Last year was “strong but not overwhelming” for TV and radio deals, said BIA/Kelsey Chief Economist Mark Fratrik in a blog post Friday. In 2017, 107 TV stations sold for a total of $4.7 billion, 10 more stations than the previous year but with a total value of $600 million less, Fratrik said, and 755 radio stations were sold in 2017 for $3.3 billion, $2.8 billion more than in 2016. That increase stems from the Entercom/CBS Radio deal, Fratrik said. For 2018, the FCC’s relaxation of ownership rules could lead to an increase “in station trading activity,” he said. The tax bill passed in 2017 is likely to lead to value increases for broadcast properties because of the reduction in corporate tax rate and changes to capital expense rules, Fratrik said. “We’ve already seen some increases in the values of publicly traded broadcast companies while the negotiations and passing of this legislation was occurring,” said Fratrik. “Of course, it will take some time in the marketplace for these increased values to lead to higher prices for radio and television stations.” The stronger economy and elevated stock prices could also lead to more deals in 2018, Fratrik said.

The Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council wants an extension on comment and reply dates on the FCC’s plan for an incubator program (see 1711160054) to increase communications ownership diversity so that the Advisory Committee on Diversity and Digital Empowerment (see 1709250062) can vote on draft comments, MMTC said in a motion posted Thursday in docket 17-289. The ACDDE’s next meeting is March 27, but comments on the incubator plan are due March 9, replies April 9. MMTC Senior Adviser David Honig is a member of the ACDDE, and MMTC wants an extension of 31 days, making comments due April 9, replies May 10, the motion said. The extension would give the committee time to vote on and submit comments. The incubator NPRM “sought answers to over 70 substantive questions, many of which are highly complex,” so it will “not be possible for a complete and comprehensive set of Comments to be circulated to the ACDDE members for their review until March,” the motion said. ACDDE Chair Julia Johnson supports the motion, the filing said. Chairman Ajit Pai and Commissioner Mignon Clyburn urged the committee to examine the incubator proposal at the body's first meeting last year. The recon order proposing the incubator was challenged in court by public interest groups (see 1801180045).

Public interest groups asked the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn the FCC’s recent relaxation of media ownership rules, as expected (see 1712130039), and said that appeal should be combined with the ongoing appeal of the 2014 quadrennial review, in a filing Thursday according to court documents (in Pacer) Since the appeal was filed before the rule’s effective date, Prometheus Radio Project and the Media Mobilizing Project may have plans to seek a stay of the rules, blogged Wilkinson Barker broadcast attorney David Oxenford. The order on reconsideration “once again fails to satisfy” the 3rd Circuit’s previous order that the FCC gather and analyze data about the impact of its rules on ownership diversity and retains a revenue based definition of an eligible entity, the petition for review said. The order draws opposite conclusions from the 2014 quadrennial review order on almost every issue despite being based on the same record, the petition said. ”To do this, the Commission ignores evidence in the record, misinterprets evidence, and fails to consider important aspects of the record.” The incubator program proposed in the recon order (see 1801180064) is “inconsistent with the findings dismissing the connection between ownership rules and diversity in the rest of the order,” and isn’t concrete enough to represent action on diversity, the groups said. The provisions that do away with ownership rules don’t consider the impact of doing so on ownership diversity, and so are arbitrary and capricious, they said. The 3rd Circuit should overturn the recon order and reinstate the provisions it eliminated in entirety, the groups said.

The FCC should relax its ancillary services reporting requirements and eliminate, “or at least reform” application notice rules, NAB replied in docket 17-264 (see 1801020044). “The notice requirements are grossly outdated and inconsistent with how listeners and viewers obtain information today,” NAB said. “They also impose unnecessary and disparate regulatory burdens, particularly on small and noncommercial broadcast licensees.” All broadcasters supported changes to the notice requirements, NAB said. Publisher objectors LNP and PNRC “have a vested business interest in maintaining rules mandating newspaper publications that have nothing to do with the public interest,” NAB said. The United Church of Christ Communication Office objected to the proposed changes to notice rules but didn’t establish that on-air and online notices are needed to inform consumers of broadcast applications, NAB said: “The FCC should continue its strong momentum to update its long list of media-specific rules and regulations.”

New FCC rules creating a Blue Alert emergency alert system code take effect Thursday, with the order’s publication in the Federal Register. The order (see 1712140045) requires delivery of Blue Alerts over the EAS to be implemented by Jan. 18, 2019, and over wireless emergency alerts by July 18, 2019, the FR said.

The FCC Media and Wireless bureaus will hold an auction in June to resolve mutually exclusive FM translator applications stalled since 2003, the bureaus said in a public notice in Wednesday's Daily Digest. The applications in the auction are only those remaining after the FCC opened a settlement window and imposed limits on how many applications a single entity could file, blogged Wilkinson Barker broadcast attorney David Oxenford. “These contentious issues, involving a determination of the priorities to be accorded [low-power] FM stations and FM translators, took the FCC many years to resolve, postponing this auction for so long.” Translator applications for the upcoming window for AM stations are unlikely to take so long to resolve, he said. “We would expect that this delayed auction is a very unusual circumstance.” The June auction isn’t open; it's limited to specific entities based on the 2003 proceeding. A future public notice will specify procedures and announce a filing window for updating auction 83 applicants’ short-form auction applications, the PN said. This PN seeks comment on the procedures and format for the June auction, such as whether there will be a specific minimum opening bid amount for each construction permit, the PN said. Comments are due Feb. 6, replies Feb. 13.

The FTC confirmed it won't challenge Meredith Corp.'s planned buy of Time Inc., after the broadcaster said Friday (see 1801120053) that U.S. antitrust overseers wouldn't try to block the deal. The commission's acknowledgement came in an early termination notice dated Friday and posted Tuesday. The acquirer plans Q1 completion of the $2.8 billion transaction (see 1711270014).

The FCC should exempt noncommercial educational TV stations from ATSC 3.0 simulcasting requirements, said PBS in a meeting Thursday with Commissioner Brendan Carr, recounted a filing posted Tuesday in docket 16-142. “Public television stations will ensure the continuity of viewer access throughout the transition regardless of whether the Commission imposes a regulatory mandate.” Letting stations make their own choices about how to continue providing service during the transition would be preferable, PBS said. “The simulcast mandate unnecessarily constrains the ability of public television stations to best serve local community needs, and the mandate would in fact preclude many public stations from bringing the educational benefits of the new standard.” The public TV network said the FCC should acknowledge the amount of the repacking shortfall and issue a follow-up allocation of reimbursement money from the $1.75 billion repacking reimbursement fund.

The FCC Media Bureau is partially lifting the freeze on full-power community of license petitions, said a public notice Friday. Such petitions that don’t require a change in service area will now be accepted, eliminating the need for freeze waiver requests with such petitions, the PN said. The freeze has been in place since 2004 and the DTV transition, and is being lifted now that the incentive auction is over, the PN said. “Normal processing of such petitions will have no impact on the post-incentive auction transition schedule.” The freeze on petitions requiring a change in service area remains, along with freezes on allotment of DTV channels for new stations and changes to licensed stations’ channels.

The FTC gave the nod to Tegna’s proposed $325 million buy of a radio station, TV station and a digital subchannel from Midwest Television (see 1712180075), according to an early termination notice. Tegna had said it expects the deal to be completed Q1 and didn’t comment Friday.