Top U.S. radio station owner iHeartRadio’s apparent upcoming restructuring is a long-anticipated necessary evil, and doesn’t reflect the industry's health, said broadcasters, brokers and analysts in interviews.
AM broadcasters filed more than 850 applications for new FM translators during s recent window, said an FCC news release Friday. Interest was higher than expected, broadcast industry officials and a spokesman told us. The window closed Wednesday was seen by many as the last chance for AM broadcasters to get a translator because no other windows are planned and space in the FM band is limited, broadcasters, brokers and industry lawyers said in interviews Friday.
Hawaii’s false missile alert stemmed from lack of safeguards and human error, including a Hawaii Emergency Management Agency employee who repeatedly confused drills and real alerts, said reports from the Public Safety Bureau at an FCC commissioners' meeting and later Tuesday from Bruce Oliveira, the retired brigadier general investigating for HI-EMA (see 1801250061). That staffer was fired and other employees were disciplined. Members of Congress told us they continue to be concerned, as are FCC members.
Broadcasters believe the estimated cost of the repacking is closer to $3 billion than the $1.86 billion figure last announced by the FCC, and that it won't be clear how well the repacking plan is functioning until late in 2018, when the process begins moving from one phase to the next, broadcasters and industry officials told us. The transition between phases of the repacking will demonstrate whether tower crews, manufacturers and broadcasters will be able to adhere to the FCC's repacking timeline. If broadcasters start missing their phase deadlines as the repacking goes on, it could have a cascading delay effect, said Gray Television Deputy General Counsel Robert Folliard. The first transition between repacking phases will be “a very telling day,” said PBS Assistant General Counsel Talia Rosen.
Public interest groups’ request for emergency stay of the FCC’s November broadcast ownership order on reconsideration (see 1801250065) is considered a “big ask” but the agency’s record of defeat on ownership rules at the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals means it has a real chance, said attorneys, broadcasters and academics. Petitioners Prometheus Radio Project and Media Mobilizing Project’s request the 3rd Circuit block the ownership rule changes and pending transactions based on them, and appoint a special master to force the FCC to collect data on minority ownership, might be a “tall lift” in most circumstances, said University of Minnesota School of Journalism assistant professor-media law Christopher Terry. If the court agrees the regulator again failed to follow the court’s directives, it’s “not an unreasonable request,” he added.
Questions about the origination of the recent false missile alert in Hawaii should be answered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency rather than the FCC, said FCC Public Safety Bureau Chief Lisa Fowlkes and several senators at a Commerce Committee hearing Thursday (see 1801240046), which FEMA officials didn't attend, despite being invited.
The FCC unanimously approved one media deregulation item from the upcoming January commissioners’ meeting agenda (see 1801090050) Wednesday. The second is also expected to be voted 5-0, officials said in interviews. An order doing away with rules left over from the DTV transition didn't change substantively from the draft, and the draft NPRM on filing requirements isn't expected to, either. "These revisions delete rule provisions that are without current legal effect and are therefore obsolete," said Wednesday's order.
The FCC deserves praise for its response to 2017’s rush of storms but could improve its Disaster Information Reporting System, provide incentives or funding to strengthen communications infrastructure in remote areas, and establish a regional office in Puerto Rico, said commenters in docket 17-344 to a call for comments on communications resiliency and FCC handling of hurricanes Irma, Maria and Harvey.
Congress was on the path Monday toward ending a three-day government shutdown, which already had widely varying impacts on communications-policy agencies. Senators voted 81-18 at our deadline to pass a continuing resolution that would fund the federal government through Feb. 8, after a bipartisan group of negotiators worked out a deal to debate immigration legislation. The shutdown began at midnight Friday after Senate Democrats voted overwhelmingly against cloture on a slightly longer CR amid disagreements with Republican leaders on immigration and other issues (see 1801190055). The House was also set to vote on the shortened CR later Monday.
Though ATSC 3.0 will enable advancements in emergency alerts, it can’t address the problems of an outdated, underfunded emergency alert system (EAS) operated by personnel who may be undertrained, said Advanced Warning and Response Network (AWARN) Alliance Executive Director John Lawson at an FCBA event on ATSC 3.0 Friday. Panelists at the event also spoke about the upcoming trials of ATSC 3.0 technology and the process remaining for the new standard to go into effect.