Washington Beat

Streamlining the process for filing an FM translator interference complaint, and the remediation procedures used by the FCC to resolve such an issue, is one step closer to fruition. The Commission has issued an NPRM that will allow the public to comment before the FCC votes on its proposed changes.

With the first phase of the post-incentive auction repack rapidly approaching, licensees of full power and Class A television stations should be mindful of upcoming deadlines for notifications to multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs), medical facilities, and viewers, Wiley Rein associate Ari Meltzer, partner John Burgett and of counsel Joan Stewart note in this report. 

How long can one fight for what they believe is right? For Ed Stolz, the answer is 22 years. He's been protesting the sale of the station today known as KUDL-FM in Sacramento since February 1996. Based on a ruling made Tuesday by the FCC's General Counsel, Stolz will need to extend the long duration of his fight — or finally call it quits.

Under Chairman Ajit Pai and fueled by the passion of Republican Commissioner Michael O'Rielly, pirate radio enforcement at the FCC has been much fiercer than under the previous regime of ex-Chairman Tom Wheeler.  But, the agency is limited in its financial penalties and abilities to squash a pirate once and for all. A New Jersey House Member seeks to change that.

The owner of a Class A FM to the Southwest of San Antonio received a NAL from the FCC for operating the station from an unauthorized location. Can the fine be reduced or eliminated? One of those two things just happened.

A 1939 law prohibits employees in the executive branch of the U.S. government from engaging in some forms of political activity. It's called the Hatch Act, and two leading House Energy & Commerce Committee members say all three Republican FCC Commissioners recently violated it. They want an investigation.

Don't mistake this column for a grumble session from our octogenarian Alternative Broadcast Inspection Program (ABIP) pioneer. Rather, he's come to praise the current Commission leadership, not bury it with a spoonful of grumbling goulash. 

What's a "deal killer"? How can you avoid them? To help best answer these questions, Garvey Schubert Barer communications attorney Erwin Krasnow and DEFCom Advisors CEO Doug Ferber created a new limited series of podcasts based on a 2017 Media Information Bureau column on this very subject. RBR+TVBR Editor-in-Chief is the host, and the guests are the operating partners of Community Broadcasters.

Do you know what FCC filing deadlines are in the coming weeks? Thanks to Fletcher Heald & Hildreth, we have a handy checklist of what's due to the FCC over the next two months, and when things must be completed by.

Last week, Wilkinson Barker Knauer LLP attorneys David Oxenford and Aaron Burstein conducted a webinar for several state broadcast associations on the legal issues in digital and social media advertising. Here are the details from this webinar, along with a link to the deck used by the attorneys for their presentation.

A feature from Morning Consult on the future of outgoing Democratic FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn is making waves across Capitol Hill. With days remaining in her nine-year tenure, she admits, "I really believe at this time that I would be a better public servant not serving on the FCC."

Mick Mulvaney, for those of you who don't follow Washington politics, is the current head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. He's said a thing or two about lobbyists. Why should this matter to radio and/or TV station owners? This column from Media Information Bureau featured columnist Ken Benner explains it all. It could make your lawyers testy.

Did you know that cable operators are required to maintain at their local office a current listing of the cable television channels that each cable system delivers to its subscribers? The FCC wants to "modernize" this rule, but seeks your comments before it can do so. Now is your chance to speak up.

Republican FCC Commissioner Michael O'Rielly has made it clear that the Commission's rules pertaining to children's programming on broadcast TV stations are in need of serious changes -- or an outright deletion. Until now the Parents Television Council has been silent on O'Rielly's push for "KidVid" modernization. The PTC just spoke up, and it is concerned.

"Many agree that Facebook needs to make some changes," Bloomberg View columnist Michael Strain wrote in an April 20 column. Four days later, the digital and social media giant started to make some changes, at least on Capitol Hill. It put a former FCC head in a lead D.C. role. Will this make "fixing Facebook" any easier? What does that mean for radio and TV?