FCC Update
The FCC Update column covers news and information from the Federal Communications Commission and Capitol Hill, and other legislative actions.
Review of political broadcasting rules
Station personnel involved with programming, sales and traffic should be aware during this election season that decisions about what ads to run, when to run them and how much to charge have broad implications under this regulatory scheme.
FEMA Announces Intention to Adopt CAP
The plan is to adopt the protocol during the first quarter of calendar year 2009.
FCC Will Extend CPs for Small Businesses
When the construction permit changes hands, the new owner may be extend the period of the permit if certain conditions are met.
The Public and Broadcasting updated
The new edition was released in connection with the FCC's ongoing localism proceeding and is intended to serve as a preliminary instruction manual for members of the public who want to raise issues with the FCC about station performance.
FCC rejects NCE TV-6 waiver requests
The FCC is now dismissing applications submitted in the October 2007 NCE filing window (or just before the window opened) that depend on waiting out the elimination of analog channel 6 TV stations next February in connection with the DTV transition.
Diversity in broadcasting
The FCC's overarching goal here is to bring more minorities and women into the broadcast ownership ranks. Historically, these groups have not been represented in those ranks in the same proportion as their numbers in the overall U.S. population
Localism proceeding portends re-regulation of radio
According to the Commission, the proposed rules are designed to address the perception that broadcasters may not be addressing the needs and interests of their communities sufficiently
FCC Issues Update on DST and PSRA/PSSA Operation
The FCC clarifies how the change in daylight-saving time affects AM stations with PSRA and PSSA service hours.
Commission stepping up rule enforcement
A Texas AM station was fined $8,800 for failing to maintain a main studio and power down at sunset. An FCC inspector, after checking on four successive days, could not find the station's main studio. While conducting this search the agent took signal measurements and determined that the station was not powering down at night as its license required.
LPFM rules and proposals released
The news is generally good if you are an LPFM licensee, but bad for FM licensees who plan to make facilities changes that threaten displacement of an existing LPFM station.
