The FCC and Congress should consider competition from companies outside the radio industry, said numerous broadcast comments Monday in docket 18-227, responding to the FCC call for information on the state of audio competition. The Media Bureau should “root out” the “increasingly dangerous myth that radio broadcasting constitutes a separate market for economic competition,” Sun Broadcasting and WBOC said. “The increasing share of local advertising revenues earned by online and mobile outlets, including the digital giants, has squeezed radio stations’ share of local ad revenues,” said NAB. “No longer are there silos, where radio stations compete only with each other for advertising revenue and listeners,” filed Connoisseur Media, Townsquare Media, Mid-West Family Broadcasting, Midwest Communications and the Frandsen family stations. MusicFIRST Coalition and the Future of Music Coalition said radio broadcasters enjoy a competitive advantage, and limits on ownership should remain. “History has made clear” relaxing ownership rules would “substantially reduce competition among AM/FM radio stations,” they said,
Gray Television and Raycom were “heavy on rhetoric but light on the facts” and offered “no serious rebuttal” in their joint response (see 1809130051) to comments about their proposed deal’s implications for retransmission consent, said Dish Network and the American Cable Association in replies posted Monday in docket 18-230. The deal would lead to an increase in retransmission consent fees, Dish and ACA said. Most of “the supposed benefits” Gray and Raycom said would come from the combination are “euphemisms for reducing or eliminating local content,” Dish said. “Even if it does not violate the national audience reach rules, the transaction will cause retransmission consent prices to rise,” said ACA. “Whether or not bigger broadcasters are ‘bad,’ the evidence shows that they charge MVPDs higher retransmission fees,” said Dish. Along with criticizing the deal’s retrans permutations, ACA praised Gray and Raycom for making it clear that Gray wouldn’t acquire the stations it's divesting, and so wouldn’t activate after-acquired clauses in their retransmission contracts. NCTA said the FCC should require companies seeking approval to own two top-four stations in the same market -- as Gray and Raycom are -- should have to demonstrate “the harms the Commission has recognized that are associated with common ownership are outweighed by unusual benefits.” Gray/Raycom “has not made such a showing regarding their Honolulu stations,” NCTA said. Gray didn't comment.
A draft NPRM on Class A AM station interference rules has two Republican yes votes and could be issued soon, said industry and FCC officials. Pai and Commissioner Brendan Carr are said to have voted for the NPRM, while Commissioners Jessica Rosenworcel and Mike O'Rielly haven't voted. O'Rielly is seeking changes, an official said.
Hurricane Florence is affecting communications primarily in North Carolina, but South Carolina also is feeling the effects, said Monday’s FCC disaster information reporting system report. The Federal Emergency Management Agency announced Monday that South Carolina is eligible for federal disaster funds. The FCC report shows 187, 885 cable and wireline subscribers out of service in North Carolina, up from 164,892 in Sunday’s report. South Carolina outages are down to 5,073, compared with 5,883 from Sunday. Six percent of cellsites in the storm-affected area are out of service, but the affected sites are concentrated in North Carolina, the report said. Onslow County, on North Carolina’s coast, has more than 50 percent of cellsites down, the report said. Three public safety answering points in North Carolina are having their 911 calls rerouted to other PSAPs, the report said. The report lists five TV stations out of service, all in North Carolina. Twenty-five FM stations and three AM stations are listed as out, also concentrated in North Carolina. Three radio groups are working together to provide emergency information in Spanish in South Carolina communities affected by the storm, said the Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council and the League of United Latin American Citizens. Cumulus Media, Spanish Broadcasting System and Dick Broadcasting responded to a request from MMTC and LULAC for emergency broadcasts targeted at Spanish speakers affected by the storm. SBS is providing the Spanish-language emergency information for Cumulus and Dick to broadcast, the release said. “The 22,000 Hispanic residents of the Myrtle Beach radio market and 21,000 Hispanic residents of the Hilton Head radio market are receiving life-saving information.” Frontier Communications has resumed full operations in its service areas with repair and customer contact employees returning to work in South Carolina, and didn’t cease providing repair and installation service to North Carolina, said release Monday. Charter Communications brought in additional supplies before the storm and opened more than 5,000 Wi-Fi hot spots in affected areas, it blogged Saturday. : We have approximately 14,000 employees and three million subscribers in the parts of North and South Carolina that are in the path of Hurricane Florence." Florence postponed Thursday's emergency alerting test (see 1809170035).
The Federal Emergency Management Agency, in coordination with the FCC, Monday delayed a nationwide test of the emergency alert system and wireless emergency alert system until Oct. 3. The test was scheduled for Thursday but postponement was expected (see 1809140040) because of Hurricane Florence (see 1809170046) related problems. The WEA test is expected to get the most attention because this is the first time that system will be tested nationwide.
Frontier Communications temporarily suspended work activities in portions of South Carolina as Hurricane Florence approached, it announced Thursday. The storm was downgraded to a Category 2 the same day. “Repair and installation technicians, contact center employees and others will not be executing any work activities during this time,” Frontier said. “Florence will damage power facilities and down lines and trees, which will affect the speed of communications restoration,” said Senior Vice President-Operations, South Region Melanie Williams. AT&T is launching severe weather channels on DirecTV and U-Verse dedicated to Florence coverage, it said. AT&T, CenturyLink and other carriers also have readied emergency resources (see 1809110046). Carrier preparations were laid out in a USTelecom blog. The Federal Emergency Management Agency Thursday urged residents of North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Virginia to stay in communication with friends and family using phones, text messages and social media and to stay informed using TV, radio and local government websites.
With Phase 1 of the incentive auction TV channel repacking beginning Friday (see 1809100033) and many TV channel changes imminent, the FCC, NAB and broadcasters are working on strategies to get the word to viewers. Efforts range from TV spots starring Dr. Phil to interactive websites to physical handouts at electronics stores. Congress included $50 million in its latest repacking reimbursement legislation for consumer education. Some broadcasters and industry officials worry nonetheless about whether the message will get out in time.
A new C4 FM class would lead to further congestion of the FM band, said Beasley Media. And NAB and Alpha Media reiterated that in replies posted in docket 18-184 Tuesday. The proposals in the FCC’s Notice of Inquiry are “ill-conceived notions that would further clutter the radio dial and hamstring FM stations from improving their facilities in the future,” said Alpha Media. More than 100 small and independent broadcasters wrote with the opposite view, said the originator of the C4 proposal, SSR Communications. iHeartMedia doesn't object to the C4 class, but like other broadcasters it objected to the NOI’s proposal to allow the FCC to involuntarily reduce interference protection for FM stations that aren’t performing at their allowed level. “Such action would contribute to a higher ‘noise floor’ overall, remove desired-station service from existing listeners, and limit much needed transmitter-siting flexibility, all for the potential benefit of a limited class of individual stations,” iHeart said. “Both proposals should be dismissed because they will reduce the technical integrity of the FM band at a time when broadcasters already face interference that hinders service and their ability to compete,” NAB said. The association’s position hasn’t been supported by any evidence, SSR said.
The FCC made preparations for Hurricane Florence and has staff “in the field” in anticipation of the East Coast landfall, public notices and officials' tweets said Tuesday. “Staff are now in the field preparing for the arrival of Hurricane Florence, and here in DC we are working closely with our federal partners to get ready for response and recovery efforts,” tweeted Matthew Berry, chief of staff to Chairman Ajit Pai.
Phase 1 of the incentive auction TV band repacking is widely expected to proceed smoothly after it kicks off Friday. Broadcasters, equipment manufacturers and tower workers are seeing signs future stages may be bumpier. “We are hearing from Phase 1 stations that they are on target,” said FCC Incentive Auction Task Force Chair Jean Kiddoo in an interview.