Oral argument is set for June 11 in what will be called Prometheus IV, said an order (in Pacer) Tuesday from the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The challenge of the FCC 2014 broadcast ownership quadrennial review (see 1905030048) takes place before the same three-judge panel as the previous Prometheus cases: Thomas Ambro, Julio Fuentes and Anthony Scirica. That panel has ruled against the FCC in each of the case’s three previous iterations. The agency gets 30 minutes to argue, said a letter (in Pacer) from the clerk of the court, while petitioners’ 30 minutes will have to be divided up by the three sets of challenging entities. They are anticonsolidation groups that include Prometheus Radio Project, a group of small and midmarket broadcasters that includes Quincy Media and Morgan Murphy Media, and a third set of the Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council and National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters. Oral argument is in U.S. District Courthouse in Philadelphia.

Comments on a Cumulus petition for a declaratory ruling that would allow it to be up to 100 percent foreign owned are due June 20, replies July 8, said a public notice in Tuesday’s FCC Daily Digest. Cumulus wants to allow holders of warrants and nonvoting stock to “convert or exercise these instruments in exchange for voting stock” and after that exchange, the company's foreign ownership would be at 34 percent, the PN said. Though that’s less than what Cumulus is requesting, the broadcaster “believes that elimination of the overall limitation on foreign ownership of its shares will, inter alia, enhance the market liquidity of its stock,” the PN said.

There’s no specific timeframe for an NPRM on C4 FM, an aide to Chairman Ajit Pai and a Media Bureau staffer told SSR Communications CEO and C4 advocate Matthew Wesolowski in a meeting Friday, said an FCC filing posted Monday in docket 18-84. “Comments from the 2018 Notice of Inquiry window were still under evaluation,” staff told Wesolowski. The FCC might consider a request for a waiver that would allow a broadcaster to improve its station in a similar manner to the C4 proposal if the pool of potential future eligible applicants could be narrowed, the broadcaster said.

Eliminating FCC radio ownership subcaps would have “a serious detrimental effect” on AM stations and cause existing AM programming to move to FM, replied Crawford Broadcasting on the 2018 quadrennial review, before the May 29 deadline in docket 18-349. Broadcast radio is a separate entity from other media services and “the broadcast radio market is the proper market for determining the need for any changes in broadcast ownership limits,” Crawford said. Eliminating only the AM subcap, as iHeartMedia proposes (see 1905170019), would still hurt AM, Crawford said. Removal of AM subcaps would let entities acquire AM stations to keep them from playing certain formats or serving certain demographics, potentially creating monopolies “that would cripple other AM stations in the same market,” Crawford said.

The NPRM on 2019 regulatory fees “does not meet the barest of standards to which the FCC holds itself and to which Congress holds the Commission” and doesn’t include sufficient information for broadcasters to comment, NAB said in a call with Office of Managing Director staff, the group filed, posted Monday in FCC docket 19-105. The notice proposes a 20 percent increase for radio stations without justifying the jump, NAB said. “The Notice makes no attempt to explain or justify this increase in the Notice, even though the fee hikes will be an unexpected and substantial burden for many broadcasters." The FCC’s 2019 budget increase of 5.2 percent doesn’t explain the 20 percent shift, NAB said. “An overall budget hike simply does not explain the newly proposed fee hike for the radio industry.” The NPRM doesn’t explain why it says that radio stations have decreased in number, the trade group said. Media Bureau’s statistics AM and commercial FMs total increased by one in 2019, NAB said. “Until this is clarified, there is simply no way broadcasters can meaningfully comment.” The commission should issue another notice, NAB said.

Elimination of the requirement broadcasters file midterm equal employment opportunity reports took effect Wednesday, said a Media Bureau public notice Friday. The FCC adopted an order eliminating the requirement in February as part of media regulation modernization (see 1902140053).

Standard Media agreed to buy ABC affiliates WLNE-TV New Bedford, Massachusetts, and KLKN Lincoln, Nebraska, from Citadel Communications, said a joint news release from the companies Thursday. “We look at this acquisition as the first of many as we work to create a new competitive player in the consolidating broadcast TV industry,” said Standard CEO Deb McDermott. The deal is expected to close in Q4. Standard was originally created to purchase divestitures from Sinclair/Tribune, but remained in business after that deal collapsed.

The FCC should allow AM stations to move to the 45-50 MHz section of the VHF band, said WRNJ Radio in a petition for rulemaking posted Thursday in docket 13-249. There is “a large portion of vacant space” in the band, WRNJ said. Current occupants of that spectrum are listed as state and local emergency management, police dispatch and EMS paging, the petition said. WRNJ has found that spectrum largely devoid of signals in New Jersey and New York, and that major manufacturers no longer make equipment for that band, the filing said. “WRNJ recognizes there are still a few users, but it is believed that it is just a matter of time before they also migrate.” Allowing AM stations to voluntarily move to the band and operate in digital mode would address the interference issues plaguing their current home and wouldn’t require additional FM translators, WRNJ said.

Deregulating radio ownership to the extent proposed by NAB in the quadrennial review could have “profound and unforeseen consequences,” said Salem Media CEO Edward Atsinger and radio host Hugh Hewitt in a meeting with FCC Chairman Ajit Pai Wednesday, said a filing posted Friday in docket 18-349. The meeting included a representative from iHeartRadio. Both radio broadcasters oppose the NAB plan, along with the National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters and the Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council, the filing said. Salem wants the rules kept at the status quo, while iHeart has argued that only AM subcaps should be dissolved. The NAB plan would lead to “foreseeable and troubling migration of content from the AM band to the FM band,” Salem said. “There is a real public interest imperative for the Commission to ensure the continued health of AM stations,” the filing said. NAB didn't comment.

Twelve of the 23 short-form applications for a June 25 auction of mutually exclusive FM-translator construction permits -- called Auction 100 -- are incomplete, the FCC Office of Economics and Analytics and the Media Bureau said in a public notice in Thursday’s Daily Digest. Deficiencies in the 12 incomplete applications must be corrected by May 29.