Vol. 2, Issue 2, January 2003

New EEO Rules Effective March 10, 2003

The new Equal Employment Opportunity (“EEO”) rules adopted by the FCC on November 20, 2002 will become effective March 10, 2003. A summary of the outreach, reporting and record keeping requirements can be found at www.cinnamonlaw.com/eeo.html. If you have any questions about your particular situation, please contact me.

Mandatory Electronic Ownership Report Filing

Radio and television commercial and non-commercial licensees in the following states are required to file their biennial Ownership Reports with the FCC by February 1, 2003: Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York and Oklahoma. Licensees win the following states will have to file their reports by April 1, 2003: Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana, Texas, Delaware and Pennsylvania.

These ownership reports must be filed electronically. Paper submissions of ownership reports to the FCC will be accepted only with an appropriate request for waiver of the mandatory electronic filling requirement. If you need help with any aspect of the electronic filing or fee-payment processes, please contact me.

Broadcast License Renewal Application Cycle Starts This Year

Broadcasters across the country will soon be filing applications to renew their eight year licenses. The FCC created a rolling application process by staggering license expiration dates by state so that every two months there is a filing date for a new batch of states. The first to file will be radio stations licensed in Maryland, the District of Columbia, Virginia and West Virginia. Those renewal applications are due June 1, 2003. Pre-filing announcements should be broadcast starting two months before the application is filed in accordance with FCC rules. Television license renewal applications in those jurisdictions are due one year later (June 1, 2004).

For a chart of license renewal application due dates by state, please follow this link to my website: www.cinnamonlw.com/renewal.html. And of course, if you would like help with your renewal application, please give me a call.

Public File Reminder

With renewal applications on the horizon, I thought this might be a good time to remind broadcast licensees about the required contents of their public inspection file. You can view an itemized list of the items that need to be maintained at: www.cinnamonlaw.com/pubfile.html.

Remember, because of a rule change in 1998, you are accountable for the contents of the file only from the time you purchase a station. If you acquired the station in 2001, and there were no issues/program, lists prior to that point, the FCC does not expect you to recreate those lists. However, if a copy of the current station authorization, or a copy of “The Public and Broadcasting” is not present, the FCC does expect you to make the file complete.

Although it is cumbersome, I recommend that licensees keep an “original” set of public file documents under lock and key in a manager’s office, and maintain a complete duplicate copy for public inspection. Maintaining safe originals will enable you to easily replace any documents that are inadvertently lost or misplaced when the duplicate file is reviewed by members of the public. Easy replacement of missing documents is especially handy when the person looking through the public file is an FCC inspector!

More News on Overhaul of FCC Broadcast Ownership Rules

There is plenty of speculation over what the FCC has in store when it finally releases its new broadcast ownership rules. The issue of radio consolidation is so hot that the Senate Commerce Committee is holding a hearing on just that issue next week.

For its part, the FCC is planning an all day open public forum on February 27, 2003, in Richmond, Virginia to take testimony from members of the public about broadcast ownership regulation. Lobbyists from the big radio and television ownership groups are making themselves heard here in Washington, so the FCC decided to reach out to the general public to get a different perspective. If you would like information on how to be heard at this event, or if you are interested in submitting a written statement to the FCC with your position on broadcast ownership rules, let me know and I can help guide you through the process.

This newsletter is intended to be for informational use only. Readers should not act upon the information presented here without seeking professional legal counseling to address the facts and circumstances specific to them. The transmission and/or receipt of this newsletter does not create an attorney-client relationship.

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