Standard General, Tegna and Cox Media Group, in court filings Monday challenging the FCC’s hearing designation order (HDO), targeted the FCC’s merger review process, Holly Saurer’s dual role as Media Bureau chief and as Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel’s media adviser, and the FCC’s administrative law judge. The companies are seeking a ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit by April 21.
A draft NPRM on circulation on the FCC’s 10th floor would seek comment on the agency’s implementation of the Low Power Protection Act but also asks for feedback on an LPTV-backed proposal to replace the FCC’s use of Nielsen designated market areas with a population based system, FCC officials told us. Despite being included in the draft NPRM, the DMA proposal isn’t seen as having much traction at the agency: the Media Bureau said last year there's no viable alternative to Nielsen. The NPRM isn’t considered controversial and is expected to be unanimously approved. The FCC uses a census-based system for cellphones and should therefore be able to use it for television, said LPTV Broadcasters Association President Frank Copsidas in an interview: “What is so complicated?”
Programs to promote broadband access need a sustainable, reliable source of funding beyond the current one-time federal infusion, and should partner with local community organizations to succeed, said panelists Thursday at the FCC Communications Equity and Diversity Council’s “Lessons Learned from the Pandemic” virtual roundtable. “We cannot fund [broadband access programs] only at one time, during a crisis,” said Ovidiu Viorica, who manages the broadband and technology program for the New Mexico Public School Facilities Authority. “We have to make the funding predictable, and continuous because that's what it's going to take.”
Broadcasters, MVPDs and public interest groups don’t agree whether sharing arrangements and top-four affiliates hosted on low-power TV multicasts are loopholes in ownership rules or ways for broadcasters to achieve scale and serve needful communities, according to several 2022 quadrennial review replies filed in docket 22-459 for Monday’s deadline (see 2303060070). Other filings urged the FCC to study news quality and broadcaster diversity, or condemned the agency for starting the 2022 QR with the 2018 version still open. That left TV and radio companies “wondering whether the Commission will recognize significant changes in the marketplace,” said Gray Television.
U.S. District Judge Terry Doughty for Louisiana's Western District in Monroe largely denied a motion Monday to dismiss a censorship complaint from the attorneys general of Missouri and Louisiana seeking an injunction against President Joe Biden, several federal officials and companies.
The full FCC should review and overturn the Standard/Tegna hearing designation order (HDO) by March 27 or the broadcasters will seek judicial review and challenge the constitutionality of the FCC’s administrative law judge, said Standard General, Tegna and Cox Media Group Friday in an application for review and motion for waiver and expedited review (see 2303160077). The HDO denies the transaction “without due process” and the FCC “should swiftly correct that overreach,” said the broadcasters. “If the Commission has not done so by 5:00 p.m. on March 27, applicants will have no choice but to seek judicial relief.”
The FCC’s administrative law judge won’t pause the hearing process and put the Standard/Tegna deal in front of the full commission, said an ALJ order Thursday. After that decision, Standard General asked three FCC commissioners to trigger “must vote” on the transaction, which would require Commissioner Geoffrey Starks to split with Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel to side with the agency’s Republicans. That's considered unlikely.
The full FCC approved a proposed $2.3 million forfeiture against two New York City pirate radio operators, plus an $80,000 proposed fine for another pirate radio operator in La Grande, Oregon, said a pair of notices of apparent liability released Wednesday. The NALs had been set for a vote at the FCC commissioners' open meeting Thursday, but a deletion notice on the items was released Tuesday.
The FCC draft ATSC 3.0 report and order circulated to 10th-floor offices would extend the substantially similar and A/322 physical layer requirements indefinitely (see 2303030064), grant NAB requests on multicast hosting in part, and doesn’t take up the matter of a 3.0 task force, FCC and broadcast industry officials told us. The item is expected to lead to a lot of lobbying from industry and negotiating among commissioners, and isn’t expected to be voted soon, industry and FCC officials told us.
A draft further NPRM on expanding audio description requirements to all broadcast markets within 10 years is expected to be unanimously approved at Thursday’s FCC commissioners’ meeting with few changes, said agency and industry officials. The proposed expansion is the most the FCC can do for audio description within the bounds of the 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act, said Clark Rachfal, American Council of the Blind director-advocacy and governmental affairs, urging Congress to pass legislation to require audio description for all video. The 10-year phase-in in the NPRM means blind and visually impaired consumers in smaller TV market state capitals such as Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, or Juneau, Alaska, may not have audio-described broadcasts until 2035, he said. “These are not insignificant places within the U.S.,” said Rachfal.