FCC Clarifies Filing Deadlines Affected by Government Shutdown

October 18, 2013

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC or Commission) issued a Public Notice Thursday clarifying filings deadlines affected by the government shutdown.  As detailed in a previous Client Alert, the FCC reopened on Thursday, October 17, 2013, and all of its websites appear to be operational. 

Except for Network Outage Reporting System (NORS) filings and certain other filings, the FCC specified that:

• Filings due between October 1, 2013 and October 6, 2013 will be due Tuesday, October 22, 2013.
• Filings due between October 7, 2013 and October 16, 2013 will be due 16 days after the original filing date.  If the 16th day falls on a weekend or Commission holiday, then the filing is due the next business day.  Thus, Children's Television Programming reports originally due on October 10, 2013 now are due on Monday, October 28, 2013.
• Any regulatory or enforcement filings due between October 17, 2013 and November 4, 2013 will be due on Monday, November 4, 2013.

Certain other filings with different deadlines are:

• Reply Comments for the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in the Modernizing the E-Rate Program for Schools and Libraries proceeding are now due November 8, 2013;
• Vanity call sign applications filed via mail between October 1, 2013 and October 22, 2013 or via ULS between October 17, 2013 and October 22, 2013 will all be processed as though they were filed on October 22, 2013;
• ULS applications and notifications filed in accordance with FCC rules originally due between October 1, 2013 and November 4, 2013 are now due November 4, 2013.

Although the Public Notice does not specifically address television online public files, we recommend uploading all documents as soon as possible.

Additionally, the Commission has not provided any further guidance regarding the pending deadline for broadcast Biennial Ownership Reports.  At this point, we recommend proceeding as though the deadline to file those reports will remain December 2, 2013. 

The Public Notice indicated that Bureaus may further modify filing deadlines.  We will provide additional information about these deadlines as it becomes available.