Alert

April Television License Renewal and Announcements Reminder: IN, KY, & TN

March 4, 2021

Television stations licensed in Indiana, Kentucky, and Tennessee must file license renewal applications by Thursday, April 1, 2021. Pursuant to the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC’s or Commission’s) new public notice rule, a television station must air post-filing announcements after filing its renewal application. Each station must air a total of six on-air announcements over four weeks. No more than two announcements per week will count towards the total six required. Additionally, the announcements must air between 7:00 a.m. and 11:00 p.m. local time. Pre-filing announcements are no longer required.

Post-filing announcements must be presented both visually and aurally. The text of the announcement should appear on screen when read by the announcer. Stations should maintain a record of when the announcements aired. For further details about post-filing announcements, please consult Section II of the Wiley TV Primer. The Primer also contains the mandatory post-filing announcement language for full-power television stations (Attachment B) and low power television stations originating local programming (Attachment C).

Within seven days of completing the post-filing announcements, licensees of full power and Class A television stations must upload to each station’s online public file a statement certifying compliance with the FCC’s notice requirements. A sample certification form is available in the Primer (Attachment D). Stations should upload these to the “Local Public Notice Announcements” folder in the “More Public Inspection Files” tab. Finally, the FCC now requires that low power television stations not originating their own programming and TV translator stations make a post-filing notice available online after filing its license renewal application. To comply with the FCC’s new requirements, which we discussed in greater detail here, the post-filing announcement should be made by inserting a tab or link on the station’s homepage conspicuously labeled “FCC Applications” and linking to a separate page containing the text of the notice. The notice should be posted in order of availability, on (1) the website of the applicant station, (2) the website of the applicant station’s licensee, or (3) the website of the applicant station’s parent entity. The notice must be posted for 30 consecutive days at the webpage or link. The required notice text is in Attachment E of the Primer.

Prior to filing Form 303-S applications for renewal, stations must submit a Schedule 396 Broadcast EEO Program Report. Information regarding filing Form 303-S applications can be found in Section III of the Primer and Attachment F, and information pertaining to filing the Schedule 396 Report can be found in Section VI and Attachment I.

* * *

If you have any questions regarding the license renewal application or the renewal process, or concerns about your previous FCC filings or record keeping obligations, please contact the Wiley attorney who regularly handles your station matters, or an attorney listed on this alert.

Read Time: 2 min
Jump to top of page

Wiley Rein LLP Cookie Preference Center

Your Privacy

When you visit our website, we use cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences, or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. For more information about how we use Cookies, please see our Privacy Policy.

Strictly Necessary Cookies

Always Active

Necessary cookies enable core functionality such as security, network management, and accessibility. These cookies may only be disabled by changing your browser settings, but this may affect how the website functions.

Functional Cookies

Always Active

Some functions of the site require remembering user choices, for example your cookie preference, or keyword search highlighting. These do not store any personal information.

Form Submissions

Always Active

When submitting your data, for example on a contact form or event registration, a cookie might be used to monitor the state of your submission across pages.

Performance Cookies

Performance cookies help us improve our website by collecting and reporting information on its usage. We access and process information from these cookies at an aggregate level.

Powered by Firmseek