This Week in Regulation for Broadcasters:  November 4, 2024 to November 8, 2024

Here are some of the regulatory developments of significance to broadcasters from the past week, with links to where you can go to find more information as to how these actions may affect your operations.

• On our Broadcast Law Blog, we reviewed  many of the broadcast issues pending before FCC that could be affected by the transition to Republican leadership as a result of the change in administration because of Tuesday’s presidential election.  Among the issues that could be impacted are everything from the local ownership rules to the EEO Form 395-B, and from AI in political ads to general attitudes toward enforcement and regulation. 
• “Pencils Down” letters were sent to FCC Chairwoman Rosenworcel by Republican Congresswoman McMorris Rodgers (see here) and Republican Senator Cruz (see here), the ranking Republicans on the House and Senate committees that have principal oversight responsibility over the FCC.  These letters requested that the FCC cease work on all partisan or controversial proceedings before the agency during the transition period between now and January 20, Inauguration Day, the start of the new Trump Administration.  FCC Commissioner Carr, who is considered to be a favorite for Trump’s pick as the new FCC Chairman, also issued a statement calling on the FCC Chairwoman to cease work on all partisan or controversial matters during the transition period.
  • A similar “Pencils Down” letter was also sent by McMorris Rodgers to FTC Chairwoman Khan, requesting that the FTC stop work on all on all partisan or controversial proceedings during the transition and focus only on non-partisan, consensus issues.
• Commissioner Carr has seemingly called for an FCC investigation into whether NBC violated the FCC’s equal time rules by broadcasting an appearance by Vice President Harris on Saturday Night Live the weekend before the election.  The equal time rule requires a broadcaster to provide free airtime, on request, to opposing candidates when the broadcaster allowed a candidate’s appearance outside of news interviews or news coverage.  NBC provided President-elect Trump airtime during a NASCAR race on the Sunday before the election and later during the post-game show on Sunday Night Football. 

Also on our Broadcast Law Blog, we discussed the implications of the SESAC rates for commercial radio announced by the RMLC the week before last. As we noted in last week’s weekly summary and discussed in more detail in the blog article, RMLC declared the arbitration decision to be a “win,” despite modest increases in the rates, as SESAC had been asking for far higher rates, attempting to use the GMR agreements signed in 2022 by most commercial radio operators as a benchmark for their requested higher rates.