Washington Beat

How much could your radio or TV station pay in regulatory fees to the FCC for fiscal 2023? The proposed new rates have been issued in a Report and Order and Notice of Proposed Rulemaking. They are not final, and a comment date and reply comment date have been established.

A September 2021 reconsideration letter sent to the FCC by the licensee of a FM translator serving Bennington, Vermont, that saw its license expire and call letters deleted has scored a victory at the Commission. As such, this mini-FM is coming back from the dead.

On Monday, funding for the proposed acquisition of TEGNA by Standard General, led by Soohyung Kim, expires. Two key Members of Congress are less than pleased with that situation, and have called on the Inspector General of the FCC to "investigate Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel’s unprecedented actions against Standard General’s application to acquire TEGNA.”

"After more than three years, the unprecedented circumstances that necessitated the 2020 Public Notice are no longer present," says the FCC's Media Bureau. As such, the temporary relief provided by the Commission when it comes to lowest unit charge guidance for political advertising has been rescinded.

A digital LPTV station operated at reduced power without proper special temporary authority for nearly three and a half years. While the licensee blames the transgression on "a confluence of misjudgments and distractions," Video Division Chief Barbara Kreisman is moving forward with a proposed fine.

Are the lone opportunities in television associated with low-power TV stations? Is the broker pool about to get shallower, because the deal-making marketplace simply can no longer support so many? Bob Heymann, the Chicago-based broker with Media Services Group, answers these questions and more in this InFOCUS Podcast, presented by dot.FM, hosted by Editor-in-Chief Adam R Jacobson.  LISTEN HERE

Two years ago, Joe Crowley emerged as the Chairman of pro-recording industry lobbying group musicFIRST. Now, there's a change in leadership, with Crowley exiting. His duties will be divided up by two individuals serving as co-Chairmen.

This is no unlicensed buccaneer. Rather, it is a low-power FM facility that's run afoul of FCC rules nevertheless. Why? It went over the line on permissible underwriting announcements.

The LPTV Broadcasters Association, the advocacy group founded by entrepreneur and "local power TV" licensee "SuperFrank" Copsidas, says that it "full-heartedly supports the Congressional initiative to roll out ATSC 3.0 at a rapid pace." However, there's a caveat to that statement.

“Stay there without a book, magazine, newspaper, profit-and-loss sheet or rating book to distract you, and keep your eyes glued to that set until the station signs off.  I can assure you that you will observe a vast wasteland." Those are the infamous words shared in 1961 by then-FCC Chair Newton Minow, who has died at the age of 97.

How serious is the FCC when it comes to non-receipt of regulatory fees in a timely manner? Just ask the owner of an AM radio station in Southwestern Virginia, who must now pay up for nine years of delinquency or risk losing his license.

At the end of 2022, the co-founders of My Broadcasting Corp. signed off on an asset purchase agreement giving them 100% of the stock in Border International Inc. held by Canadian giant Rogers Sports & Media. Rogers' ownership in the licensee was maxed out at 20%, given its status as a foreign owner. Now, the men behind My want the FCC to give it the OK to own all of WLYK.

On February 28, 2023, television stations located in New Jersey and New York were required to file applications for license renewal for terms expiring on June 1. Two stations failed to do so.

The Senior Deputy Chief of the FCC Media Bureau's Policy Division has sided with Comcast, denying the request of a broadcast ministry to give its northern Mendocino County-based TV station "must carry" status in Santa Rosa, Calif.

A tentative selectee was chosen in "NCE MX Group 200" by the Media Bureau's Audio Division. Then came a Petition to Deny from one of the applicants who wasn't chosen by the Commission. Al Shuldiner, the Audio Division Chief, reviewed the petition, and subsequently denied it.