Broadcaster reductions in the FCC 2019 regulatory fee order (see 1908280021) as compared with the NPRM are "a rare win against ever-increasing regulatory fees," blogged Pillsbury broadcast attorney Lauren Lynch Flick Wednesday. The "narrow approach" to funding the FCC "makes little sense," said Flick. It collects fees from licensees, "while charging no fees to those that rely on the FCC’s rulemakings to launch new technologies on unlicensed spectrum" or participate in rulemakings. Unlike other licensees, broadcasters "have no ability to just pass those fees on to consumers as a line item on a bill," Flick said. The regulatory fee process "is mired in a system in which broadcasters are left holding the bag for more than 35% of the FCC’s operating budget." The lawyer called it "an old formula, and it no longer works." America's Communications Association said the order's increases on direct broadcast satellite operators is "welcome progress" toward fee parity, though the FCC could have gone further. It said smaller MVPDs have been subsidizing DBS, and the FY 2020 regulatory fee order "should complete [the FCC's] long journey to fee parity for all MVPDs.”

Team Telecom -- DOJ, the Department of Homeland Security and DOD -- withdrew their hold on Leading Media’s request for permission to buy five Texas radio stations as a subsidiary of Mexico-based company Multimedios, said a letter posted in FCC docket 19-167 Wednesday (see 1906200016).

Three AM licensees must pay delinquent regulatory fees, said the FCC Media Bureau and Office of Managing Director in three orders to pay or show cause in Tuesday's Daily Digest. Heidelburg Broadcasting owes about $11,000 for WVOL Berry Hill, Tennessee, for 2007-09; Christian Broadcasting of De Ridder owes just over $7,800 for KDLA De Ridder, Louisiana, for 2010 and 2012-16; and The Sportzmax owes about $2,500 for WDSP DeFuniak Springs, Georgia, for 2010-12, the orders said. Licensees have 60 days to pay the fees or give the agency reasons why the costs should be waived or deferred.

The Team Telecom agencies withdrew their hold on Apollo Global Funding subsidiary Terrier Media’s request for permission to be up to 100 percent foreign owned (see 1907150061), said a letter from DOJ posted Tuesday in FCC docket 19-196. DOJ, Homeland Security and DOD “have no objection to the application” after analyzing it for potential national security, law enforcement and public safety issues. Terrier seeks a declaratory ruling authorizing the foreign ownership as part of its pending deal to buy TV and radio stations from Cox (see 1907120052).

NAB rebuttals of the LPFM Coalition’s petition for reconsideration of FCC FM translator interference rules “might have more credibility” if they included responses to the coalition’s arguments the order violated the Administrative Procedure Act and disenfranchised listeners, the coalition replied in docket 18-119 (see 1908160056). “If the NAB had creditable counter-arguments, it would have made them.” The recon petition doesn’t repeat old arguments, it appeals new statutory and constitutional violations, the coalition said. The FCC “has no authority to jettison constitutional rights,” by limiting listener interference complaints to one per building, the coalition said. “Stubborn refusal to remedy the Rulemaking’s legal infirmities would be beneath the dignity of agency imbued with and required to abide by the rule of law." Also this week, LPFM licensee Charles Anderson countered large radio groups opposing reconsideration. “The assertion that fringe audiences are listening to 39-45 dBu signals in their homes defies logic,” Anderson said. Use of the listener data from those large groups “resulted in a flawed conclusion to the detriment of the thousands of translators now rendering valuable service" nationwide, he said.

The FCC should extend comment deadlines on a petition for rulemaking on live closed-caption quality by about a month, motioned NAB and NCTA, posted in RM-8503 Monday. Comments are due Sept. 13, replies Sept. 30, and the groups want Oct. 15 and Oct. 30. It would let comments “reflect closed captioning quality discussions that will take place during an upcoming conference among NAB, NCTA and representatives of deaf and hard of hearing advocacy organizations on October 2,” the filing said: “An extension will produce more constructive comments from industry and the advocacy groups alike, and in turn, will develop a more robust record.”

The Advanced Warning and Response Network Alliance met with Commissioner Mike O’Rielly and an aide to Commissioner Geoffrey Starks Monday, said filings posted in FCC docket 16-142 Friday. The meetings were progress reports on advanced emergency alerts, emergency alerting user interfaces with ATSC 3.0, and the potential for localized alerts transmitted with streaming media.

The FCC Incentive Auction Task Force and Media Bureau will host a webinar on repacking reimbursement procedures for low-power TV, translators and FM stations at 11 a.m. EDT Wednesday, said a public notice in Thursday’s Daily Digest. It will discuss filing reimbursement forms, eligibility criteria, cost estimates and the allocation and payment process. Reimbursement procedures were announced in PNs last week (see 1908150052).

New Jersey needs a new emergency alert system, said Thursday's New Jersey Broadcasters Association newsletter. “We need a replacement for this aging system, which has failed in recent tests, to insure the safety of all New Jersians.” Sound quality during the nationwide EAS test earlier this month was “a big complaint” (see 1908070074), NJBA said. “An updated FM based alerting system would solve that problem.”

The FCC should open a window for new noncommercial educational FM services before a low-power FM window to prevent disruption to new LPFMs, said Cambridge Community Radio President Michael Starling in a meeting with Media Bureau Audio Division Chief Albert Shuldiner Tuesday, per a filing in docket 19-3. “Past meritorious broadcast experience” should be used as tie-breaking criteria among prospective new licensees, Starling said, posted Thursday. NCE Cambridge Community Radio supports proposals to relax LPFM technical rules in docket 19-193, and a proposed power increase that was left out of that NPRM (see 1907310044): “Time-proven spacing safeguards can be met to avoid any meaningful risk of interference.”