Preparing Quarterly Issues/Programs Lists for the Station Online Public Inspection File

The next FCC-mandated station Quarterly Issues/Programs Lists (covering Jan. 1 through March 31 of 2026) must be uploaded to the station Online Public Inspection File (OPIF) by Friday, April 10.

The Quarterly Lists are required to be placed in the Public Inspection File by Jan. 10, April 10, July 10, and Oct. 10 of each year. All full power and Class A TV stations, commercial and noncommercial AM and FM radio stations, and certain LPTV stations are required to file the lists.

The lists are meant to demonstrate a station's compliance with FCC station public interest obligations.
Otherwise, stations risk a determination by the FCC that they did not adequately serve the public interest during their license term.

Stations' attention to timely filing of the lists is critical because of the migration of a physical station public inspection file onsite, to the FCC-hosted station online public inspection file. That migration occurred in the previous decade. It means FCC staff can now review a station's timeliness for the filing of these lists, or any other required station OPIF documents, with any computer that has an Internet connection.

Failure to meet the filing deadlines can have severe FCC repercussions. Attorneys Scott Flick and Betsy Craig of TAB's FCC legal counsel Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman say the FCC's base fine for missing or late quarterly lists is $10,000.

Most FCC fines in this area are the result of stations' self-admitting such during a license renewal. For example, the FCC released a June 2025 consent decree with the Sinclair Broadcast Group to resolve a failure to timely file issue lists, among other FCC infractions.

Apart from timely filing of the quarterly lists, Flick and Craig urge stations not to "skimp" on the quarterly lists, and to err on the side of over-inclusiveness.

Flick and Craig prepared an informative primer in late December on preparing the lists' content and uploading the required lists. The article includes a sample format that stations can use to compile the station's list.

The guidance in this article would apply to the April 10 quarterly list upload as well as those due on July 10 and Oct. 10.