March 2015 Pillsbury’s communications lawyers have published 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: Deceptive Practices Yield Multi-Million Dollar Fines for Telephone Interexchange Carriers LPFM Ads Cost $16,000 Multiple TV Station Licensees…

As we posted earlier, the FCC voted at its February meeting to preempt state laws in Tennessee and North Carolina restricting municipalities from providing broadband service. The FCC has now released the text of its Order, and it reveals the expanse of the FCC’s concerns, filling in the details as…

Whenever we report on FCC indecency decisions, it is always an interesting test of our subscribers’ spam filters. I am betting today’s FCC enforcement action will trigger more than its share of spam alerts. In recent years, the FCC has been less active in issuing indecency fines as it struggles…

By Lauren Lynch Flick and Scott R. Flick March 2015 The staggered deadlines for noncommercial radio and television stations to file Biennial Ownership Reports remain in effect and are tied to each station’s respective license renewal filing deadline. Noncommercial radio stations licensed to communities in Texas and noncommercial television stations…

March 2015 This Broadcast Station Advisory is directed to radio and television stations in Delaware, Indiana, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Texas, and highlights the upcoming deadlines for compliance with the FCC’s EEO Rule. April 1, 2015 is the deadline for broadcast stations licensed to communities in Delaware, Indiana, Kentucky, Pennsylvania,…

March 2015 The next Quarterly Issues/Programs List (“Quarterly List”) must be placed in stations’ public inspection files by April 10, 2015, reflecting information for the months of January, February and March 2015. Content of the Quarterly List The FCC requires each broadcast station to air a reasonable amount of programming…

March 2015 The next Children’s Television Programming Report must be filed with the FCC and placed in stations’ public inspection files by April 10, 2015, reflecting programming aired during the months of January, February and March 2015. Statutory and Regulatory Requirements As a result of the Children’s Television Act of…

The FCC today released its much anticipated Open Internet Order. While it will take some time to digest the 313-page decision (though the new rules only total eight pages), here is a brief summary of the highlights: No Blocking. The Order prohibits providers of broadband Internet access services (“broadband services”)…

As Pillsbury’s 2015 Broadcasters’ Calendar indicates, new rules relating to closed captioning go into effect on March 16, 2015. The FCC adopted these rules in its February 24, 2014 Closed Captioning Quality Order . They generally concern a station’s “quality control” over its program captioning. As a quick refresher, the…

For a company that could always punch well above its weight in drawing press coverage, Aereo’s sale of its assets in bankruptcy last week drew surprisingly little coverage. Less than a month before last year’s Supreme Court decision finding that Aereo’s retransmission of broadcast TV signals over the Internet constituted…