An item on Nexstar listed by the FCC as being on circulation doesn’t directly relate to the company's buying Tribune, agency officials told us last week. Listed as “Nexstar Broadcasting, Inc., Application for Renewal of Licenses of Nexstar Broadcasting, Inc. and Compliance with the Children's Television Act,” the item involves renewal of the broadcaster's licenses, the officials said. It isn’t uncommon for the agency to “clear the decks” of older, unresolved matters before approving a deal, the officials said. DOJ approved most of the Nexstar/Tribune divestitures earlier this month. The broadcaster is seen likely to divest a station in the lone market flagged by antitrust authorities (see 1908010035). It’s possible that an order approving the deal wouldn’t be circulated at all but approved at the bureau level on delegated authority, the officials said. Nexstar didn’t comment Friday.
NAB and several large radio groups defended an FM translator interference order, in filings in docket 18-119 posted Friday opposing petitions for reconsideration by the LPFM Coalition, Skywave Consulting and several radio licensees (see 1907290064). The FCC “was on solid empirical ground” in deciding the 45 dBu contour limit and other policies for the revamped translator interference rules, said iHeart, Entercom, Cox, Neuhoff, Radio One and Beasley. Media Alliance supported of the LPFM Coalition’s recon petition, saying the revamped rules violate “citizen rights to petition a government agency for redress.”
Low-power broadcasters, TV translator stations and FM broadcasters seeking reimbursement for costs from the post-incentive auction repacking have until Oct. 15 to file with the FCC, said the Incentive Auction Task Force and the Media Bureau in public notices Thursday on the procedures and banking policies. Industry officials told us many broadcasters paid for relocation costs some time ago and need the funds.
The FCC’s repacking plan is successfully relocating broadcasters to their new frequencies, but to meet deadlines many are relying on interim antennas that don’t necessarily reach all their viewers, said broadcasters and tower officials in interviews. “430 TV stations have moved off their pre-repack channels; 557 to go,” tweeted FCC Chief of Staff Matthew Berry Wednesday. “The process is going well, but a lot of work remains.” Success “is measured differently by the FCC,” said Ron Scalfani, logistics coordinator for tower company Precision Communications: “The FCC is reporting victory; we’re seeing a backup.” The transition's phase 4 ended last week; phase 5 has just begun and lasts until September.
Broadcaster disputes with AT&T and Dish will likely wrap up by September, political advertising will be bigger than ever before in 2020, and chipmaker partner Saankhya made its first sale of ATSC 3.0 chips, said Sinclair Broadcast executives on the company’s Q2 earnings call Wednesday. Sinclair’s total revenue for Q2 was $771 million, versus $730 million the prior year, it said in a news release.
The 2019 nationwide emergency alert system test appeared to go relatively smoothly Wednesday, said emergency alerting officials gauging early results.
A proposed $233,000 forfeiture against Cumulus and some subsidiaries wouldn’t adequately punish the company for violating a 2016 consent decree by allegedly breaking FCC sponsorship ID rules, said FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks -- formerly of the agency’s Enforcement Bureau -- in a dissent on a notice of apparent liability issued Tuesday. The NAL lists $25,000 of that forfeiture specifically as the penalty for violating the consent decree, and that’s not enough, Starks said in a dissenting statement. The proposed forfeiture “does not follow well-established Commission precedent and is not, in my mind, commensurate with the misconduct and violations at issue.” Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel concurred on the NAL.
A DOJ complaint and proposed consent decree on the $6.4 billion Nexstar/Tribune deal (see 1907310077) is seen as flagging an Indianapolis top-four duopoly as a possible issue in the purchase, said industry analysts. The DOJ filing also argues that MVPD and digital advertising aren’t substitutes for broadcast advertising, a view at Justice that some broadcasters had thought might be changing after a May broadcast competition workshop (see 1905020068). “I think they are recognizing the way they view broadcasting belongs in the I Love Lucy era,” said NAB CEO Gordon Smith in an interview on C-Span’s The Communicators, recorded last week.
Digital companies such as Apple and Facebook have grown so large they're comparable to “robber barons” and “corporate nation-states,” said NAB CEO Gordon Smith on an episode of C-Span’s The Communicators, set for telecast Saturday. “There comes a time where a private interest gets so large it has a public impact,” said Smith. “It is time to put some guard rails on.” The former Republican senator said he agreed with Democratic Party presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., that “this is something Congress should seriously look at.”
The FCC unanimously approved an NPRM Tuesday on technical changes to low-power FM rules that had been slated for Thursday’s commissioners’ meeting. As expected, the proposals were noncontroversial and the item didn’t undergo substantive changes before getting an OK (see 1907150055). The quick approval and lack of back and forth suggests an order that arises out of the NPRM is also unlikely to meet with much opposition on the eighth floor, broadcast attorneys told us. The NPRM acknowledges that LPFM is developing into “a mature service,” said REC Networks founder Michelle Bradley in a blog post. The FCC issued a notice Wednesday announcing the item's deletion from Thursday's agenda.