U.S. District Court in Los Angeles should reject the Radio Music License Committee’s “procedurally improper” motion for review of a magistrate judge’s evidence order in Global Music Right’s lawsuit (see 2001160026) against RLMC, GMR filed Tuesday (on Pacer). RMLC should raise any concerns through the meet and confer process, GMR said: The judge decided it would be a “crushing burden” to require GMR to collect, review and produce documents about its interactions with terrestrial radio companies.

Private equity firm Black Dragon Capital agreed to buy Belden's Grass Valley broadcast software company, Grass Valley announced Tuesday. The deal is expected to be completed in Q1, the release said. “There are no immediate changes planned to Grass Valley's operational management structure.” The deal has an upfront cash payment of $140 million plus “various forms of deferred consideration,” including a $213 million five-year seller’s note, up to $130 million in payment-in-kind interest and $150 million in “potential earn-out payments,” Belden said.

The FCC Media Bureau rejected Prometheus Radio Project’s petition for reconsideration of the bureau’s denial of an objection to an FM translator application from Mega-Philadelphia, said a letter in Tuesday’s Daily Digest. The application was among 328 Prometheus-filed petitions of reconsideration, after its 994 informal objections were rejected (see 1901290033) for lacking standing. The one against Mega-Philadelphia was found to have standing but was denied on its merits. Prometheus argued all FM translator auctions should adhere to the stricter protection requirements the bureau imposed in Auction 83. MB said it sets the rules for each auction individually: “We therefore reject Petitioner’s contention that the procedures set up for Auction 83 must be utilized in all subsequent secondary service filing windows.”

FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly said he’s not “professionally embarrassed” about the state of the TV industry, in a letter to longtime consumer activist and former presidential candidate Ralph Nader posted Monday. “I am proud of the accomplishments of my work and this Commission,” O’Rielly responded to letters Nader sent to all five commissioners in March and in January. The March letter called the FCC “an inert toady” for the radio, broadcast TV and cable industries and Chairman Ajit Pai “a textbook poster boy for future scholars of regulatory capture.” Last month, Nader rebuked commissioners for not responding. "This is not good protocol," Nader told the commissioners. "Remember, the agency that you have been entrusted with is called the Federal Communications Commission, not the Federal Stonewalling Commission." In an interview Monday, Nader said TV content is largely “junk” and the FCC let down the public interest by allowing too much advertising and getting rid of regulations that served the public, such as the fairness doctrine. Licensees are taking advantage of public resources in the form of broadcast spectrum and cable licenses, Nader told us. “They’re using our private property!” Nader said. “I respectfully disagree,” O’Rielly said in his response letter. Nader faulted the other FCC members for not responding. He’s waiting for more responses before deciding whether to reply to O’Rielly.

BMI and the Radio Music License Committee agreed to settle their rate dispute and will enter into a multiyear deal covering licensing from 2017 until 2021, they announced Thursday. Along with a new rate retroactive to 2017, RMLC agreed to a one-time payment to BMI to cover litigation fees. The agreement “clarifies and preserves the platforms that are covered by the scope of the license and associated revenue, including over-the-air broadcasts, as well as the stations’ simulcast streaming, podcasts and HD radio,” the release said. That sentence could lead to confusion among broadcasters regarding using licensed music in podcasts, blogged Wilkinson Barker broadcast attorney David Oxenford Friday. BMI “controls only a portion of the rights necessary to use music in podcasts and, without obtaining the remaining rights to that music, a podcaster using the music with only a BMI license is looking for a copyright infringement claim.” The deal needs judicial OK, the release said. “While litigation is sometimes a necessary step, our preference is always to work out an amicable solution with our licensing partners,” said BMI CEO Mike O’Neill. “We hope that this deal will assist others in the music licensing community in determining fair rates for everyone,” said RMLC Chair Ed Atsinger.

The FCC hinted at the possibility of a Supreme Court appeal of the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Prometheus IV decision, in a status report in another case Wednesday. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai declined to comment Thursday whether his agency is in discussions with DOJ about seeking certiorari for a SCOTUS appeal by the Feb. 18 deadline. In a joint filing with the News Media Alliance in another 3rd Circuit case, News Media Alliance v. FCC (On Pacer, No. 17-1108), the FCC asked the court to delay because of a possible cert petition. The 3rd Circuit should “hold this case in abeyance until any timely filed petitions for writ of certiorari in the Prometheus cases are disposed of and (ii) extend the deadline prescribed by the Court’s November 20, 2018 Order until 30 days after the certiorari petitions, if any, are disposed of,” said the joint filing. The alliance case was a 2017 challenge to the FCC ban on newspaper/broadcast cross-ownership that has been on hold while similar cases such as Prometheus proceeded.

FCC commissioners rejected an application for review of a Media Bureau decision nixing appeal of MB rejection of a former station’s license renewal application because it was filed without informing the FCC that the licensee had died, said an order Wednesday. Frank Rackley, licensee of DWNBN(AM) Meridian, Mississippi, died in 2011, but the station’s license renewal application was filed in 2012 without disclosing his death. Under FCC rules, “an application for involuntary assignment of license must be filed with the Commission within thirty days after the date of death.” Six years later, station administrator Eddie Rackley filed the correct application and the bureau approved the transfer of the station to Jimmie Hopson, but documents reflecting the consummation of the sale and seeking approval of Hopson as a licensee were never filed, the order said. In June 2018, staff dismissed the renewal application and ruled that the station’s license expired in 2012. Arguments from Rackley and Hopson they were unfamiliar with the rules and weren’t represented by counsel are new and inapplicable to an appeal, and wouldn’t be a defense anyway, the order said. “It is well settled that parties that act pro se assume the responsibility of complying with the Rules,” said a footnote.

Salem Media will pay a $50,000 civil penalty for repeatedly broadcasting a sponsored call-in show in 2017 that was identified on-air as live but was prerecorded, said an order and consent decree in Tuesday’s Daily Digest. HealthLine Live host Robert Marshall died in April 2017, but the show aired until December 2017, including portions in which the taped Marshall repeatedly described the show as live and urged viewers to call in, according to Salem’s response to an Enforcement Bureau letter of inquiry. “Any taped, filmed, or recorded program material in which time is of special significance, or by which an affirmative attempt is made to create the impression that it is occurring simultaneously with the broadcast, must be identified by broadcast licensees as taped, filmed, or recorded,” said the order. “Doing otherwise may mislead the public.” Along with the $50,000 payment, Salem must implement a compliance plan and file compliance reports with the FCC for three years.

FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks’ chief concerns with the shift to ATSC 3.0 are the data privacy and security implications, he told the NAB joint board annual meeting Monday. NEXTGEN TV’s features rely on consumer data collected by broadcasters and device makers, he said. “How will that data be kept secure? How will it be stored, anonymized, or sold? How will consumers be fully aware of what data are being collected and how it is being used?” There’s “an ever growing mountain” of evidence on the negative outcomes from artificial intelligence systems using algorithms to sift data and exhibiting biases for certain demographics, Starks said. “Widen your aperture to be aware of and conscientiously think through complex issues involving data and privacy that are going to dominate our shared future,” he told NAB. Starks also focused on FCC data collection, calling the FCC’s data collection on broadcast ownership diversity “stale.” It's "still not clear to me how, for nearly 20 years, the FCC ignored Congress’ will by not collecting” equal employment opportunity workforce diversity data, Starks said. “That means we have had zero visibility into the diversity of station management and news and production teams. I will continue to work to re-open this issue going forward,” he said. Starks disagreed that collecting EEO data or diversity policies would be vulnerable to constitutional challenges. “Collecting and analyzing data is a ministerial function that is necessary for the FCC, as an expert agency, to have a better understanding of the industries that we regulate,” Starks said. “We have a direct order from the 3rd Circuit Court to implement a data program that would help understand the impact of our regulatory efforts on the ability of women and people of color to own stations.” Broadcasters should work to improve diversity in broadcasting, he said. “Hold yourselves accountable -- this is an annual meeting of the NAB board, so make sure that one year from now, the numbers are better.”

Sinclair will sell Nexstar a station and pay $60 million as part of an agreed “resolution” to a 2018 breach of contract lawsuit Tribune filed against Sinclair in the wake of the scuttled Sinclair/Tribune deal, a Sinclair spokesperson said Monday. Nexstar bought Tribune in 2019, but the lawsuit continued in Delaware Chancery Court (see 1808150056). According to an 8-K form Sinclair filed with the SEC Monday, the lawsuit will be dismissed with prejudice as part of the settlement. "Neither party has admitted any liability or wrongdoing in connection with the terminated merger; both parties have settled the lawsuit to avoid the costs, distraction, and uncertainties of continued litigation." Nexstar filed a similar 8-K Monday as well. Along with the $60 million payment to Nexstar, Sinclair will sell the license of WDKY-TV Lexington, Kentucky, to Nexstar, plus non-license assets of KGBT-TV Harlingen, Texas. “Sinclair and Nexstar have also modified an existing agreement regarding carriage of certain of Sinclair’s digital networks by stations acquired by Nexstar in connection with the Tribune acquisition,” said the Sinclair spokesperson in an email. In the initial breach of contract filing in 2018, Tribune had sought $1 billion in damages over the failed deal. Attorneys told Communications Daily then that a settlement for a much smaller number was the likely outcome. Tribune blamed the Sinclair transaction’s failure on Sinclair’s contentious negotiations with the FCC and DOJ. “Sinclair invited litigation over station divestitures, summarizing its position to DOJ in two words: ‘sue me,’” the lawsuit’s initial complaint said. Sinclair filed a counterclaim arguing Tribune was involved in those negotiations and violated agreements by backing out of the deal after the FCC designated it for hearing. Sinclair’s licenses are up for renewal in 2020, and several attorneys have said they expect the questions about the company’s candor raised in the FCC hearing designation order to come up again during that process.