The 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has denied Gray’s April petition for a rehearing of its legal challenge against a $518,283 forfeiture imposed by the FCC, said an order Friday. Gray had sought rehearing en banc (see 2504220052) in the wake of the 5th Circuit’s recent ruling against the FCC over a penalty assessed against AT&T (see 2504180021). “The Petition for Rehearing En Banc is DENIED, no judge in regular active service on the Court having requested that the Court be polled on rehearing en banc,” said Friday’s order. In March, the 11th Circuit upheld the FCC’s forfeiture order against Gray over a violation of ownership rules (see 2503070004) but vacated the penalty because the agency didn’t adequately provide notice that the violation was “egregious.”
The appellate court decision that the FCC's 2024 equal employment opportunity data collection requirement for broadcasters was outside the agency's statutory authority (see 2505190044) makes some proposed FCC actions "inherently suspect," Wilkinson Barker broadcast lawyer David Oxenford wrote Wednesday. The proposed rules regarding the use of AI-generated content in political advertising (see 2407250046) also relied heavily on the agency's supposed public interest authority, Oxenford said. FCC Chairman Brendan Carr has talked about holding broadcasters liable for not meeting some public interest standard, and the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision could suggest that standard doesn't give the FCC authority to establish broadcast codes of conduct, except in areas specifically enumerated by statute, he said. "In light of this decision, there will no doubt be much evaluation of the text of the FCC’s statutory authority to see what rules and what proposals may be on shaky ground."
National Religious Broadcasters emailed us Monday night claiming a victory over "woke ideology" in the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision that day overturning the FCC's 2024 order on collecting data on workforce diversity (see 2505190044). The group was among the prevailing petitioners.
Host John Oliver on Sunday warned viewers of HBO’s Last Week Tonight that President Donald Trump poses a threat to press freedom and that FCC Chairman Brendan Carr has been complicit in Trump’s efforts to silence some media outlets. The White House has attempted to “weaponize” the FCC, Oliver said.
A host of conservative groups urged the FCC to repeal national and local radio and TV ownership limits. “Without reform, valued local broadcast radio and television services could disappear entirely,” the groups told Chairman Brendan Carr in a Wednesday letter, which was circulated by NAB Friday. Signatories to the letter included Heritage Action for America, Americans for Tax Reform, the Digital First Project and the Competitive Enterprise Institute. The Center for American Rights, which has filed FCC complaints against the programming of NAB members Paramount, Disney and NBCUniversal, also signed. NAB CEO Curtis LeGeyt said in a release Friday that the trade group was “grateful for the wide-ranging support to modernize these outdated broadcast ownership rules and echo the call for the FCC to level the playing field.”
A pirate radio operator in Lauderdale Lakes, Florida, has agreed to pay $11,000 to the FCC as part of a settlement with the agency, said an order and consent decree in Wednesday’s Daily Digest. In January 2024, the FCC approved a notice of apparent liability against Wilfrid Salomon, proposing a fine of $358,665. The agency said then that Salomon had been operating a pirate station for years and received multiple FCC warnings. After the NAL, Salomon gave the agency evidence of his inability to pay the proposed forfeiture amount, according to the consent decree. After determining that Salomon ceased broadcasting, the Enforcement Bureau said it agreed to the settlement. Under the consent decree, Salomon agreed not to commit future acts of pirate broadcasting or assist anyone else in doing so. If he violates the settlement, he will have to pay the remaining $347,665 proposed in the NAL, the consent decree said.
The FCC Media Bureau gave broadcasters a one-year extension on the audible crawl waiver in an order Monday. The audible crawl rule requires broadcasters to provide an audio version of on-screen graphically displayed emergency information, but the FCC has repeatedly waived it since 2015 (see 2412300029). The current waiver was set to expire May 27, but the new order extends it to May 27, 2026. NAB had requested an 18-month waiver extension and has also petitioned the FCC to make it easier for broadcasters to satisfy the audible crawl requirement. Last year, the FCC allowed the waiver to briefly lapse, which caused some TV broadcasters to cease showing weather radar maps in case it was seen as a rule violation (see 2411290007).
The New York office of the FCC Enforcement Bureau sent a warning to North Shore Financial in Tarrytown about pirate radio broadcasts emanating from its property in Springfield Gardens, said an agency notice issued Thursday. EB agents found unauthorized radio broadcasts coming from the property in January, the notice said. Unlike in recent similar notices, the precise address of the property was redacted. The FCC didn’t provide a reason for the redaction, but a footnote in the notice said the information is “confidential.” The notice warned that the landowners could face up to a $2.4 million penalty for hosting unauthorized broadcasts, but the FCC’s authority to issue monetary forfeitures is currently under legal challenge (see 2504180021).
The Consumer Technology Association wants House and Senate Commerce committee leadership to oppose NAB’s petition to the FCC on the ATSC 3.0 transition, CTA CEO Gary Shapiro said in a letter to legislators Tuesday. The letter was sent to Senate Commerce Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and ranking member Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., and House Chairman Brett Guthrie, R-Ky., and ranking member Frank Pallone, D-N.J. Comments on the NAB petition were due Wednesday in docket 16-142.
The Media Bureau is seeking comment on HC2’s petition asking the FCC to allow low-power broadcasters to transmit using the 5G broadcast standard, said a public notice Friday. Comments are due in docket 25-168 June 2, replies July 1. HC2 has argued that the standard, which some view as a competitor to ATSC 3.0, provides an opportunity for a flagging LPTV industry to broadcast to mobile devices (see 2504030053).