The deadline for low-power TV stations and TV translators to file for repacking reimbursement was extended to Nov. 14, said an FCC Media Bureau public notice on docket 16-306 Tuesday. The LPTV Spectrum Rights Coalition and National Translator Association requested the extension, the PN said. The original deadline was Oct. 15, and that remains for FM stations seeking repacking reimbursement, the PN said. “The initial 60-day deadline was proving to be too quick a process, with many consulting engineers, legal counsel, and equipment vendors not having enough time to assist all that needed help,“ emailed LPTV Spectrum Rights Coalition Director Mike Gravino. More time should lead to broader participation, he said.

A petition on relaxing interference rules to make it easier for ATSC 3.0 broadcasters to use single frequency networks (see 1910040038) has LPTV Spectrum Rights Coalition President Mike Gravino “very concerned." In an emailed newsletter Monday, Gravino called for a “crowd sourced impact analysis” to gauge the effect of the petition on low-power TV, Class A and TV translator stations. He's seeking information on whether LPTV will be able to benefit from the proposal, whether any efforts have been made to study the effects on LPTV, and what will happen to LPTV stations “displaced” by the signals from distributed transmission systems outside their full-power station’s contour. “During the next two years LPTV will still be moving around, and many with government funding to move,” Gravino emailed us. “While I am very concerned about this Petition, I am open to seeing to how it could benefit us, also.”

The FCC Media Bureau approved transfer of stations between elements and debtors of Liberman Broadcasting as part of bankruptcy reorganization, and a temporary waiver of FCC rules on foreign ownership, said an order in Monday’s Daily Digest. The transfer will cause Liberman to be more than 25 percent foreign-owned, but the agency will allow the reorganized company to file a petition of declaratory ruling within 30 days of the transfer being completed, to allow bankruptcy proceedings to resolve. The waiver “would merely enable the LBI Debtors to emerge from bankruptcy before filing a petition for declaratory ruling,” the order said. The bureau granted Liberman’s request over the objections of Latinx for Equitable Media. Latinx didn’t demonstrate standing in most markets involved, said the order, referring to a new FCC policy on organizational standing articulated in the order approving Nexstar's buy of Tribune (see 1909160065). Latinx also based objections on allegations that were withdrawn during the bankruptcy proceedings, and sought FCC intervention on whether Liberman would continue to offer Spanish-language programming, the order said. “The Commission is prohibited by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution” from ”interfering with freedom of expression in Broadcasting,” the order said.

The FCC Media Bureau is working on a revised form for annual children’s TV reports, said Legal Adviser Evan Morris at an FCBA event Monday. Reports will move from a quarterly requirement to annual after OMB gives final Paperwork Reduction Act approval to several provisions of the new rules approved by commissioners in July (see 1907100067). The forms are expected to be submitted to OMB for PRA OK in November, Morris said. The bureau will issue a public notice on the new form, staffers said. They should be ready for the first reports in 2019, said Media Bureau attorney Kathy Berthot. The documents are expected to look and function similar to the current ones but will have many more entries since they now account for four times as much time, attorneys said. Some large broadcast groups will still require stations to internally submit quarterly kidvid reports to make the task of compiling the annual report easier, Video Division Chief Barbara Kreisman said. FCC officials told us they aren’t aware of any submitted or pending appeals or recon petitions for the kidvid rules, and the deadline for appealing the rules at the agency has passed.

The FCC should seek comment on relaxing restrictions on distributed transmission systems (DTS) to let stations transitioning to ATSC 3.0 better use single frequency networks, said a petition for rulemaking from NAB and America’s Public Television Stations posted in docket 16-142 Friday. Changing the rules to allow broadcasters to set up SFNs on the edges of their station contours would improve coverage throughout station coverage areas, increase spectrum efficiency, and reduce the need for TV translators, they said. NAB and APTS want the FCC to seek comment on redefining station coverage areas to allow DTS transmitter signals to reach outside the service area of a station’s central transmitter, so they can better fill in gaps in the edges of an outlet’s coverage. The rule change won’t result in more interference for low-power TV stations, the groups said. “Stations could enhance service to viewers by improving coverage throughout their service areas and offering improved mobile coverage without the risk of encroaching on the service of stations in adjacent markets.” Fletcher Heald broadcast attorney Peter Tannenwald said more flexibility for DTS is probably a good thing for the public, but that it’s not clear what the proposal could mean for LPTV. Low-power s could lose some viewers outside their protected contour to interference from DTS transmitters, he said. “If the FCC encourages DTS to replace translators, new channels could open up that would benefit LPTV stations.”

The full FCC rejected two applications for review appealing Media Bureau decisions to deny applications for FM translator construction permits, said orders in Thursday's Daily Digest. Alaska Educational Radio System's applications were rejected because it didn't show it's financially able to construct the translators it was applying for, said one order. “Given AERS’s repeated failure to provide this information, we affirm dismissal of the Applications,” it said. Emmanuel Communications' application for a Worcester, Massachusetts, translator permit was rejected because it would have interfered with a full-power radio station, a second order said. Though the FCC acknowledged that criteria for translator interference changed (see 1908270061) since Emmanuel's application was dismissed, that order applies only to applications that hadn't been acted upon when it was approved.

Entertainment Media Trust asked a bankruptcy court to stay the FCC's administrative law judge proceeding on the radio broadcaster's licenses, said status reports posted Wednesday in docket 19-156 (see 1909270049). EMT previously asked ALJ Jane Halprin to stay the FCC proceeding to allow the bankruptcy to proceed but also filed an emergency motion in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Illinois. Bankruptcy law that requires an automatic stay of proceedings involving property involved in a bankruptcy action “clearly prevents” the FCC from taking action on EMT's licenses “without relief from this Court to take such action,” EMT told the court. “This case appears to have been filed for the sole purpose of interfering with the ongoing administrative proceeding so that the defendants in that proceeding can sell the Licenses before the ALJ determines whether they are qualified licensees,” responded the Illinois U.S. Attorney's Office, representing the FCC. The commission has “the exclusive right to grant a license to use the airwaves and to approve any transfer of a license by a licensee,” the U.S. Attorney argued. EMT said in a status report submitted to the ALJ that it had sought to settle with the Enforcement Bureau but the bureau took a “hostile posture, refusing the notion of settlement at all.” EMT and its trustees “fundamentally misunderstand that the Commission, and not the Bankruptcy Court, has exclusive authority to determine whether the licenses at issue can be considered assets of the bankruptcy,” the EB said.

A bill that would restore the minority tax certificate and require the FCC collect data on broadcast ownership diversity could be the industry's answer to the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals chronic issue with FCC ownership rules (see 1909250064), said National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters President Jim Winston at the group's conference Wednesday. “The tax certificate can develop the record the court says it wants.” Along with creating a tax credit for broadcasters that sell stations to minorities and women, the Expanding Broadcast Ownership Opportunities Act (see 1704120027) would require the FCC report to Congress on ways to increase viewpoint diversity, said Timothy Graham, legislative counsel to Rep. G.K. Butterfield, D-North Carolina. Butterfield and Rep. Yvette Clarke, D-New York, are sponsors. The bill is HR-3957and the Senate version is S-2433. NAB President Gordon Smith and both Democratic FCC commissioners endorsed the bill, said Graham. Broadcast industry officials said a renewed tax credit is likely to be struck down on constitutional grounds as the previous one was, but Graham said the certificate proposed in the bill will be able to survive legal challenge. “We believe it's narrowly tailored,” he said. Fear the bill will face a court challenge shouldn't stop Congress from pursuing it, he said. Graham said there has been FCC “pushback” on the issue. The agency previously rejected proposals from its own Advisory Committee on Diversity and Digital Empowerment that the agency support the minority tax credit as part of an incubator program.

Verance landed adoption of its ATSC 3.0-specified Aspect watermarking for HbbTV’s “application discovery over broadband” platform, said the technology supplier Tuesday. The move will “facilitate” interoperability and give manufacturers and programmers “global scale and cost efficiencies,” said Verance.

Comments on FCC-proposed technical changes to low-power FM rules are due Oct. 21, replies Nov. 4, said a public notice Friday on docket 19-193 (see 1907310044).