This Week in Regulation for Broadcasters:  December 9, 2024 to December 13, 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.

• At its December regular monthly Open Meeting, the FCC issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking proposing to update several broadcast rules by making minor changes to its application processing procedures and by clarifying some ambiguous rule provisions.  Some of the more notable proposals include: (1) allowing AM stations seeking to improve their facilities at their current transmitter sites to request power increases of less than 20% (to eliminate burdens on FCC staff, current rules require do not allow a power increase of less than 20% to be considered); (2) allowing directors or designated employees to sign FCC applications – not just officers; and (3) allowing STAs authorizing stations to operate with temporary facilities because of technical or equipment problems to be granted for 180 days, rather than the 90 days currently permitted by the rules.  Comments and reply comments responding to the NPRM will be due 30 and 45 days, respectively, after its publication in the Federal Register.
• The FCC issued three Forfeiture Orders affirming fines that it had previously proposed against pirate radio operators in Brockton, Massachusetts: a $120,000 fine against one individual, a $40,000 fine against another individual, and a second $40,000 fine against two individuals who jointly operated a pirate station.  The pirate radio operators now have 30 days to pay the fines.  If not paid, the FCC may refer the cases to the U.S. Department of Justice for collection.  The FCC itself cannot sue to collect fines or take actions against individuals who ignore the penalties issued in these cases.  Instead, it must rely on the DOJ to enforce the penalties in Court.
• The FCC announced that January 13, 2025 is the effective date of its November Order adopting final rules allowing on a permanent basis full-power FM and LPFM stations to use FM booster stations to originate up to 3 minutes of programming an hour to provide commercials or other geo-targeted short content different from that provided on the primary station (see our discussion here).  Certain aspects of the rules adopted in the Order, however, require the Office of Management and Budget’s approval before becoming effective, including the political and public file recordkeeping requirements, the interference protection and complaints procedures, and the commencement of program origination notice requirements.  The FCC will announce at a later date when these sections of the rules will become effective.

• President-elect Donald Trump announced that Republican FTC Commissioner Andrew Ferguson will become the next FTC Chairman when Trump takes office on January 20.  Trump also nominated Mark Meador, a former staffer for Utah Republican Senator Mike Lee, to take the FTC Commissioner seat currently held by Chairwoman Lina Khan.  As reflected in Trump’s announcement, Ferguson is expected to implement FTC policies affecting Big Tech companies echoing those proposed by FCC Chairman-designate Carr, attempting to rein in the alleged “censorship cartel” between these tech companies, the government, and major advertisers (see our discussion here).
• The FCC’s Media Bureau entered into a Consent Decree with a Puerto Rico TV station to resolve the FCC’s investigation regarding Online Public Inspection File violations including the station’s failure to timely upload to its OPIF 27 Quarterly Issues/Program Lists, 11 children’s television programming reports, and 24 commercial limit certifications.  The Consent Decree requires the station to pay a $15,000 penalty and enter into a compliance plan to ensure that future OPIF violations do not occur. 
• The Bureau also took actions in two cases affecting applications filed in the 2023 LPFM filing window for new LPFM stations.
  • The Bureau dismissed a construction permit application for a new LPFM station at Deerfield, Illinois for violating the FCC’s rules about who can sign an application and for violating FCC’s LPFM technical requirements.  The Bureau found that the individual who signed the application was unable to so because he was not an officer or director of the applicant.  It also found that the application did not comply with the FCC’s minimum power and antenna height requirements.  As a result of the application’s dismissal, the Bureau granted a mutually exclusive application (applications that cannot all be granted under the FCC’s technical rules) for a new LPFM station at Lincolnshire, Illinois. 
  • The Bureau granted a new Rhode Island LPFM construction permit application over an objection claiming that the applicant failed to provide an evidence supporting its claims of being a Tribe or Tribal organization and having an established community of presence in the proposed LPFM station’s operating area, criteria used in the FCC’s point system analysis for granting mutually exclusive applications.  The Bureau dismissed the objection as moot because the applicant timely filed an amendment to move to another channel, which resolved its mutual exclusivity allowing both the applicant and the objector’s applications to be granted without a points system analysis.