Broadcast Law Blog
JANUARY 17, 2009
The term "Super Bowl" is a trademark owned by the National Football League, and it is protected very aggressively. What does that mean? The biggest no-no of all is to use the term "Super Bowl" in any advertising or promotional announcements that are not sanctioned by the NFL. This prohibition includes sweepstakes and contests as well.
Broadcast Law Blog
JANUARY 25, 2009
Last week, the FCC issued several fines to noncommercial broadcasters who had underwriting announcements that sounded too commercial. In these decisions, the Commission found that the stations had broadcast promotional announcements for commercial businesses - and those announcements did not conform to the FCC's rules requiring that announcements acknowledging contributions to noncommercial stations cannot contain qualitative claims about the sponsor, nor can they contain " calls to action &
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Broadcast Law Blog
JANUARY 29, 2009
In these challenging economic times, it seems like almost every day we see a notice that a broadcast station has gone silent while the owner evaluates what to do with the facility. This seems particularly common among AM stations - many of which have significant operating costs and, in recent times, often minimal revenues. The DTV transition deadline (whenever that may be) may also result in a number of TV stations that don't finish their DTV buildout in time being forced to go dark.
Broadcast Law Blog
JANUARY 29, 2009
The Senate has reportedly once again approved the extension of the digital television transition date from February 17 to June 12 (see Press Release from Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison here ). This approval was necessary as the bill being considered by the House of Representatives is slightly different than the one passed by the Senate on Monday. Now - it's back to the House, which failed yesterday to pass that bill by a 2/3 vote (see our post here ).
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Broadcast Law Blog
JANUARY 27, 2009
The oral argument on the Webcasting appeal of the March 2007 Copyright Royalty Board decision setting Internet radio sound recording royalty rates for 2006-2010 has now been set for March 19. So, if no settlement under the Webcaster Settlement Act (about which we wrote here ) is reached before the February 15 deadline set out in that act, the case will go on to the argument, though apparently without NPR, which benefits from the settlement that the Corporation for Public Broadcasting has reached
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Broadcast Law Blog
JANUARY 15, 2009
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting and SoundExchange have reached an agreement on the Internet radio royalty rates applicable to stations funded by CPB. While the actual agreement has not yet been made public, a summary has been released. The deal will cover 450 public radio webcasters including CPB supported stations, NPR , NPR members, National Federation of Community Broadcasters members, American Public Media , the Public Radio Exchange , and Public Radio International stations.
Broadcast Law Blog
JANUARY 15, 2009
The FCC's has published in the Federal Register certain aspects of its November decision on closed captioning - most notably the Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking asking if a broadcaster's multicast streams should each count as a separate " channel " potentially exempt from closed captioning requirements if that channel doesn't bring in more than $3 million in annual revenue.
Broadcast Law Blog
JANUARY 14, 2009
The press was abuzz yesterday with the news that Julius Genachowski is apparently the pick of the Obama Administration for the position of FCC Chairman. Mr. Genachowski was at the FCC during the Reed Hundt Administration, and has since worked in the private sector in the telecommunications industry, including work with Barry Diller and running a DC-based venture capital fund.
Broadcast Law Blog
JANUARY 11, 2009
Just after Christmas, the FCC gave a number of broadcasters the equivalent of coal in their stocking - fining six different licensees for violations of the FCC's EEO rules. The fines issued that day ranged between $7,000 and $20,000, and included penalties issued to major broadcasting companies including Fox and Cumulus. Also included were fines against Urban Radio in New York City and Puerto Rico Public Broadcasting - demonstrating that the FCC's EEO rules, adopted in late 2002 after previous r
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Broadcast Law Blog
JANUARY 7, 2009
Several press reports were issued today suggesting that there is at least some consideration in Congress of delaying the DTV transition now scheduled to be completed on February 17. The consideration stems from the announcement that the NTIA (the National Telecommunications and Information Administration ) had run out of money to issue the $40 coupons to consumers to subsidize the purchase of converters that allow analog television sets that receive over-the-air signals to process digital signal
Broadcast Law Blog
JANUARY 8, 2009
What a difference a few days makes. At the beginning of this week, it was full speed ahead for the February 17 termination of analog television. Then NTIA announced that it was out of money to pay for DTV coupons to assist the public in buying converter boxes so that analog TV sets will continue to work after the transition. This action, in turn, caused Consumers Union to ask Congress for a delay in the transition, resulting in Congressman Markey's office suggesting that the DTV transition might
Broadcast Law Blog
JANUARY 5, 2009
The Copyright Royalty Board today published a notice in the Federal Register announcing the start of its next proceeding to set the royalties to be paid by Internet radio operators for the performance rights to use " sound recordings " (a particular recording of a song as performed by a particular performer) pursuant to the statutory royalty.
Broadcast Law Blog
JANUARY 5, 2009
2009 - a new year, and a whole new cycle of regulatory requirements. We wrote last week about the potential for changes in regulations that may be forthcoming but, like death and taxes, there are certain regulatory dates each year that broadcasters need to note and certain deadlines that must be met. Those dates are set out in our advisory - Important Dates For Broadcasters in 2009 - a calendar of the year's regulatory filings.
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Broadcast Law Blog
JANUARY 2, 2009
The FCC's Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on Digital Fill-In Translators , to provide television service in areas where a television station's digital signal does not reach locations that were covered by its analog operations (a proposal we summarized here ) was published in the Federal Register today, setting comment dates on this proposal. Comments are due on January 12 , and Replies on January 22.
Broadcast Law Blog
JANUARY 1, 2009
Come the New Year, we all engage in speculation about what’s ahead in our chosen fields, so it’s time for us to look into our crystal ball to try to discern what Washington may have in store for broadcasters in 2009. With each new year, a new set of regulatory issues face the broadcaster from the powers-that-be in Washington. But this year, with a new Presidential administration, new chairs of the Congressional committees that regulate broadcasters, and with a new FCC on the way, the
Broadcast Law Blog
JANUARY 31, 2009
Since the election of President Obama and the Democratic majority in both houses of Congress, the fears of the return of the Fairness Doctrine have been highlighted on talk radio, online, by emails and in conversations throughout the broadcast industry. Even though President Obama had stated that he was not in favor of its return, and even liberal commentators have gone so far as to make fun of conservatives for suggesting that there might be an attempt to bring it back (see our post on Keith Ol
Broadcast Law Blog
JANUARY 25, 2009
This week, an agreement by Republican Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison , the ranking minority member on the Senate Commerce Committee , to an extension of the DTV transition deadline from February 17 until June 12 , was announced. The delay has been requested so that issues about the distribution of the $40 government coupons to consumers to ease their purchase of converters to allow analog TVs to pick up digital signals so that they will continue to work after the transition date can be resolved; a
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Broadcast Law Blog
JANUARY 24, 2009
On Thursday, the Obama administration appointed FCC Commissioner Michael Copps to be the Acting FCC Chairman until the administration selects its permanent Chairman, and that person is confirmed by the Senate. As we've written , the rumors are that the permanent Chair will be Julius Genachowski , a former classmate of the President. But, as far as we know (and according to the White House website's list of appointments made so far), that appointment has not yet been formally made and sent to the
Broadcast Law Blog
JANUARY 18, 2009
FCC Chairman Kevin Martin announced that he will be leaving the Commission on Tuesday as the new President is inaugurated, and thus will not be present at the FCC to set any last minute policy for the DTV transition. In fact, if Martin had decided to stay for the end of the transition, he might well have had to stick around for a while, as there are bills making their way through Congress to delay the February 17 deadline for the transition to digital television.
Broadcast Law Blog
JANUARY 28, 2009
Earlier this week, we wrote about the apparent compromise in the Senate between Republicans and Democrats that would seemingly allow the Digital Television conversion deadline to be delayed from the current date of February 17 that stations have been warning consumers about for years, pushing that date back until June 12. That compromise legislation passed the Senate on a unanimous vote on Monday, and was considered in the House of Representatives today.
Broadcast Law Blog
JANUARY 10, 2009
A day after the Obama transition team wrote to Congress suggesting that the DTV transition now scheduled for February 17 be delayed, there are indications that a bandwagon effect is beginning to develop in favor of such a delay. Broadcasting and Cable magazine's website reports that the four major TV networks have indicated that they support a delay in the transition if it will better serve their viewers, and that Senator Rockefeller has started drafting legislation to delay the transition.
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