Here are some of the regulatory developments of significance to broadcasters from the past week, with links to where you can go to find more information as to how these actions may affect your operations.
- The FCC’s Order adopted in June that requires broadcasters to quickly adopt new security practices to protect their EAS systems was published in the Federal Register, setting September 29 as the deadline for implementation of these new requirements. The requirements that must be implemented by September 29 include having strong passwords for access to any part of a broadcaster’s program chain that is connected to the internet, implementing the latest security updates to all programming hardware and software, and putting all access to broadcaster’s program chain behind a firewall. See our Broadcast Law Blog article here for more on these requirements.
- Also published in the Federal Register was the Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that was part of the June Order. The FCC seeks comments on proposals including whether to require authentication of all EAS alerts before transmission, taking other steps to make EAS alerts more accurately targeted, and whether software-based EAS encoders/decoders should be allowed in addition to the current hardware devices. Comments are due by August 31 and reply comments by September 29.
- The deadlines for the submission of applications and minimum opening bid amounts for Auction 114, an auction of 132 construction permits for new FM stations, were announced in a Public Notice from the FCC’s Office of Economics and Analysis (OEA). The auction, as we wrote here, was announced in May and bidding is scheduled to begin on February 2, 2027. Parties interested in participating in the auction must file their “short-form” construction permit applications on FCC Form 175, in which they must specify which of the 132 vacant FM allotments (see list here) they intend to bid, between 12:00 p.m. ET on September 14, 2026 and 6:00 p.m. ET on September 30, 2026. These applications can also specify specific coordinates for tower sites an applicant plans to use for any channel on which they plan to bid to protect that site from future applications by other FM stations. Auction participants must make their “upfront payments” by 6:00 p.m. ET on December 3, 2026. Upfront payments are refundable deposits to establish an applicant’s eligibility to participate in the auction and must be in an amount sufficient to cover the minimum bids for all of the channels which the bidder ends up winning in the auction. The Public Notice provides more details on bidding procedures for the auction.
- To facilitate Auction 114, the FCC’s Media Bureau released a Public Notice announcing that a filing freeze on all FM commercial and noncommercial minor change applications will open on September 14, 2026 and will close on September 30, 2026. The Bureau explained that temporary freeze is designed to avoid conflicts between the any minor change application and auction proposals, thus promoting certainty and speed in the auction process. The Bureau also stated that any FM minor change applications filed before the filing freeze begins must protect the reference coordinates of each of the vacant allotments being auctioned in Auction 114.
- In an interview, Chairman Carr reportedly stated that the FCC is investigating certain changes in TV network affiliations in various markets around the country to see if these affiliation changes are in the public interest. In some recent cases, the new home of a major network affiliation is on a digital subchannel. Carr indicated that he was concerned that some of these changes could weaken affiliates bargaining positions with national TV networks. As we have noted before, the Media Bureau under this Chairman has noted its concerns about the relationship between networks and their affiliates and asked for public comment, including asking whether too much network power weakens the local service of TV stations, contrary to the public interest.
- In another extensive interview with Politico, he explained in depth how he sees his actions against broadcasters related to the content that they broadcast as being consistent with the public interest mandate of the Commission and with the First Amendment. He also answers questions about the extent to which the President has directed some of the actions of the FCC. He concludes by saying of his regulatory approach “…what we’ve been trying to do is you take a little bit of dereg, a little bit of reg, you put it together, and we make telecom great again.”
- FCC Commissioner Gomez released a statement following the closing of the public comment period on the Disney/ABC’s TV station license renewal applications, which the FCC ordered to be filed early (see our notes here and here). Gomez noted the great number of comments filed in support of Disney, and stated that these commenters showed that “they believe in the value of their local news, they trust those who cover their communities, and they understand that the FCC has no business deciding who is a journalist and what counts as real news,” while “a small number of partisan voices tried to hijack this process into a referendum on a network they dislike.” Gomez further stated that “the FCC has no authority to police the ideological balance of the airwaves, and no matter what this Commission does next, the record now makes clear that this was never a genuine search for the public interest.”
- The FCC released a Small Entity Compliance Guide regarding compliance with the revised Class A, LPTV, and TV translator station rules that the FCC adopted in its December Report and Order (see our note here). The revised rules include updating displacement and channel sharing application procedures; establishing a maximum relocation distance for all minor modification applications of 49.1 kilometers from a station’s current antenna reference coordinates; formalizing procedures for communities of license changes (also requiring a station’s protected contour to overlap a boundary of its community of license and requiring that stations file for a rule-compliant community of license within 6 months of the new rule’s effective date); requiring stations to use call signs matching their service designation (“-LD” for LPTV, “-CD” for Class A, and “-D” for TV translators) but grandfathering existing call signs for only LPTV and Class A stations; requiring all LPTV stations to broadcast an operational video programming signal (test patterns and still pictures with unrelated audio are insufficient); and formalizing procedures for changing a station’s classification from LPTV to TV translator (or vice versa). We noted here that some of these rule changes took effect July 9 (while some others still require the Office of Management and Budget’s approval before taking effect), and also noted the Media Bureau announcement that stations with call signs that are not grandfathered (including all TV translators not using the “-D” service designation) have until July 9, 2027 to change their call sign to a rule-compliant one.
- The Media Bureau released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking proposing to substitute VHF Channel 10 at Elko, Nevada for UHF Channel 20 as the Elko TV station asking for the change is already operating on Channel 10, had asked for the change to Channel 20, but could not complete that construction. As the Bureau found that Channel 10 continues to meet all FCC technical requirements, it proposes that the change be adopted.
- The Media Bureau affirmed its previous dismissal of a new Florida LPFM station construction permit application for the applicant’s failure to timely file a technical amendment to its application to resolve its mutual exclusivity (applications that cannot all be granted under the FCC’s technical rules) with other new LPFM construction permit applications filed during the 2023 LPFM filing window. The Bureau dismissed the petition because the requested channel change to resolve the mutual exclusivity was not filed within the required timeframe for filing such amendments and the petitioner provided no grounds to show the Bureau’s dismissal was unjustified under the rules.
- The Media Bureau and Office of Managing Director issued an Order to Pay or to Show Cause against a Mississippi AM station proposing to revoke the station’s license unless, within 60 days, the station pays its delinquent regulatory fees and interest, administrative costs, and penalties, or shows that the debts are not owed or should be waived or deferred. The station has an unpaid regulatory fee debt totaling $16,956.45 for fiscal years 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2024, and 2025.
On our Broadcast Law Blog, in addition to the article on the effective date of the required new security obligations for broadcasters’ program chains, we took a look at August regulatory dates and deadlines affecting broadcasters, including the deadline for EEO annual public file reports for broadcasters in several states, the expected elimination of the 39% national TV ownership cap, a possible court decision as to whether the Media Bureau’s decision to extend LUC to coordinated party and joint fundraising committee political ads was correct, and the likely setting of the final amounts and payment deadlines for annual regulatory fees.