PBS and the Association of Public Television Stations suggested the FCC’s proposed rule change to allow fundraising for nonprofit organizations on noncommercial educational stations should be limited to licensees that don’t receive a community service grant, or any successor grant thereto, from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The groups filed joint comments in docket 12-106 (http://xrl.us/bnh3fd). Comments were due Monday (CD July 24 p11). If the commission concludes it can’t draw this distinction, “then the commission ought to maintain the current rules,” PBS and APTS said. The unique public role of CPB-qualified stations would be undermined if they were allowed to raise funds for third parties over the air, they said. Such stations “have found the waiver process to work well where exigent circumstances present themselves,” they said. Given that some noncommercial broadcasters advocated for increased flexibility to raise funds on-air for other nonprofits, PBS and APTS proposed that “in lieu of replacing the waiver process, the criteria the commission uses for evaluating waiver requests could be updated and expanded as circumstances present themselves.” The current rule “represents a careful balance between the financial needs of local stations and their mission to operate an essentially noncommercial service,” NPR said (http://xrl.us/bnh3fj). The radio programmer urged the FCC not to undermine this balance, “especially in light of the existing flexibility afforded to stations by the current rule, and the presence of serious concerns about the impact of the proposal on local station service.” The proposal would impose an increased administrative burden on station staff “by requiring them to develop and implement internal guidelines for dealing with requests for third-party fundraising,” NPR said. “Already scarce resources should not be diverted from community service.” The University of North Carolina Center for Public Television supports relaxing the current rule. It said the agency should allow an individual NCE station to decide whether it participates at all, “how much of its programming time will be allotted ... and whether or not it merely produces and airs fundraising programs and activities or also collects and remits funds deriving from such programming and activities (http://xrl.us/bnh3fm).
A federal appeals court should grant NAB’s motion for a stay of the FCC’s online political file rules set to take effect Aug. 2, the association said in a reply brief filed Tuesday with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. “Neither the FCC nor Intervenors dispute that the Order requires broadcasters to engage in conduct that would violate antitrust laws absent an FCC order.” Even though there’s not agreement among commercial entities “in restraint of trade,” the antitrust implications are clear, NAB said. “It is the exchange of this competitively sensitive information that harms competition. The harm broadcasters could suffer if the order is implemented could reach $8.1 million annually in lost revenue, plus $50,000 a year for each station to comply with the rules, the NAB said.
News Corp. attorneys met with FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai and an aide to urge the commission against changing retransmission consent rules, an ex parte notice shows. “We explained the marketplace works well and that nearly all negotiations are resolved amicably, without any disruption to consumers,” it said (http://xrl.us/bnh3at). Answering a question from Pai, the lawyers said it’s time for the commission to repeal its ban on cross-ownership of a newspaper and broadcast license in the same market.
Gray TV said it will begin airing CBS programming on its WECP-TV Panama City, Fla., and WIYE-TV Parkersburg, W.Va., by Sept. 1, and on its WSVF-TV Harrisonburg, Va., by Oct. 1.
Five more Hearst Television stations will carry Weigel Broadcasting’s Me-TV network as digital multicasts, the companies said Tuesday. The stations are WCVB-TV Boston, KCRA-TV Sacramento, Calif., WBAL Baltimore, KOCO-TV Oklahoma City and WXII-TV Greensboro, N.C. Hearst also renewed its agreement to carry the network at eight stations already affiliated with it, they said.
The FCC may want to reach out to state officials and social services more as part of outreach on new Lifeline rules, said Wireline Bureau Telecom Access Policy Division Deputy Chief Kimberly Scardino at a NARUC panel Monday in Portland, Ore. The FCC is focused on outreach about recent rule changes, which affect issues such as documentation requirements, she said. There’s potential to take that outreach plan and expand it later “to really promote the program,” she said. The new documentation demands of Lifeline aren’t easy for a customer who may only make about $11,000 a year, said Sprint Nextel Senior Counsel Elaine Divelbliss. Many such customers may lack access to copiers, scanners, fax machines or computers that facilitate sending along those documents, she said. There’s some “genuine confusion” about Lifeline rules for some customers, and more education is helpful, she said. Scardino agreed that reaching out to state and local officials would potentially be helpful. “We wrote and recorded the public service announcements,” Scardino said. “We're also developing posters.” The FCC never developed “firm rules” about how carriers must conduct outreach to allow carriers flexibility in putting out the message, she said.
Smart grid technology will need to work with telecom, NARUC panelists said Tuesday on a NARUC conference panel in Portland, Ore. Fundamentally, smart grid is “an electrical application on a communications network,” said Vermont Commissioner John Burke, NARUC telecom committee chairman. Communications intricacies will be “part and parcel” with how the smart grid operates, he said. NARUC President David Wright described the smart grid, similarly, as a “killer app that could revolutionize” how people use and consume electricity.
The Rural Utilities Service is trying to adjust after the November FCC USF/intercarrier compensation order, said RUS Assistant Administrator David Villano at a NARUC meeting Sunday. RUS is unlikely to spend all funds obligated through its four major programs, he said. “Demand is substantially below where it has been in the past,” he told the NARUC telecom subcommittee. “We may need to make changes in our programs.” RUS has been “working closely” with the FCC “so we can use our funding in the future,” he said.
Verizon Wireless filed with the FCC an amended spectrum aggregation chart in support of its proposed spectrum swap with T-Mobile. “This filing corrects the chart listing Verizon Wireless’ current spectrum holdings in 23 counties in eight [cellular market areas], in which the original chart omitted certain licenses that Verizon Wireless is seeking to acquire from Leap in a pending application,” the filing said (http://xrl.us/bnh27u). “In each of the 23 counties, Verizon Wireless will hold less spectrum as a result of the spectrum exchange with T-Mobile. There is no overlap between these counties and the licenses that Verizon Wireless seeks to acquire in the SpectrumCo and Cox transactions.”
Bounce TV said it added to its programming schedule through licensing deals with Disney Studios, Miramax, Sony Pictures and MGM Domestic TV distribution. Among the movies it will show are Kazaam, starring retired basketball player Shaquille O'Neal.