Washington Beat

Fresh off of a Republican presidential primary debate held in Miami, a fourth Republican presidential primary debate of the 2024 election cycle is now on the calendar. The debate will air exclusively on Nexstar's cable television network and will be simulcast in the Eastern and Central time zone on The CW. 

The broadcast home of a hyperlocal television operation branded as “Blab TV,” which serves the Fort Walton Beach-Destin, Fla., area, will need to pay a fine for a delinquency tied to the filing of issues/programs lists associated with the UHF property.

For weeks, the FEMA, in participation with the FCC, promoted the October 4 nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System and the Wireless Emergency Alerts.  For those with a smartphone, the test proved successful. How Radio and TV each fared is perhaps an emergency in and of itself, CTA research finds.

The licensee of a noncommercial religious television station serving the Pacific Northwest's largest market is facing a fine in the thousands of dollars for not providing the FCC with its quarterly issues and programs list in a timely manner.

A financial and business valuation consulting boutique and partners JP Morgan Chase & Co. and law firm Lerman Senter PLLC have been selected by the FCC to serve as the Relocation Payment Clearinghouse for impacted parties and new licensees of the repurposed 3.45 – 3.55 GHz spectrum band.

He's been at the helm of Inside the Beltway advocacy group America’s Public Television Stations working on behalf of educational broadcast UHFs and VHFs since January 2011.  Come 2024, this longtime leader will be retiring.

A "groundbreaking breakfast" will be held Thursday at the elegant Willard Intercontinental Hotel to "raise awareness and empower African American and Hispanic voters" in the 2024 election cycle. The hosts are major media companies in the Hispanic and Black spaces, respectively.

A demonstration of the pioneering technology is scheduled for Thursday afternoon (11/2) at a reception hosted by the law firm that's home to veteran communications industry expert David Oxenford.

A potential merger between a law firm with a major Washington, D.C. communications law practice and a law firm that prior to May 2019 was home to Spanish Broadcasting System's outside counsel, James Sammataro, is not moving forward.

The FCC last week adopted rules that will expand its audio description mandate. In particular, under the FCC’s new rule, stations in certain markets are required to provide audio-described programming as soon as January 1, 2025. Three Wiley attorneys explain what this could mean for your broadcast TV station.

It's "Free Speech Week," which commenced October 16, and in recognition of the nationwide annual celebration of America's constitutional guarantees of free speech and freedom of the press, the head of the NAB has expressed the importance of broadcast news in an age of internet-delivered misinformation.

Twenty U.S. senators have signed a letter asking the FCC to solicit new public comments about virtual multichannel video programming distributors (vMVPD) and whether federal action is needed to ensure consumer access to local broadcast programming on online platforms.

These rules, the Commission says, "will spur an eco-system of cutting-edge applications, including wearable technologies and augmented and virtual reality, that will help businesses, enhance learning opportunities, advance healthcare opportunities, and bring new entertainment experiences."

Experts are predicting this to be the first election cycle to reach $11 billion in political spending. That's an increase of over $2 billion from the spending for 2022 or 2020. What else should broadcasters know as a big election cycle is about to reap big dollars on TV, and bring a bump to Radio?

On September 26, LG Electronics' U.S. Government Affairs head shared with the FCC a company decision to suspend the inclusion of ATSC 3.0-compatibility in its 2024 television lineup for the United States because of a patent dispute.  Now the NAB is chiming in, and wants the FCC to stay out of the fray.