The Trump FCC is dismantling polices encouraging competition and localism that “made American broadcasting great,” said former FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler in a blog post Thursday. “The beneficiaries will be the big corporate broadcasters. The losers will be American viewers and democratic values.” Recent FCC policy changes to facilitate joint sales agreements and allow for more common ownership will hurt broadcaster local news operations, and the Sinclair/Tribune merger will do the same, Wheeler said. “When Sinclair controls access to 72 percent of all American households after the merger, the situation will become even worse for localism,” Wheeler said. The FCC “loosened its rules in order to facilitate” the Sinclair deal, and Sinclair “weaseled around the policies that would have previously barred this consolidation,” Wheeler said. The Internet created a void in local news reporting that broadcasters could have stepped into, but have so far ignored, he said. Broadcast TV “is failing to meet its local responsibilities precisely when new technology is also failing local needs,” Wheeler said. The FCC and Sinclair didn't comment.

The FCC Media Bureau’s Audio Division proposed an $8,000 penalty for a station that operated multiple times from locations where it wasn’t licensed, said a notice of apparent liability released Wednesday. The NAL is included in an order saying the Media Bureau will grant KSAG(FM), Pearsall, Texas, renewal if there are no other issues, and denying an informal objection from Alpha Media. KSAG licensee Wendolynn Tellez repeatedly relocated the station without approval from the FCC, and didn’t build new facilities at a location she did receive FCC permission for, the NAL said. Alpha Media’s objection involved a clause in Tellez’s permit that barred Alpha Media from doing program tests at its own new facilities until KSAG started testing at its new location, but the bureau said Wednesday that Alpha doesn’t have to wait for KSAG to begin construction. The bureau also issued an NAL for $7,000 to Chisholm Trail Communications for failing to timely file a license renewal application for its KOME-FM, Meridian, Texas, and for operating after its license expired. Chisholm told the bureau it didn’t realize its license had expired, the NAL said.

FCC Media Bureau Chief Michelle Carey requested a meeting with Sinclair about the company’s divestitures and plans to comply with the national ownership cap under the Tribune deal, said an ex parte filing Tuesday in docket 17-179. At the meeting Thursday, the parties discussed Sinclair’s divestiture plans and communications with DOJ, the filing said. Sinclair held a similar meeting with FCC Chairman Ajit Pai’s Chief of Staff Matthew Berry (see 1801090034). Sinclair is “evaluating divestitures, as well as Top-4 showings to be made in amendments to the applications consistent with the recent changes to the ownership rules” but DOJ review “may impact certain divestiture choices,” the filing said.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai doesn’t plan to create new processes to review broadcast deals that involve financial and sharing agreements, he said in a Dec. 21 response to a September letter from House Commerce Democrats posted Wednesday. In the initial letter, Committee ranking member Frank Pallone, D-N.J., Communications Subcommittee ranking member Mike Doyle, D-Pa., and Commerce Oversight Subcommittee ranking member Diana DeGette, D-Colo., asked Pai numerous questions about the Sinclair/Tribune deal (see 1709290063). Along with declining to change the way the bureau handles deals involving sharing, Pai repeated he wasn’t seeking to favor a particular company, and answered questions about the timing of FCC actions related to the merger and contact with Sinclair officials. Pai said One Media Executive Vice President-Strategic and Legal Affairs Jerald Fritz had used Pai's personal email address to send a letter about ATSC 3.0 chip development in India, but that email was then forwarded to Pai's work email address in order to include it in the record. Pai also said the FCC had been in communication with Sinclair about a pending enforcement matter -- the agency released a notice of apparent liability against Sinclair on Dec. 21 (see 1712210042), the same day as Pai’s response. Pai also left open the possibility the Media Bureau could request further information from Sinclair on the deal, and said he first learned of the proposed merger through news reports. Pai responded only briefly to numerous other letters from lawmakers on the Sinclair/Tribune deal, according to responses posted Wednesday. Pai sent the same letter to each lawmaker who wrote in about the deal, assuring all of them that their comments would go into the record but declining to discuss the matter. “While I am unable to discuss the merits of this particular proceeding, I can assure you that the Commission is conducting an open and transparent process as required by FCC rules and regulations,” Pai said in letters responding to questions about the proposed merger from Rep. David Cicilline, D-R.I., Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn. “Our decision will be based on a careful analysis of the robust record that has been developed,” Pai said.

Sinclair Broadcast is evaluating amendments to its application to buy Tribune involving divestitures and “Top-4 showings,” the broadcaster said in a meeting Thursday with Chairman Ajit Pai’s Chief of Staff Matthew Berry, according to an ex parte filing in docket 17-179. In recent media ownership rule changes, the FCC said it will allow two top-four stations to be commonly owned in the same market on a case-by-case basis. DOJ review of the deal may affect divestiture choices, the filing said.

Channel Master plans the CES debut of its SMARTenna+, which it describes as the world’s first over-the-air smart, processor-enabled indoor TV antenna available to consumers. It uses “active-steering” technology from components manufacturer Ethertronics, and has built-in amplification and noise-filtering, so it automatically can find the “optimal antenna settings for the available channels, with the option for fine-tuning via a push-button control,” said Channel Master. That combination of features increases viewer “convenience and flexibility while maximizing the number of channels received across all VHF and UHF channels,” it said. The SMARTenna+ has a built-in tuner, which scans the available channels on the “initial plug-in of the antenna,” said Joe Bingochea, executive vice president-product development. It can receive from seven different positions, he said. “It will scan all those seven different positions, and will determine which one of those positions can receive the most channels.” The scan takes about two minutes, he said. Improved Channel Master algorithms reduced the scan time by more than 75 percent, he said.

The FCC NPRM on changes to the broadcast national ownership cap “underscores the uncertainty” about whether the agency has statutory authority to modify the cap (see 1712140054), said Prometheus Radio Project and Media Mobilizing Project in a filing (in Pacer) in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit Thursday as part of a legal challenge of the order eliminating the UHF discount. The NPRM shows “a majority of the currently sitting Commissioners believe that the Commission cannot modify the national ownership cap,” the groups said. Statements from Commissioners Mike O’Rielly, Mignon Clyburn and Jessica Rosenworcel show the FCC doesn’t “deserve Chevron deference for a position that does not have the support of a majority of the Commission,” the filing said.

The FCC order on reconsideration relaxing media ownership rules takes effect Feb. 7, the Federal Register will say Monday. Legal challenges are widely expected to follow the 3-2 order’s publication (see 1711160054). It eliminates and relaxes rules barring broadcast duopolies and cross-ownership. Comments on a related proposal to create an incubator for new entrants into the broadcast industry are due March 9, Monday's FR also will say.

The full FCC dismissed a second appeal of a decision denying Florida Community Radio a construction permit for a noncommercial educational radio station in Otter Creek, Florida, said an order Thursday. The application for review was denied for raising points that hadn’t been raised in the original proceeding. FCR’s original 2010 application was dismissed in favor of a mutually exclusive application filed by Citrus County Association for Retarded Citizens.

The FCC Enforcement Bureau issued warnings to six allegedly unlicensed broadcasters, according to notices of unlicensed operation in Wednesday’s Daily Digest. The warnings were issued against alleged pirate radio operations in Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut and New Jersey.