The FCC is planning to issue NPRMs on kids' video rules, cable leased access and cable rate regulation as part of media modernization, Media Bureau staff said Tuesday at an FCBA event. A rulemaking on leftover questions from the ATSC 3.0 proceeding is still planned for sometime this year, as is the 2018 quadrennial broadcast ownership review, staff said. The post-incentive auction repacking, which hasn’t run into the resource crunch feared by broadcasters, has progressed, Incentive Auction Task Force Deputy Chair Hillary DeNigro said. “It’s fine,” she said. “We haven’t had any requests for additional time we haven’t been able to accommodate.”
At the rough halfway point of the process of finding new homes for low power TV stations and translators displaced by the incentive auction, LPTV broadcasters and industry officials say uncertainty reigns. Though displaced LPTV owners are able to choose new channels during the ongoing LPTV displacement window and recent legislation earmarked reimbursement funds for LPTV and translators, they won’t know for a while if those new channels are final and almost no specifics about the reimbursement have been determined, LPTV broadcasters told us.
The FCC draft NPRM on reforming rules for interference complaints between FM translators and full-power FM stations is expected to be unanimously approved, industry and agency officials told us. The other media item set for commissioners' May 10 meeting, a media deregulation NPRM seeking comment on removing rules requiring broadcasters to physically post copies of their licenses, is also likely to pass with no objections, industry and agency officials said.
Allowing broadcasters to satisfy the requirements of kidvid rules with content aired only on multicast channels is one of the ideas Commissioner Mike O’Rielly’s office is interested in as part of the upcoming review of those rules, an aide to the commissioner told us. That change or something similar would allow the agency to ensure that households dependent only on over-the-air TV would have access to children’s TV but also allow the FCC to make the rules less burdensome for broadcasters, which O’Rielly referenced when he told the American Enterprise Institute (see 1804190045) the agency should focus on over-the-air only households, the aide said. Advocates for the children’s TV rules told us they’re concerned that O’Rielly appears to be starting from the position that the rules are too burdensome. The review shouldn’t begin with any presumptions, said Parents Television Council President Tim Winter. “The process should be genuine,” Winter said. O’Rielly has said an NPRM on kidvid should be issued this summer.
No commenters filed in opposition to FCC media deregulation proposals in docket 18-23 to do away with the separate filing requirement for mid-term equal employment opportunity reports. Broadcasters like Nexstar cheered the FCC proposal on, but 33 diversity groups said the agency should tackle a lot more. Groups including Rainbow PUSH Coalition and the Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council have urged the agency to complete a proceeding on overhauling EEO enforcement that dates back to 1998, the joint filing said. “At last the agency has reawakened the EEO docket from 14 years of somnolence.”
Broadcasters generally welcome FCC-proposed reforms to the way it handles interference between FM translators and full-power FM stations amid disagreements over how the agency will handle complaints and how far from a station’s contour interference can occur, broadcasters and their lawyers told us. The issue (see 1804180068) has been exacerbated by the growing number of licensed FM translators, which has swelled from around 1,850 in 1990 to nearly 7,600 in 2017, said the NPRM. “There are more than 700 new translator construction permits authorized and 1100 applications for new translator construction permits pending.”
Sinclair’s latest modifications to its deal to buy Tribune appears designed to make it more palatable to the FCC and DOJ, attorneys and analysts said in interviews. The amended plan does away with divestiture trusts, puts less pressure on the FCC’s new and untried policy on top-four duopolies, and -- as detailed Tuesday (see 1804240076) -- specifies buyers for most of the 23 stations to be divested. Though the deal still includes plans to unload stations to “sidecar” companies seen as affiliated with Sinclair, the latest iteration is expected to be acceptable to Justice because none of the stations operated through sharing agreements will be top-four stations, said Justin Nielson, senior researcher for S&P Global Market Intelligence.
Sinclair is filing a new amendment to its application to purchase Tribune and Tuesday announced plans to divest 23 stations in 18 markets to Standard Media, Howard Stirk Holdings, Meredith Corp. and Cunningham Broadcasting, along with “another party to be announced.” Sinclair would hold on to WPIX-TV New York but will divest additional stations in Denver, Sacramento, Cleveland, Dallas, Houston and Miami, said a memo sent to employees Tuesday by Tribune CEO Peter Kern. The amendments weren't yet available on the FCC database. “While we continue to believe that we had a strong and supportable rationale for not having to divest stations, we are happy to announce this significant step forward in our plan,” said Sinclair CEO Chris Ripley in its release. “The actions outlined in today’s filing are designed to bring our proposed merger into compliance with the FCC’s broadcast ownership rules and pave the way for regulatory approval,” Kern said. Although opponents have faulted Sinclair for failure to specify divestiture plans, Tuesday’s release lays out specific buyers for most of the divested stations. Standard Media will purchase nine, Howard Stirk the three that will be run by Sinclair through joint sales agreements, Meredith and WGN-TV will purchase one each, and Cunningham two. Standard is purchasing its nine stations for $441 million, said an emailed release, while Meredith said it was purchasing KPLR-TV St. Louis for $65 million. Sinclair identifies seven stations as being sold to sellers that haven’t been determined. Broadcast attorneys speculate Sinclair might seek to close its deal quickly after oral argument in FCC defense of the restoration of the UHF discount appeared to go against the agency (see 1804240072). It’s expected that if the FCC approves of Sinclair’s modifications, the amended application will be issued for comment, industry officials told us. Sinclair and the FCC declined to comment.
Any FCC moves to raise the national broadcast station ownership coverage cap or adjust the UHF discount in response to any unfavorable ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit would face a certain legal challenge, but some actions are more viable, attorneys and academics on both sides of the issue said in interviews. FCC action on the cap is seen as a possible countermove to any D.C. Circuit ruling against restoration of the UHF discount, which a three-judge panel appeared to view unfavorably Friday (see 1804200059). It’s not clear what the FCC will do, and most attorneys we asked doubt the agency’s leadership has yet decided anything. Any action to further adjust the UHF discount or alter the cap would likely face a tough time in court, said University of Minnesota School of Journalism assistant professor-media law Christopher Terry.
The FCC had a more difficult time in court Friday than some expected (see 1804190056) in defending its change of the UHF discount so that stations in that part of the TV band could have twice the concentrated ownership as those lower down the dial. Every member of a three-judge panel took issue with the FCC’s lack of justification for restoring the UHF discount.