Washington Beat

The CEO of Urban One and the EVP/Chief Diversity Officer of NBCUniversal have been appointed to the Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI) Board of Directors. Both of their terms will begin April 1.

With a Public Notice released March 25, the Media Bureau announces that notice of the effective date for the rule changes adopted in the R&O was published in the Federal Register on February 23, 2021.

Two communications law experts have set up shop at BakerHostetler. They each join the firm after exiting the same Comm Law firm the attorneys had worked at for several years. In fact, one of the new Baker lawyers had just been promoted to co-Managing Member — making her exit even more intriguing.

Prominent telecommunications, media, and technology law firm Fletcher, Heald & Hildreth has elected a new Member of the firm. It's an active litigator who first joined the firm in January 2020 and continued to have a substantial hearing and deposition schedule -- remotely -- through the COVID-19 pandemic.

An AM/FM combo serving a small Mississippi town southeast of Memphis could be liable for a cash penalty for failing to submit its license renewal applications to the FCC in a timely manner.

The FCC on Wednesday moved forward with a plan to seek comment on procedures for the auction of 100 MHz of mid-band spectrum in the 3.45–3.55 GHz band — spectrum that can be used to facilitate 5G deployment across the contiguous United States.

After a false incoming missile alert freaked out Hawaiians, The National Defense Authorization Act for 2021 required the FCC to adopt rules to strengthen emergency alerting in various areas. The Commission today moved forward with meeting that goal by adopting a NPRM to ensure that more people receive relevant emergency alerts.

A former FCC appellate lawyer has joined Davis Wright Tremaine’s San Francisco office as a partner in the technology and communications practice, where she will focus on matters before the California Public Utilities Commission, the FCC, and on other appellate and regulatory matters.

The scenario-based training course tests participants' understanding of acceptable practices for FCC regulation compliance. The guide outlines compliance related to content, advertising, station operation and management, copyright, and public files and reporting in four learning activities.

Tied to the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act (JCPA)'s reintroduction in Congress was a Friday House Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust, Commercial, and Administrative Law hearing titled "Reviving Competition, Part 2: Saving the Free and Diverse Press." On behalf of the NAB, which supports the JCPA, Graham Media Group head Emily Barr testified.

A bill to repeal outdated regulations of the 1992 Cable Act has been reintroduced in the U.S. House of Representatives by two influential leaders in a bipartisan move that could potentially erase current retransmission consent legislation. The bill would also rewrite the rules on the compulsory copyright license.

The L.A. office of Davis Wright Tremaine has a new of counsel in its entertainment practice. It's someone with extensive in-house experience at NBC Entertainment, where she was most recently VP of Legal Affairs.

She's widely known as a Partner with Wiley Rein LLP's Washington, D.C. office, where she serves as Co-Chair of the firm’s Telecom, Media & Technology group. Now, this legal eagle is tacking on the title of Secretary and General Counsel of the Broadcasters Foundation of America.

The FCC has been active in sending out of late Notices of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture with respect to the untimely filing of a license renewal application. The latest licensee to get a proposed fine? It is the owner of a Class A noncomm in Iowa used by a station housed at Maharishi International University.

The FCC has issued a Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture to the licensee of a low-powered FM radio station in Bryan, Ohio, for the apparent willful violation of section 73.3539 of the Rules, resulting in the willful and repeated violation of section 301 of the Communications Act. What went wrong? This LPFM's license renewal application was sent in too late.