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By: Fletcher, Heald & Hildreth, PLC

Blog Authors

Anne Goodwin Crump
Keenan Adamchak
Alan Campbell
Ashley Ludlow
awildstone
Bradford Ham
Bob Winteringham
Christine E. Goepp
Cheng-yi Liu
Denise Branson, Paralegal
Mark DeSantis
David M. Janet
Dan Kirkpatrick
Donald Evans
Davina Sashkin
Frank Jazzo
FHH Law
Frank Montero
Harry Cole
Harry C. Martin
Helena Okolicsanyi
Howard Weiss
Joseph Di Scipio
Jeff Gee
Jon Markman
Jamie Troup
Karyn K. Ablin
Kevin Goldberg
Kathy Kleiman
Kathleen Victory
Lee Petro
Laura Stefani
Susan Marshall
Mitchell Lazarus
Michelle A. McClure
Matt McCormick
Paul J. Feldman
Patrick Murck
Peter Tannenwald
Robert Butler
Robert M. Gurss
Richard Swift
R. J. Quianzon
Rob Schill
Ron Whitworth
Scott Johnson
Sekoia Rogers
Steve Lovelady
Tom Dougherty
Tony Lee
Vincent Curtis
Seth Williams

Latest from CommLawBlog

We usually publish our “Webcaster Wake Up Call!” post each January.  This post reminds webcasting services of their compliance obligations for the upcoming year under the statutory licenses found in Sections 112 and 114 of the Copyright Act (the “statutory licenses”) allowing them to publicly perform sound recordings via digital audio transmission.  Part of the reason we usually wait until January is because the first of those obligations, the filing of an Annual Minimum Fee…
December (the most wonderful time of the year) often carries with it a sense of retrospection.  We start looking back on the year that was, compiling “Best of” lists, tying up loose ends, getting those last donations and expenses in under the wire. Of course, there’s also plenty of forward-looking at what the new year might bring.  This post falls into the latter category and it’s looking at the wonderful FCC-related deadlines that will await…
Believe it or not, there are companies that make legitimate “robocalls,” and those companies strive to comply with the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA). If you’ve received an appointment reminder from your doctor or dentist, a package delivery notification, or a school closure notification lately those messages were likely delivered to your phone using an automated calling system (robocalling). For these legitimate robocallers, TCPA compliance is a constant challenge, and one of those challenges is…
With FCC license renewals fast-approaching and public inspection files now all on line, it is time to seriously review and assess your FCC EEO compliance (….that is before the FCC does it for you!).  In collaboration with the Colorado Broadcasters Association and the New Jersey Broadcasters Association, Fletcher, Heald & Hildreth’s Dawn King, Anne Crump, Frank Montero, and Dan Kirkpatrick presented a webinar providing a refresher on the FCC’s EEO rules……what you need to know…
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With the whirl of the holiday season upon us, most broadcasters rightly thought they could put off looking ahead to the next license renewal cycle until 2019. Au contraire, says the FCC, which began sending out blast emails to certain radio licensees on December 6, warning that FCC internal audits have revealed that many stations’ online public files (OPIF) are not up to snuff. Thanks to the Commission’s shift in recent years to requiring maintenance…
Before Thanksgiving, a bipartisan group of Senators introduced legislation aimed at decreasing the number of unwanted robocalls. The TRACED Act would expand FCC authority under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (“TCPA”), empower the FCC to mandate call authentication rules for voice service providers to cut down on caller ID spoofing, and create an interagency working group to encourage other law enforcement and government agencies to do more to fight illegal robocalls.…
Fletcher, Heald & Hildreth is pleased to announce a new member of our team!  Seth Williams joined us as an associate on November 15 after spending several years in private practice at another D.C.-area law firm.  While still in school, Seth also gained experience in several areas of communications law, working as an intern at PCIA:  The Wireless Infrastructure Association, in the office of former FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn (during the period when she was…
On November 16, 2018, the FCC released a Report and Order amending the hearing aid compatibility (“HAC”) reporting requirements for wireless service providers. In short, the order changes the emphasis for disseminating HAC information to consumers from FCC reports to service provider websites, requiring service providers to post additional information on their websites about the hearing aid compatibility of their wireless phone models (“handsets” in the FCC’s nomenclature). It also eliminates an annual reporting requirement…
Attention all you AM radio nostalgia buffs and others interested in the future of AM radio, who hopefully read our post of October 10 about the FCC’s proposals to allow higher power operation by smaller AM stations by reducing nighttime signal protection for 50 kW Class A AM stations.  The FCC’s proposals have been published in the Federal Register, establishing the deadline for Comments January 22, 2019, with Reply Comments due February 19, 2019.…
Let’s play some word association. If we say “Deadlines”, you might answer “Scary.”  Hence, the reason we’re publishing our November and December FCC deadlines post on Halloween.  Only, unlike the ghouls and goblins you may see on the streets tonight, these are real! Please note that the list is NOT exclusive, so there may be others. For help meeting these deadlines or answering questions about any that may not be listed here, please contact FHH at…