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November 12, 2019
2019 - 2020 Political Issue Advertising - The Blessing And The Curse!By Gregg P. Skall
Womble Bond Dickinson (US) LLPWith 2020 election less than a year away and the fourth quarter of 2019 already a hot issue advertising season, the FCC rules on issue ads are more important than ever. Not only are candidates beginning to advertise heavily, but political PAC's are already collecting huge sums of money destined for advertising. With all political matter, it is critically important for broadcasters to understand their disclosure and online public file responsibilities. Further, just as we experience an enormous increase in PAC money this 2019-2020 political season, the disclosures required for issue advertising got much more complicated.
Last month, the FCC finally resolved eleven issue ad complaints that had been filed jointly by the Campaign Legal Center and Sunlight Foundation against television stations back in 2014. The new FCC order provides detailed new guidelines that clarify the Commission's expectations regarding information required to be placed in the station's political online public file. To the chagrin of many broadcasters, the clarification specifies a substantial amount of information that many diligent broadcasters had not previously collected. In particular, the clarification specifies that any request to purchase advertising time that communicates a message relating to any "Political Matter of National Importance" as defined by § 315e(1)(B) must provide the following information.
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September 3, 2019
FY 2019 Regulatory Fees - Payment Deadline: September 24th, 2019By Gregg P. Skall Womble Bond Dickinson (US) LLP The FCC finally has finally released its order on regulatory fees for fiscal year 2019. On August 27th, it issued a public notice announcing the opening of its automated filing and payment system. Notably, the ...
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July 23, 2019
Godot Has Arrived: The FDA Tobacco Deeming Rules UpdateThere has been a tremendous amount of information and opinion lately about teen use of vaping. Broadcasters anxious for new advertisers have looked at vaping as a new source of revenue, but be careful. This is a very dangerous area and one that must be well understood ...
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July 9, 2019
FM Translators Interference Issues ReimaginedPerhaps the most important development to come out of the FCC AM Revitalization docket has been to allow cross-service FM translators for AM stations and the new application windows for new translators. As a result, the number of licensed FM translators has grown from ...
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July 2, 2019
A New System For FM Translators Gets UnderwayBy Gregg P. Skall Womble Bond Dickinson (US) LLP Last month the FCC adopted new rules to deal with the problem of claims of interference between full-power FM stations and the ever-growing number of FM translators serving both AM and FM stations. By some accounts, ...
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April 23, 2019
Local Radio? File Your Comments With The FCC In The Quadrennial Review April 29th DeadlineBy Gregg P. Skall, Rebecca Goldman & John Garziglia Womble Bond Dickinson (US) LLP As many readers know, the FCC has teed up a striking review of the FCC radio ownership rules in the 2018 Quadrennial Review in which it will consider a variety of changes to its radio ...
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March 26, 2019
Pot Advertising And The 2018 Farm Act: Are There Spoils For Stations Running Spots For CDB Oils? Here's What Weed Want You To KnowBy: Gregg P. Skall & Bob Silverman We've been getting a lot of calls lately from broadcasters asking about cannabidiol (or CBD) oil. Besieged over the last several years with pleas by marijuana dispensaries for advertising, many a broadcaster believes the 2018 Farm ...
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March 12, 2019
Get Ready!! Big Changes Coming To The FCC Registration System (CORES) And The Use Of The FCC Registration Number (FRN)Nearly every broadcaster who has done business with the FCC is familiar with the FRN. Since 2000, anyone doing business with the Commission is required to first obtain a unique identifying number through the FCC Commissioning Registration System, known as CORES, ...
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January 29, 2019
The FCC - Back In BusinessThe FCC has resumed normal operations after the end of the recent partial government shutdown. During the shutdown, broadcast stations were unable to upload documents to the FCC's online public files, including the fourth quarter Issues/Programs Lists that would ...
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January 8, 2019
FCC Shutdown - What It Means For MeAs every broadcaster likely knows by now, FCC operations have been suspended by the partial government shutdown. An FCC public notice announced that it must suspend operations as of Thursday, January 3rd, 2019, but a many of its online public databases and filing ...
