Expand the exemption from equal employment opportunity obligations for small stations to include those with 50 full-time employees or fewer, asked an early joint filing from 82 broadcasters posted in FCC docket 19-197 Friday. The exemption now is stations with five or fewer FTEs. EEO rules are intended for larger broadcasters with human resource departments, the outlets said. Setting the threshold at 50 is more in line with human resources practices in other industries, they said. “This is a plaintive plea by smaller broadcasters for relief from these ongoing, pervasive, time-consuming, and resource-gobbling paper-work and documentation requirement.” They want the FCC to cease calculating broadcaster employment units by market and instead count each station group as one entity. This will reduce paperwork burdens, the joint filing said: “Since the FCC eliminated its main studio rule, using local market based employment units for EEO metrics is an anachronism.” Every licensed radio station should be required to post full time jobs on employment websites, the filing said. Signatories included Heartland Communications, Cromwell Group, Georgia-Carolina Radiocasting and East Arkansas Broadcasters.

“Don’t screw this up,” Commissioner Mike O’Rielly said of FCC relaxation of kidvid requirements in a speech Friday to the Arkansas Broadcasters Association. “We absolutely expect stations to take advantage of the flexibility in the rules,” O’Rielly said. But “if bad actors blow through the restraints that are still in place or exploit the increased flexibility by broadcasting an infinite amount of infomercials,” critics will “be aggressive in swinging the pendulum back the other direction,” O’Rielly said. The new rules don’t “slash” children’s programming but provide added flexibility, he said. O’Rielly will meet with local officials in “problematic” markets to discuss pirate radio, he said. He met earlier this month with New York Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz about collaborating on ways to alert advertisers about pirate stations, he said. “You can expect to hear of future meetings and activities in the coming months.” The FCC will use new technology to “better pinpoint violations,” he said. O’Rielly also said he expects Congress to reach a “modest outcome” on Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act renewal, called the DOJ’s workshop on broadcast competition “underwhelming,” and described the U.K.’s communications regulations as “paternalistic.” Relaxation of kidvid rules was approved 3-2 at the July 10 commissioners' meeting (see 1907100067).

The FCC should require Administrative Law Judge Jane Halprin to issue a supplemental decision on Lake Broadcasting to correct legal errors in the first one (see 1905310053), said Lake Broadcasting posted in docket 14-82 Wednesday. The proceeding concerns the proposed sale of a translator to Lake in 2012 and CEO Michael Rice’s status as a convicted sex offender who previously had station authorizations revoked over a lack of candor. Halprin’s initial decision should have excluded decades-old police reports describing alleged sexual misconduct by Rice before his conviction on similar charges, the brief said. “The Enforcement Bureau managed to turn this proceeding into a relitigation of Mr. Rice’ crimes, which occurred more than 28 years ago.” The decision ignored evidence submitted by Lake that Rice has been rehabilitated “and can be relied upon to be truthful with the commission.” The brief faults the decision for having an unusual identification number and containing Halprin’s “personal views” about Rice’s attempts to short-circuit the hearing process by withdrawing the application for the sale, the brief said. “The ALJ’s musings about abuse of process and disrespect for the forum are exaggerated and incorrect,” the company said: Halprin should make further findings of fact and issue a supplementary decision.

AT&T continues to offer terms that could lead to a CBS blackout on its DirecTV, DirecTV Now and U-verse platforms, the broadcaster said Tuesday. It said AT&T is offering "unfair terms well below those agreed to by its competitors." It said DirecTV and U-verse could lose CBS-owned stations in more than a dozen markets as of 11 p.m. Friday, and DirecTV Now customers nationwide would lose CBS network programming. AT&T also saw more than 120 Nexstar stations go dark earlier this month on the DirecTV and U-verse platforms (see 1907090048). AT&T said it's "disappointed to see CBS put our customers into the middle of negotiations." The telco said it wants to keep CBS stations in its lineups.

The FCC should delay acting on Apollo Global Funding subsidiary Terrier Media’s request for permission to be up to 100 percent foreign owned, said DOJ, DOD and the Department of Homeland Security, posted Monday in docket 19-196. Terrier wants to buy TV and radio stations from Cox (see 1907120052). “The Agencies currently are reviewing this matter for any national security, law enforcement, and public safety issues,” the letter said.

NAB submitted its comments previously filed on DOJ’s broadcast competition workshop (see 1906180056) to the FCC’s 2018 quadrennial review docket 18-349, said a filing last week. “Several points raised in our DOJ comments are relevant to issues being considered in the Commission’s quadrennial review proceeding.”

Petitions to deny in Terrier Media’s buy of Cox’s TV stations (see 1905290052) are due Aug. 12 in docket 19-197, said a public notice in Friday’s Daily Digest. Terrier is a subsidiary of hedge fund Apollo Global Funding. Oppositions to the petitions are due Aug. 22, replies Aug. 29. Though Apollo and the series of subsidiaries through which it controls Terrier are controlled by U.S. citizens, the company is considered foreign-owned under FCC rules “because the voting interests of its U.S. owners are held through a Cayman Islands entity,” said a public notice on the declaratory ruling. Comments on the petition for declaratory ruling are due Aug. 12, replies Aug. 27.In a supplemental filing posted Friday, Terrier asked that its planned buy of Cox radio stations (see 1906260083) be added to the foreign ownership petition.

The FCC Media Bureau rejected Northeastern Educational Television of Ohio’s appeal of the rejection of over $60,000 in expenses related to the post-incentive auction repacking, said an order Friday. NETO sought to be reimbursed for a pair of pre-repack field strength measurements for two of its stations, but per-transition measurements aren’t covered by the catalog of expenses and aren’t eligible for reimbursement, the bureau said. NETO argued the tests were needed for comparison to assess its post repack coverage, but the FCC determined each station’s pre-repack coverage using the TV Study software, the order said. “NETO does not and cannot explain how a pre-repack field strength test is required to confirm that the post-repack coverage is consistent” with the information in TV Study, the order said. “Neither the Spectrum Act nor the Incentive Auction R&O contemplated that pre-repack field strength measurements would be necessary or utilized in determining baseline coverage areas and population served.”

A hearing on allegations that radio licensee Entertainment Media Trust wasn’t truthful with the FCC about its ownership (see 1906050063) is set for July 13, 2020, said an order Thursday in docket 19-156 from Administrative Law Judge Jane Halprin after a pretrial conference Tuesday. April 3 is the deadline for requesting a summary decision, and June 22 for replies to objections. The allegations against EMT concern whether its stations are under the control of felon Robert Romanik, who calls himself “The Grim Reaper of Radio.” The parties will file monthly status reports, with the first due Aug. 6.

An FCC Media Bureau letter of inquiry that revealed an ongoing investigation into Sinclair(see 1906270068) over allegations of lack of candor was inadvertently posted last month through “a clerical error,” said FCC Chairman Ajit Pai during a post-meeting news conference Wednesday. The LOI was taken down later the same day it was posted. Sinclair said the LOI was connected with efforts to resolve outstanding issues connected with the Sinclair/Tribune hearing designation order. Pai declined to comment on further details of the investigation.