An expected gap in the creation of new media content caused by the ongoing writer and actor strikes is likely to lead to increased advertising on free ad-supported streaming (FAST) TV channels, but the industry still faces difficulty in reliably measuring reach and return on advertising spend, said streaming and ad industry officials on panels at the virtual StreamTV Advertising Summit Tuesday. “We need to have best practices, we need to have consensus around a coin of the realm,” said Tastemade Head-Global Sales Jeff Imberman.
Interest is growing in the November window for low-power FM applications, but finding frequencies for would-be LPFMs is going to be difficult, said Prometheus Radio Project Engineering Director Paul Bame and REC Networks founder Michelle Bradley in a Society of Broadcast Engineers webinar Monday. Most inquiries received by Prometheus are coming from groups in highly populated urban areas that are unlikely to have room for new LPFM stations, Bame said: “The cities are tight; most of them are full.”
The FCC hasn’t made an effort to meet the four-year due date for its 2018 quadrennial review, and its arguments that Congress didn’t specify a deadline (see 2308080062) are “a recipe for eternal stasis” and would “justify perpetual delay,” said NAB in a response filing in its mandamus proceeding at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit (docket 23-1120) (see 2304250029). “It is unreasonable for the Commission to have sat on its hands for years.”
Softness in the media advertising market appears to be affecting TV broadcasters and tech companies less than other media entities, according to quarterly earnings calls and analysts.
The FCC unanimously approved an FY 2023 regulatory fee order last week that closely resembles the NPRM issued in May.
The Regulatory Commission of Alaska unanimously voted at a hybrid meeting Wednesday to make permanent an emergency extension of the state’s universal service program. The Alaska USF sunset date is now June 30, 2026. The emergency regulations otherwise would have ended Oct. 28.
TV broadcasters are seeing increases in commercial advertising, but they have concerns about being compensated for their programming and don’t see big M&A opportunities on the horizon, said Tegna, Gray Television and Sinclair Broadcast executives in those companies’ Q2 earnings calls last week. “Increased competition from technology companies, streaming content providers, and the [broadcasting] networks as well as continued regulatory constraints means that we must transform to remain relevant and to grow impressions and revenue,” said Sinclair CEO Chris Ripley.
The FCC unanimously approved an order and NPRM on digital FM, said an agency news release Tuesday (see 2301130053). The item was on the agenda for commissioners' open meeting Thursday but was instead voted Monday, and a deletion notice was issued. Stemming from petitions filed by NAB and Xperi, the item proposes relaxing restrictions on digital FM power levels to make it easier for more stations to improve their digital FM coverage. The FCC said the proposals in the NPRM would “offer more efficient FM digital operation, increase digital signal coverage and provide a more robust digital signal for reception inside buildings,” though some raised concerns about increased interference. “This would AM-ize the FM band,” said broadcaster Robert McAllan, CEO of Press Communications, referring to the high levels of background interference from multiple sources in the AM band.
Broadcasting has “a black eye on Wall Street” after the FCC blocked the private equity-backed Standard/Tegna deal, said Beasley Media CEO Caroline Beasley at a Media Institute lunch Thursday. Beasley said the FCC should relax local ownership caps on radio to preserve local broadcasting: “We need interest from private equity, we need investment in our space.”
Congress should continue to fund the affordable connectivity program, the FCC may not be the right entity to regulate AI and the agency's spectrum auction authority should be restored, said former FCC chairs and commissioners at the Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council’s 2023 virtual Former Chairs’ Symposium Tuesday. Panelists -- including former acting Chairwoman Mignon Clyburn and former Chairman Richard Wiley -- also discussed diversity, the failed Standard/Tegna deal, and the confirmation of nominee Anna Gomez. Gomez is “a mainstream Democrat” who will “work well on a bipartisan basis,” said former Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein. “She’s not particularly ideological even though she’s been a strong fighter.”