A draft NPRM that would simplify processes for prospective low-power FM and noncommericial educational (NCE) station operators to apply for licenses during filing windows isn’t expected to draw controversy or much pushback at the FCC, said broadcast attorneys and industry officials in interviews. Most of the proposed rule changes would have little practical effect until a filing window for LPFM or NCE licenses is opened. It’s unlikely such windows would be opened until the rulemaking proceeding kicked off by the NPRM is complete, said Garvey Schubert's Melodie Virtue. The current proposals would mostly “get rid of some regulatory gotchas” that were barriers to entry, Virtue said. The NPRM is set for commissioners' Jan. 30 meeting.
Judges for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit appeared skeptical of the FCC’s position on a 15-year-old defaulted debt by former C-block spectrum licensee GLH, during oral argument Wednesday. Courts are operating during the shutdown (see 1901080004) but FCC attorneys were able to proceed only because the hearing concerned a spectrum auction, and spectrum auction matters are funded independently of other commission operations, the agency said.
An FCC-created demo webpage may have inadvertently caused broadcasters to violate online public file rules, Pillsbury Winthrop broadcast attorney Scott Flick blogged Tuesday. The webpage -- publicfiles-demo.fcc.gov -- was created in 2016 to show broadcasters how to file documents in their online public files, but broadcasters apparently have been mistaking it for the actual filing page, and filing their documents there, Flick said. “If it was a phishing site, it couldn’t have been better constructed,” Flick said in an interview. The page was taken down Tuesday after Flick’s post. An FCC spokesman told us the agency will work with broadcasters after the shutdown “to remedy any problems.” Before being removed, the page was the initial result on Google for “public inspection file,” and remained up even after the actual FCC inspection file database went offline because of the shutdown, Flick said. Flick heard about it after a broadcaster unaware the site was only a demo told him the FCC’s database was back online. “The website looked like the online Public File database in every respect,” Flick said, but showed uploads only through September. “Curiously, there is no hint anywhere on the demo webpage that it is just a demo and not the real online Public File database,” Flick said. The test site likely has led many broadcasters to think they uploaded their public files when they actually haven’t, he said. That could leave them vulnerable to thousands of dollars in fines, he said. The demo page also could be responsible for the FCC finding in December that over 1,000 radio stations hadn’t uploaded their required files, Flick said. Quarterly kidvid reports and issues program lists are due Thursday, and broadcasters will have to upload them to the correct database after the shutdown ends, Flick said.
The new year won't see a major decline in uncertainty for radio and TV station owners considering big mergers and acquisitions, at least right away. Questions about the final disposition of FCC rules on M&A, divestitures that haven't been finalized and other issues remain pending, an array of experts agreed in interviews last week.
RM Broadcasting should register as a foreign agent and may not be accurately representing its control over the content on WZHF(AM) Capitol Heights, Maryland, by Russian government-controlled news agency Rossiya Segodnya, said DOJ in filings (in Pacer) in Florida federal court Monday. WZHF broadcasts content provided by Russian radio service Sputnik. Justice has called for RM to register as a foreign agent since 2017, and RM sued DOJ over the matter in October. RM is a broker of broadcast time on WZHF and doesn’t have any control over content, said Nicole Waid, RM’s attorney with FisherBroyles, in an interview. “The allegation that RM Broadcasting engages in the ‘business of leasing broadcast airtime’ is vague and may not fully characterize the nature of RM Broadcasting's relationship” with FCC licensees, DOJ said. FCC records show WZHF is licensed to Way Broadcasting, and Waid said Way is an entirely separate company from RM. Wednesday, Way, DOJ and Rossiya Segedonya didn’t comment. “The relationship between RM Broadcasting and Rossiya Segodnya is strictly an arms-length commercial business transaction” and doesn’t involve “an agency relationship,” RM said in its complaint. Reston Translator, a broadcaster retransmitting Sputnik, reluctantly registered as a foreign agent in 2017 after similar DOJ demands (see [Ref:1712040054]). Registering as a foreign agent would allow DOJ more scrutiny of RM’s activities and make it harder for the company to do business, Waid said: “There are ramifications to registering as a foreign agent.”
A $495,000 settlement with NBC/Telemundo-owned stations over years-old, repeated violations of the FCC children’s TV rules doesn’t make clear the exact extent of the transgressions and may be a prelude to expected action to relax kidvid rules, said broadcast and children’s advocacy attorneys in interviews Wednesday. The consent decree and license renewal order were released early afternoon on New Year’s Eve -- the same day it was adopted, said a spokesperson. The item was also in Wednesday's Daily Digest.
Broadcasters Aren't Depending on FCC Repacking Outreach; Public Television Seeking to Handle for All
FCC consumer education efforts about the repacking and channel rescanning are focused on local markets, but broadcasters aren’t depending on the agency to get the word out, and public TV stations are looking to take on consumer outreach for all, said FCC and industry officials in interviews.
The FCC’s case-by-case top-four rule is a “nebulous promise” that leaves small and mid-market stations in “regulatory limbo,” said a group of broadcasters in an opening brief filed Friday (see 1812210070) in the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals as part of the legal challenge of the FCC’s 2014 quadrennial review. The Multicultural Media Telecom and Internet Council and National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters filed a brief (in Pacer) challenging the incubator order and FCC inaction on diversity rules, and anti-consolidation groups filed a joint challenge of the agency’s eligible entity definition and ownership rules. Together, the legal challenges are expected to create uncertainty about FCC’s media ownership policy and the 2018 quadrennial review throughout 2019, broadcast attorneys told us.
FCC approval Thursday of Gray Television buying Raycom without additional conditions is a positive sign for other broadcasters weighing deals (see 1812200065) but doesn’t shed much light on larger-scale deals such as Nexstar/Tribune, said attorneys, broadcasters and analysts in interviews the following day. “It provides cautious optimism,” said Patrick Communications media broker Gregory Guy. Staff OK is a sign Sinclair/Tribune’s dissolution didn’t stem from “a fundamental change” at DOJ or the FCC, he said.
Early results of the first nationwide test of the wireless emergency alert system show “uneven” reception, the FCC Public Safety Bureau found from the October test of WEA and the emergency alert system (see 1810030051). Friday's public notice had more details for the EAS test, which wasn't a first, than for the WEA one because wireless test reporting isn't required, unlike for EAS. After surveying emergency communications representatives for most states and national industry associations, we found that officials, too, had better success with EAS tests. The report also squared with government predictions.