Performing rights organization Global Music Rights will contact radio stations about extending until March 31 a license for its content, blogged Wilkinson Barker broadcast attorney David Oxenford Thursday, in a post emailed the next day. The previous deal expires Sept. 30. Stations that don’t hear from GMR by Sept. 15 should contact the PRO directly, Oxenford said. Stations that play GMR music without a license could face statutory damages of up to $150,000 per song, Oxenford said.

Terrier Media parent Apollo Global Management will convert from a limited liability company to a corporation, said a filing posted in docket 19-196 Friday. It's intended to supplement AGM’s request for permission to be foreign owned, and included a request to allow Tiger Global Management affiliates to own up to 49 percent of AGM. The shift to a corporation won’t change control of AGM and doesn’t change its status as a public company, the filing said: The Tiger companies count as foreign because they're based in the Cayman Islands but controlled by U.S. citizens. The Tiger affiliates own close to 15 percent of AGM. Terrier seeks declaratory ruling authorizing foreign ownership as part of its pending deal to buy TV and radio stations from Cox (see 1907120052).

The station groups subject of DirecTV's good-faith rules violation complaint (see 1906190027) no longer oppose FCC expedited treatment. In a docket 19-168 filing posted Thursday, Deerfield Media and the others said an agency decision on the complaint is needed to end "this fundamental and otherwise irreconcilable disagreement" and an expedited resolution would restore programming as quickly as possible.

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.