Growth of “unregulated platforms” has “upended the initial justification” for the kidvid rules, said 19 groups including the American Conservative Union, Americans for Tax Reform, Campaign for Liberty and Digital Liberty, posted in docket 17-105 Wednesday. That makes the rules vulnerable to legal challenge, the groups said. “This is an area ripe for reform and deregulation,” they said. “Reducing the burden of regulation will further this Commission’s stated interest in supporting regulatory parity to avoid the creation of unnecessary market distortion.” Broadcasters' arguments they need more flexibility on kidvid are “without merit,” the Benton Foundation, Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood and Center for Digital Democracy told aides to Commissioner Geoffrey Starks, said a filing posted in docket 18-202 Wednesday. “Offering accessible, educational children’s programming is one of the few public interest obligations the broadcasters are required to meet.” Letting stations show all kidvid content on multicast channels will make it difficult to locate, and kidvid programming is already often pre-empted for live sports, the groups said. “If the rules are loosened even further, the unpredictability of when children’s programming is aired will make it even harder for parents to find.”

The Advanced Warning and Response Network Alliance will demo at next month's NAB Show a new user experience and uses for AWARN emergency alerts using the ATSC 3.0 broadcast standard, alliance Executive Director John Lawson told FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and an aide. To improve over prototypes, Lawson told Pai the group met public safety officials from cities including New York and did usability testing, recounted a filing posted Tuesday in docket 16-142. It said 3.0 could be used for connected vehicles, and there are "potential synergies between AWARN and Wireless Emergency Alerts." The standard could be used for "localized emergency alerts for streaming media," said the alliance. An alert mock-up Lawson emailed us shows a black box taking up the middle third of a TV screen, with warning text and a button on the bottom to get "more info" and another to "dismiss" the message. He told us changes from earlier versions include "a simple banner in the middle of the screen vs filling the whole page" and viewers have two choices instead of more options. AWARN could put legacy emergency alert system warning screen crawls in the top third of a TV screen and the lower third is for “'Breaking News' graphics," Lawson added. "Clicking 'more information' leads to multimedia graphics like evacuation routes and shelter locations."

FCC rules implementing the 2018 Reimbursement Expansion Act to pay back some low-power TV and translator stations and FM outlets for costs from the broadcast spectrum incentive auction are effective April 25, says a notice for Tuesday's Federal Register (date conversion here). "Compliance will not be required for §73.3701 until the Commission publishes" further FR documents, it says. That's a new rule in the order requiring a station certify it hasn't received or doesn't expect to get overlapping reimbursement from third-party sources. At their March 15 meeting, commissioners unanimously approved a reimbursement order (see 1903150073).

Anti-consolidation groups arguing against the 2014 quadrennial review and ownership reconsideration order (see 1812210070) lacked enough evidence to conclude the rule changes wouldn't significantly affect minority and female ownership and fail to account for the FCC's "reasonable judgment" that competitive changes and public policy considerations supported the moves. So argued the agency in a docket 17-1107 brief (in Pacer) posted Friday with the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The agency said it kept its restriction on mergers among the top-four rated stations because the record showed that prohibition was still an appropriate way to preserve programming competition. It said there's no requirement it show every ownership rule independently "promotes every form of diversity" and regardless, it looked at alternatives to promoting minority or female ownership but concluded they posed First and Fifth amendment challenges. The ownership rules "desperately needed change" and petitioners don't establish a right to relief under the Administrative Procedures Act deferential standard of review since the the FCC met its legal obligation by looking at the rules in light of competition, industry intervenors said (in Pacer). They said the challenge of the FCC's radio station ownership incubator program, if successful, would reverse the agency's first meaningful attempt in a generation at boosting female and minority ownership. They said petitioners seek "wildly overbroad remedies" that would invalidate actions not being challenged. The intervenors are Nexstar, Fox, News Media Alliance, NAB, News Corp., Bonneville International, Sinclair and Connoisseur Media. Petitioner outside counsel emailed us it's reviewing industry and FCC briefs but "neither grapples with the fundamental failure of the FCC to consider the harm to ownership by women and people of color caused by media consolidation.”

With an FCC freeze lifted, some expect many requests for displacement relief from low-power TV stations. The Media Bureau ordered that effective April 18, the hiatus will be off, after it was "imposed to preserve channels for the window for LPTV/translator stations displaced by the Incentive Auction to file displacement applications. Applications are on a first-come, first-served basis, said the public notice in Wednesday's Daily Digest. "The freeze on the filing of applications for new LPTV/translator digital stations and major changes remains." Requests for digital companion channels also will be accepted. The LPTV Spectrum Rights Coalition expects 2,500-plus applications for relocation channels and a "wide variety of modifications," it emailed Thursday: "Full Employment For Consulting Engineers and Comm Counsel!" Fletcher Heald's Peter Tannenwald expects "many stations seeking to file" on the first day, he blogged Wednesday. The freeze dates to 2010, he wrote. "The lifting of the freeze is permanent, unlike a limited-time application 'window.'"

Comments on FCC-proposed changes to rules on low-power FM and noncommercial educational station applications (see 1901110033) are due May 20, replies June 18, said Wednesday's Federal Register.

Salem Media Group is acquiring PJ Media, Salem announced. PJ Media will become part of Salem’s Townhall Media, increasing the footprint to more than 15 million unique readers monthly, Salem said.

Broadcaster arguments radio competes with unregulated digital companies are “unconvincing,” said the Future of Music Coalition in a meeting March 12 with an aide to FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks, it filed, posted Monday in FCC quadrennial review docket 18-349. Lack of oversight over digital companies “is not a reason for FCC to be less than diligent in its approach to regulating radio,” FMC said. Consolidation in terrestrial radio exacerbates problems from consolidation in adjacent marketplaces, the group said. The coalition is interested in opening up “additional lines of communication between the FCC and the music community.”

The Media Bureau has issued a protective order for sensitive or proprietary information in filings related to Nexstar's buying Tribune (see 1901300054), said a public notice in Monday’s Daily Digest.

The Incentive Auction Task Force and FCC Media Bureau released their catalog of reimbursable expenses for low-power television stations, TV translators and FM stations as a public notice in Monday's Daily Digest. The repacking reimbursement program for those stations was approved Friday (see 1903150073), and the order's text also was released. The catalog was approved on delegated authority. It's a “nonexhaustive” list of equipment, services and prices the stations can use as a “reference guide” for requesting reimbursement for repacking expenses, the PN said. “To the extent that particular equipment or services are not explicitly listed in the Catalog, we note that the Reimbursement Form provides flexibility for users to claim reimbursement for such reasonably incurred expenses.” The catalog's final version incorporates requested increases to the price ranges for lease negotiations and accounts for filing fees associated with some LPTV and FM applications. It doesn’t include requested line items for helicopter expenses or project manager fees, but said stations that incur such costs can submit vendor quotes and may be reimbursed “if such expenses are found to be reasonably incurred.”