David Oxenford, Esq

Attorney representing radio and TV broadcasters and webcasters on regulatory, transactional and music licensing issues

This Week at the FCC for Broadcasters – June 27, 2020 to July 3, 2020

By David Oxenford

July 4, 2020

Here are some of the FCC actions of the last week of significance to broadcasters, with links to where you can go to find more information as to how these actions may affect your operations. The FCC’s Enforcement Bureau entered into negotiated settlements with two Boston-area pirate radio operators who admitted to illegal operations and agreed to pay civil fines, to dispose of their broadcast equipment and to not commit—or help anyone else commit—acts of…

Broadcast Law Blog

Goodbye to the Portals – FCC to Continue to Telework at Least Until August 27 When Move to New Office Is Complete

By David Oxenford

June 30, 2020

Multiple press reports yesterday said that the FCC has circulated a memo to its employees announcing that the FCC will not be resuming in-person operations at least until August 27 – and if work resumes then, it will be from the FCC’s new headquarters building. The FCC has been planning for several years a move from its current headquarters at “the Portals,” where it has resided for over 20 years. According to press reports, employees…

Broadcast Law Blog

July Regulatory Dates for Broadcasters: End of the TV Repacking, Quarterly Issues/Programs Lists, Children’s Television Reporting, EEO, Carriage Election Public File Information Deadline, LPTV Settlement Window, Rulemaking Comments and More

By David Oxenford & Adam Sandler

June 29, 2020

July is usually a month of family vacations and patriotic celebrations. While the pandemic has seen to it that those activities, if they happen at all, will look different than they have in years past, there are plenty of regulatory obligations to fill a broadcaster’s long, summer days. Here are a few of the dates and deadlines to watch for in July, and a quick reminder of some of the significant filings due right at…

Broadcast Law Blog

This Week at the FCC for Broadcasters: June 20, 2020 to June 26, 2020

By David Oxenford & Adam Sandler

June 27, 2020

Here are some of the regulatory actions of the last week of significance to broadcasters, with links to where you can go to find more information as to how these actions may affect your operations: FEMA announced that it has canceled the 2020 test of the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS), which is the technical infrastructure that delivers EAS messages to radio and TV stations. FEMA noted the “unusual circumstances and working conditions”…

Broadcast Law Blog

Court Reconsiders Decision About Website Getting License to Embedded Photo from Instagram Terms of Use

By David Oxenford

June 26, 2020

We recently wrote about a case where a Judge in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York found that the website Mashable had a license to use a photo accessible from its site that was actually an embedded photo coming from the servers of Instagram. In that decision, the Court found that, under Instagram’s Terms of Use, the photographer, by posting photos on Instagram, gave it the right to sublicense the…

Broadcast Law Blog

FCC Seeking Comment on the Origination of Programming by FM Translators

By David Oxenford

June 24, 2020

Should broadcasters be able to originate programming on FM translators? Playing off the proposal to allow limited amounts of programming on FM boosters – basically the insertion of local ads, news, or emergency alerts – in the zonecasting proposal on which the FCC took comments earlier this year (see our summary here), a group of broadcasters has taken the proposal one step further, and asked if translators (including those FM translators rebroadcasting AM stations)…

Broadcast Law Blog

FEMA Calls Off Nationwide EAS Test for This Year

By David Oxenford

June 24, 2020

The year of the pandemic claimed another victim – this one being what has become a regular event – the nationwide test of the EAS system (see our articles here and here about the last two tests – tests which are required to assess the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System – IPAWS – at least once every 3 years). In an announcement yesterday, FEMA decided that, with all that is going on in…

Broadcast Law Blog

This Week at the FCC for Broadcasters: June 13, 2020 to June 19, 2020

By David Oxenford & Adam Sandler

June 20, 2020

Here are some of the legal and regulatory actions of the last week of significance to broadcasters, with links to where you can go to find more information as to how these actions may affect your operations. The FCC released a Second Report and Order and Order on Reconsideration regarding Next Gen TV (ATSC 3.0). The Report and Order provides guidance on how the Commission will evaluate petitions for waiver of the local simulcasting rules…

Broadcast Law Blog

No Wholesale Pricing Disclosures to be Required in Drug Advertising – Appeals Court Upholds Lower Court Rejection of HHS Requirement

By David Oxenford

June 18, 2020

It appears that there will be no requirement imposed on television and cable ads to include disclosures revealing the wholesale prices of prescription drugs in any advertising for those drugs. We wrote about the decision from the US Department of Health and Human Service to impose such a requirement on television ads here, and we wrote here about last year’s determination of a federal District Court throwing out the requirement, finding that HHS had…

Broadcast Law Blog

This Week at the FCC for Broadcasters: June 6, 2020 to June 12, 2020

By David Oxenford & Adam Sandler

June 13, 2020

Here are some of the FCC regulatory and legal actions of the last week—and a congressional action in the week ahead—of significance to broadcasters, with links to where you can go to find more information as to how these actions may affect your operations. The FCC on June 9 held an Open Meeting where it unanimously adopted a Declaratory Ruling and Notice of Proposed Rulemaking regarding Broadcast Internet services. The Commission defines Broadcast Internet broadly…

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This Week at the FCC for Broadcasters – June 27, 2020 to July 3, 2020

Goodbye to the Portals – FCC to Continue to Telework at Least Until August 27 When Move to New Office Is Complete

July Regulatory Dates for Broadcasters: End of the TV Repacking, Quarterly Issues/Programs Lists, Children’s Television Reporting, EEO, Carriage Election Public File Information Deadline, LPTV Settlement Window, Rulemaking Comments and More

This Week at the FCC for Broadcasters: June 20, 2020 to June 26, 2020

Court Reconsiders Decision About Website Getting License to Embedded Photo from Instagram Terms of Use

FCC Seeking Comment on the Origination of Programming by FM Translators

FEMA Calls Off Nationwide EAS Test for This Year

This Week at the FCC for Broadcasters: June 13, 2020 to June 19, 2020

No Wholesale Pricing Disclosures to be Required in Drug Advertising – Appeals Court Upholds Lower Court Rejection of HHS Requirement

This Week at the FCC for Broadcasters: June 6, 2020 to June 12, 2020

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