Regulation

As he does every year, attorney David Oxenford has put together a Broadcaster’s Regulatory Calendar for 2020.  While this calendar can’t be seen as an exhaustive list of every regulatory date that your station will face, it highlights many of the most important dates for broadcasters in this year.

Broadcasters were victorious in their fight against the pay TV industry the same way they have won so many other issues, by taking their case directly to Senators and members of Congress in their home districts.

The White House is warning federal agencies against over-regulating artificial intelligence as part of fresh guidance on how to govern the next-generation technology. The Trump administration’s 10 regulatory principles are guidelines for agencies that may be tasked with crafting AI regulations, as well as a signal to companies that the White House is wary of saddling the burgeoning tech with expansive rules.

Defending a sexual harassment lawsuit, Rose testifies about his studio nickname and flirting with CBS Morning co-anchors. But the plaintiffs say he needs to be even more forthcoming.

The streaming service has created a legal defense fund to battle CBS, NBC, Fox and ABC to “protect streaming of local broadcast TV.”

Add the major network affiliate associations to the list of those supporting the National Association of Broadcasters petition to the FCC to clarify its “clarification” of political ad reporting rules, an FCC action they called a failure on all counts.

Microsoft is telling the FCC that wireless internet providers have been able to boost their throughput tenfold using the TV white spaces Microsoft wants more of, and said the FCC should act on its proposal seeking tweaks to the current white spaces regime.

U.S. regulators are being urged to look beyond Google and Facebook to review how Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and others are leveraging consumer habits as a competitive weapon in the digital entertainment war.

In our current political climate, local journalism must be protected at all costs. The FCC is clearing the path for its downfall. That’s the opinion of Dayton, Ohio, Mayor Nan Whaley and former FCC Commissioner Michael Copps. They explain why.

Cable operators are on the same page as broadcasters when it comes to the FCC’s approach to political ad disclosures.

With  TV license renewals starting soon, the TV repack chugging along and a whole new set of deadlines for kidvid launching this year, there are a lot of 2020 deadlines that broadcasters must track and meet.

The FCC gave a present to TV broadcasters at the end of last week by issuing a Public Notice announcing the effective date of the remaining changes to the children’s television rules, and postponing the filing date for the initial Children’s Television Programming Report, which was to be filed by Jan. 30, to March 30, 2020.

Disney’s Fox unit has dropped two interference claims against Netflix. The move, made official in court papers filed Dec. 24, represents something other than a Christmas gift for the streamer whose recruitment of entertainment executives under contract set off a high-stakes legal battle. Instead, Fox’s dropped claims all but guarantees there will be no trial in January. The two companies are likely to move to the appellate stage sooner rather than later.

The country’s top transportation regulator on Thursday proposed tracking nearly every drone in U.S. airspace, a rule that would pave the way for companies like Google and Amazon to deploy commercial drones across the U.S. The rule, the culmination of years of work by the Federal Aviation Administration, will create a system that allows law enforcement and the government to track drones throughout the sky, distinguishing between licensed aircraft vehicles and those that are suspicious or potentially threatening.

A first-in-the-nation Maine law seeking to force cable providers to offer a la carte services has been temporarily blocked by a federal judge in a decision that renders the new requirement unlikely to ever take effect.

The FCC has reinstated its 2016 ownership rules, recognizing that the changes made in those rules in 2017 were no longer effective because the Third Circuit Court of Appeals had thrown out the 2017 decision. While the FCC may still try to appeal the Third Circuit decision to the Supreme Court, the Third Circuit’s mandate has issued, meaning that its order is effective even if a Supreme Court appeal is filed.

Comcast, ViacomCBS, Discovery and Disney achieve a narrow victory on a preliminary injunction motion concerning the state’s novel à la carte mandate.

Congress is handing traditional broadcasters such as CBS and ABC a surprise victory in a contentious, multimillion-dollar TV lobbying fight by letting key parts of a 31-year-old satellite TV law die.

With many Americans using the holiday season to rest and recharge, broadcasters should do the same but not forget that January is a busy month for complying with several important regulatory deadlines for broadcast stations.  These include dates that regularly occur for broadcasters, as well as some unique to this month. So don’t head off to Grandma’s house without making sure that you have all of your regulatory obligations under control.

Dr. Monisha Ghosh joins the commission from the National Science Foundation. Her background includes extensive experience with wireless technologies, HDTV and cognitive radio for TV white spaces.

Cox Communications is liable for the infringement of more than 10,000 pirated songs, a Virginia jury held, and it’s going to cost the company $1 billion in damages. Sony Music, Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group, EMI and their music publishing subsidiaries in June 2018 sued Cox, claiming the internet giant “knowingly contributed to, and reaped substantial profits from, massive copyright infringement committed by thousands of its subscribers.”