The FCC has formally announced that its new contest rules have become effective, as they now have been approved by the Office of Management and Budget and published in the Federal Register. The new rules enable licensees to post material contest terms on-line rather than announcing them on-air.

As we had outlined in our advisory of September 18, licensees must still disclose all material terms of contests and must make a reasonable number of periodic announcements of a publically-available website address where the rules can be viewed. Rather than use the new option, licensees may continue to announce the material contest terms on-air, as in the past.

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