Bulletin Categories: FCC Regulatory Reform

FCC Eliminates “Correspondence Folder” from Commercial Broadcaster Public Inspection File Requirements January 31, 2017

At today’s meeting—the first under new Chairman Ajit Pai—the three-member Commission voted unanimously to eliminate the requirement that commercial broadcast stations retain and make publicly available (as part of the...

FCC Proposes to Eliminate Public Correspondence Files for Commercial Stations May 25, 2016

At its open meeting today, May 25, the FCC adopted a Notice of Proposed Rule Making (“Notice”) relating to broadcast station public inspection files. The principal proposal in the Notice...

Will the FCC Get a Prize for Adopting New Rules to “Modernize” the Station-Conducted Contest Regulations? September 1, 2015

On August 27, the FCC released the “tentative” agenda for its open meeting scheduled for September 17, and we are excited to report that the following item is listed: Modernizing...

Cable Operator Asks FCC to Adopt New Retransmission Consent Blackout Rule; FCC Seeks Input July 22, 2015

The FCC is seeking feedback on cable operator Mediacom’s recently filed petition that asks the FCC to change its retransmission consent rules to condition a TV station’s license renewal on...

Potential Complication for Retrans Negotiations: The FCC’s Recent Cable Rate Deregulation Decision June 10, 2015

Last week, the FCC adopted an Order establishing a “rebuttable presumption” that all cable operators are subject to “effective competition.” Over the vigorous objection of broadcasters, public interest groups, and...

Commissioner O’Rielly Invites FCC to Modernize EEO “Widespread Dissemination” Rule February 26, 2015

In a blog post released February 20, Commissioner Michael O’Rielly publicly invited the FCC to consider modernizing its EEO rules to take account of the near-ubiquity of the Internet as...

Comment Dates Established in Proceeding to Modernize FCC’S Station-Conducted Contest Regulation December 19, 2014

In our Nov. 25 Legal Update, we reported on the FCC’s proceeding to “modernize” its decades-old station-conducted contest rule. In that proceeding, the FCC has proposed, among other things, to give...

FCC to Consider Modernizing Station-Conducted Contest Regulations November 3, 2014

A one-line item on the FCC’s tentative agenda, released Oct. 31, announcing the topics for its Nov. 21 meeting may have been the least scary thing to be released on Halloween...

FCC Eliminates Sports Blackout Rules October 10, 2014

In an Order that has received nationwide attention both inside and outside the broadcast industry, the FCC last week eliminated its sports blackout rules. In doing so, the Commission called...

FCC Announces Proposed Fiscal Year 2014 Regulatory Fees, Implements Changes Announced Last Year July 7, 2014

The FCC has released its regulatory fees for fiscal year (“FY”) 2014. This year, the Commission is implementing many of the changes it announced last year at this time when...