On June 10, 2025, one year to the day following the FCC’s 2024 Second Report and Order modifying the sponsorship identification requirements for foreign government-provided programming, the FCC announced that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) approved the rule modifications, but has deferred compliance for six months, until Dec. 8, 2025.
The notice also clarifies that only new leases and renewals of existing leases entered into on or after Dec. 8, 2025 must comply with the rule modifications.
Note that in many places the FCC denotes the broadcast licensee as the “Lessor” and the program provider as the “Lessee” despite decades of advice to avoid using those terms as a possible indicator of a violation of the rule that an FCC license is not a property interest.
Radio and television broadcasters now have a “duty of inquiry” to obtain the information needed to determine whether programming is sponsored, paid for or furnished by a foreign governmental entity. Once so determined, the station must make a public disclosure, at the time of broadcast, identifying the foreign source of foreign government-provided programming.
Two Options to Meet the Verification Requirement
- Certification Option: The first option is a written certification agreement signed by the lessee (i.e. the programmer) and the lessor (i.e. the licensee). The parties can write their own certification language or use the template language provided in Appendices C and D of the Second Report and Order, reproduced below.
All agreements must confirm that the broadcaster:
- Informed the lessee of the foreign sponsorship disclosure requirement;
- Asked the lessee whether it falls into any of the categories that would qualify it as a “foreign governmental entity”;
- Asked the lessee whether it knows if any individual/entity further back in the chain of producing and/or distributing the programming to be aired qualifies as a foreign governmental entity and has provided some type of inducement to air the programming;
- Sought a written certification in response from the lessee; and
- Obtained the necessary information for a disclosure if one is required.
- Screenshot Option: The second option is for the lessee (i.e., programmer) to provide screenshots of the search results for their own name from two federal government databases: (a) the Department of Justice’s Foreign Agents Registration Act (“FARA”) database and the FCC’s U.S.-based foreign media outlet report. If the search for the name does not provide any results in both databases, no further search is needed.
The verification requirement applies to all lease agreements. That is: “any agreement, written or not, where a licensee grants to another party the right to program on its station in exchange for some form of consideration.”
Thus, the due diligence requirements apply regardless of the terms or duration of the agreement, and regardless of whether the parties view the agreement as a time brokerage agreement, a local marketing agreement or something else.
The verification requirement cannot be avoided through informal, short term and/or week-to-week type arrangements. For short-term leases, where the same licensee and lessee enter into recurring leases for the same programming over a one-year period, the licensee need only exercise the due diligence required by the rules once per year.
These rules apply to all programming, regardless of length. This includes short-form advertising, as well as issue advertisements, paid Public Service Announcements, religious programming and locally-produced and/or distributed programming. It also applies to programming by section 325(c) permit holders — i.e., an entity that produces programming in the United States for broadcast by a non-U.S. licensed, foreign country station to be received in the United States.
Rule Exemptions
General Sponsor ID Exemption: These rules do not apply to commercial advertising only if that programming would not otherwise be subject to general sponsorship disclosure rules (i.e. has the sponsor’s name been identified in the advertisement in a manner that clearly shows that they are the sponsor, per section 73.1212(f)).
Readily Identifiable Ads: This exception to the foreign sponsor identification requirement applies in the same way as in the general sponsor identification exception. For an advertisement to fall under the commercial exemption provisions of 73.1212(f), it must include the sponsor’s corporate or trade name (or the name of the sponsor’s product) when it is clear that the mention of the name of the product constitutes a sponsorship identification.
NCE Station: The rules also do not apply to noncommercial and educational broadcast stations (“NCEs”) since the commission already prohibits NCEs from receiving compensation in exchange for broadcasting programs.
Political Candidates: Political candidate advertisements are also exempt when bought on behalf of legally-qualified candidates or their authorized committees pursuant to section 315 of the Act. However, issue advertisements and paid PSAs will be subject to the foreign sponsorship identification rules.
Existing Program Agreements: Because leases already in effect at the time of the compliance date will be grandfathered in, compliance is only required from new and renewed leases.
Conclusion
The primary change accomplished by the rule revision is to remove the burden on broadcasters to themselves reach out beyond the FCC’s data to other government sources to confirm the identity of their advertisers and programmers. In its place, the commission has imposed the above described two options.
It should be noted that the NAB continues to oppose this rule as placing an unlawful, unconstitutional and unwarranted burden on already overly-burdened broadcasters. If you have questions or would like assistance with this matter, please let us know.
This column is provided for general information purposes only and should not be relied upon as legal advice pertaining to any specific factual situation. Legal decisions should be made only after proper consultation with a legal professional of your choosing.
