Broadcast Law Blog

NOVEMBER 16, 2010

The big news in the music world this week is that Apple finally is able to sell digital downloads of the Beatles catalog in its iTunes music store. For years, the copyright holders who control the Beatles master recordings have withheld permission to use feature the Beatles recordings on iTunes and other digital download and on-demand streaming services, seemingly afraid of diluting the value of their copyrights.

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Broadcast Law Blog

NOVEMBER 24, 2010

Yesterday, the FCC released four different items to implement the changes enacted by Congress in the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act, better known as STELA. With one item addressing significantly viewed out-of-market stations , two items regarding signal prediction and measurements for the reception of DTV signals , and a Public Notice requesting comments and data for a report to Congress, the FCC has wrapped up several open issues regarding STELA.

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Broadcast Law Blog

NOVEMBER 30, 2010

The FCC today started an examination of the future of the spectrum currently used by broadcast television, beginning the formal process of implementing the ideas raised in its Broadband Plan of repurposing some of that spectrum for use by wireless broadband technologies. Specifically, the FCC adopted a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, seeking comment on a number of issues.

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Broadcast Law Blog

NOVEMBER 12, 2010

The FCC today announced that it will be holding a series of three hearings to assess the environmental impact of its Antenna Structure Registration (ASR) program. The FCC is required by the National Environmental Policy Act ("NEPA") to determine if its programs have any adverse environmental impact. In a Court decision in 2008, the US Court of Appeals determined that the FCC had not adequately assessed its obligations under NEPA with respect to the impact of communications towers on bi

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Broadcast Law Blog

NOVEMBER 26, 2010

After Thanksgiving - everyone's thoughts turn to technology policy. Well, maybe not everyone, but reading Thursday's New York Times , David Pogue wrote his column celebrating his 10th anniversary in the paper with observations about truths that he has discovered about the technology world. Many of those same truths apply to broadcast policy, and are particularly relevant with a week coming up in which the FCC may take its first steps toward dramatically reshaping the media landscape as it consid

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Broadcast Law Blog

NOVEMBER 16, 2010

In another of a series of recent decisions, a regional field office of the FCC issued a Notice of Apparent Liability , proposing to fine a licensee $10,000 for missing seven Quarterly Programs Issues lists in its public file. As there have been so many recent cases raising the same issue, why mention this case? We highlight it here because of the excuse used by the licensee to try to get out of the fine - the licensee claimed that it was fault of a former employee who was responsible for the fil

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Broadcast Law Blog

NOVEMBER 14, 2010

In the "what were they thinking" category, the Society of Broadcast Engineers reports that there is a commercial for the new Skyline movie that contains an EAS tone - that can actually set off EAS receivers. If a station is operating without an attendant, with the EAS on automatic, a receiving station could be automatically start retransmitting its primary station if it hears the tone in the ad - causing the receiving stations to start running the commercial thinking that it is an EAS

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Broadcast Law Blog

NOVEMBER 11, 2010

In yet another example of the importance that the FCC places on emergency communications and safety issues, an FCC Enforcement Bureau District Field Office issued a Notice of Apparent Liability , proposing to fine a radio station $25,000 for violations including an EAS system that was not operational , as well as a tower that needed repainting and with lights that were not functioning properly.

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Broadcast Law Blog

NOVEMBER 28, 2010

Many station owners think they can adopt any name, positioning statement or slogan for their station so long as no one else in the market is using the exact same name or slogan. That thinking is often incorrect, and can be very costly if a name is adopted and has to be changed later because it infringes on someone else's intellectual property rights.

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Broadcast Law Blog

NOVEMBER 23, 2010

At the urging of virtually the entire broadcast and cable industry, as well as the communications engineering community, the FCC today granted an extension of time for broadcasters and other EAS participants to come into compliance with the new CAP reception requirements - putting off the need for compliance until September 30, 2011. CAP (the Common Alerting Protocol ) is a new format to be used for collecting and distributing emergency communications alerts to all communications platforms.

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Broadcast Law Blog

NOVEMBER 10, 2010

By December 1, 2010, all commercial and noncommercial digital television (DTV) stations must electronically file an FCC Form 317 with the FCC. This Form reports whether the station has provided any ancillary and supplementary services during the twelve-month period ending on September 30, 2010. Under the Commission's Rules, in addition to providing free over-the-air broadcast television, DTV stations are permitted to offer services of any nature, consistent with the public interest, convenience,

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Broadcast Law Blog

NOVEMBER 3, 2010

An FCC Enforcement Bureau District Office today issued a Notice of Apparent Liability , proposing to fine an AM licensee $25,000 for not having a meaningful staff presence at the station's main studio, and for not being able to produce a public inspection file when the FCC inspectors visited the station. The station was being operated by another party pursuant to a Local Marketing Agreement ("LMA") and, when the FCC inspector showed up, none of the employees at the main studio identifi

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Broadcast Law Blog

NOVEMBER 2, 2010

As we wrote about about back in September, the FCC has allocated two new DTV stations in the Mid-Atlantic region, one in New Jersey -- Channel 4 in Atlantic City -- and one in Delaware -- Channel 5 in Seaford). With the release yesterday of its further Public Notice, the Commission has now officially slated the auction of the two new channels for Tuesday, February 15, 2011.

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Broadcast Law Blog

NOVEMBER 9, 2010

So does the mid-term election have any impact on broadcast regulation? While no one knows for sure what the political winds of Washington will have in store, in reading the analysis of the Tuesday election results, I was struck by the conclusions contained in one Op-Ed article in the Washington Post on the message of last week's Mid-Term elections, and the contrast of that perceived message to an article that had run in the same pages just a week before.

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