Alert
Alert
By Scott R. Flick, Lauren Lynch Flick, Lee G. Petro, Jessica T. Nyman
12.29.20
Items of Note in 20211
I. Commercial and Noncommercial Biennial Ownership Report: December 1, 2021 is the deadline by which all commercial and noncommercial radio and television stations must file their biennial ownership reports. Commercial stations will file FCC Form 2100, Schedule 323, and noncommercial stations will file FCC Form 2100, Schedule 323-E. While these licensees may have filed a biennial report as recently as January 2020, that report fulfilled the reporting obligation for the period that ended on October 1, 2019. The deadline was extended from December 1, 2019 to January 31, 2020 to account for the delayed opening of the 2019 filing window in the FCC’s Licensing and Management System. The new filing window opens October 1, 2021, and the information in all ownership reports must be accurate as of that date.
II. Applications for Renewal of License: The three-year long state-by-state license renewal cycle continues for stations in the television services (full-power television, Class A, TV Translator, and LPTV) and radio services (AM, FM, FM Translator, and LPFM). Stations will file their license renewal applications on FCC Form 2100, Schedule 303-S (“Form 303-S”) along with their Equal Opportunity Employment Reports on Form 2100, Schedule 396 (“Form 396”). The date by which the licensee must file a station’s application for license renewal depends on the state or territory of the station’s community of license. All licensees should familiarize themselves now with the dates associated with this important filing.
Read more: 2021 Broadcasters' Calendar
1. The deadlines in the 2021 Broadcasters’ Calendar are based on information known as of the date hereof and may or may not apply to any particular broadcaster. They are provided for general informational purposes only and should be double-checked for currency close to each pertinent date/deadline. Actions by the FCC, Congress, or the courts could affect any of these deadlines by, for example, eliminating a particular reporting/filing obligation altogether or modifying the form used, content, deadline, fee, or manner of reporting/filing. It should also be noted that, as a general rule, when a deadline for filing a document with the FCC falls on a weekend or a federal holiday, the filing deadline shifts to the next business day. The listing below is not intended to be complete or exhaustive of all regulatory and non-regulatory deadlines that may apply to a given broadcaster year-to-year. Accordingly, broadcasters should seek the advice of communications counsel to assure timely and proper filing. This edition of our annual Broadcasters' Calendar supersedes all prior editions and accordingly any prior editions should no longer be used.