CRTC-required contents
Canadian stations must keep the following materials in their public inspection file:
 | This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (June 2008) |
A public file (or public inspection file) is a collection of documents required by a broadcasting authority to be maintained by all broadcast stations under its jurisdiction.
Such a file is required by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the United States, and by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC). The public inspection file must be maintained at the station's main studio and it must be accessible to anyone during business hours. Stations are required to provide copies at the requester's expense, or if the facility is outside of the community of license, provide copies via mail at their own expense. As of November 2007, the FCC required public inspection files must also be maintained on the station's website, [1] [2] [3] and are optionally distributed to public libraries in the station's broadcast area for the sake of convenience. In these cases, public correspondence from viewers and political reports are usually left out due to cost concerns or misuse of the information provided. The FCC itself began to maintain a site in 2014 where a station can upload their public file components, allowing the public full access to the materials contained within without the restrictions of business hours or a studio visit. The latter move to website access allowed stations to easily close their studios to public access during the COVID-19 pandemic to prevent possible cross-contamination to station employees unknowingly from the public.
All or part of the file may be maintained in digital format as long as it is accessible at the time of inspection.
U.S. stations must keep the following materials in their public inspection file:
The instrument of authorization shows the station's frequency, call letters, operating power, transmitter location, etc., as well as any special conditions imposed by the FCC on the station's operation. The license also shows when it was issued and when it will expire.
The public file must contain copies of all applications filed with the FCC that are still pending before either the FCC or the courts. These include applications to sell the station or to modify its facilities (for example, to increase power, change the antenna system, or change the transmitter location). Also, the station must keep copies of any construction or sales application whose grant required us[ who? ] to waive our[ who? ] rules.
Stations must keep a copy of any written agreements they make with local viewers or listeners. These "citizen agreements" deal with programming, employment, or other issues of community concern. The station must keep these agreements in the public file for as long as they are in effect.
The public file must contain copies of any service contour maps or other information submitted with any application filed with the FCC that reflects the station's service contours and/or its main studio and transmitter location, if there are any, as not all stations are required to have contour maps.
Per Section 73.1943 , licensees are required to document each political candidate's broadcasts.
Stations must keep material relating to any matter that is the subject of an FCC investigation or complaint.
Per Section 73.2080 , licensees are required to keep records related to equal opportunity employment (EEO).
The FCC has a publication entitled The Public and Broadcasting , which must be kept in the file.
All correspondence from the public must be filed.
All broadcast facilities must keep a list of program material aired for the betterment of the local community. TV stations must have records concerning commercial limits and children's programming, along with their compliance with the E/I rule.
Upon filing for license renewal, section 73.3580 states broadcast facilities must make public announcements of their intention to continue broadcasting and notify the community that they may comment on the performance of the licensee. Dates and times of these broadcasts must be maintained in the public file.
For commercial facilities, a copy of every contract or agreement for brokered time must be available. Local marketing agreements (LMAs) are also included.
Class A television stations are required to document any agreements regarding must-carry or retransmission consent which they have with local cable TV systems.
The public file must contain a copy of the most recent, complete Ownership Report filed for the station. This report has the names of the owners of the station and their ownership interests, lists any contracts related to the station that are required to be filed with the FCC, and identifies any interest held by the station licensee in other broadcast stations.
Stations have to keep either a copy of all the contracts or an up-to-date list identifying all such contracts they have on file with the FCC.
For commercial facilities, any joint sales between the two must be documented.
Per Section 73.6001 , class A television stations must keep copies of their continued eligibility.
Canadian stations must keep the following materials in their public inspection file:
| | This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (June 2008) |
The official rules from the FCC are contained in Title 47 CFR Part 73:
Sections 73.3526 and 73.3527 are not applicable to low-power FM and TV stations and applicants.
Low-power broadcasting is broadcasting by a broadcast station at a low transmitter power output to a smaller service area than "full power" stations within the same region. It is often distinguished from "micropower broadcasting" and broadcast translators. LPAM, LPFM and LPTV are in various levels of use across the world, varying widely based on the laws and their enforcement.
In U.S., Canadian, and Mexican broadcasting, a city of license or community of license is the community that a radio station or television station is officially licensed to serve by that country's broadcast regulator.
Station identification is the practice of radio and television stations and networks identifying themselves on-air, typically by means of a call sign or brand name. This may be to satisfy requirements of licensing authorities, a form of branding, or a combination of both. As such, it is closely related to production logos, used in television and cinema alike.
In North American broadcasting, a local marketing agreement (LMA), or local management agreement, is a contract in which one company agrees to operate a radio or television station owned by another party. In essence, it is a sort of lease or time-buy.
In cable television, many governments, including the ones of the United Kingdom, the United States, and Canada, apply a must-carry regulation stating that forces a cable TV provider to carry the public interest programming, like locally licensed television stations, on a provider's system. In some countries, this "traditional" approach had been extended to the Internet information sources. Similar approach in other sectors, like telecommunications, is called universal service.
A broadcast license is a type of spectrum license granting the licensee permission to use a portion of the radio frequency spectrum in a given geographical area for broadcasting purposes. The licenses generally include restrictions, which vary from band to band.
A television station is a set of equipment managed by a business, organisation or other entity such as an amateur television (ATV) operator, that transmits video content and audio content via radio waves directly from a transmitter on the earth's surface to any number of tuned receivers simultaneously.
KTAL-TV is a television station licensed to Texarkana, Texas, United States, serving the Shreveport, Louisiana, area as an affiliate of NBC. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group alongside MyNetworkTV affiliate KSHV-TV ; Nexstar also provides certain services to Fox affiliate KMSS-TV under a shared services agreement (SSA) with Mission Broadcasting. The three stations share studios on North Market Street and Deer Park Road in northeast Shreveport; KTAL-TV maintains a secondary studio on Summerhill Road in Texarkana, Texas, and transmitter facilities northwest of Vivian, Louisiana.
KYMA-DT is a television station licensed to Yuma, Arizona, United States, serving the Yuma, Arizona–El Centro, California market as an affiliate of CBS and NBC. It is owned by Imagicomm Communications, which maintains a shared services agreement (SSA) with News-Press & Gazette Company, owner of El Centro–licensed Fox/ABC/CW+ affiliate KECY-TV and Yuma-licensed low-power Telemundo affiliate KESE-LD, for the provision of certain services. The three stations share studios on South 4th Avenue in downtown Yuma, with an advertising sales office on West Main Street in El Centro; KYMA-DT's transmitter is located northwest of Yuma.
KWWF was an independent television station licensed to Waterloo, Iowa, United States, which served the Eastern Iowa television market. The station was owned by Stratus Media Holdings. KWWF's transmitter was located near Walker, Iowa.
WNDT-CD is a Class A television station in New York City, affiliated with First Nations Experience (FNX). Owned by The WNET Group, it is sister to the city's two PBS member stations—Newark, New Jersey–licensed WNET and Garden City, New York–licensed WLIW —and Class A station WMBQ-CD.
WNYI is a religious television station licensed to Ithaca, New York, United States, serving the Elmira, Binghamton and Syracuse television markets as an owned-and-operated station of the Daystar Television Network. The station's transmitter is located on Quarry Road in Moravia, New York. It shares its channel and tower with co-owned WDSS-LD, a low-power translator station that previously broadcast on UHF channel 38 from a transmitter in Onondaga.
The general radiotelephone operator license (GROL) is a license granted by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) that is required to operate certain radio equipment. It is required for any person who adjusts, maintains, or internally repairs FCC licensed radiotelephone transmitters in the aviation, maritime, and international fixed public radio services. It is also required to operate any compulsorily equipped ship radiotelephone station with more than 1,500 watts of peak envelope power, a voluntarily equipped ship, or an aeronautical station with more than 1,000 watts of peak envelope power. The GROL is not required for engineering jobs in radio and television broadcasting. It is obtained by taking a test demonstrating an adequate knowledge of the legal, technical, and safety aspects of radio transmitter operation.
The United States Federal Communications Commission uses the term instrument of authorization with its broadcast licensees. It may refer to:
WWMW-LD is a low-power television station in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States. The station is owned by SagamoreHill Broadcasting. It had been licensed to Sheboygan until 2011.
In broadcasting, a dark television station or silent radio station is one that has gone off the air for an indefinite period of time. Usually unlike dead air, a station that is dark or silent does not even transmit a carrier signal.
A broadcast relay station, also known as a satellite station, relay transmitter, broadcast translator (U.S.), re-broadcaster (Canada), repeater or complementary station (Mexico), is a broadcast transmitter which repeats the signal of a radio or television station to an area not covered by the originating station.
In North American digital terrestrial television broadcasting, a distributed transmission system is a form of single-frequency network in which a single broadcast signal is fed via microwave, landline, or communications satellite to multiple synchronised terrestrial radio transmitter sites. The signal is then simultaneously broadcast on the same frequency in different overlapping portions of the same coverage area, effectively combining many small transmitters to generate a broadcast area rivalling that of one large transmitter or to fill gaps in coverage due to terrain or localized obstacles.
Special Temporary Authority (STA) 74 CFR 73.1635 in U.S. broadcast law is a type of broadcast license which temporarily allows a broadcast station to operate outside of its normal technical or legal parameters. In the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) station database (CDBS), broadcast STA applications have a prefix of BSTA (general), BLSTA (legal), BESTA (engineering), or BLESTA (both). STAs can also be issued for other telecommunication services under FCC regulation. Often an STA is necessary due to an unforeseen event. A station operator must exhibit why the STA is necessary and serves the public good.
