FCC Commissioner Mike O'Rielly slammed the small Colorado town of Ward, which the Enforcement Bureau warned for running an FM station without a license (see 1802200048). "Pirate radio is not acceptable & not legal no matter where it is located," he tweeted Wednesday. "Very troubling that local government would facilitate in any capacity." Town officials didn't comment Thursday.

A Feb. 28 webinar on the FCC’s channel study data will include in-depth review of the data and a Q&A with Media Bureau and Office of Engineering and Technology staff, said a public notice from the bureau and Incentive Auction Task Force Wednesday. The data is intended to help low-power television and translators ”identify potential new channels in the repacked television bands in preparation for the Special Displacement Window,” the PN said. The webinar will be 1-2 p.m. EST and be available here.

ATSC 3.0 doesn’t raise novel questions about privacy and the FTC will have authority over any broadcaster violations of existing privacy rules under the new standard, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai told Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Mich., in a letter released Tuesday. “The FCC intends to closely monitor the transition to Next Gen TV,” Pai said. Some of the new standard’s interactive features could require viewers to provide some personal information analogous to that required for some smartphone apps, Pai said. “If a consumer decides to provide his or her personal data, the broadcaster will be responsible for securing the data in accordance with its stated privacy and data security policies and will be subject to possible enforcement action by the FTC.” Geographically targeted advertisements that don’t require collection of personal information from customers won’t need rules requiring they opt in or out, Pai said. “There is nothing in the record” suggesting 3.0-compatible TVs and devices will be susceptible to hacking or viruses, Pai said. Internet connectivity isn't a new feature for TV, he said. The 3.0 order, then still in draft form, “continues a troubling pattern of indifference at the FCC towards consumer privacy,” Dingell wrote Pai in November (see 1711080052).

A proposal to do away with a separate filing for mid-term equal employment opportunity reports “sends a bad message” the FCC is abandoning “public interest responsibilities,” said Common Cause in a call with an aide to Commissioner Mignon Clyburn, said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 18-23. The FCC has a “poor track record of improving broadcasters’ performance in hiring a diverse workforce,” it said. The EEO item is slated for Thursday’s commissioners’ meeting (see 1802160024).

The FCC Enforcement Bureau warned Ward, Colorado, for operating an FM without a license, said a notice of unlicensed operation in Tuesday’s Daily Digest. “The Agents confirmed by direction finding techniques that radio signals on frequency 90.5 MHz were emanating from a trailer parked next to the Town Hall.” Ward’s town population was listed at 150 in the 2010 census and the town’s own website describes it as home to “recluses or misfits,” who are “strong and quarrelsome, kind and opinionated, artistically gifted and emotionally ornery.” Ward didn't comment.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit denied Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council’s petition for an en banc rehearing of its appeal of FCC actions on multilingual emergency alert system rules (see 1801240030), said an order (Pacer link) Friday. The FCC gathers information on state efforts to provide multilingual EAS messages, but no such efforts are required. MMTC didn't comment Tuesday.

Hearst completed its buy of CW affiliate WCWG Lexington, North Carolina, from Lockwood Broadcast, Hearst said in a release. Hearst subsidiary Hearst Television was already involved in a channel sharing arrangement with WCWG and Hearst station WXII-TV Winston-Salem, the release said. “In August 2017, WXII launched a 10 p.m. hour-long weeknight newscast, two hours of weekday morning news and half-hour weekend newscasts on WCWG,” the release said. WCWG is the fourth CW affiliate in the Hearst group, the release said.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit rejected an appeal by Edward Stolz of a 2015 FCC decision affirming the FCC Media Bureau’s denial of his appeal of a ruling that led to a Sacramento station owned by Stolz being sold to Entercom, in a ruling (in Pacer) released Friday. The proceeding stems from an agreement to transfer Stolz’s station to Entercom that soured, said Circuit Judge Patricia Millett, who authored the court’s opinion. “Stolz and Entercom have spent the ensuing two decades clashing before the FCC and state and federal courts,” Millett wrote. “This long-running dispute should draw closer to a conclusion today,” Millett said. The court opinion affirms arguments by Stolz that the FCC and Media Bureau shouldn’t have rejected some of his previous appeals, and castigates the agency for taking 10 years to rule on his appeal to the full commission of the Media Bureau’s initial ruling, and then arguing that he should have made supplemental filings in the proceeding earlier. “This is hardly the case for the FCC to be pointing a non-jurisdictional timeliness finger at others,” the opinion said. Though the FCC was wrong about Stolz’s procedural arguments, his arguments that the FCC erred were incorrect, the court ruled. “While Stolz wins that procedural battle, he loses the war,” Millett said. The transfer of the station didn’t go against FCC rules, and Stolz’s argument that later rule changes would have put Entercom over ownership limits in Sacramento is moot since Entercom turned in the license of its Sacramento station KDND (see 1702030074), the court said. Stolz and Entercom didn't comment.

Tegna completed buying Midwest Television’s San Diego broadcast stations, the acquirer said Thursday. The deal includes CBS affiliate KFMB-TV, CW affiliate KFMB-D2 and KFMB/AM-FM. Tegna now owns or operates 47 TV stations and two radio stations in 39 markets.

Townsquare Media will buy WOUR(FM) Utica, New York, from Galaxy Communications and immediately take over the station’s sales operations through a joint sales agreement, the buyer announced Thursday. Townsquare owns three other FMs and one AM there. Townsquare owns 317 radio stations in 67 small and mid-sized markets, making it No. 3 in the U.S., the broadcaster said.