January
•January 10 – Quarterly Issues Programs Lists. All full power and Class A TV stations, and all commercial and noncommercial AM and FM radio stations, must prepare and upload to 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 2023 dealing with those issues.
• January 10 – All Class A TV stations must upload to their online public files documentation certifying their continued Class A eligibility for Fourth Quarter 2023.
• January 10 – All noncommercial educational radio and television stations that are not affiliated with NPR or CPB, and that suspended regular programming to conduct thirdparty fundraising for the benefit of a non-profit organization, must generate relevant documentation for the period October 1-December 31, 2023 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.
• January 10 – Documentation of any foreign government-provided programming aired between October 1, 2023 and December 31, 2023 must be uploaded to station’s online public file.
• January 27 – The first day of the Lowest Unit Rate period for the Presidential primaries to be held on March 12, 2024.
• January 30 – Children’s Television Program Reports. Annual Children’s Television Programming Report (Form 2100, Schedule H) must be filed by January 30 using the FCC’s Licensing and Management System (LMS). This report should cover the period from January 1, 2023 through December 31, 2023. 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 the Georgia Association of Broadcasters, with any questions about this calendar (Tel: 202-383-3429, doconnor@wbklaw.com). 2
• January 30 – Children’s Television Commercial Limitations Certification. Annual certification of compliance with the commercial limits in children’s TV programming must be uploaded by all commercial full-power and Class A TV stations to their online public inspection files by January 30. This certification should cover the period from January 1, 2023 through December 31, 2023.
• January 31 – SoundExchange Minimum Fees. Webcasters, including broadcasters who simulcast their signals on the Internet or through a mobile app must pay their minimum annual fees by January 31. These fees are now $1000 per stream for commercial and noncommercial streams not affiliated with a school or CPB. Noncommercial educational webcasters (affiliated with a school or college), not affiliated with NPR and CPB, must make elections about recordkeeping requirements that will apply to their streaming operations by January 31.
February
February 5 – C-Band transition reimbursement submission deadline for all costs incurred and paid as of December 31, 2023 (including lump sum election claims).
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.
• March 12 – Presidential primaries in Georgia.
April
• April 6 – The first day of the Lowest Unit Rate period for the Federal (House), State, County, and Municipal Georgia primaries to be held on May 21, 2024.
• April 10 – Quarterly Issues Programs Lists. All full power and Class A TV stations, and all commercial and noncommercial AM and FM radio stations, must prepare and upload to their online 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.
• April 10 – All Class A TV stations must upload to their online public files documentation certifying their continued Class A eligibility for First Quarter 2024.
• April 10 – All noncommercial educational radio and television stations that are not affiliated with NPR or CPB, and that suspended regular programming to conduct thirdparty 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. 3
• April 10 – Documentation of any foreign government-provided programming aired between January 1, 2024 and March 31, 2024 must be uploaded to station’s online public file.
May
May 21 – Federal (House), State, County, and Municipal Georgia primaries.
June
None
July
• July 1 – C-Band transition reimbursement submission deadline for all costs incurred and paid after December 31, 2023
• July 10 – Quarterly Issues Programs Lists. All full power and Class A TV stations, and all commercial and noncommercial AM and FM radio stations, must prepare and upload to their online 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.
• July 10 – All Class A TV stations must upload to their online public files documentation certifying their continued Class A eligibility for Second Quarter 2024.
• July 10 – All noncommercial educational radio and television stations that are not affiliated with NPR or CPB, and that suspended regular programming to conduct thirdparty 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 – Documentation of any foreign government-provided programming aired between April 1, 2024 and June 30, 2024 must be uploaded to station’s online public file.
• July 1-31 – Copyright Royalty Claims. All television stations that were carried as a distant signal by a cable system during 2023 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, 2024 in order to share in the 2023 cable royalty distribution.
August or September
• 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 can open as early as August, but typically opens and closes in September. Broadcasters must pay their FCC Annual Regulatory Fees by the deadline established by the FCC or incur a 25% 4 penalty. Regulatory fees cover the period from October 1, 2023 through September 30, 2024.
September
None, other than regulatory fees as mentioned above.
October
• October 10 – Quarterly Issues Programs Lists. All full power and Class A TV stations, and all commercial and noncommercial AM and FM radio stations, must prepare and upload to their online 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.
• October 10 – All Class A TV stations must upload to their online public files documentation certifying their continued Class A eligibility for Third Quarter 2024.
• October 10 – All noncommercial educational radio and television stations that are not affiliated with NPR or CPB, and that suspended regular programming to conduct thirdparty 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 – Documentation of any foreign government-provided programming aired between July 1, 2024 and September 30, 2024 must be uploaded to station’s online public 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.
• November 5 – General Election.
• November 26 – Deadline for compliance with TV aural description requirement for visual but non-textual emergency information broadcast during non-newscast programming on TV stations. This requirement, to provide an audio description on a TV station’s Secondary Audio Channel of any non-textual emergency information broadcast by a station during non-news programming (e.g., a weather radar image showing areas of severe thunderstorms or possible tornadoes) has been consistently delayed since adoption by the FCC in 2013 because there is no technology to provide automated conversion of 5 this graphic information into speech. The current compliance waiver extended the compliance deadline until November 26, 2024.
December
• December 2 – 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 2 – Television stations (including Class A TVs and LPTVs) that provided any subscription-based “ancillary or supplementary services” during the 12-month period ending on September 30, 2024 must file an FCC Form 2100-Schedule G (formerly known as FCC Form 317).
