Law firm Fletcher, Heald and Hildreth is reminding clients that many broadcasters will start having to file the new FCC Form 397 this summer.
The “Broadcast Mid-Term Report” provides the commission with information about a licensee’s ongoing EEO efforts.
Full-service licensees of a certain size already must file annual employment reports. “But renewals are filed only once every eight years, and the commission figured that it ought to check up on EEO goings-on more often than that,” FHH writes. The new report is to be submitted midway through the regular renewal cycle.
“For those of you whose licenses were renewed at the beginning of the most recent renewal cycle (i.e., in 2003), congratulations – you’ve reached the mid-term and, starting this June, it will be Form 397 time.”
