Washington Beat

Does your broadcast media station air any programming provided by a foreign government or their representatives via a leased time arrangement? New FCC sponsorship identification requirements are now in effect — effective today.

It's "an authentic Reggio Emilia inspired preschool that educates and enriches the minds and lives of our young learners." Come March 21, it will be available for all federal employee families and the public, thanks to none other than the FCC.

The U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday said yes to a more than half-billion-dollar advance funding funnel for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting in fiscal year 2024. It's part of a 2022 omnibus appropriations package that includes a sizable chunk of money to establish at FEMA the "Next Generation Warning System."

The only national distributor of Spanish-language news in public radio has signed off on a Consent Decree with the FCC's Audio Division Chief, Al Shuldiner, that absolves the licensee of non-compliance with the Commission's Public File Rule.

That's a question MMTC’s President Emeritus and Senior Advisor David Honig, President/CEO Robert Branson and Tech and Telecom Policy Counsel Danielle Davis asked, among others pertaining to Equal Employment Opportunity, during a March 1 Zoom call with members of the FCC.

Fresh off of her excursion to Barcelona to deliver a short keynote address at the GSMA's MWC 2022, FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel has made an addition to the Office of Legislative Affairs. She's welcoming a Director to the office.

It is the belief of the organizers of this week's GSMA MWC Barcelona 2022 conference that high speed capacity networks, 5G and data-driven technologies like AI and IoT "underpin the transformation as companies across sectors look for digitally enabled and bespoke solutions." Among those actively seeking solutions are U.S.-based broadcasters. This explains Jessica Rosenworcel's presence in Catalonia.

While calling out the White House for a lack of Latino representation across D.C., the USHCC has taken particular aim at FCC Commissioner nominee Gigi B. Sohn — largely for her support by the news organization led by Christopher Ruddy.

Local radio and television broadcasters from across the nation gathered on Monday in Washington, D.C. for the NAB's annual State Leadership Conference. The convention featured speeches from several members of Congress about issues affecting the broadcasting industry and preparations for attendees’ meetings with legislators and regulators on March 1.

It's the winning bidder for a FM construction permit in Clayton, Okla., a town of less than 1,000 inhabitants in the heart of Choctaw Nation. As a winning bidder, the new licensee-to-be was required to file a post-auction FCC Form 2100, Schedule 301 long-form application by September 13, 2021. Oops. This future Oklahoma operator missed the deadline.

Should broadcast media companies pay the U.S. Forest Service a proposed administrative fee for new and existing communications? The NAB has something to say about that.

The licensee of a religious broadcast TV station serving Toledo, Ohio, has been given the OK to move its digital broadcast signal from a VHF channel to a more powerful UHF channel.

Paul Feldman at Fletcher Heald & Hildreth has been monitoring when the effective date of the new rules will be, minus portions of the rules that require OMB approval. He now has a date circled on his 2022 calendar.

The FCC's Communications Equity and Diversity Council (CEDC) will gather online on February 23. The agenda for what will transpire has been released by the Commission.

The NAB on Wednesday filed a 157-page ex parte brief with the FCC that the nation's chief lobbying organization for broadcast media says "corrects numerous misstatements and mischaracterizations by other parties about the Supreme Court's media ownership decision."