January

• January 10 – All full power and Class A television stations that are being repacked must electronically file an FCC Form 2100-Schedule 387 Transition Progress Report. This form is used to provide an update on the station’s efforts to construct facilities for its new channel and the termination of operations on its current channel. Such reports must be filed on a quarterly basis until the station has completed its transition and has filed a final report indicating that fact. In addition to these quarterly reports, a repacked station must file a Schedule 387 report 10 weeks before the end of its assigned construction deadline, 10 days after completion of all work related to constructing facilities on its new channel, and 5 days after ceasing operations on its pre-auction channel.

• January 10 – FCC Form 398 Children’s Television Programming Reports. All commercial television stations (including Class A television stations) must electronically file an FCC Form 398 Children’s Programming Report for the fourth quarter of 2018 (October 1-December 31). A copy of the form will be automatically uploaded by the  FCC to the station’s public inspection file. TV stations are reminded to periodically publicize the existence and location of the station’s Form 398 reports, in the form of periodic on-air announcements and website information.

• January 10 – Children’s Television Commercial Limitations Certification. All commercial full-power television stations and Class A television stations must sign a certification of compliance with the FCC’s commercial limitations during children’s television programming aired in the fourth quarter of 2018 (October 1-December 31). The certification of compliance must be manually uploaded to the station’s online public file.

• January 10 – Quarterly Issues Programs Lists. All radio and television broadcast stations, both commercial and noncommercial, must prepare and place in their online public inspection files a list of important issues facing their communities, and the programs aired in the months of October, November and December 2018 dealing with those issues.

1 This calendar is intended to be a useful guide to FCC deadlines, but is not intended to be an exhaustive list of required filings. Filing requirements may change over the year, and new filing requirements may be adopted or eliminated. Please contact David O’Connor, Washington Counsel for GAB, with any questions about this calendar (202-383-3429, doconnor@wbklaw.com).

• January 10 – All noncommercial educational radio and television stations that are not affiliated with NPR or CPB, and that suspended regular programming to conduct third- party fundraising for the benefit of a non-profit organization, must generate relevant documentation for the period October 1-December 31, 2018 and place it in their public inspection file by this date. Such stations can devote no more than 1% of their total airtime to such fundraising efforts.

February None March

• March 10 – Daylight Saving Time begins. Daytime-only radio stations and stations with pre-sunrise and/or post-sunset authorizations should check their sign-on and sign-off times on their current FCC authorizations to ensure compliance. All times listed on FCC licenses are in Standard Time.

April

• April 6-11 – NAB Show, Las Vegas, Nevada

• April 10 – All full power and Class A television stations that are being repacked must electronically file an FCC Form 2100-Schedule 387 Transition Progress Report. This form is used to provide an update on the station’s efforts to construct facilities for its new channel and the termination of operations on its current channel. Such reports must be filed on a quarterly basis until the station has completed its transition and has filed a final report indicating that fact. In addition to these quarterly reports, a repacked station must file a Schedule 387 report 10 weeks before the end of its assigned construction deadline, 10 days after completion of all work related to constructing facilities on its new channel, and 5 days after ceasing operations on its pre-auction channel.

• April 10 – FCC Form 398 Children’s Television Programming Reports. All commercial television stations, including Class A television stations, must electronically file an FCC Form 398 Children’s Programming Report for the first quarter (January 1- March 31). A copy of the form will be automatically uploaded by the FCC to the  station’s public inspection file. TV stations are reminded to periodically publicize the existence and location of the station’s Form 398 reports, in the form of periodic on-air announcements and website information.

• April 10 – Children’s Television Commercial Limitations Certification. All commercial full-power television stations and Class A television stations must sign a certification of compliance with the FCC’s commercial limitations during children’s television programming aired in the first quarter (January 1-March 31). The certification of compliance must be manually uploaded to the station’s online public file.

• April 10 – All noncommercial educational radio and television stations that are not affiliated with NPR or CPB, and that suspended regular programming to conduct third-

party fundraising for the benefit of a non-profit organization, must generate relevant documentation for the period January 1-March 31 and place it in their public inspection file by this date. Such stations can devote no more than 1% of their total airtime to such fundraising efforts.

• April 10 – Quarterly Issues Programs Lists. All radio and television broadcast stations, both commercial and noncommercial, must prepare and place in their public inspection files a list of important issues facing their communities, and the programs aired in the months of January, February and March dealing with those issues. Television and radio stations should place these quarterly issues programs lists in their FCC-hosted online public inspection file.

• April 12 – Stations assigned to Phase 2 of the incentive auction repacking process must have ceased operating on their pre-auction channel and commenced operations on their post-auction channel.

• April 13 – Phase 3 of the incentive auction repacking process begins.

May None June

• June 21 – Stations assigned to Phase 3 of the incentive auction repacking process must have ceased operating on their pre-auction channel and commenced operations on their post-auction channel.

• June 22 – Phase 4 of the incentive auction repacking process begins.

July

• July 10 – All full power and Class A television stations that are being repacked must electronically file an FCC Form 2100-Schedule 387 Transition Progress Report. This form is used to provide an update on the station’s efforts to construct facilities for its new channel and the termination of operations on its current channel. Such reports must be filed on a quarterly basis until the station has completed its transition and has filed a final report indicating that fact. In addition to these quarterly reports, a repacked station must file a Schedule 387 report 10 weeks before the end of its assigned construction deadline, 10 days after completion of all work related to constructing facilities on its new channel, and 5 days after ceasing operations on its pre-auction channel.

• July 10 – FCC Form 398 Children’s Television Programming Reports. All commercial television stations (including Class A television stations) must electronically file an FCC Form 398 Children’s Programming Report for the second quarter (April 1- June 30). A copy of the form will be automatically uploaded by the FCC to the station’s public inspection file. TV stations are reminded to periodically publicize the existence and location of the station’s Form 398 reports, in the form of periodic on-air announcements and website information.

• July 10 – Children’s Television Commercial Limitations Certification. All commercial full-power television stations and Class A television stations must sign a certification of compliance with the FCC’s commercial limitations during children’s television programming aired in the second quarter (April 1-June 30). The certification  of compliance must be manually uploaded to the station’s online public file.

• July 10 – All noncommercial educational radio and television stations that are not affiliated with NPR or CPB, and that suspended regular programming to conduct third- party fundraising for the benefit of a non-profit organization, must generate relevant documentation for the period April 1-June 30, and place it in their public inspection file by this date. Such stations can devote no more than 1% of their total airtime to such fundraising efforts.

• July 10 – Quarterly Issues Programs Lists. All radio and television broadcast stations, both commercial and noncommercial, must prepare and place in their public inspection files a list of important issues facing their communities, and the programs aired in the months of April, May and June dealing with those issues. Television and radio stations should place these quarterly issues programs lists in their FCC-hosted online public inspection file.

• July 1-31 – Copyright Royalty Claims. All television stations that were carried as a distant signal by a cable system during 2018 and that aired a program that they produced for which they own the copyright and which was retransmitted by a cable system: File a copyright royalty claim form between July 1-31, 2019 in order to share in the 2018 cable royalty distribution. Please also refer to the information in the NAB’s Counsel Memo, expected to be published in June/July 2019, for additional details on this subject.

August

• Annual FCC Regulatory Fees. Although the precise dates will not be determined until the summer, the window for paying the FCC’s Annual Regulatory Fees in recent years has been as early as August, but can be in September. Broadcasters must pay their FCC Annual Regulatory Fees by the deadline established by the FCC or incur a 25% penalty. Regulatory fees cover the period from October 1, 2018 through September 30, 2019.

September

• September 24-27 – NAB Radio Show, Dallas, Texas

October

• October 1 – Pre-filing announcements for radio stations begin in connection with their license renewal applications that must be filed on or before December 1, 2019.

• October 10 – All full power and Class A television stations that are being repacked must electronically file an FCC Form 2100-Schedule 387 Transition Progress Report. This form is used to provide an update on the station’s efforts to construct facilities for its new channel and the termination of operations on its current channel. Such reports must be

filed on a quarterly basis until the station has completed its transition and has filed a final report indicating that fact. In addition to these quarterly reports, a repacked station must file a Schedule 387 report 10 weeks before the end of its assigned construction deadline, 10 days after completion of all work related to constructing facilities on its new channel, and 5 days after ceasing operations on its pre-auction channel.

• October 10 – FCC Form 398 Children’s Television Programming Reports. All commercial television stations (including Class A television stations) must electronically file an FCC Form 398 Children’s Programming Report for the third quarter (July 1- September 30). A copy of the form will be automatically uploaded by the FCC to the station’s public inspection file. TV stations are reminded to periodically publicize the existence and location of the station’s Form 398 reports, in the form of periodic on-air announcements and website information.

• October 10 – Children’s Television Commercial Limitations Certification. All commercial full-power television stations and Class A television stations must sign a certification of compliance with the FCC’s commercial limitations during children’s television programming aired in the third quarter (July 1-September 30). The  certification of compliance must be manually uploaded to the station’s online public file.

• October 10 – All noncommercial educational radio and television stations that are not affiliated with NPR or CPB, and that suspended regular programming to conduct third- party fundraising for the benefit of a non-profit organization, must generate relevant documentation for the period July 1-September 30 and place it in their public inspection file by this date. Such stations can devote no more than 1% of their total airtime to such fundraising efforts.

• October 10 – Quarterly Issues Programs Lists. All radio and television broadcast stations, both commercial and noncommercial, must prepare and place in their public inspection files a list of important issues facing their communities, and the programs aired in the months of July, August and September dealing with those issues. Television and radio stations should place these quarterly issues programs lists in their FCC-hosted online public inspection file.

November

• November 1 – This is a good time of year to check your tower for FCC and FAA lighting and painting requirements.

• November 3 – Daylight Saving Time ends. Daytime-only radio stations and stations  with pre-sunrise and/or post-sunset authorizations should check their sign-on and sign-off times on their current FCC authorizations to ensure compliance. All times listed on FCC licenses are in Standard Time.

December

• December 1 – Annual EEO Public File Report. Radio and television station employment units in Georgia must place in their online public inspection file an FCC

Annual EEO Public File Report, unless the station is exempt from EEO requirements. The report must also be posted on the station’s website, if it has one and is required to prepare the report

• December 1 – License renewal applications for AM, FM, FM translator and LPFM stations in Georgia must be filed on or before this date. Because December 1 falls on a weekend, the deadline is technically December 2. Post-filing license renewal announcements should begin on December 1.

• December 2 – Biennial ownership reports are due for all commercial and noncommercial broadcast stations, with information accurate as of October 1, 2019.

• December 2 – Television stations that provided any subscription-based “ancillary or supplementary services” during the 12-month period ending on September  30, 2019 must file an FCC Form 2100-Schedule G (formerly known as FCC Form 317).