File Your Station's Children's TV Programming Reports for 2020
Under Federal Communications Commission (FCC) rules as modified last year, every full-power commercial and Class A TV station must file on an annual basis a Children's Television Programming Report reflecting their efforts during the preceding year to serve the educational and informational needs of children. This report must be filed on FCC Form 2100, Schedule H by the 30th day of the succeeding calendar year. In late September, the Media Bureau announced that TV licensees may begin populating their 2020 Reports in the FCC's Licensing and Management System (LMS). Although licensees may now prepare and save their 2020 Children's Reports in LMS, they will not be able to file them until January 1, 2021. All licensees need to file their 2020 Reports by January 30, 2021.
Going forward, the reports will be available for licensees to populate and save in LMS on the first day of the calendar year that the report will cover. Licensees will then be able to file these reports beginning January 1 of the succeeding calendar year. For example, licensees will be able to begin populating their 2021 Children's Reports in LMS on January 1, 2021, and may file those reports beginning January 1, 2022. For further details, the Media Bureau's announcement is available here.
New Closed Captioning Toolkit Now Available
The Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) rules require that nearly all televised programming must be closed captioned for viewers who are deaf or hard of hearing. However, the FCC has recognized that creating real-time closed captions for news programming can be difficult or expensive, particularly for stations in small and medium sized markets. Therefore, the FCC allows certain television stations to use ENT to caption live news.
FCC Authorizes AM Stations to Transition to All-Digital Service
Last week, the FCC approved an order allowing AM radio stations to voluntarily transition to all-digital operations. The decisions allows broadcasters to decide whether and when to convert to all-digital service based on the particular characteristics of their station and market. The FCC found that all-digital broadcasting will provide AM listeners with markedly improved sound quality and more reliable coverage over a larger area than current AM broadcasting. AM stations will be able to provide additional services to the public, such as song title and artist information, which could help AM broadcasters to better compete in today's media marketplace. The Order establishes technical rules to protect other AM stations from interference, and requires stations to notify the FCC and the public 30 days in advance of converting to all-digital operation.
FCC Approves Television White Spaces Order
The FCC approved an order allowing increased unlicensed wireless operations in television white spaces. This order will provide greater flexibility for white spaces operations without undermining the fundamental principle that these operations must not cause interference to licensed services, such as radio and TV stations. Read NAB's full statement here.
New Rules in Effect for Public Notice of Broadcast Applications
The FCC's Media Bureau announced that new rules governing broadcasters' provision of public notice of the filing of applications went into effect on Friday, October 30. The rules, which were adopted in May, modernized and streamlined the FCC's on-air and written notice requirements and replaced the obligation to place public notices of applications in newspapers with an online notice requirement. More information on rule changes can be found in the FCC's May Order or in Section 73.3580 of the Commission's rules, 47 C.F.R. §73.3580.
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