Washington Beat

A decade-long moratorium on state-level Artificial Intelligence regulations, which would have impacted broadcast media stations across the U.S., was solidly defeated by a nearly unanimous vote in the U.S. Senate.

The Broadcast VOICES Act has emerged in both houses of Congress, bringing a fresh effort among legislators to boost broadcast ownership diversity through the return of tax incentives for the sale and donation of stations to women and other minority-led groups.

The newest FCC Commissioner has just completed her first Open Meeting. Immediately following the short by Commission standards gathering,  Olivia Trusty shared who will serve as her Chief of Staff and Senior Counsel while welcoming three others to her office.

As Congress moves to act before its July 4 recess, former AEI visiting scholar and broadband economics expert Roslyn Layton discusses a revised spectrum bill in the U.S. Senate. In this think piece, Layton highlights why the proposal matters now—for broadband competitiveness and the restoration of FCC auction authority.

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting has awarded a $200,000 grant to the Public Media Journalists Association (PMJA) to support its Editor Corps program, which provides short-term editing help to local public media newsrooms across the country.

At a community event in the Bluegrass State, Anna M. Gómez met with community leaders and the public to discuss what she believes are "recent attacks by the Administration" and the FCC itself against the First Amendment "and their ongoing efforts to censor and control speech."

The House Appropriations Committee on Tuesday recommended level funding of $40 million for fiscal year 2026 for the Next Generation Warning System (NGWS), which provides critical investment in public broadcasting’s public safety infrastructure.

Four new public radio stations are now participating in the "One Small Step" initiative from StoryCorps, thanks to a fresh grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. 

Olivia Trusty has formally begun her tenure at the Federal Communications Commission, taking the oath of office on Monday to become the agency’s newest Commissioner. The swearing-in was shared on social media by FCC Chairman Brendan Carr.

As Congress continues to battle out the details of President Donald Trump's "One Big, Beautiful Bill," a provision tucked inside the reconciliation package may provide a sigh of relief for the NAB and many of the television and radio operators they serve when it comes to individual state regulations of artificial intelligence - particularly in political ads.

Senators Marsha Blackburn(R-Tenn.) and Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) are calling on federal regulators to investigate Spotify’s controversial subscription bundling strategy, which they say is depriving songwriters and music publishers of hundreds of millions of dollars in royalties while forcing consumers into higher-priced plans.

The Carr Commission has sent official notices of illegal pirate radio broadcasting to a trio of property owners, warning them that the activity coming from buildings they own must cease or they'll be held accountable and could see a big fine.

Since the end of May, the FCC's lone Democratic Commissionerhas traveled to California to meet with television studio executives, labor unions in the entertainment sector, and companies in the space industry. The purpose of these visits by Anna M. Gomez? To learn first hand of broadcasters' challenges.

The updated framework, adopted on a 3-2 vote in June 2024 and partially effective since August 15, requires radio and television licensees to verify whether airtime lessees are acting on behalf of a foreign governmental entity and to disclose that relationship at the time of broadcast.

It's hurricane season, and the FCC is helping broadcasters and the general public prepare by hosting a Hurricane Season Resiliency Roundtable, led by its Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau, in early July.