Civil Law

While most of the country is currently frozen, February promises to heat up with several regulatory dates and deadlines broadcasters need to be aware of.  But the possibility of another federal government shutdown looms.  To end the longest shutdown in history last November, Congress gave themselves until January 31 to pass a budget bill covering the operations of many parts of the federal government, including the FCC.  No “continuing resolution” to fund the government at last year’s levels has been adopted either.  If nothing is passed in the next few days, there could be another government shutdown.  As we discussed here last Fall, if a shutdown does occur, some government agencies may have to cease all but critical functions if they do not have any residual funds to continue operations.  If no funding is approved this week, the FCC will announce how any shutdown will affect it, including whether it has any residual funds to keep operating beyond any general funding deadline.  In the coming days, watch for Congressional actions and any FCC announcements to see if a shutdown occurs and, if it does, how any deadlines that apply to your station will be affected.

And, before we move on to February dates, it is worth reminding broadcasters about a few January deadlines still to occur.  Any Class A, LPTV and TV translators planning a major change in facilities should file an application seeking that change immediately, as such applications will be subject to a freeze starting at 6 pm ET on January 29.  Minor changes can still be filed until March 12.  These freezes are in anticipation of a filing window for new LPTV and TV Translator stations that will open on March 19.  At that point, the freeze is lifted and applications for new stations (except for Class A stations), major mods, and minor mods can again be filed. 

Also, as we noted in January’s list of regulatory dates, January 30 is the deadline for all commercial full power TV and Class A TV stations to file the Children’s Television Programming Report (Form 2100, Schedule H – formerly Form 398), which details the programming broadcast by a station to meet its obligations to provide educational and informational programming addressing the needs of children during 2025.  See our article here on the FCC’s basic requirements for children’s programming, and our articles here and here about this annual filing requirement.

January 30 is also the deadline for each commercial full power TV and Class A TV station to upload to its OPIF records documenting its compliance during 2025 with the limits on the number of commercial minutes that stations can include in children’s programming.

January 31 is the deadline for minimum fees to be paid to SoundExchange by those broadcasters who are streaming their stations.  These fees cover the webcasting sound recording performance royalty and, for stations who stream, are paid in addition to the fees payable to ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, and GMR.  As we noted in our article here, the fees to be paid to SoundExchange by commercial broadcasters increase this year as a result of a settlement between SoundExchange and the NAB to resolve Copyright Royalty Board litigation.

With that introduction in mind, let’s look at some of the regulatory dates and deadlines for broadcasters slated for next month.

February 2 is the deadline for radio and television station employment units in Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, and Oklahoma with 5 or more full-time employees to upload their Annual EEO Public File Report to their stations’ OPIFs.  A station employment unit is a station or cluster of commonly controlled stations serving the same general geographic area having at least one common employee.  For employment units with 5 or more full-time employees, the annual report covers hiring and employment outreach activities for the prior year.  A link to the uploaded report must also be included on the home page of each station’s website, if the station has a website.

The filing of the Annual EEO Public File Reports by radio station employment units with 11 or more full-time employees or TV stations with 5 or more employees triggers a Mid-Term EEO Review that analyzes the last two Annual Reports for compliance with the FCC’s EEO requirements.  The Mid-Term EEO Review begins February 2 for these larger radio station employment units in New York and New Jersey.  Radio stations located in those states that are part of station employment units with 5 or more full-time employees must also indicate in their OPIFs whether their employment unit has 11 or more full-time employees, using a checkbox now included in the OPIF’s EEO folder.  This allows the FCC to determine which station groups need a Mid-Term EEO Review.  Television station employment units in Kansas, Nebraska, and Oklahoma are also subject to a Mid-Term review but, as all TV stations subject to the requirement for the filing of an annual report (those with 5 or more full-time employees) are also subject to the Mid-Term review, no checkbox in the public file is required for TV.  See our articles here and here for more on the Mid-Term EEO Review.

Comments are due in a number of FCC rulemaking proceedings in February.  February 18 is the deadline for reply comments responding to the FCC’s Fifth Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on ATSC 3.0, proposing changes to its rules to provide TV stations with additional flexibility during the transition to the new transmission standard.  The FCC asked if it should allow stations to determine when to stop broadcasting in ATSC 1.0 or to require continued simulcasting in both standards but with fewer restrictions on the currently required duplication of their ATSC 1.0 and 3.0 signals.  The FCC also seeks comments on issues including the use of encryption and digital rights management, requirements for multichannel video programming distributors like cable and satellite TV to support ATSC 3.0 signals, requirements for manufacturers to include ATSC 3.0 tuners in new TVs, and the sunset of ATSC 1.0 service.  Comments were due January 20.

February 18 is also the deadline for reply comments responding to the following three FCC NPRMs related to earth station licenses, which are used by some broadcasters:

• The FCC’s NPRM proposing changes to its existing regulatory framework for space and earth station licenses, including streamlined application requirements and expedited processing timeframes, extending the license terms for most earth stations, expanding the list of modifications that applicants can make without prior approval, and shifting to a predominantly nationwide blanket licensing approach for earth stations (see our note here). 
• The FCC’s NPRM proposing to facilitate more intensive use of spectrum in the 24 GHz, 28 GHz, upper 37 GHz, 39 GHz, 47 GHz, and 50 GHz bands (the UMFUS bands), which are used by some earth stations (see our note here). 
• The FCC’s NPRM proposing to auction a portion the Upper C-Band (3.7-4.2 GHz), which is intended to fulfill Congress’ mandate in the One Big Beautiful Bill that the FCC complete an auction of that spectrum by July 2027 (see our note here).

Comments responding to these NPRMs were due January 20.

February 23 is the effective date of the FCC’s Report and Order modifying the FCC’s Class A TV, LPTV, and TV translator station rules.  However, many of the substantive rule changes adopted in the Order will first require approval of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) before becoming effective.  The effective date will be announced in later notices for changes including those setting a maximum relocation distance of 49.1 kilometers from a station’s current antenna reference coordinates for all minor modification applications; establishing a formal method for these stations to change their communities of license (requiring that a station’s protected contour overlap a boundary of its community of license and that all stations must file for a community of license compliant with this requirement within 6 months of the new rule’s effective date); requiring Class A and LPTV stations to use call signs matching their service designation (“-LD” for LPTV and “-CD” for Class A) but grandfathering existing call signs establishing; and adopting a formal process to change a station’s classification from LPTV to TV translator (or vice versa).  

The important 2026 election year continues to ramp up.  Broadcasters should be following all political broadcasting rules once there are legally qualified candidates in your areas served by your stations (see our article here on some of the political broadcasting considerations to which you should be paying attention).  Among the most important pre-election considerations are the windows for lowest unit rates that will apply in the 45 days before a primary election, and 60 days before a general or special election.  During these windows, broadcasters must extend to legally qualified candidates their lowest unit advertising rates provided to their best commercial advertiser for the same class of advertising time to run in the same time period.  Last month, we noted many LUC windows for March elections, including primaries for Congressional races in Texas, Mississippi, North Carolina, and Illinois.  While those LUC periods continue, this month new windows start for many other races. Broadcasters located in Alaska, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Maryland, Massachusetts, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Washington, and Wisconsin should be aware of the opening of the following lowest unit rate windows tied to state and local elections occurring in April 2026 – meaning that Lowest Unit Rates apply to sales to candidates and their authorized committees (see our article here on the basics of computing LUR):

STATE/ TERRITORY	LUR DATE	ELECTION DATE	ELECTION TYPE
Massachusetts	February 3, 2026	April 4, 2026	Municipal Election (Holbrook)
Delaware	February 5, 2026	April 6, 2026	Municipal Elections (Blades, Newport, and Odessa)
Massachusetts	February 5, 2026	April 6, 2026	Municipal Election (Lakeville)
Alaska	February 6, 2026	April 7, 2026	Municipal Election (Anchorage)
Colorado	February 6, 2026	April 7, 2026	Municipal Elections (various)
Delaware	February 6, 2026	April 7, 2026	Municipal Election (Delaware City)
Florida	February 6, 2026	April 7, 2026	Municipal Elections (Bartow, Davenport, Dundee, Eagle Lake, Frostproof, Haines City, Hillcrest Heights, Highland Park, Lake Alfred, Lake Hamilton, Lake Placid, Lake Wales, Mulberry, Plant City, and Polk City)
Massachusetts	February 6, 2026	April 7, 2026	Municipal Elections (Belmont, Canton, and Chelmsford)
Missouri	February 6, 2026	April 7, 2026	Municipal Elections (various)
Oklahoma	February 6, 2026	April 7, 2026	Board of Education General Elections
South Carolina	February 6, 2026	April 7, 2026	Municipal Elections (Chesterfield, Edgefield, Great Falls, Johnston, McCormick, Parksville, and Summerton)
Wisconsin	February 6, 2026	April 7, 2026	Municipal Elections (various)
Delaware	February 10, 2026	April 11, 2026	Municipal Election (Ocean View)
Massachusetts	February 10, 2026	April 11, 2026	Municipal Election (Dedham)
Delaware	February 13, 2026	April 14, 2026	Municipal Election (Newark)
Florida	February 13, 2026	April 14, 2026	Municipal Elections (Cottondale City, Dade City, Graceville City, Grand Ridge, Malone, Marianna City, New Port Richey, Port Richey, San Antonio, Sneads City, St. Leo, and Zephyrhills)
Maryland	February 13, 2026	April 14, 2026	Municipal Election (Hebron)
Massachusetts	February 13, 2026	April 14, 2026	Municipal Election (South Hadley)
New Hampshire	February 13, 2026	April 14, 2026	SB2 Town Election
South Carolina	February 13, 2026	April 14, 2026	Municipal Election (Jonesville), County Special Election (Cherokee County Council District 7), and School Election (Marion County)
New Jersey	February 15, 2026	April 16, 2026	Special General Election (11th Congressional District)
Delaware	February 17, 2026	April 18, 2026	Municipal Election (Seaford)
Florida	February 20, 2026	April 21, 2026	Municipal Election (Mexico Beach and Springfield)
New Jersey	February 20, 2026	April 21, 2026	School Board Elections
Delaware	February 24, 2026	April 25, 2026	Municipal Elections (Hartly and Milford)
Maryland	February 26, 2026	April 27, 2026	Municipal Election (Hillsboro)
Delaware	February 27, 2026	April 28, 2026	Municipal Elections (Clayton and Smyrna)
Florida	February 27, 2026	April 28, 2026	Municipal Election (Quincy, Havana, Gretna, Chattahoochee, and Greensboro)
Tennessee	February 27, 2026	April 28, 2026	Municipal Election (Loretto)
Washington	February 27, 2026	April 28, 2026	State and Local Special Elections (TBD)

As always, please consult your own legal and technical advisors for other dates of importance that might apply to your stations in the upcoming month. 

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