose signals were delivered to subscribers located outside the station’s Designated Market Area in 2024 by a satellite provider are also eligible to file royalty claims.  A station’s distant signal status should be evaluated and confirmed by communications counsel. Continue reading →

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Schools, hospitals, and libraries in poor and rural areas and millions of low-income American consumers can breathe a sigh of relief: they will continue to receive uninterrupted service subsidies through the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Universal Service Fund (USF or Fund). On June 27, 2025, the US Supreme Court issued a significant decision in FCC v. Consumers’ Research affirming the constitutionality of Congress’s delegation of authority to the FCC to administer the USF, thereby upholding the funding mechanism used to deliver subsidized phone, broadband, and telecommunications service to millions of American consumers and community institutions. By a 6-3 vote, the Court reversed a ruling by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals that held both Congress’s delegation of USF authority to the FCC and the FCC’s subsequent delegation of its authority to a private administrator violated the Constitution (read our article on the Fifth Circuit’s July 2024 decision here). The decision also resolved a split in the circuit courts, as the Sixth and Eleventh Circuit Courts of Appeal had decided in favor of the FCC in similar proceedings.

At issue in the case was the application of the “nondelegation doctrine,” a principle of constitutional law that says Congress cannot delegate legislative authority to any other branch of government or to a private entity. Specifically, Consumers’ Research challenged whether the discretionary power granted to the FCC to set and collect the “Contribution Factor”—the mandatory contribution assessed against the interstate end-user revenues of each telecommunication carrier on a quarterly basis—to fund a government initiative amounts to an unconstitutional delegation of legislative authority (“public” delegation). Consumers’ Research also asserted that the FCC then committed a further unconstitutional delegation of authority when it conferred its congressionally delegated authority to administer the USF to a private entity, the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) to permanently administer the Fund by calculating contribution rates, collecting contributions, and disbursing those contributions to subsidized projects (“private” delegation). USAC is subordinate to the FCC. Continue reading →