Washington Beat

Larry Hudson has transitioned to the FCC's Office of Communications Business Opportunities, from the role of Director of the agency's Office of Workplace Diversity. As such, an acting director has been selected for the office by FCC Chairman Ajit Pai.

One of Washington, D.C.'s most esteemed telecommunications, media, and technology law firms has a new individual serving as its "Of Counsel." It's a Georgetown University Law Center graduate who has clerked for a Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals chief judge and is a member of the U.S. Supreme Court bar.

Democratic FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks has selected the Senior Advisor for Technology and Telecom at the Washington Bureau of the National Urban League as his new Legal Advisor on media and consumer protection issues.

The number of FM translators and boosters increased again, fourth quarter 2019 station totals from the FCC show. However, it is the number of FM commercial and noncomm stations currently licensed for broadcast in the U.S. that is worthy of attention.

For their Alternative FCC Compliance Inspection tours, hundreds of Radio and TV Public Inspection Files have been prepped, from scratch, by Ken Benner and his wife, Karen —potentially saving millions of dollars in fines and legal expenses for broadcast licensees. In her honor, Ken shares a published newspaper column he wrote back in June of 1988 that contains great advice for 2020.

One of the nation's foremost communications law attorneys, a fixture in Washington, D.C., since joining Kirkland & Ellis in March 1964 as an associate, has formally announced his retirement.

On Nov. 25, 2019, the FCC released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking seeking comment on whether it should modify or eliminate the "radio duplication rule." A summary of the NPRM was published in the Federal Register on December 23, setting the wheels in motion on a comment date and reply comment date for what is officially MB Docket Nos. 19-310 and 17-105.

With a resume that includes stints at NBC News in Washington, and roles at the NAB and the FCC, Sitrick ventured into the role of media broker. For many years, he was associated with Blackburn and Company, where he negotiated in the sale of many radio and TV stations. Sitrick died Christmas Eve, at the age of 98.

Featured columnist Ken Benner closes out 2019 with some office cleaning, and on the way to the trash bin stumbled upon enough subject material for decades of weekly columns. What has this octogenarian Alternative Broadcast Inspection pro have to share today? Legal tips, which should not be construed as attorney's advice but may be very helpful to you and your broadcast stations.

With a Supreme Court appeal the lone road ahead for the Commission and time running out on how to handle new transactions, the Media Bureau has reinstated the 2016 Quadrennial Media Ownership Rules "consistent with the mandate" issued by the appeals court. Meanwhile, in a separate FCC development, a comment period has begun on the future of 87.7 MHz audio services.

House and Senate negotiators have agreed on a $20 million increase in funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. It's the first increase in 10 years, and the House formally approved the increase today as part of the package of bills to fund the federal government in fiscal year 2020. The Senate is expected to consider the funding package before Friday.

The federal government's FY2020 Appropriations Act needs Senate approval by the end of the week to avert a shutdown, and it is likely. As such, STELA legislation championed by the House Energy & Commerce Committee is set to become law. Retiring Committee Ranking Member Greg Walden is pleased.

For the past 50 years, featured columnist Ken Benner has traveled to Washington, D.C., during the first week of December to discuss consumer affairs with the nation's most prominent consumer organization -- and to obtain material for RBR+TVBR columns. Here's Benner's Inside-the-Beltway diary of this year's trip.

In an information environment characterized by deep tensions between President Trump and national news organizations, Americans are more divided than ever in their trust of the news media. A new Pew Research Center study confirms this.