This Week in Regulation for Broadcasters:  April 28, 2025 to May 2, 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.

• President Trump signed an Executive Order purporting to end federal subsidies for NPR and PBS provided through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB).  The EO states that government funding of news media is outdated, unnecessary, and corrosive to journalistic independence, claiming that CPB failed to abide by impartiality principles in subsidizing NPR and PBS as neither network presents a fair, accurate, or unbiased portrayal of current events.  Separately, President Trump removed three of the five CPB board members.  CPB sued Trump in response, pointing to federal law and a U.S. Supreme Court ruling to contend that the President does not have such removal power.
• FCC Commissioner Simington and his new Chief of Staff, Gavin Wax, published an article proposing that the FCC cap at 30% the amount that any national TV network can receive from reverse retransmission fees (the revenue from cable and satellite television retransmission consent fees paid to affiliated local TV stations that the stations then pay to their broadcast networks).  The article claims that a cap on payments to the networks would provide more financial support for local programming provided by the affiliates instead of benefitting what Simington and Wax perceive as the biased and political messages provided by corporate media outlets owning the broadcast networks.
• The FCC released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking proposing updates to its foreign ownership rules under Section 310(b) of the Communications Act of 1934 applicable to many FCC licensees, including broadcasters.  Section 310(b) prohibits foreign entities, individuals, and governments from holding ownership interests of more than 20% in an FCC licensee and ownership interests of more than 25% in a U.S. entity that directly or indirectly controls an FCC licensee.  FCC licensees, however, can ask the FCC to approve foreign ownership interests above the 25% threshold.  We wrote more about the draft NPRM here. 
• Both the U.S. House of Representatives and the FCC initiated actions to require public disclosure by FCC-regulated entities, including broadcasters, that are owned or controlled by foreign adversaries:
  • The House passed the Foreign Adversary Transparency Act, which directs the FCC to publish a list of FCC-regulated entities, including broadcasters, that are owned or controlled by foreign adversaries.  The bill requires the FCC to post the list on its website within 120 days of the bill’s enactment for certain telecommunications providers and within 1 year after the FCC adopts rules implementing the bill for all other FCC-regulated entities, including broadcasters.  The bill also requires the FCC to annually update the list.  The bill must pass in the Senate and then be signed by President Trump before becoming law.
  • The FCC released a draft NPRM that, if adopted at its next Open Meeting on May 22, would propose requiring certain FCC-regulated entities and auction applicants, including all broadcast licensees and permittees, to file a certification stating if they are owned or controlled by a foreign adversary, which the FCC proposes to mean the Peoples’ Republic of China, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Russia, and Venezuela.  Entities certifying yes would then need to disclose all foreign adversary ownership interests of 5% or greater and the nature of the foreign adversary’s control.  They would also need to report changes in such interests within 30 days.  The FCC proposes to revoke FCC authorizations for entities filing false or incomplete certifications or for failing to file certifications when required.  For broadcasters, the FCC seeks comment on whether to use the broadcast ownership rules’ attribution criteria for determining a foreign adversary’s attribution to a broadcaster, and whether to make any changes to the existing foreign sponsorship identification rules to require disclosures for programming provided by foreign adversaries. 
• At the press conference after the FCC’s Open Meeting, FCC Chairman Carr stated that the FCC’s review of the Center for American Rights’ news distortion complaint against a CBS-owned TV station (see our discussion here, here, and here) remains ongoing.  Carr also stated that the broadcast networks were potentially using network affiliation agreements to exercise too much control over local broadcasters, which could lead to ownership attribution issues.    
• The FCC’s Media Bureau issued a Public Notice seeking comment on HC2 Broadcasting Holdings, Inc.’s petition for rulemaking proposing to allow LPTV stations to operate on a voluntary basis using the 5G transmission standard as an alternative to the ATSC 1.0 and 3.0 transmission standards.  This proposal to allow LPTV stations to use the 5G standard would not apply to LPTV stations with must-carry status to avoid imposing new burdens on cable systems by forcing such systems to adapt their technology to allow carriage of 5G stations.  Comments and reply comments responding to HC2’s petition are due June 2 and July 1, respectively. 
• Reply comments were filed in the FCC’s “Delete, Delete, Delete” proceeding in which the FCC sought to identify rules, including those applicable to broadcasters, for modification or deletion (see our discussion here).  Copies of the over 150 reply comments filed can be found here.  The National Association of Broadcasters and many broadcasters (including here, here, here, here, and here) urge the FCC to repeal its local radio and television ownership rules to ensure the broadcast industry’s viability.  The NCTA – The Internet & Television Association asserts that the FCC must maintain the broadcast ownership rules to protect competition and consumers.  The National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters argues that repealing the ownership rules would reduce opportunities for minority broadcast ownership.  Several broadcasters (including here and here) urge the FCC to repeal many other rules because they are unnecessary and burdensome for stations to comply with including the children’s television programming rules, the OPIF requirements, the EEO rules, and the twelve-month continuous operating condition imposed on broadcast station licenses.  Other broadcasters (including here and here) ask the FCC to resist calls to repeal its must carry and retransmission consent rules which they argue are needed to keep MVPDs’ market power in check.  Free Press and Public Knowledge filed to remind the FCC that any substantive rule change must undergo separate notice and comment proceedings under the Administrative Procedure Act before taking place. 
• The FCC’s Enforcement Bureau issued three Notices of Illegal Pirate Radio Broadcasting against landowners in Boston, Massachusetts, Worcester, Massachusetts, and Brooklyn, 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 $2,453,218 under the PIRATE Radio Act if the FCC determines that the landowners continue to permit pirate radio broadcasting from their properties after receiving these notices.
• The FCC’s Media Bureau and Office of Managing Director issued an Order to Pay or to Show Cause against a Kentucky AM station proposing to revoke the station’s license unless, within 60 days, the station pays its delinquent regulatory fees and interest, administrative costs, and penalties, or shows that the debts are not owed or should be waived or deferred.  The station has an unpaid regulatory fee debt totaling $9,261.41 for fiscal years 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2022, and 2023.
• The Media Bureau entered into three Consent Decrees with TV stations located in Rancho Palos Verdes, Twentynine Palms, and Ventura, California for failing to timely upload documents to their Online Public Inspection Files.  The Bureau found that the Twentynine Palms station uploaded 31 Issues/Program lists and 23 commercial limits certifications late, the Ventura station uploaded 26 Issues/Program lists and 21 commercial limits certifications late, and the Rancho Palos Verdes station uploaded 27 Issues/Programs lists and 20 commercial limits certifications late.  The Bureau also found that the Rancho Palos Verdes station failed to timely file its license application, which was filed more than three years after commencing operations and nine months after its construction permit expired.  The Consent Decrees require each station to enter into a compliance plan to prevent future FCC rule violations and to pay civil penalties in the amounts of $42,500 for the Rancho Palos Verdes station and $32,500 each for the Twentynine Palms and the Ventura stations.
• The Media Bureau granted the requests of three TV stations located in Kansas, Kentucky, and Louisiana to remain on their existing channels because they cannot complete construction of new facilities on different channels to which they were authorized to move by the deadlines for that construction.  The Bureau granted the following updates to the TV Table of Allotments to reflect the stations’ continued operation of their existing channels: substituting Channel 12 for Channel 28 at Wichita, Kansas; substituting Channel 8 for Channel 24 at Monroe, Louisiana; and substituting Channel 12 for Channel 20 at Hazard, Kentucky. 

On our Broadcast Law Blog, we highlighted upcoming regulatory dates and deadlines in May affecting broadcasters, including the effective date of increased application fees, comments in proceedings on EAS and the ATSC 3.0 transition, and the start of lowest unit rate windows for a number of elections, including those for primaries for NY City mayor and Virginia’s governor and many of its state legislators.  We also published an article looking at possible changes to the FCC’s local broadcast ownership rules for radio and TV and when and how those changes might take place.