This Week in Regulation for Broadcasters:  November 11, 2024 to November 15, 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.

• The FCC announced that comments are due January 13, 2025, in response to proposed community of license changes for several radio stations.  The proposed changes are: (1) KBFL-FM from Buffalo, Missouri to Fair Grove, Missouri (here); (2) KPWB-FM from Piedmont, Missouri to Marquand, Missouri (here); (3) KVJB(FM) from Las Animas, Colorado to Swink, Colorado (here); (4) KYMO-FM from East Prairie, Missouri to Bertrand, Missouri (here); (5) WPNA-FM from Niles, Illinois to Evanston, Illinois (here); (6) KCAY(FM) from Dammeron Valley, Utah to Enterprise, Utah (here); and (7) WLJL(FM) from Riverside, Alabama to Lincoln, Alabama (here).
• The FCC’s Media Bureau announced updated pleading deadlines for the Paramount-Skydance Media transfer applications after amendments were filed to revise its proposed post-merger ownership structure.  As we noted in a previous weekly update (here), in September, Paramount filed transfer applications proposing the company’s merger with Skydance Media, LLC which originally proposed that billionaire Larry Ellison would hold a controlling stake in the company.  The amended applications now propose that David Ellison, Larry Ellison’s son, will hold a controlling stake in the company, in addition to serving as its Chairman and CEO.  Petitions to deny the amended applications are now due December 16, oppositions to any petitions to deny filed are due January 2, 2025, and replies to any oppositions filed are due January 13, 2025. 
• The FCC submitted its required semi-annual report to Congress on U.S.-based foreign media outlets.  The John S. McCain National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019 (NDAA) requires certain U.S.-based foreign media outlets to register with the FCC, and for the FCC to report those registrations to Congress every six months.  Registration is required by entities that are agents of a foreign government and produce or distribute video programming transmitted, or intended for transmission, by multichannel video programming distributors in the United States.  In this report, the FCC stated that no U.S.-based foreign media outlets registered with the agency between April 2024 and October 2024.

• The FTC announced that January 14, 2025 is effective date of its “Click to Cancel Rule,” which amends its existing “Negative Option Rule” by requiring sellers to allow consumers to easily cancel their enrollments in subscriptions and services with “negative options.”  As we discussed in previous weekly updates here and here, the amended rule prohibits sellers from (1) misrepresenting the terms and conditions of goods or services with a negative option; (2) failing to clearly disclose material terms for goods or services with a negative option before charging a consumer; (3) failing to obtain a consumer’s consent to the negative option before charging the consumer; and (4) failing to provide consumers with an easy way to cancel the product or service.  While the Click to Cancel Rule will take effect on January 14, 2025, compliance with the new rule will not be required until May 14, 2025.
• The Media Bureau proposed a $6,500 fine against a Florida LPTV station for filing its license application late and operating without FCC authorization for over two and a half years after it completed construction of its facilities.  LPTV stations are supposed to file license applications providing information about any new facilities that they have constructed pursuant to a construction permit before they commence operations with those new facilities.  The Bureau noted that while it normally imposes a $3,500 fine for such violations, an increased fine was warranted because of the station’s lengthy period of time operating without a license.