Late-Filed Renewal Applications are Costly

The licensee of two stations just learned how costly it can be when license renewal applications are not filed on time, and a station continues to operate. The FCC fined the licensee a total of $26,000 for not making the required filings on time, and for operating without authorization for various periods after missing the deadline. When it comes time to file your station’s renewal application, the expiration date on the station license is not the renewal filing deadline. Instead, the renewal application filing deadline is four months prior to the license expiration date, and prefiling announcement requirements begin six months before the expiration date.