The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit denied Chinese-language radio broadcaster Foundation for a Beautiful Life’s emergency request for a stay order to allow its Saratoga, California, low-power FM station to continue broadcasting. The broadcaster didn’t meet the court's requirements for such motions, said a brief order Friday. Foundation for a Beautiful Life constructed its station in a location different from that listed on its construction permit and continued to broadcast after having its application for a license dismissed, the FCC said (see 2006020056).

The Communications Act gives the FCC authority to let low-power TV stations continue providing analog audio signals after they transition to digital, channel 6 LPTV stations wrote in a letter posted docket 03-185 Friday. The Preserve Community Programming Coalition responded to NPR (see 2006100036) arguing the agency can’t grandfather “Franken FMs.” It's “astonishing” that NPR “in its quest to exert full control over the bottom of the FM dial” would “seek to eliminate important local programming directed to immigrants, persons of color, and other underserved communities,” PCPC said: “Put an end to the uncertainty” whether channel 6 stations can keep airing analog audio.

Entities seeking FCC approval for rule changes on FM translators and boosters disagree whether their proposals are related, in dueling emailed statements from GeoBroadcast Solutions and Broadcasters for Limited Program Origination. The broadcast group’s petition (see 2006240061) to originate programming on FM translators is “fundamentally different” from GBS’ petition (see 2006040024) that would allow stations to localize programming with synchronized boosters and isn’t “driven by technology innovation,” the company said. The broadcaster group disagrees the requests are so different, and said GBS is overselling the complexity of its tech. GBS’ comparison of its tech to ATSC 3.0 “displays a troublesome chutzpa,” said the broadcaster group. The broadcasters said the FCC should act on their proposal at the same time as the GBS one, while GBS sought to distance itself from the translator origination proposal. “Each offering must stand on its own for its merit and market potential, and not create the misrepresentation that they should be connected in some way,” said GeoBroadcast. “If FM booster stations are allowed a regulatory easing on content choice for limited portions of the broadcast day, then so also should FM translator stations be equally allowed to choose whatever programming their licensees best think would serve their listening audience,” said the broadcasters. “Proposals to use non-fill-in translators to transmit a week's worth of key programming would skew this proceeding in an entirely different direction,” said GBS.

The FCC’s grant to Gray Television of a top-four duopoly that allowed it to buy KDLT-TV Sioux Falls, South Dakota -- an OK that came immediately after the agency’s Prometheus IV loss at the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals -- led to more news for local viewers and lower advertising rates, Commissioner Mike O’Rielly blogged Thursday. Groups opposed to media consolidation and some legislators accused the FCC then of flouting the 3rd Circuit’s ruling (see 1910220044). “Daring to save local television stations and trying to ensure competition in small markets through this approach doesn’t come without criticism,” O’Rielly said. Smaller markets need the same flexibility as larger markets, he said. The FCC “has shown that thinking outside the traditional media ownership box yields pro-consumer and pro-competition results,” O’Rielly said.

The FCC sought comment on a petition from a group of broadcasters asking the agency to authorize program origination for FM translators and FM boosters. The petition seeks “a uniform FCC rule change for both FM boosters and FM translators to allow each to originate programming content provided that the primary station is retransmitted for no fewer than 40 hours in any calendar week,” emailed Womble Bond's John Garziglia, who represents the Broadcasters for Limited Program Origination. Comments are due in RM-11858 July 23, per Wednesday's Daily Digest.

Five Nashville stations began broadcasting in ATSC 3.0 Tuesday, Sinclair announced. Sinclair owns WZTV, WUXP-TV and WNAB, E.W. Scripps owns WTVF and Nexstar, WKRN-TV. WZTV, WUXP and WKRN will be “charter participants” in the launch of spectrum consortium BitPath’s data broadcasting network, said BitPath CEO John Hane. Stations have also gone live with 3.0 in Pittsburgh and Las Vegas (see 2006170061).

America’s Public Television Stations is relocating within Arlington, Virginia, July 1 to 1225 South Clark St., emailed CEO Patrick Butler. The new location has “less square footage, more efficiency, a more modern office design, and a lower rental cost for the new 12-year lease,” he said. It's the same building as PBS’ new headquarters. “Staff continues to work remotely while official restrictions and our own health safeguards are in force,” Butler said. Amazon moving to the area its second HQ meant "considerable dislocation," the APTS CEO wrote.

NAB and the American Council of the Blind point to COVID-19 to justify their opposing arguments about an FCC proposal to extend video description requirements to the top 100 designated market areas, in comments posted Tuesday in docket 11-43 (see 2004220065). NAB supports the FCC extending the requirements and tentative conclusions that the requirement is cost effective. It wants a nine-month extension on implementation to better align with broadcaster budget cycles and to give stations time to recover from pandemic financial woes. The requirement would take effect in January; NAB wants that pushed to October 2021. “Any perceived downside” of such an extension is “far outweighed” by the benefits of giving broadcasters “a longer runway,” NAB said. COVID-19 is precisely why the FCC shouldn’t delay implementation, said ACB. The pandemic “created a situation where access to news and entertainment is uniquely important,” said the group. The FCC shouldn’t look at only the pandemic when considering the costs of the proposal, but also the benefits, ACB said. NAB and ACB endorsed an FCC proposal to replace the term “video description” with “audio description,” which ACB said lines up with other federal and international uses.

The FCC should reject Univision’s petition to be allowed to be up to 100% foreign owned and prevent investment firms ForgeLight and Searchlight Capital Partners from buying a majority of the company, Free Press and Mijente wrote in a letter posted in docket 20-123 Thursday. Free Press and Mijente didn’t file a petition to deny the deal by the June 4 deadline -- nor did other entities -- and Friday was the deadline for oppositions to such petitions and for replies on the declaratory ruling. Free Press and Mijente also hadn’t filed in the declaratory ruling docket 20-122 before last week. MANA and the League of United Latin American Citizens asked the FCC to delay the proceeding and allow more time for comments, after DOJ's request that it be put on hold pending Team Telecom review. “The need for more local and diverse Spanish-language and Latinx-centered content is far too important for the Commission to simply rubber-stamp these transactions,” said Free Press and Mijente. Relaxed foreign broadcast ownership rules have “opened the door to more corporate consolidation and the global redistribution of U.S. broadcast assets,” said the joint letter. “This transaction would foreclose opportunities for diverse and local ownership of broadcast stations,” the two said. As "this nation grapples with the legacy and institutionalization of white supremacy and anti-blackness, we must ensure that communities can take greater control and ownership of their media,” Free Press and Mijente said. The Univision deal isn’t expected to hit regulatory snags because the investment firms don’t own any media properties that overlap with the broadcaster (see 2003030059).

Most provisions of FCC broadcast notice rule changes won’t take effect until the item receives OMB Paperwork Reduction Act approval (see 2006170062).