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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 →

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Broadcasters’ next Quarterly Issues/Programs List (“Quarterly List”) must be placed in stations’ Public Inspection Files by July 10, 2025, reflecting information for the months of April, May, and June 2025.

Content of the Quarterly List

The FCC requires each broadcast station to air a reasonable amount of programming responsive to significant community needs, issues, and problems as determined by the station.  The FCC gives each station the discretion to determine which issues facing the community served by the station are the most significant and how best to respond to them in the station’s overall programming.

To demonstrate a station’s compliance with this public interest obligation, the FCC requires the station to maintain and place in the Public Inspection File a Quarterly List reflecting the “station’s most significant programming treatment of community issues during the preceding three month period.”  By its use of the term “most significant,” the FCC has noted that stations are not required to list all responsive programming, but only that programming which provided the most significant treatment of the issues identified.

Given that program logs are no longer mandated by the FCC, the Quarterly Lists may be the most important evidence of a station’s compliance with its public service obligations.  The lists also provide important support for the certification of Class A television station compliance discussed below.  We therefore urge stations not to “skimp” on the Quarterly Lists, and to err on the side of over-inclusiveness.  Otherwise, stations risk a determination by the FCC that they did not adequately serve the public interest during their license term.  Stations should include in the Quarterly Lists as much issue-responsive programming as they feel is necessary to demonstrate fully their responsiveness to community needs.  Taking extra time now to provide a thorough Quarterly List will help reduce risk at license renewal time.

The FCC has repeatedly emphasized the importance of the Quarterly Lists and often brings enforcement actions against stations that do not have complete Quarterly Lists in their Public Inspection File or which have failed to timely upload such lists when due.  The FCC’s base fine for missing or late Quarterly Lists is $10,000.

Preparation of the Quarterly List

The Quarterly Lists are required to be placed in the Public Inspection File by January 10, April 10, July 10, and October 10 of each year.  The next Quarterly List is required to be placed in stations’ Public Inspection Files by July 10, 2025, covering the period from April 1, 2025 through June 30, 2025. 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:

  • Public File Violations Lead to Spate of FCC Consent Decrees
  • California Tower Owner Cited for Multiple Violations
  • Montana TV Translators Miss License Renewal Deadline

Public File Violations Lead to Consent Decrees with Multiple California Licensees

In a flurry of Consent Decrees, the FCC resolved investigations into Public Inspection File violations by three California television licensees.  Two of the Consent Decrees impose $32,500 civil penalties for willfully and repeatedly violating the FCC’s rules by failing to timely upload to the Public Inspection File required Quarterly Issues/Programs Lists and children’s commercial limits certifications.  The third licensee agreed to pay a $42,500 civil penalty for the same violations, as well as for the late filing of a license to cover application and the resulting unauthorized operation.

In each instance, while processing license renewal applications, the FCC’s Media Bureau noted that the applicant had been unable to certify that all required documentation had been uploaded to the station’s Public Inspection File when required during the license term.  Each station disclosed that it had been late in uploading Quarterly Issues/Programs Lists and children’s commercial limits certifications to its Public Inspection File, asserting “administrative oversight and/or employee turnover.”

Section 73.3526(e)(11)(i) of the FCC’s Rules requires that every full power commercial television station place in its Public Inspection File “a list of programs that have provided the station’s most significant treatment of community issues during the preceding three month period.”  Section 73.3526(e)(11)(ii) of the FCC’s Rules requires that every full power commercial television station place in its Public Inspection File “records sufficient to permit substantiation of the station’s certification, in its license renewal application, of compliance with the commercial limits on children’s programming….”

Each Consent Decree details the respective station’s failure to timely upload multiple Issues/Programs Lists and commercial limits certifications.  The first station uploaded 26 Issues/Programs lists late and 21 children’s commercial limits certifications late.  The second station uploaded 31 Issues/Programs Lists late and 23 children’s commercial limits certifications late.  The third station uploaded 27 Issues/Programs lists late and 20 children’s commercial limits certifications late.  Each station had several such Lists and certifications that were uploaded over a year late.  As of the date each Consent Decree was adopted, the respective station had uploaded all required documents to its Public Inspection File.

With regard to the third station, in addition to the late Quarterly Issues/Program Lists and children’s commercial limits certifications, it had failed to timely file a license to cover application.  In June 2021, the FCC granted the station a construction permit to modify the station’s facilities to increase power.  The construction permit had an expiration date of June 2024.  Despite timely completing construction of the new facilities around October 2021, the licensee did not file a license application for the new facilities until March 2025.  Sections 73.3536 and 73.3598(a) of the FCC’s Rules require that a license application be filed promptly upon completion of construction. Continue reading →

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June 1 is the deadline for broadcast stations licensed to communities in Arizona, the District of Columbia, Idaho, Maryland, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico, Ohio, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wyoming 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, June 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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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:

  • Puerto Rico Broadcaster Agrees to $4,500 Consent Decree for Unauthorized LPTV Operation
  • Eleventh Circuit Rejects FCC’s Rationale for Broadcast Ownership Fine
  • FCC Proposes $325,322 Fine for Miami Radio Pirate

Unauthorized Operation Leads to $4,500 Consent Decree for Puerto Rico LPTV Station

The licensee of a Puerto Rico LPTV station and the FCC’s Media Bureau entered into a Consent Decree to resolve an investigation into whether the licensee engaged in unauthorized operation.

The LPTV station was displaced by the FCC’s broadcast Incentive Auction and subsequent spectrum repack.  The licensee filed a displacement application to move to Channel 14, and a construction permit was granted in July 2018 with a July 2021 expiration date.  Because land mobile operations can be affected by TV transmissions on Channel 14, the construction permit contained a condition that the station “identify and substantially eliminate objectionable interference” and required the station to submit documentation showing “that objectionable interference will not be caused….”  Section 73.617(b)(2)(ii) of the FCC’s Rules requires TV permittees for new operations on Channel 14 to take steps prior to construction to identify potential interference.

When construction of the station was completed, the licensee filed an application to license the facility which contained a statement that the station complied with the special condition in the construction permit, but did not provide any technical proof to support that statement.  The station then began operations prior to receiving FCC approval to do so.  Media Bureau staff requested an amendment to supplement the “no objectionable interference” exhibit at the time the application was filed, and again in October 2024 when no amendment was received in response to the first request.  Responding to the second request, the licensee submitted an exhibit demonstrating there would be no objectionable interference, and then filed for Special Temporary Authority (STA) to continue operating while the license application was pending.

Section 73.1745(a) of the FCC’s Rules and Section 301 of the Communications Act require that a station have an FCC license in order to operate.  The FCC found that in the absence of either an STA or a license, the station had been operating without authorization for over three years. Continue reading →

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Broadcasters’ next Quarterly Issues/Programs List (“Quarterly List”) must be placed in stations’ Public Inspection Files by April 10, 2025, reflecting information for the months of January, February, and March 2025.

Content of the Quarterly List

The FCC requires each broadcast station to air a reasonable amount of programming responsive to significant community needs, issues, and problems as determined by the station.  The FCC gives each station the discretion to determine which issues facing the community served by the station are the most significant and how best to respond to them in the station’s overall programming.

To demonstrate a station’s compliance with this public interest obligation, the FCC requires the station to maintain and place in the Public Inspection File a Quarterly List reflecting the “station’s most significant programming treatment of community issues during the preceding three month period.”  By its use of the term “most significant,” the FCC has noted that stations are not required to list all responsive programming, but only that programming which provided the most significant treatment of the issues identified.

Given that program logs are no longer mandated by the FCC, the Quarterly Lists may be the most important evidence of a station’s compliance with its public service obligations.  The lists also provide important support for the certification of Class A television station compliance discussed below.  We therefore urge stations not to “skimp” on the Quarterly Lists, and to err on the side of over-inclusiveness.  Otherwise, stations risk a determination by the FCC that they did not adequately serve the public interest during their license term.  Stations should include in the Quarterly Lists as much issue-responsive programming as they feel is necessary to demonstrate fully their responsiveness to community needs.  Taking extra time now to provide a thorough Quarterly List will help reduce risk at license renewal time.

The FCC has repeatedly emphasized the importance of the Quarterly Lists and often brings enforcement actions against stations that do not have complete Quarterly Lists in their Public Inspection File or which have failed to timely upload such lists when due.  The FCC’s base fine for missing or late Quarterly Lists is $10,000.

Preparation of the Quarterly List

The Quarterly Lists are required to be placed in the Public Inspection File by January 10, April 10, July 10, and October 10 of each year.  The next Quarterly List is required to be placed in stations’ Public Inspection Files by April 10, 2025, covering the period from January 1, 2025 through March 31, 2025. Continue reading →

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April 1 is the deadline for broadcast stations licensed to communities in Delaware, Indiana, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Texas 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, April 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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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:

  • Washington State Television Licensee Agrees to $29,000 Consent Decree for Public File Violations
  • Numerous FCC Rule Infractions Lead to Notice of Violation for Virginia AM Station
  • Multinational Media Company Agrees to Consent Decree and $244,952 Penalty to Resolve EAS Violations

Public File Violations by Washington State Television Licensee Yield $29,000 Consent Decree

In the course of processing license renewal applications for three Washington state television stations, the FCC’s Media Bureau noted that the applicant certified that all required documentation had been uploaded to the stations’ Public Inspection Files when required.  According to the Media Bureau, however, the licensee failed to timely upload 40 Quarterly Issues/Programs Lists.

Section 73.3526(e)(11)(i) of the FCC’s Rules requires that every full power commercial television station place in its Public Inspection File “a list of programs that have provided the station’s most significant treatment of community issues during the preceding three month period.”  The list must include a brief narrative of the issues addressed, as well as the date, time, duration, and title of each program aired that addressed those issues.  The list must be placed in the Public Inspection File within 10 days of the end of each calendar quarter.

The Media Bureau noted that the Washington stations had failed to upload some quarterly lists at all, and many others had been uploaded late.  With regard to the licensee’s Spokane station, the FCC stated that three of the lists created during the license term were uploaded more than one year late. Its Richland station uploaded seven lists more than one year late, six lists between one month and one year late, and three lists under one month late. Lastly, its Yakima station uploaded nine lists over one year late, seven lists between one month and one year late, and five lists under one month late.

Compliance with the FCC’s rules requires that all reports be timely uploaded and that any failure to do so be disclosed in making the relevant certification in a station’s license renewal application.  At the request of the FCC, the licensee uploaded the lists that were entirely missing from the stations’ Public Inspection Files and amended the stations’ license renewal applications to change its certifications that “the documentation, required by 47 C.F.R. Section 73.3526 … has been uploaded to the station’s public inspection file when required” from a “Yes” response to a “No.”  The licensee also included attachments in the amendments disclosing the lists that were filed late. Continue reading →