Broadcasters, satellite companies and trade groups disagreed how often the FCC should reevaluate its regulatory fee structure and whether the system needs new payers, in reply comments filed by Thursday’s deadline. The agency should “continue to conduct such reviews of the work of its indirect FTEs [full-time equivalents] annually, as well as to identify additional ways that the Commission’s regulatory fee process can be made fairer and remain current,” said a joint reply from state broadcast associations in docket 23-159. “A complex accounting of indirect FTEs is not fair, administrable, or sustainable” and doing such an analysis annually would create administrative burdens and raise fairness concerns, said CTIA.
DirecTV’s “hollow” antitrust lawsuit against Nexstar and sidecar companies Mission Broadcasting and White Knight Broadcasting should be dismissed for lack of standing, said the broadcasters Monday in a heavily redacted motion to dismiss filed in U.S. District Court in the Southern District of New York (docket 1:23-cv-02221). DirecTV never paid "the purportedly inflated retransmission consent fees,” said the filing. Because the parties never reached agreement on retransmission consent renewals, “it is impossible to know that they actually would have done so, much less what the rate and non-rate terms would have been, whether that rate would have exceeded market benchmarks,” the broadcasters said. DirecTV filed the lawsuit as a retransmission consent negotiating tactic, and also lacks standing because it can’t show that the court can do anything to redress the matter, the broadcasters said. A judgment in the case would only enjoin Nexstar’s relationship with Mission and White Knight, not compel DirecTV to carry them, said the motion. DirecTV therefore hasn't pleaded, and can't plead, "facts demonstrating that success in this lawsuit will redress the harm it alleges,” said the filing. Even if there were collusion between Mission and White Knight, it would be irrelevant because the companies don’t own top-four stations in the same market, the broadcasters said. “A common, industrywide, and FCC-regulated business practice cannot, in and of itself, support an inference of unlawful conspiracy,” the filing said.
Broadcasters believe a letter from Senate Commerce Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., could move FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel to refresh the record on a nearly decade-old proceeding on classifying streaming services as MVPDs, but the programming networks don’t agree. Rosenworcel’s March 24 letter (see 2303310061) to Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, “reflects her latest thinking on the matter,” emailed an FCC spokesperson Friday in response to questions about Rosenworcel’s stance and Cantwell's comments. The FCC “lacks the power to change these unambiguous provisions on its own,” the Chairwoman wrote then.
An upcoming Supreme Court decision in Biden v. Nebraska, which concerns the White House’s student loan forgiveness program, could clarify to what degree the court’s major questions doctrine (see 2302080064) could be used to challenge the actions of federal agencies such as the FCC, said HWG's Chris Wright and FCC Deputy General Counsel Jacob Lewis Thursday on a virtual FCBA panel.
An upcoming Supreme Court decision in Biden v. Nebraska, which concerns the White House’s student loan forgiveness program, could clarify to what degree the court’s major questions doctrine (see 2302080064) could be used to challenge the actions of federal agencies such as the FCC, said HWG's Chris Wright and FCC Deputy General Counsel Jacob Lewis Thursday on a virtual FCBA panel.
The FCC approved a draft ATSC 3.0 order with sunset dates for the substantially similar and A/322 physical layer requirements (see 2304070045) and is expected to release it soon, FCC and industry officials told us. The order extends the substantially similar requirement for four years, and will require the FCC to examine the progress of the new standard one year before the sunset date. The order also similarly extends the physical layer requirement. The substantially similar requirement had been set to end in July. The A/322 physical layer was to sunset in March, but that was temporarily stayed by the agency earlier this year.
The NAB-stewarded, FCC-involved task force intended to iron out the ATSC 3.0 transition -- The Future of TV Initiative – kicks off Monday at NAB’s headquarters in Washington, D.C. The meetings (see 2304170056) are closed to the press, and neither NAB nor the FCC would say who from the agency is participating or in what capacity, but the entities invited to attend seem optimistic, if scant on details. “I don’t think we know enough to say how it will go, but we’re cautiously intrigued,” said Kathleen Burke, task force participant and Public Knowledge policy counsel. “We are hoping that the process clears the way for the FCC to resolve any outstanding regulatory issues so that the NEXTGEN TV transition is accomplished in an expedited manner," emailed Lonna Thompson, general counsel for task force participant America’s Public Television Stations.
Among the first broadcasting matters likely to be taken up by a full five-person FCC are the 2018 Quadrennial Review and the proposed Equal Employment Opportunity data collection, said broadcasters, public interest advocates and FCC officials in interviews this week. Both items have been long stalled at the agency and are considered nearly ready to be rolled out, industry and FCC officials told us. Such a 2018 quadrennial order likely wouldn’t include substantive rule changes, broadcast industry officials said. “I don’t have any great hopes of any massive deregulation,” said Gray Television Senior Vice President-Government Relations and Distribution Rob Folliard. The FCC didn't comment on the specifics of what Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel has planned for broadcasting once she has an FCC majority, but an agency spokesperson said the Chairwoman "will continue to prioritize protecting consumers and preserving competition, localism and diversity.”
FCC Administrative Law Judge Jane Halprin terminated the Standard/Tegna hearing proceeding, said an order Thursday in docket 22-162. Tegna and Cox Media Group withdrew from the proceeding last week, and Tegna filed the formal withdrawal of its transfer applications Wednesday. Standard said it's ready to continue litigating the matter. “It is not in the public interest to expend the time and resources to continue this hearing as an academic exercise,” wrote Halprin. The proceeding "is therefore terminated,” said the order.
Cox, CBS and Fox agreed to a $48 million settlement with advertisers in a long-running antitrust lawsuit stemming from a 2018 DOJ investigation of ad price collusion that arose during inquiries into the failed Sinclair/Tribune deal, said a motion filed last week in U.S. District Court in Chicago (docket number 1:18-cv-06785). Under the settlement, Cox, CBS and Fox will provide information and testimony that could help the advertisers as the litigation continues against broadcasters that aren’t part of the settlement, such as Nexstar, Sinclair and Gray Television. The settling defendants will provide “meaningful cooperation, which will assist Plaintiffs in the prosecution of their claims against the Non-Settling Defendants,” said the motion.