HARRY C. MARTIN

In May, the FCC ordered changes in the ownership reporting procedures for commercial radio and TV stations, expanded the reach of its reporting rules

The long-delayed extension of the law covering direct broadcast satellite retransmission of television stations became effective at the end of May. While

National Public Radio (NPR) has asked the FCC to rescind TV Channel 6 protection obligations as set out in Section 73.525 of the rules. The current protection

Nondiscrimination provisions could be applied to all media advertising.

A new FCC ownership reporting system goes into effect Nov. 1. The current plan is for all commercial licensees along with a variety of broadcast owners

As part of its effort to clear all broadcast operations out of the 700MHz band on or before the Feb. 17, 2009, DTV transition, the FCC has imposed a freeze

A digital translator can bolster DTV coverage

In addition to providing closed captions in digital, stations must still offer them in analog

In January, the FCC released its television reregulation order. The order heralds a dramatic change in the reporting and record-keeping requirements for

In December 2007, the FCC issued its long-awaited localism report. With it came rule proposals that, if adopted, would impose new regulatory burdens on

As of Feb. 17, 2009, all U.S. TV stations are expected to cease broadcasting in analog and commence digital-only operations. For viewers with digital

With less than a year-and-a-half before the end of analog TV broadcasting (except for Class A, LPTV and TV translators), the FCC continues to issue orders

Moving to your analog channel? Avoid coverage losses.

In May, the FCC addressed some practical issues related to the DTV conversion, which is now set for February 2009. Below is a summary of the actions taken.

In a 3-1 decision issued on June 4, the U.S. Court of Appeals in New York struck down the FCC's fleeting expletive policy, which was adopted in 2004.

The FCC will permit use of TV white space after the DTV transition.

While the final transition date has long been set at Feb. 17, 2009, some stations may want to terminate their analog operations before then. For stations

The FCC has released a controversial Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) that could open the door for the use of unlicensed devices on vacant TV channels

Two small Western-state TV stations have notified the FCC that they plan on moving from Nevada and Wyoming to Delaware and New Jersey, where they would

In April, the commission issued a notice seeking comment on possible revisions to Form 395-B, an annual employment report that must be filled out by broadcasters.

The approach urged by the UCC would place the FCC in the role of evaluating programming content and, more ominously, regulating on the basis of that evaluation