This Week In Regulation For Broadcasters: May 18 to May 22, 2026

This Week in Regulation for Broadcasters: May 18, 2026 to May 22, 2026

Here are some of the regulatory developments of significance to broadcasters from the past week, with links to where you can go to find more information as to how these actions may affect your operations.

• The language of the AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act, which would mandate the inclusion of AM radios in all cars sold in the United States, has been added by the House Committee on Energy and Commerce to the pending surface transportation reauthorization legislation.  Attaching the bill on AM radio to the larger legislation reauthorizing funds for surface transportation increases the chances that the AM radio mandate could pass Congress this year.  The NAB issued a statement applauding the action as essential for public safety, while the CEO of the Consumer Technology Association posted on X his opposition saying that the mandate would raise the cost of cars and stifle innovation.   We wrote more about the provisions of AM bill on our Broadcast Law Blog, here and here. 
• The FCC’s Media Bureau provided guidelines for processing broadcast applications filed while a “remedial foreign ownership petition” is pending.  Section 310(b) of the Communications Act prohibits foreign entities, individuals, and governments from holding ownership interests of more than 20% in an FCC licensee and more than 25% in a U.S. entity directly or indirectly controlling an FCC licensee.  When a broadcast company, through no fault of its own, exceeds the 25% limit, the FCC provides broadcasters with a safe harbor to avoid enforcement penalties by allowing them to either remedy their foreign ownership noncompliance (by, for instance, redeeming the foreign ownership interest) or to seek retroactive FCC approval of the foreign interest through a “remedial petition.”  While a remedial petition is pending, under the new guidelines, applications related to a station’s ongoing operations (including STA requests and minor modification applications) will generally be processed as normal.  Applications for transfers of control and assignments of license will also be processed but any grant may be conditioned on, for instance, minimizing the unapproved foreign interest holder’s involvement in the stations while the petition is pending.  The Bureau generally will not process applications for new broadcast authorizations (including applications for a new station, licenses to cover competed construction permits, and license renewals) until the petition has been granted.  For more on the background of this action, and on what it does and does not cover, see this article on our Broadcast Law Blog.
• The Media Bureau announced that comments and reply comments are due June 22 and July 6, respectively, on Disney/ABC’s Petition for Declaratory Ruling concerning the status of “The View” as a bona fide news interview program exempt from the FCC’s equal opportunity rules.  As we noted here, Disney/ABC contended that it was unprecedented for the Bureau to order a licensee to file a Petition for Declaratory Ruling, particularly as ABC received a ruling from Bureau in 2002 that “The View” was exempt from the equal time rules.  Disney/ABC also questioned the validity of the Bureau’s January Public Notice (which we discussed here), contending that the Bureau cannot change 40 years of FCC precedent holding that, even without an explicit FCC declaratory ruling, regularly scheduled interview programs controlled by a licensee and regularly featuring newsmakers are exempt from the equal time rules.  The Bureau seeks comment on several matters, including whether “The View” qualifies as a bona fide news interview program and whether its programming decisions are politically motivated, and the broader question as to whether the equal opportunity rules can still be applied consistent with First Amendment principles. 
• The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ordered the FCC to respond within 30 days to a petition for writ of mandamus asking that the Court order the FCC to act on a November 2025 petition seeking repeal of the FCC’s news distortion policy its petition because, it is argued, it has become apparent that FCC Chairman Carr does not intend to act on it. The November petition, as we noted here, was filed by a number of former FCC chairs, commissioners, staff, and public interest groups, arguing that the policy should be repealed as being inconsistent with the First Amendment both because the FCC appears to be using it to suppress viewpoints critical of President Trump (see our note here) and because, more broadly, the policy cannot be applied without embroiling the FCC in prohibited content-based decision making. 
• The licensee of numerous Class A, LPTV, and TV translator stations filed a petition for reconsideration of the Media Bureau’s April Order requiring it to file by May 27 license renewal applications for all of its stations – years before those applications would ordinarily be due.  The FCC, after an investigation of whether the licensee had engaged in an unauthorized transfer of control, claimed that the early renewals were needed because “additional actions” were warranted so it could assess whether the licensee was operating in the public interest.  The licensee, it its Petition for Reconsideration, made several arguments including that no “additional actions” were needed as the Bureau had the information to resolve the issue as the purported unauthorized changes in ownership were simply a clerical error in some FCC filings that the licensee itself had brought to the FCC’s attention and corrected; that even had an unauthorized transfer occurred, FCC policy was that a fine should be the only penalty (which it was prepared to pay as part of a consent decree being negotiated with the Media Bureau when the Order demanding the early renewals was released); that FCC precedent makes clear that demanding early renewals requires a “compelling reason” and cannot be invoked except when there is no other way to assess a licensee’s conduct (not necessary here as the licensee’s purported misconduct had already been investigated, admitted, and explained); and that the Media Bureau did not have the power to require this early filing (only the full Commission could take this extraordinary action).
• The FCC announced that June 18 is the effective date of its March Report and Order updating and clarifying several broadcast rules.  These changes include conforming rules to current licensing systems (including replacing outdated CDBS application form references with those currently used in LMS); eliminating outdated and obsolete requirements (including post-incentive auction digital transition notification requirements; the rule requiring a 20% increase in AM station power for processing a power increase application, and the rule restricting Special Temporary Authorizations for technical and equipment problems to 90 days when other STAs can be granted for up to 180 days); modifying its application signatory rules to allow corporate directors and duly authorized employees of corporations, partnerships, unincorporated associations, or government entities to certify applications; and revising several broadcast rules for clarity (including clarifying when stations’ local public notice obligations are triggered for their applications).
• The FCC released a Report and Order streamlining Disaster Information Reporting System (DIRS) filing obligations, which are voluntary for broadcasters.  While under FCC Chairwoman Rosenworcel, the FCC proposed requiring TV and radio stations to report their operating status during disasters in the FCC’s DIRS database (see our note here), the Order does not require broadcasters to file DIRS reports.  The FCC instead adopted a “one-click” filing option to reduce all DIRS participants’ filing burdens. 
• The Media Bureau entered into a Consent Decree with the licensee of a Pennsylvania TV station to resolve questions raised by its pending license renewal application.  The issues centered on the station’s Online Public Inspection File (OPIF).  The Bureau found that 12 Quarterly Issues/Programs Lists, 14 Commercial Limits Certifications (certifying as to compliance with the limits on commercials in children’s programming), and 11 Children’s Television Programming Reports were missing from the station’s OPIF or were uploaded late, and these issues were not accurately disclosed in the renewal application.  The Consent Decree requires the licensee make a $41,000 voluntary contribution to the U.S. Treasury.
• The Media Bureau affirmed its previous dismissal of an application for a new Connecticut LPFM station because it proposed an operation on 87.7 MHz, which is not in the FM band and is not listed in the rules among the channels available for LPFM operation.  87.7 MHz is instead part of TV Channel 6.  The applicant sought a waiver, pointing to the lack of other frequencies for LPFM use in its area, and the fact that other FM uses of this frequency and 87.9 had been authorized by the FCC.  The Bureau rejected the waiver concluding that the use of these channels by LPFM stations is more appropriately addressed in a rulemaking where policy issues and appropriate limits on such use can be evaluated, rather than by a waiver in connection with an individual application.

This summary of regulatory news for broadcasters comes from the attorneys at Wilkinson Barker Knauer, LLP in Washington, DC (https://www.wbklaw.com/).