This Week in Regulation for Broadcasters:  March 24, 2025 to March 28, 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.

• FCC Chairman Carr stated on X that the FCC is prepared to block transactions among FCC-regulated companies, including broadcasters, where there is evidence that the companies have promoted “invidious” DEI policies.
• The House Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency (DOGE) held a hearing titled “Anti-American Airwaves: Accountability for the Heads of NPR and PBS.”  The hearing included testimony from the heads of NPR and PBS, as well as representatives from the Heritage Foundation and Alaska Public Media, regarding the continued federal funding of NPR and PBS in light of the networks’ alleged political bias in their programming.  A recording of the hearing can be found here.  Copies of the witnesses’ written testimonies can be found here, here, here, and here. 
  • Perhaps as a reaction to the hearing, Congresswoman Matsui (D-CA), Ranking Member of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Communications and Technology, Congressmen Dan Goldman (D-CA) and Amodei (D-NY), Co-Chairs of the Public Broadcasting Caucus, and other members of Congress sent Chairman Carr a letter emphasizing the importance of continued federal funding of public broadcasting.  The letter emphasized the importance of public broadcasters in preserving local communities’ access to public safety alerts, news, and educational information, and urged the FCC not to chill public broadcasters’ legitimate underwriting practices.  The members also requested that Carr brief them by April 4 on how the FCC plans to ensure that its investigation of NPR and PBS’ underwriting practices (see our discussion here) does not undercut the ability of public broadcasters to provide vital services to their local communities. 
• The FCC released a Notice of Inquiry exploring how the FCC can support industry efforts to develop new Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) technologies, including the Broadcast Positioning System (BPS) provided by TV stations operating with the ATSC 3.0 transmission standard.  The FCC seeks comment on whether BPS using ATSC 3.0 technology can complement or replace the Global Positioning System (GPS) currently used for PNT by delivering data that is less vulnerable to intentional interference than GPS.  Comments and reply comments are due April 28 and May 13, respectively.
• The FCC’s Media Bureau announced that comments and reply comments are due April 23 and May 8, respectively, responding to the FCC’s Notice of Proposed Rulemaking proposing to update several broadcast rules.  The proposed updates include allowing AM stations to request power increases of less than 20% for their current facilities (the current rules prohibit power increases of less than 20%); permitting directors or designated employees to sign FCC applications, not just officers; and allowing STAs that authorize stations to operate with temporary facilities because of technical or equipment problems to be granted for 180 days, rather than just 90 days. 
• The FCC reinstated a Louisiana FM translator construction permit and, in doing so, clarified its waiver standards for broadcast stations failing to timely file a license application after they have completed construction of new facilities.  In this case, in 2023, the Media Bureau found that a construction permit for a new FM translator had expired when the permittee did not file a covering license application signifying that it had completed construction by the construction deadline, even though the permittee claimed that it had in fact completed construction before the deadline.  In the decision last week, the FCC found that the Bureau should have considered whether the translator’s facilities were timely constructed and ready for operation by the construction deadline, and whether third parties would be harmed by the Bureau’s acceptance of the translator’s late-filed license application.  Based on last week’s Commission decision, the Bureau will now consider a showing made by the permittee using these criteria and decide if a late-filed license application should be accepted (and whether a fine for the late filing should be imposed). 
• Reply comments were filed responding to the Center for American Rights’ complaint against a CBS-owned TV station alleging news distortion in its broadcast of a “60 Minutes” interview with former Vice President Harris (see our discussion here and here).  CBS, Free Press, and others state that commenters across the ideological spectrum agree the transcript and unedited interview footage demonstrate that CBS engaged in normal editorial practices.  The ACLU, the Media Institute, and two media law and journalism professors warn that the FCC’s attempt to police broadcaster editorial decisions risks an unconstitutional chilling effect on the media, while another commenter further urges the FCC to eliminate the news distortion rule altogether.  A bipartisan group of former FCC Commissioners note that the proceeding is a significant departure from historical agency practice and state that the FCC should engage in a rulemaking process if it wishes to adopt an aggressive news distortion standard despite the grave constitutional concerns that it raises.  CAR urges the FCC to require CBS to adopt reforms addressing what it believes is the root cause of CBS’ alleged news distortion: a lack of ideological balance in CBS management and newsrooms. 
• The FCC announced that comments and reply comments are due April 24 and May 9, respectively, responding to the Media Bureau’s NPRM proposing the substitution of UHF Channel 23 for VHF Channel 2 at Las Vegas, Nevada due to the inferior quality of VHF channels for digital transmission. 
• The Media Bureau and Office of Managing Director revoked a Texas AM station’s license for failing to either pay $27,523.66 in delinquent regulatory fees or show cause why payment should be waived or deferred.  In December, the station was issued an Order to Pay or Show Cause requiring the station, within 60 days, to either pay its delinquent regulatory fees or explain why the fees could not be paid.  The licensee neither responded to the Order nor paid its delinquent fees within the 60-day timeframe, thus resulting in the license revocation.    
• The Media Bureau granted two mutually exclusive construction permit applications for new Texas LPFM stations on a time-sharing basis.  An objection was filed against one of the applications claiming that the applicant did not provide evidence of its established community presence in its proposed community of license (requiring that the applicant existed as a nonprofit educational organization for at least two years and was either physically headquartered or 75% of its board members resided within 20 miles of its proposed station’s transmitter site) to qualify for points under the FCC’s point system analysis.  The Bureau found that the applicant provided enough evidence of its established community presence by providing its Certificate of Formation showing that it had existed for more than two years, and documentation showing that the addresses used for its headquarters were within the acceptable distance from its proposed transmitter site.  Since the Bureau found that the applicants qualified for the same number of points under the points system analysis used to evaluate mutually exclusive LPFM applications, the Bureau ordered the applicants to operate under a time-sharing arrangement where each operates for 12 hours each day on the same channel.

On our Broadcast Law Blog, we published an article looking at April regulatory dates for broadcasters covering dates such as those for Quarterly Issues Programs lists, EEO reports for stations in several states, comments on FCC rulemakings including the Delete, Delete, Delete proceeding, and even the opening of some LUC windows (including for the primaries in this year’s New Jersey governor’s race).