WASHINGTON—Federal advertising dollars should be earmarked for local media, including broadcasters and newspapers, during the current coronavirus pandemic details a letter signed by 74 U.S. Senators to the Office of Management and Budget Acting Director Russell T. Vought.

NAB and other media organizations, as well as smaller bipartisan groups in the Senate and House, have been calling for similar support to assist local media stations that have lost significant advertising revenue since the outbreak of COVID-19. Local TV stations, and other local media resources, have become the most trusted source of news for communities during this time, according to multiple reports.

With the passage of the CARES Act and other COVID-19-related legislation, the senators believe there is an opportunity to provide federal advertising dollars from different programs and federal agencies to get essential information to American communities.

“We strongly believe that local newspapers and broadcasters play an integral role during the COVID-19 pandemic and making sure that stations are able to continue operating during this time is critical,” the letter reads. “We therefore encourage the Office of Management and Budget to work with federal agencies throughout the government to increase advertising in local newspapers and on broadcast stations in order to help ensure they are able to continue to operate throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Among the senators that signed the letter are Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Bernie Sanders (D-Vt.), Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) and Mitt Romney (R-Utah). Senate Majority Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) did not sign the letter.

The complete letter is available to read online. 

WASHINGTON—Dec. 17 will be the last time that TV broadcasters will be required to file quarterly Children’s Television Programming Reports as the FCC plans to transition to annual reports as part of its efforts to modernize KidVid rules.

The FCC launched a Report & Order this past summer that is designed to update children television (KidVid) rules so broadcasters can have greater flexibility. One of these changes was to only require broadcasters to submit an annual programming report within 30 days of the end of the calendar year. This change is still pending Office of Management & Budget approval, but the FCC expects it to be approved by Jan. 1, 2020.

The public notice issued by the FCC’s Media Bureau recently informs that broadcasters will no longer be able to file new or amend previously filed quarterly Children’ Reports after Dec. 17 of this year. Also, as they await OMB’s decision, the commission is waiving the requirement that quarterly reports be filed by Jan. 10, 2020.

In the event that a broadcaster must amend or failed to submit a quarterly Children’s Report after Dec. 17, it will need to provide the necessary information in the form of an explanatory document and be uploaded to a station’s online public inspection file, placed in the Children’s Report section under the folder entitled Additional Documents.

With the upcoming license renewal cycle for television stations upcoming in June 2020, the public notice also advises licensees to include an exhibit as part of their license renewal application noting if any such explanatory document has been uploaded.

The complete public notice is available on the FCC’s ECFS database.