The FCC should have timed release of Form 323 broadcast ownership data to coincide with its call for refreshing the record of the 2018 quadrennial review, said the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights in replies posted in docket 18-349 Friday. The FCC “instead waited until the middle of the comment cycle to produce two-year-old data,” said the filing. “Given the current low numbers, the FCC must not take any action that will harm race and gender ownership diversity.” Radio ownership caps are a “hindrance” to agency goals and should be eliminated, said broadcaster Summit Media. “Market sub-caps do not promote localism or diversity in broadcast ownership.” If the FCC doesn’t eliminate ownership caps, at a minimum take up NAB’s proposal to reduce limits on FM stations and do away with AM caps, Summit said. Merge 2018's QR into 2022's and take the time to gather data, reiterated (see 2108270047) University of Minnesota assistant professor-media law Christopher Terry and Seattle University associate professor-communication Caitlin Ring Carlson. They offered up a new study of 1990 to 2010 radio content as evidence of declining diversity. Large radio combinations don’t lead to increased programming diversity, the filing said. “Black and women’s specialty programming both decreased.” Add two “Public Interest Commissioners,” said Sue Wilson, director of Media Action Center. Wilson urged the FCC to do empirical studies, and to tighten radio subcaps.
NAB's November FCC petition for clarification of ATSC 3.0 multicast rules is seen as making slow progress (see 2105280035), broadcast industry officials told us. A workaround developed by broadcasters and the Media Bureau requires some 3.0 stations to request special temporary authority every six months, and the bureau has granted 34 STA requests, said Media Bureau Legal Adviser Evan Morris on a Federal Communications Bar Association webinar Tuesday.
ViacomCBS and its streaming service Pluto TV agreed to a $3.5 million settlement with the FCC Enforcement Bureau over violations of FCC IP closed-captioning rules, said a consent decree Wednesday. Pluto didn’t provide timely accurate information, and it wasted "valuable Commission resources" and delayed "the resolution of the accessibility issues,” the decree said. This stems from consumer complaints about nonfunctional captions on Pluto TV in 2018, the decree said. An agency investigation found that despite being in contact with the FCC about captioning issues, petitioning for a waiver and receiving a letter of inquiry about possible violations, “Pluto continued to offer Pluto TV on existing Platforms and initiated Pluto TV on several new Platforms without being in compliance.” The business “failed to provide timely and accurate information,” the decree said. It includes an elaborate compliance plan, with consultations with disability groups, creation of a consumer information website, testing procedures to ensure functional captions on all platforms, training, and a three-year reporting requirement. A Media Bureau order lets Pluto withdraw its waiver petition. It's “the first consent decree and first enforcement action related to” IP captioning rules “since their adoption in 2012,” said the FCC. “We recognize the importance of closed captioning and have been working in close collaboration with the FCC on the consent decree,” emailed a Pluto TV spokesperson Thursday. “We are committed to ensuring that our audiences can freely enjoy the programming streaming on our platform with ease of use and accessibility.”
ViacomCBS and its streaming service Pluto TV agreed to a $3.5 million settlement with the Enforcement Bureau over violations of FCC IP closed-captioning rules, said a consent decree Wednesday. Pluto didn’t provide timely accurate information, “wast[ing] valuable Commission resources and delay[ing] the resolution of the accessibility issues,” the decree said. This stems from consumer complaints about nonfunctional captions on Pluto TV in 2018, the decree said. An agency investigation found that despite being in contact with the FCC about captioning issues, petitioning for a waiver and receiving a letter of inquiry about possible violations, “Pluto continued to offer Pluto TV on existing Platforms and initiated Pluto TV on several new Platforms without being in compliance.” The business “failed to provide timely and accurate information,” the decree said. It includes an elaborate compliance plan, with consultations with disability groups, creation of a consumer information website, testing procedures to ensure functional captions on all platforms, training, and a three-year reporting requirement. A Media Bureau order lets Pluto withdraw its waiver petition. ViacomCBS didn't comment. It's “the first consent decree and first enforcement action related to” IP captioning rules “since their adoption in 2012,” said an FCC release.
NAB's November FCC petition for clarification of ATSC 3.0 multicast rules is seen as making slow progress (see 2105280035), broadcast industry officials told us. A workaround developed by broadcasters and the Media Bureau requires some 3.0 stations to request special temporary authority every six months, and the bureau has granted 34 STA requests, said Media Bureau Legal Adviser Evan Morris on an FCBA webinar Tuesday.
Big TV groups remain interested in buying other ones, but opportunities are rare and purchases of individual stations in full-power TV and radio are at a crawl, said analysts, broadcasters and brokers in recent interviews. “All the low-hanging fruit has been picked,” said S&P Global analyst Volker Moerbitz. With the industry consolidated and ownership rules unlikely to loosen, that likely won’t change soon, said BIA Advisory Services Chief Economist Mark Fratrik: “It’s a natural evolution.”
The FCC “missed” by not defining streaming services as MVPDs and should correct that, said Hearst TV President Jordan Wertlieb at TV2025 on a virtual panel Thursday with Fox TV Stations CEO Jack Abernethy and Gray Television President Pat LaPlatney. “If we want to be intellectually honest, anyone distributing our signal is an MVPD,” Wertlieb said. The executives discussed their own streaming offerings but said broadcasting still delivers a larger audience than the alternatives. The “biggest indication” of broadcasting’s primacy is the NFL’s commitment to be on Fox into the 2030s, said Abernethy. Skyrocketing political advertising dollars demonstrate the same thing, he said. ATSC 3.0 will eventually allow stations to take full advantage of digital ads, Wertlieb said. Targetable ads will allow broadcasters to charge more, LaPlatney said. Abernethy and Wertlieb believe the most successful streaming operations will be those that focus on a niche, such as Fox’s upcoming weather channel. Hearst’s offering focuses on hyperlocal content for each station’s specific city, Wertlieb said. E.W. Scripps announced a foray into exports Thursday (see 2109230077). Asked about the future of retrans and declining cable subscribership, Wertlieb said the definition of retrans needs to be broadened, and LaPlatney said current rates don’t accurately reflect the audience broadcasters deliver. There might be ways stations could work with MVPDs to address or slow their subscribership declines, said Abernethy. “I do see those two ecosystems working together down the road,” said Wertlieb, saying broadcasters are working closely with MVPDs on ATSC 3.0. The execs expect auto ads to rebound sometime in 2022. Gambling ads are on rising but depend on jurisdiction, said Wertlieb. Betting is “a great category” for stations because it can’t be nationally advertised, Abernethy said.
The FCC “missed” by not defining streaming services as MVPDs and should correct that, said Hearst TV President Jordan Wertlieb at TV2025 on a virtual panel Thursday with Fox TV Stations CEO Jack Abernethy and Gray Television President Pat LaPlatney. “If we want to be intellectually honest, anyone distributing our signal is an MVPD,” Wertlieb said. The executives discussed their own streaming offerings but said broadcasting still delivers a larger audience than the alternatives. The “biggest indication” of broadcasting’s primacy is the NFL’s commitment to be on Fox into the 2030s, said Abernethy. Skyrocketing political advertising dollars demonstrate the same thing, he said. ATSC 3.0 will eventually allow stations to take full advantage of digital ads, Wertlieb said. Targetable ads will allow broadcasters to charge more, LaPlatney said. Abernethy and Wertlieb believe the most successful streaming operations will be those that focus on a niche, such as Fox’s upcoming weather channel. Hearst’s offering focuses on hyperlocal content for each station’s specific city, Wertlieb said. E.W. Scripps announced a foray into exports Thursday (see 2109230077). Asked about the future of retrans and declining cable subscribership, Wertlieb said the definition of retrans needs to be broadened, and LaPlatney said current rates don’t accurately reflect the audience broadcasters deliver. There might be ways stations could work with MVPDs to address or slow their subscribership declines, said Abernethy. “I do see those two ecosystems working together down the road,” said Wertlieb, saying broadcasters are working closely with MVPDs on ATSC 3.0. The execs expect auto ads to rebound sometime in 2022. Gambling ads are on rising but depend on jurisdiction, said Wertlieb. Betting is “a great category” for stations because it can’t be nationally advertised, Abernethy said.
Measuring TV viewers is expected to get more competitive following Nielsen’s accreditation troubles, and advertising targeting is considered the best way to monetize ATSC 3.0, said panelists at the virtual TV2025 Conference Wednesday. “I could see a time in the future where we start to rethink the value of third-party measurement,” said Publicis Media Senior Vice President-Global Research, Data Sciences Eric Cavanaugh.
Measuring TV viewers is expected to get more competitive following Nielsen’s accreditation troubles, and advertising targeting is considered the best way to monetize ATSC 3.0, said panelists at the virtual TV2025 Conference Wednesday. “I could see a time in the future where we start to rethink the value of third-party measurement,” said Publicis Media Senior Vice President-Global Research, Data Sciences Eric Cavanaugh.