April 2025 Regulatory Updates for Broadcasters – Annual EEO Public File Reports, Comment Deadlines, Quarterly Issues/Programs Lists, Political Windows, and more

April brings a number of routine regulatory dates for broadcasters across the country, including the requirement for posting Quarterly Issues Programs Lists to full-power station’s online public inspection files.  April also brings comment deadlines in several rulemaking proceedings including one in which many broadcasters are interested – the FCC’s “Delete, Delete, Delete” proceeding looking to eliminate unnecessary broadcast regulations.  Finally, we note lowest unit rate windows that open this month, including one for primaries in the New Jersey gubernatorial race, one of the more significant “off-year” elections in 2025.  We look in more detail at some of the most significant deadlines below. 

April 1 is the deadline for radio and television station employment units in Delaware, Indiana, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Texas with five or more full-time employees to upload their Annual EEO Public File Report to their stations’ Online Public Inspection Files.  A station employment unit is a station or cluster of commonly controlled stations serving the same general geographic area having at least one common employee.  For employment units with five or more full-time employees, the annual report covers hiring and employment outreach activities for the prior year.  A link to the uploaded report must also be included on the home page of each station’s website, if the station has a website.  Be timely getting these reports into your station’s OPIF, as even a single late report has in the past led to FCC fines (see our article here about a recent $26,000 fine for a single late EEO report).

The filing of the Annual EEO Public File Reports by radio station employment units with eleven or more full-time employees or TV stations with five or more employees triggers a Mid-Term EEO Review that analyzes the last two Annual Reports for compliance with the FCC’s EEO requirements.  TV station employment units in Tennessee and Kentucky are subject to this review.  The Mid-Term EEO Review for these larger radio station employment units in Texas will also be subject to review.  Radio station employment units in Texas with five or more full-time employees must also indicate in their OPIFs whether their employment unit has eleven or more full-time employees, using a checkbox now included in the OPIF’s EEO folder.  This allows the FCC to determine which station groups need a Mid-Term EEO Review.  See our articles here and here on radio stations’ Mid-Term EEO Review reporting requirements.

April 10 is the deadline for all full power and Class A television stations and commercial and noncommercial full power AM and FM radio stations to upload their Quarterly Issues/Program lists for the first quarter of 2025 to their OPIFs.  The lists should identify the issues of importance to the station’s community and the programs that the station aired between January 1 and March 31, 2025, that addressed those issues.  These lists must be timely uploaded to your station’s OPIF, as the untimely uploads of these documents probably have resulted in more fines in the last decade than for any other FCC rule violation.  As you finalize your lists, do so carefully and accurately, as they are the only official records of how your station is serving the public and addressing the needs and interests of its community.  See our article here for more on the importance of the Quarterly Issues/Programs list obligation.

April 10 is also the deadline for certain stations to upload to their OPIFs any of the following information from the period from January 1 to March 31, 2025, if a station has any such information:

• documentation from noncommercial educational stations not affiliated with NPR or CPB of any on-air fundraising benefitting third parties that interrupted their normal programming (see our article here for a further explanation of this requirement),
• documentation by Class A television of their continuing eligibility for Class A status, and
• documentation from full power television, Class A television, and full power radio stations of any programming time that was leased by a foreign government or an agent of a foreign government or provided by a foreign entity for free in exchange for its airing (see our articles here and here for more information).

Looking at rulemaking comment deadlines, April 10 is the deadline for comments responding to the FCC’s NPRM proposing a review of its rules implementing the Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation Act of 2010 (CALM Act).  The FCC seeks comment on whether loud commercials remain problematic and, if so, how its CALM Act rules should be modified.  The FCC also asks whether loud commercials are an issue on streaming platforms and whether the FCC has authority to regulate these platforms, and whether consumers, particularly those with disabilities, have trouble understanding dialog in streamed programming.  The FCC is not currently proposing CALM Act rules for streaming platforms, but instead will assess the comments and, if it decides it should act, it will do so in a subsequent NPRM.  Reply comments are due April 25. 

April 11 is the deadline for comments responding to the FCC’s Public Notice titled “In Re: Delete, Delete, Delete,” requesting public input on what FCC rules can be eliminated or modified to alleviate unnecessary regulatory burdens.  The Notice was released pursuant to President Trump’s Executive Orders (see here and here) directing federal agencies to move to reduce unnecessary regulation by April 20.  The FCC asks commenters to discuss certain factors relevant to the FCC’s review of its rules, including the costs and benefits of retaining or eliminating a rule; whether market or technological changes have made a rule obsolete; and whether a rule imposes unequal costs on large and small businesses.  Reply comments are due April 28.

April 11 is the deadline for reply comments responding to the FCC’s Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking proposing to modify how annual FCC regulatory fees are assessed on space and earth stations.  For earth stations, the FCC seeks comment on expanding regulatory fees to non-operational earth stations (those which have a construction permit but are not yet licensed) and creating additional earth station fee categories beyond the current single fee category of transmit/receive and transmit-only earth stations to include, for example, VSAT, mobile-satellite earth stations, and fixed earth stations.  Comments were due March 27. 

April 11 is also the deadline for all U.S.-based foreign media outlets which would be classified as “an agent of a foreign government” under the Foreign Agents Registration Act to notify the FCC of their relationship to, and whether the outlet receives any funding from, a foreign government or political party.  This requirement applies to companies providing video programming to cable and satellite television systems.  The FCC must report to Congress every six months on the operations of these U.S.-based foreign media outlets.

April 23 is the deadline for comments responding to the FCC’s NPRM proposing to update several broadcast rules by making minor changes to application processing procedures and by clarifying some ambiguous rule provisions.  Some of the more notable proposals include 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, the rules currently do not allow a power increase of less than 20% to be considered); allowing directors or designated employees to sign FCC applications, not just officers; and allowing STAs authorizing stations to operate with temporary facilities because of technical or equipment problems to be granted for 180 days, rather than just 90 days.  Reply comments are due May 8.

April 28 is the deadline for comments responding to the FCC’s 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.  Currently, the satellite-based Global Positioning System (GPS) is the primary source of PNT data in the United States, but the FCC seeks to develop complementary and alternative technologies to ensure continuity and resilience in critical operations in case GPS signals are disrupted or degraded.  Along with other technologies noted in the NOI, the FCC seeks comment on whether BPS can complement or replace GPS, using ATSC 3.0 to deliver PNT data that is not as vulnerable to intentional interference as GPS.  Reply comments are due May 13.

April 29 is the deadline for comments responding to the FCC’s Notice of Inquiry requesting comment on whether incumbent upper C-Band (3.98-4.2 GHz) users, including broadcasters’ earth stations, have other alternatives for operating their services, including repacking in-band, relocating out of the band, or sunsetting operations in favor of alternative distribution technologies.  FCC Chairman Carr issued a statement noting the rapid deployment of new uses in the portions of the C-Band already repurposed from satellite to wireless users, and the need for more spectrum for wireless.  Carr did note, however, that the interests of incumbent users of this spectrum must be considered.  Reply comments are due May 29.

Broadcasters located in Delaware, Mississippi, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota, and Tennessee should also be aware of the opening of the following political windows tied to state and local elections occurring in April, May, and June – meaning that Lowest Unit Rates apply to sales to candidates and their authorized committees (see our article here on the basics of computing LUR).  While most of the dates listed below involve municipal or special elections, note that the window for the primaries for the New Jersey gubernatorial election open late in April – an election that may draw significant public interest – so all stations serving that state should be prepared for advertising for that race.

LUR DATESTATE/ TERRITORYELECTION DATEELECTION TYPEApril 1, 2025TennesseeMay 31, 2025Municipal Election – MilledgevilleApril 2, 2025MississippiApril 22, 2025Municipal Primary Runoff Elections – Various*April 4, 2025DelawareJune 3, 2025Municipal Election – BellefonteMississippiJune 3, 2025General ElectionSouth DakotaJune 3, 2025Municipal/School Board Elections – VariousTennesseeJune 3, 2025Municipal Elections – Celina and LuttrellApril 5, 2025OregonMay 20, 2025Primary ElectionApril 8, 2025TennesseeJune 7, 2025Municipal Election – RogersvilleApril 11, 2025OklahomaJune 10, 2025Special ElectionApril 13, 2025TennesseeJune 12, 2025Municipal Election – SweetwaterApril 15, 2025DelawareJune 14, 2025Municipal Election – MillsboroApril 18, 2025South DakotaJune 17, 2025Municipal/School Board Elections – VariousApril 26, 2025South CarolinaJune 10, 2025Municipal Primary Election – GreenvilleNew JerseyJune 10, 2025State Primary Election

* Runoff election with an abbreviated LUR period due to date of preceding election (April 1, 2025).

As a refresher, in the 45 days before a primary election, and 60 days before a general or special election, broadcasters must extend to legally qualified candidates their lowest unit rate and continue to follow all other applicable political broadcasting rules.  For a deeper dive on how to prepare for the 2025 elections, see our post here, which also includes a link to our comprehensive Political Broadcasting Guide.  Also, take a look at our 2025 Broadcasters’ Calendar to see if your state has any upcoming primary, general, or special election (and confirm that all dates for political windows, including those listed above, are accurate as some dates have changed since the calendar was prepared).

As always, consult your own legal and technical advisors for other dates of importance that might apply to your stations in the upcoming month.