4/29/2010 Several members of Congress led by Senator Schumer and Congressman Van Hollen introduced today the “Democracy Is Strengthened by Casting Light On Spending in Elections” Act–the DISCLOSE Act. The House and Senate versions differ, with the Senate version vastly expanding eligibility for Lowest Unit Charge, reducing the Lowest Unit…
Death, taxes … and FCC annual regulatory fees. Its that time of year again and the FCC has issued its latest annual Notice of Proposed Rulemaking containing regulatory fee proposals for Fiscal Year 2010. Those who wish to file comments on the FCC’s proposed fees must do so by May…
Death, taxes, and ownership reports: all three are unavoidable, but broadcasters had a brief respite from the last one. That respite has now come to an end. One of the joys of being a broadcast licensee is filing biennial ownership reports detailing the extended ownership structure of each station. These…
4/8/2010 The FCC’s Media Bureau has announced that a new version of the Biennial Ownership Report Form for commercial broadcast stations, FCC Form 323, will be available on its website as of April 9, 2010. All commercial broadcast station owners must file their biennial ownership reports using the new form…
March 2010 This Broadcast Station EEO Advisory is directed to radio and television stations licensed to communities in: Delaware, Indiana, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Texas, and highlights the upcoming deadlines for compliance with the FCC’s EEO Rule. Introduction April 1, 2010 is the deadline for broadcast stations licensed to communities…
March 2010 The next Quarterly Issues/Programs List (“Quarterly List”) must be placed in stations’ local public inspection files by April 10, 2010, reflecting information for the months of January, February and March, 2010. Content of the Quarterly List The FCC requires each broadcast station to air a reasonable amount of…
March 2010 The FCC has suspended indefinitely the deadline for commercial radio and television stations to file their Biennial Ownership Reports. However, the deadlines for filing Biennial Ownership Reports by noncommercial educational radio and television stations remain in effect, tied to their respective anniversary renewal filing deadlines. Noncommercial educational radio…
The 2010 NAB Show in Las Vegas is fast approaching! Your Pillsbury attorneys, including Dick Zaragoza, Cliff Harrington, Scott Flick, Miles Mason, Laurie Lynch Flick, Paul Cicelski and Christine Reilly will be at this annual event, which takes place in just one month, from April 10th to the 15th. We…
This Advisory provides a review of the FCC’s political broadcasting regulations. Introduction Eight years after adoption of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (“BCRA”) of 2002, popularly known as “McCain-Feingold,” Congress’ and the FCC’s interest in political broadcasting and political advertising practices remains undiminished. Broadcast stations must insure that a broad…
The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia has ruled that the Copyright Royalty Board is constitutional. The decision ends for now a long-running controversy over the legitimacy of the CRB, which sets royalty rates that webcasters pay to copyright owners– rates that webcasters see as excessively high and…