Sinclair buying Tribune is still considered likely to be approved, despite the expectation of an unfavorable U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruling on the UHF discount and lack of FCC action on the national ownership cap, analysts and attorneys told us Friday. The final stage of the transaction’s comment period ended Thursday, and opponents urged the FCC to reject the transaction as against the public interest. The FCC and DOJ are still seen likely to OK the transaction in some form. It’s not clear what the particulars will be or how soon, but the FCC is expected to approve, said Wells Fargo analyst Marci Ryvicker.
Commissioner Mike O’Rielly split with fellow FCC Republicans Thursday to partially dissent from an order on emergency alert system testing and false alerts, over concerns about alert fatigue. Since lone FCC Democrat Jessica Rosenworcel voted in favor, it was approved 3 to 1. “If people come to expect that when those alert signals go off they may not be real, there is a very high likelihood that they will ignore potentially life-saving information.” O’Rielly said.
A possible FCC compromise on the draft kidvid NPRM didn’t materialize and the item was approved with a 3-1 party-line split Thursday (see 1807110051). Though Commissioner Mike O’Rielly acceded to a request from Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel to edit the item to be free of tentative conclusions, Rosenworcel said Thursday the two sides couldn’t come to agreement. She praised O’Rielly’s willingness to negotiate and didn’t identify any other concessions she requested. “I was informed that even with these edits it was not sufficient to garner a bipartisan vote,” O’Rielly said. The version approved Thursday contains the same tentative conclusions as the draft item, O’Rielly and Media Bureau staff said.
Eighth-floor officials were working toward a compromise Wednesday that could lead to a unanimous vote for Thursday’s draft kidvid item, FCC officials told us. Commissioner’s offices were negotiating on possible edits that would make the wording more palatable to Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel. The compromise would involve changing the draft to remove language reaching tentative conclusions, leaving the NPRM closer to the notice of inquiry pushed for by Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., and advocacy groups.
The draft order and Further NPRM on emergency alert system tests and preventing false EAS alerts set for commissioners' Thursday meeting isn’t expected to run into opposition, FCC and industry officials told us Monday. The draft contains rules for authenticating EAS alerts, testing EAS equipment and informing the public, many involving processes and procedures already in use in some capacity by broadcasters and EAS equipment manufacturers, said Sage Alerting Systems President Harold Price. The draft item seeks comment on proposals similar to those advanced by Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel in reaction to the Hawaii false missile alert (see 1804050055), and is expected to be widely supported, an official told us.
There’s no legal reason that the FCC should wait for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to rule on the UHF discount before deciding on Sinclair/Tribune, said the broadcasters in a joint opposition filing posted Friday in docket 17-179, responding to petitions to deny their proposed deal (see 1806210071). “Petitioners provide no legal support or precedent for this argument -- as there is none,” Sinclair and Tribune said. The broadcasters also countered attacks on their divestiture plans, local news broadcasts and scale. Delaying decisions over pending court rulings would bring the FCC “to a standstill,” Sinclair and Tribune said. “There has hardly been a time over the past twenty years when there was not an FCC rulemaking pending or subject to appeal.” The D.C. Circuit is expected to rule on the matter in August or September, but the Sinclair/Tribune comment period will wrap up this month.
Though NAB made a single proposal on AM/FM subcaps, the industry is seen as divided on the issue, and a great deal of activity on the matter appears likely as the FCC gets closer to launching the 2018 quadrennial review, radio industry officials said in interviews. NAB recommended allowing groups in the top 75 markets to own up to eight FM stations, doing away with the FM cap in the markets outside the top 75, and entirely abandoning the AM subcap (see 1806180056).
A proposal to shift equal employment opportunity enforcement from the Media to the Enforcement bureau could indicate the FCC intends to get tougher on such violations, but could also be seen as gathering “low hanging fruit,” broadcast attorneys and civil rights officials told us Tuesday. Chairman Ajit Pai circulated a proposal to relocate EEO enforcement staff Tuesday morning, said a release then. The announcement was timed to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the agency’s EEO rules, and will “improve the FCC’s enforcement of those rules and strengthen our commitment to fighting discrimination,” Pai said. The shift was one of a host of EEO reforms requested by the Multicultural Media Telecom and Internet Council and other civil rights groups.
A Norwalk, California, man was arrested Friday in Los Angeles for allegedly threatening via email in December to kill FCC Chairman Ajit Pai’s family, according an affidavit (in Pacer) filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia and a DOJ release. Markara Man was said to have told police he was angry over the net neutrality rollback order when he sent the emails, one of which included the addresses of Arlington, Virginia, area preschools and the words "I will find your children and I will kill them.” Man is charged with “threatening to murder a member of the immediate family of a U.S. official with the intent to intimidate or interfere with such official while engaged in the performance of official duties,” DOJ said. The charge carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison, DOJ said. Man sent three emails total to Pai, on Dec. 19 and 20, DOJ alleged. The first accused Pai of being responsible for children that committed suicide over repeal of Communications Act Title II broadband regulation. “Their blood is forever on your hands,” the email said. The second was the list of preschools, and the third contained no text but a photo of Pai that included a framed photograph of his children in the shot, the affidavit said. Man allegedly later told police he found this image on Google,. The emails were traced by the FBI to an email address used by Man and his home. When the FBI executed a search warrant there in May, he admitted to sending the emails, using his phone and the email handle “stubblemanliness” to conceal his name and sound “tougher” the affidavit contended. Man told the FBI he was angry about the net neutrality move because "'they pretty much ignored, like, 80 percent of comments ... they ignored 'us,' and just didn't care," the affidavit said. When asked if he was trying to scare Pai to change his mind, Man said "pretty much," the affidavit said. Man was said to have told the FBI he "was not really thinking" and was "just angry and frustrated." Man wrote an apology letter to Pai admitting that threatening his children was “crossing the line,” adding he hoped Pai would change his mind on net neutrality, but doubted he would. The FCC declined to comment.
Senate Democrats, children’s TV advocates and anti-media consolidation groups condemned the FCC’s draft kidvid NPRM. Two letters called the NPRM premature and too expansive, and said it should be re-issued as a notice of inquiry. “The Commission should not act in haste to revise rules that can negatively impact children in our country,” said the letter to all commissioners from Sens. Ed Markey, Mass.; Bill Nelson, Fla.; Catherine Cortez Masto, Nev.; Kirsten Gillibrand N.Y.; Richard Blumenthal Conn.; and Jack Reed R.I.