Washington Beat

They were once rivals. Now, they are siblings under the PBS SoCal banner. That partnership has led the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to select the noncommercial broadcast TV operation serving the Los Angeles market as the lead stations for a national public media civic content and engagement initiative.

"The FCC is continuing to do its due diligence to reevaluate the population count information for AM and FM broadcasters for FY 2024 regulatory fees." That's how the Commission is responding to a matter that saw some radio stations being asked to submit regulatory fees that are actually higher than the ones adopted for the current fiscal year. 

The deadline for United States-based foreign media outlets to submit their next John S. McCain National Defense Authorization Act report to the FCC has been set by the Media Bureau.

A longtime radio broadcast licensee in the Mountain West has entered into a pair of Consent Decrees with the FCC's Media Bureau to resolve matters that saw the stations violate the Commission's rules.

It had been the home of veteran communications law attorney Gregg Skall and is the firm with associated with retired FCC attorney John Garziglia. Now, Womble Bond Dickinson is growing, thanks to a merger with another law firm.

An October 8 debate between Democrat Rep. Elissa Slotkin and Republican Mike Rogers, a former Member of the U.S. House of Representatives, could sway undecided voters, and Nexstar Media Group is hosting the debate at one of its Mitten State TV stations.

A small municipality along the picturesque Snake River has been handed a Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture, albeit a tiny one, for its failure to follow the FCC's rules regarding its ownership of a low-power television station serving the town.

The individual who has served as VP of Government and Public Affairs for America's Public Television Stations (APTS) has been promoted to President/CEO, effective October 1. She'll succeed Patrick Butler, who is retiring after almost 14 years as leader of the organization.

Earlier this week, NAB President/CEO Curtis LeGeyt attended the National Alliance of State Broadcasters Associations Executive Committee meeting in Stillwater, Minn. The NAB's Sr. VP of State, International and Board Relations also made the trip.

FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Privacy Commissioner of Canada Philippe Dufresne to strengthen information sharing and enforcement cooperation between the two regulators.

The NAB on Tuesday released a "sweeping election preparedness initiative" designed to provide broadcasters with the resources, tools and training needed to navigate the complexities of the 2024 election cycle. The association's election preparedness initiative includes three core elements.

The Legal Advisor for FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr from March 2021 until July 2023 has returned to the role. She's been in the private sector for the last 12 months, leading state and local government relations matters for "a nationwide telecommunications infrastructure provider."

AT&T has agreed to fork over nearly $1 million to the U.S. Treasury to resolve a FCC Enforcement Bureau investigation into whether rules were violated by failing to deliver 911 calls and to notify 911 call centers in a four-state 2023 service outage.

A quartet of educational non-commercial broadcast media stations will be eligible to receive a combined $1.8 million from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to upgrade their equipment in order to provide enhanced emergency alerting to their respective communities.

A Class A FM offering listeners in Homerville, Ga., Classic Hits programming via satellite from Westwood One could be on the hook for a financial penalty for the late filing of its license renewal forms with the FCC.