Nexstar competed the $7.2 billion buy of Tribune, it announced Thursday. The combined broadcaster is “the nation’s largest pure-play local broadcast television and digital media company,” it said. It reaches 39 percent of U.S. TV households under current FCC rules, the maximum under the national ownership cap. With the deal’s close, an associated $1.33 billion in divestitures of 21 TV stations to Tegna, Scripps and Circle City Broadcast was completed. Scripps’ buy of eight stations, including in New York, Phoenix and Miami, makes it the fourth-largest broadcaster, it said. The FCC OK'd the Nexstar deal in a 3-2 party-line vote announced Monday (see 1909160065).Tegna bought 11 TV stations for $740 million, it said. The markets include Hartford, Memphis and Des Moines. “These acquisitions enhance and diversify our portfolio of Big Four stations in key markets, including election battleground states,” said CEO Dave Lougee.
Stations should be able to satisfy FCC notice requirements (see 1909030057) with a tab on their homepage that says “Pending FCC Applications (or something similar)” rather than the full notice text, said NAB in a call with Media Bureau Audio Division Chief Albert Shuldiner Friday, said a filing posted Wednesday in docket 17-264. “It might be more appropriate and consistent with consumer expectations."
Entertainment Media Trust's bankruptcy filing and stay request is a “calculated attempt” to keep FCC Administrative Law Judge Jane Halprin and other parties in the case from receiving documents, said a filing in docket 19-156 from Mark Kern, who filed the petition to deny that precipitated EMT’s hearing designation order (see 1909120069). “There is no evidence” bankruptcy relief is needed, he said. EMT’s bankruptcy petition shows assets of just over $2 million exceed debt of $121,000, Kern wrote. EMT hasn’t produced documents requested by the FCC and Kern and shouldn’t be considered eligible for a stay, he said. The Enforcement Bureau motioned Tuesday to compel EMT to respond in full to its document requests.
Entercom CEO David Field told FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and Commissioner Brendan Carr he’s concerned proposed modifications to low-power FM technical rules could increase congestion on the FM dial (see 1907310044) and he supported the upcoming media modernization item to eliminate broadcaster notices in newspapers (see 1909030057), said filings on meetings last week posted in docket 18-349 Tuesday. Field also supported NAB's proposal to deregulate radio ownership (see 1905300018).
Opening the 2019 biennial filing window for broadcast ownership reports using FCC Form 323 was postponed from Oct. 1 to Nov. 1, and will extend until Jan. 31 instead of Dec. 1, said a Media Bureau public notice on docket 07-294 Tuesday. That "will ensure sufficient time to properly implement additional technical improvements” to filing system, the PN said.
Deadlines for Entertainment Media Trust to respond to inquiries from the FCC Enforcement Bureau and other parties in its case are suspended until Administrative Law Judge Jane Halprin rules on EMT’s request for a stay, Halprin said in an order posted in docket 19-156 Thursday. EMT’s stay request is based on its having filed for bankruptcy (see 1909030061). “If the requested stay is not ultimately granted, the Presiding Judge intends to establish a new due date for EMT to file its responses,” she said.
Nexstar buying Tribune would harm localism and should be denied, Common Cause told an aide to FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks in a meeting Friday, said a filing posted in docket 19-30 Wednesday. The deal -- expected to be approved this week (see 1909040035) -- would also give Nexstar increased bargaining power over retransmission consent negotiations, the group said: “These harms run contrary to the Commission’s goals of promoting localism, diversity, and competition.”
WRNN License Co. wants the FCC to modify the market for WRNN-TV New Rochelle, New York, to include communities served by Altice in several New York and New Jersey counties, said a petition for special relief posted in docket 12-1 Wednesday. WRNN recently relocated within the New York designated market area as part of a channel sharing agreement, “resulting in a material change to the service it provides,” the petition said. Altice has historically carried WRNN’s channel sharing partner WWOR-TV Secaucus, the petition said.
The FCC Media Bureau and Office of Managing Director revoked the license of Shelley Broadcasting (SBC) of Montgomery, Alabama, over close to $10,000 in unpaid fees dating to 2008, said a revocation order released Tuesday. It deleted the call sign of Shelley’s AM WGEA Geneva. Staff gave SBC 60 days in June to pay the fees or show why it couldn’t (see 1906060034). The company said it couldn’t pay due to an IRS tax refund owed to the broadcaster’s owners since 1987, the order said. Evidence about the tax refund doesn’t show why Shelley can’t make good, it said: “SBC has provided no documentary evidence that SBC itself is financially unable to pay.”
The FCC Media Bureau will add more applications to the licensing management system (LMS) that were originally accessed through the consolidated database system (CDBS), said a public notice in Tuesday’s Daily Digest. The forms include construction permit and license applications for FM, low-power FM and translator stations. Starting Sept. 25, those forms will no longer be available on the CDBS, and accessible only on LMS, the PN said. “The Bureau will be adding more filing schedules to LMS on an ongoing basis.”