This Week in Regulation for Broadcasters:  January 6, 2025 to January 10, 2025

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 released an Order increasing by an average of more than 17% its application fees, including those for broadcast station applications, to reflect changes in the Consumer Price Index.  FCC Chairman-designate Carr issued a concurring statement highlighting that the fee increases will place an undue burden on entrepreneurs in FCC regulated entities, but reluctantly voting to approve the increases as the FCC is required by statute to adjust the fees to reflect inflation.  The new fees will take effect 30 days after the Order’s publication in the Federal Register.  On our Broadcast Law Blog, we provided more details on the increases and suggested that, where possible (e.g., in connection with internal company reorganizations or for planned technical changes), broadcasters file applications soon to beat the implementation of these increased fees.
• The FCC proposed a $369,190 fine against a Texas TV station for failing to participate in the 2018, 2019, and 2021 nationwide Emergency Alert Service tests and for submitting false or misleading EAS Test Reporting System reports.  The station claimed that it made a good faith effort to comply with the EAS testing requirements by simulating its own EAS tests because its inexperienced staff did not know how to receive and retransmit the actual EAS test signals.  The Bureau rejected the station’s argument as the station’s staff ignorance of the law does not excuse a failure to comply with the rules.  The Bureau decided to propose more than the base fines for these violations because of their repeated nature and given the fact that they relate to public safety issues. 
• The FCC released its quarterly Broadcast Station Totals.  The release shows that, compared to the same release from a year ago, there are 61 fewer AM stations and 38 fewer commercial FM stations, but 191 more noncommercial FM stations.  There were also 13 more commercial UHF TV stations but 8 fewer commercial VHF TV stations, and 1 more noncommercial UHF TV station but 2 fewer noncommercial VHF TV stations. 
• The FCC’s Media Bureau and Office of Economics and Analytics released the Seventh Report on Ownership of Broadcast Stations.  The report provides a breakdown of the gender, race, and ethnicity of broadcast station attributable owners as of October 1, 2023, based on the ownership information filed by stations in their 2023 Biennial Ownership Reports. 
• The FCC and its Enforcement Bureau took several actions against pirate radio broadcasters:
  • The FCC proposed five fines totaling $260,000 against pirate radio operators: a $40,000 fine against a Waterbury, Connecticut operator, a $40,000 fine against a Geneva-on-the-Lake, Ohio operator, a $60,000 fine against a Hartford, Connecticut operator, a $60,000 fine against another Hartford, Connecticut operator, and a $60,000 fine against a Painesville, Ohio operator.
  • The Enforcement Bureau issued three Notices of Illegal Pirate Radio Broadcasting to landowners in Providence, Rhode Island, Dorchester, Massachusetts, and Bronx, New York for allegedly allowing pirates to broadcast from their properties.  The Bureau warned the landowners that the FCC may issue fines of up to what is currently the maximum fine of $2,391,097 under the PIRATE Radio Act if the FCC determines that the landowners continue permitting pirate radio broadcasts from their properties.  As we noted here, the Enforcement Bureau recently adjusted for inflation the maximum fine for pirate broadcasting to $2,453,218, an increase which will take effect once the Bureau’s order is published in the Federal Register.
• The Media Bureau issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking requesting comments on a TV station’s proposed substitution of UHF channel 15 for VHF channel 11 at Price, Utah due to the inferior quality of VHF channels for digital transmissions.  The station states that if the substitution is granted, it will convert its facilities to a Distributed Transmission System to serve viewers on the other side of the mountains separating Price and Provo, Utah. 
• The Media Bureau cancelled a proposed fine of $3,000 against a Texas FM station for failing to timely file its license renewal application.  The Bureau cancelled the fine because the station demonstrated that it attempted to file the application on time but was unable to do so because of FCC database issues beyond its control.