Here are some of the regulatory developments of significance to broadcasters from the past week, with links to where you can go to find more information as to how these actions may affect your operations.
- The FCC’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau released a Public Notice reminding Emergency Alert Service (EAS) Participants, including broadcasters, of the upcoming nationwide EAS test scheduled to occur at 2:20 p.m. ET on November 17, with a back-up date of December 3. The Bureau reminded EAS Participants that they must file their EAS Test Reporting System (ETRS) Form Two on or before November 19, and their ETRS Form 3 on or before January 4, 2027. These forms report on the results of the tests at each station. The Notice provides a link to more information and instructional videos on the ETRS Forms. The Bureau also reminded EAS Participants to upgrade their EAS equipment’s software and firmware before the test to ensure that they can receive and process the National Periodic Test code and the “six zeroes” national location code, and to also review their State EAS Plans for monitoring assignments and ensure that their EAS equipment is configured to monitor the correct sources. Finally, the Bureau said that EAS Participants must ensure that individuals who are blind or visually impaired or deaf or hard of hearing have full access to EAS messages, providing examples of how such access should be provided. We provided more details about this Public Notice in an article on our Broadcast Law Blog, here.
- The FCC’s Media Bureau released a Public Notice extending the noncommercial educational (NCE) reserved band (88.1-91.9 MHz) FM translator filing window until 6:00 p.m. ET on November 23. The Bureau also extended the accompanying filing freeze on reserved and non-reserved band LPFM, FM translator, and FM booster station minor modification applications until the filing window closes on November 23. The filing window was scheduled to close at 6:00 p.m. on November 17, but the Bureau extended the window due to technical issues with the FCC’s Licensing Management System this week which delayed or prevented some applicants from preparing their applications. The Bureau stated that the new filing deadline will be strictly enforced and applications submitted after the window closes will be dismissed by public notice without further consideration. See our article here on the Public Notice, and our articles here, here, here, and here for more on the NCE FM translator filing window, and our notes here and here on the accompanying filing freeze.
- The FCC’s Media Bureau granted an application for the assignment of a Bay City, Michigan TV station to Sinclair, waiving the Local TV Ownership Rule to allow Sinclair to own three TV stations in the Flint-Saginaw-Bay City, MI Designated Market Area (DMA). The Bureau found that granting the waiver was in the public interest because Sinclair’s acquisition of the station would expand local programming offerings in the DMA, and it was unlikely that an out-of-market competitor could operate the station as a standalone station due to the station’s low revenue prospects as the DMA’s second to last ranked station. As we noted here, in April, the Bureau granted Sinclair a waiver of the Local TV Ownership Rule on similar grounds allowing Sinclair to own three TV stations in the Wilkes-Barre-Scranton-Hazelton, PA DMA. In March we noted that another company was permitted to acquire a third TV station in the Indianapolis DMA and, as we wrote here, in the FCC Media Bureau’s approval of Nexstar’s acquisition of TEGNA, Nexstar was authorized to own three TV stations in several markets.
- Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) sent a letter to FCC Chairman Carr and to the Acting Chiefs of the FCC Media and Enforcement Bureaus instructing them to begin to produce documents to minority members of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations on actions allegedly taken by the FCC in coordination with the White House to abridge First Amendment rights of broadcasters and to otherwise investigate media critical of the President. Requests for documents related to matters including the FCC’s Public Notice that significantly limited station discretion to determine that a program was a bona fide news program exempt from equal opportunities (see our article here), claims about “news distortion,” questions about the sale of Paramount/CBS to Skydance, and investigations into underwriting on NPR and PBS stations were sent by Blumenthal to the FCC on February 23, 2026, July 29, 2025, and March 12, 2025. According to this week’s letter, no responses to the earlier requests had been received by the committee. This week’s letter instructs the FCC to begin producing documents by November 30, and states that if production is not complete by January 4 (when the minority members of the committee will be in the majority as the result of last Tuesday’s election), the committee “will have no choice but to consider alternative measures to obtain compliance.” We expect that, as a result of the election results, Congressional oversight of the FCC activity will increase.
- The FCC announced that November 3 is the effective date of the Media Bureau’s Order in the ongoing Delete, Delete, Delete proceeding (see our article here) deleting the FCC’s rules requiring broadcasters to file the FCC Form 395-B—an annual report that was to be placed in stations’ online public files classifying all their employees by race, gender, and employment position. The requirement to file this form never became effective as the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled last year that the FCC lacked authority to require broadcasters to file the form (see our article here). As the Court rejected the use of the form, the Bureau found that the rule requiring the filing of the Form 395-B rules was not enforceable and had to be deleted.
- The FCC’s Office of Economics and Analytics assessed a $28,210 interim default payment against the winning bidder for three Texas FM station construction permits in Auction 109 after the bidder requested dismissal of its applications, which resulted in the bidder defaulting on its winning bids. Under FCC auction rules, a defaulting bidder owes the difference between what it promised to pay and what the channels sell for in a subsequent auction. Since the FCC cannot determine the full amount of the default payment until new construction permits for the defaulted allotments are won in a future auction, the FCC assessed an interim default payment of 20% of an Auction 109 defaulter’s net winning bids. The defaulting bidder had $141,050 on deposit to bid in Auction 109. The Bureau applied the deposit towards the defaulter’s $28,210 interim default payment obligation.
- The Media Bureau released a Report and Order substituting UHF Channel 21 for VHF Channel 9 at St. George, Utah. The Bureau found that the channel substitution was in the public interest because the TV station that had initially requested that it be allowed to operate on Channel 21 could not complete construction of its Channel 21 facilities, so amending the TV Table of Allotments to reflect that the station would remain on its current Channel 9 would prevent interruption of service to its viewers. The Bureau also rejected comments filed in response to the proposed substitution asserting that the station should explain why it could not complete construction of its Channel 21 facilities, finding that business or economic circumstances are not considered in determining whether a channel change serves the public interest. Under FCC policies, when the FCC changes the TV Table of Allotments to accommodate a station’s proposed channel change, the Table is changed even before the station builds its new facilities, thus requiring a proceeding like this one to undo the Table of Allotments change when the new facilities are not built.
- The Media Bureau issued a Forfeiture Order imposing a $150 fine on a group of Utah TV translator stations for filing their license renewal applications over two months late without explaining why they were filed late. In 2023, the Bureau proposed a $13,500 fine against the stations for their late-filed renewals but reduced the fine to $150 based on the licensee’s documented inability to pay as the stations—which are located in a small town in rural Utah—are entirely funded by the local government without a specified annual budget and would have to forfeit their licenses if they had to pay the full amount of the proposed fine, and because TV translators are secondary services and provide the only over-the-air broadcast service to viewers in that area.
On our Broadcast Law Blog, we discussed a lawsuit filed by the Republican Party arguing that giving lowest unit rates to political candidates for political advertising is unconstitutional, and how that case could lead to a reexamination of the FCC’s political broadcasting requirements.
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