A new C4 FM class would lead to further congestion of the FM band, said Beasley Media. And NAB and Alpha Media reiterated that in replies posted in docket 18-184 Tuesday. The proposals in the FCC’s Notice of Inquiry are “ill-conceived notions that would further clutter the radio dial and hamstring FM stations from improving their facilities in the future,” said Alpha Media. More than 100 small and independent broadcasters wrote with the opposite view, said the originator of the C4 proposal, SSR Communications. iHeartMedia doesn't object to the C4 class, but like other broadcasters it objected to the NOI’s proposal to allow the FCC to involuntarily reduce interference protection for FM stations that aren’t performing at their allowed level. “Such action would contribute to a higher ‘noise floor’ overall, remove desired-station service from existing listeners, and limit much needed transmitter-siting flexibility, all for the potential benefit of a limited class of individual stations,” iHeart said. “Both proposals should be dismissed because they will reduce the technical integrity of the FM band at a time when broadcasters already face interference that hinders service and their ability to compete,” NAB said. The association’s position hasn’t been supported by any evidence, SSR said.
The FCC made preparations for Hurricane Florence and has staff “in the field” in anticipation of the East Coast landfall, public notices and officials' tweets said Tuesday. “Staff are now in the field preparing for the arrival of Hurricane Florence, and here in DC we are working closely with our federal partners to get ready for response and recovery efforts,” tweeted Matthew Berry, chief of staff to Chairman Ajit Pai.
Phase 1 of the incentive auction TV band repacking is widely expected to proceed smoothly after it kicks off Friday. Broadcasters, equipment manufacturers and tower workers are seeing signs future stages may be bumpier. “We are hearing from Phase 1 stations that they are on target,” said FCC Incentive Auction Task Force Chair Jean Kiddoo in an interview.
The FCC proposal to restrict interference complaints about translators from full-power FM stations to a 54 dBu contour will vastly reduce full-power stations’ listenership and cause losses of service, said most replies in docket 18-119 Thursday. “There are a substantial number of documented listeners who would be jettisoned from protection against FM translator interference,” said Beasley Media, Cox, Entercom, Gradick Communications, iHeartCommunications, Neuhoff Communications, Withers Broadcasting and Radio One. They offered a compromise of extending the cutoff to 42 dBu, and that wouldn’t be a hard barrier but instead require interference complaints based on a higher threshold of evidence. The contour proposal was the primary focus of most commenters, though not all radio licensees opposed it. Aztec Capital Partners, the company behind one of the petitions that inspired the proceeding, compared opponents of the proposal to “cattle barons” claiming dominion over the entire open range. Opponents ask for “governmental protection to service areas they are not entitled to, with FCC regulatory processes preserving their grazing rights against newcomers and other users of spectrum,” Aztec said. Bloomberg Communications said the FCC plan would create certainty for investments in translators. Numerous commenters -- such as the New Jersey Broadcasters Association -- argued that the proposal threatens the primary status of full-power FM stations, and would clutter the band. “The situation is a classic example of trying to fit 2 pounds of product in a one pound bag,” said Press Communications. NAB didn’t weigh in on the contours but took issue with FCC proposals that would limit listener participation in the complaint process: “Allowing a translator licensee to try to correct interference problems is often a cost-effective way to eliminate complaints quickly and efficiently.” Low-power FM groups opposed the FCC’s proposal to set a six complaint minimum for interference complaints. Such a high number favors larger broadcasters, said REC Networks.
A dangling national ownership cap proceeding and a flurry of TV dealmaking mean there’s an expectation the FCC will act to change the 39 percent audience reach cap, officials said. But broadcasters, industry analysts and attorneys aren’t sure when the commission will do so. The agency was seen as on the brink of issuing a cap order in July, and though that didn’t happen, broadcasters have considered an order possible ever since. Some think the midterm elections could affect timing, and others said the jockeying to buy Tribune could lead the agency to act. Commissioners' Sept. 26 tentative agenda Wednesday (see 1809050029 and 1809050056) doesn’t include action on the cap. Attorneys said a vote on such a contentious issue outside a meeting is unlikely.
Tribune helped plan divestitures it now calls "shams" and violated the terms of its agreement with Sinclair by backing away from the deal in the face of the FCC hearing designation order, the spurned buyer said Wednesday in a response filing and counterclaim to the takeover target's breach of contract lawsuit in Delaware Chancery Court (see 1808150056). FCC objections to the deal “came out of nowhere” and were “abrupt and surprising,” Sinclair said: “At no point during these discussions did the FCC ask for any changes or more information” regarding the divestitures it later called out as deceptive or regarding “the consideration the Parties would receive in the transaction.”
Gray Television’s buy of Raycom is widely expected to be approved by the FCC, industry officials told us, though recent DOJ actions make it harder to predict that agency’s reaction. Gray/Raycom is the leading edge of what could be a wave of dealmaking among TV groups, partially spurred by the demise of Sinclair/Tribune (see 1807230055), said Patrick Communications media broker Gregory Guy. The collapse of a combination that would have been vastly larger than any other broadcaster has “pumped a bunch of air into the industry,” Guy said. TV broadcasting is no longer a “two-horse race,” he said.
The FCC Office of the Inspector General found “no evidence or suggestion of impropriety, unscrupulous behavior, or favoritism” in FCC actions toward Sinclair, said a statement issued Monday by Chairman Ajit Pai that was later confirmed by the original document. An investigation of Pai’s relationship to Sinclair was requested last fall by Democratic lawmakers (see 1802150031) and critics of Sinclair’s buy of Tribune -- including Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel. Opponents of the Sinclair/Tribune have said the Pai FCC’s moves on ownership deregulation appeared to give Sinclair special treatment, before he advanced the hearing designation order (HDO) that killed the deal.
The FCC, Federal Emergency Management Agency, and Hawaii broadcasters and carriers were gearing up Thursday for landfall of Category 4 Hurricane Lane, we found. Though the storm isn’t expected to cause the same level of damage as Maria and Irma did last year to the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico, broadcasters and emergency alert officials are making extensive preparations, said Hawaii Association of Broadcasters President Chris Leonard in an interview. “We don’t take any of these things lightly.” Lane "will bring life threatening conditions across Hawaii through Saturday with damaging winds, dangerous surf, coastal storm surge and INTENSE FLOODING RAINS,” tweeted the National Weather Service.
A draft NPRM on Class A AM station interference rules circulated by FCC Chairman Ajit Pai last week focuses on protections that prevent local Class B, C and D radio stations from interfering with the distant signals of more powerful Class A stations, FCC officials told us.