NAB’s language for a possible ATSC 3.0 simulcasting requirement would “permit widespread service loss,” said the American Cable Association, AT&T, Charter Communications, Dish Network and Verizon in a meeting for the American Television Alliance with Chief Michelle Carey and others in the Media Bureau Tuesday, said a filing posted Friday in docket 16-142. Though ATVA said it’s pleased broadcasters now seem willing to accept a simulcasting requirement (see 1709110032), the pay-TV ally said there’s no evidence to back an NAB proposal that the requirement sunset in three years, and the agency should require the simulcasts to be “the same” instead of “substantially similar” as NAB proposed. ATVA said NAB-proposed exceptions to the sameness requirement, such as for locally targeted commercials, were largely reasonable. The FCC should also block broadcasters from simulcasting only the least popular content, ATVA said. “If a station transmits a FOX affiliate and a home shopping channel on ATSC 3.0, nobody will be happy if the station simulcasts only the home shopping channel on ATSC 1.0.” The FCC should require simulcast broadcasts be of a certain quality level, that broadcasters give notice of the transition to viewers and MVPDs, and require that the simulcast broadcasts reach a specific percentage of the station’s coverage area, ATVA said. It’s pleased NAB proposed broadcasters rely on A/321 and A/322 and opposed an NAB proposal to allow low-power TV stations to flash cut. “We are cautiously optimistic to see what appears to be an emerging consensus on issues related to simulcasting,” ATVA said.

CBS subscribed to Nielsen’s National Out-of-Home Reporting service and will receive out-of home viewing data for all programming, live plus seven days, the companies said in a news release Thursday. The service gives networks the ability to count an audience that was previously unmeasured. Out-of-home viewership is measured using portable people meters, and combined with TV panels represents 65 percent of U.S. TV households, they said.

A broadcaster with an on-air employee running for office may need to provide equal opportunities to opponents under FCC rules, blogged Wilkinson Barker broadcast attorney David Oxenford. “Stations need to take precautions to avoid the potential for owing significant amounts of free time to competing candidates, where those candidates can present any political message -- if they request it within 7 days of the personality’s appearance.” If a station's meteorologist were running for office but still doing the weather report, an opposing candidate could demand equal time, Oxenford said. Stations could hope the opposition doesn’t make an equal time request, limit the employee’s air time, obtain waivers from the opponents, or allow the candidate to continue to broadcast “in exchange for a negotiated amount of air time for the opponents,” Oxenford said Wednesday.

Lack of qualified tower crews will start delaying projects and affecting subsequent phases by the end of Phase 2 of the repacking, American Tower Corp. told FCC Incentive Auction Task Force Chair Jean Kiddoo and IATF staff Tuesday, recounted a filing in docket 16-306. ATC said the tower company and broadcasters made progress in repack efforts, but stations are “limited by the number of qualified broadcast tower crews.” The presentation pointed to a lack of qualified RF engineers as limiting the ability of broadcasters to meet the 39-month repack timeline. The large number of complex projects in Phase 2 “presents a major challenge to ATC and those affected repack stations,” the company said. ATSC 3.0 won’t impact the schedule, it said, and a “majority” of repacked broadcasters are “adding vertical polarization to their new channel antennas in anticipation of conversion" to 3.0. ATC said it and broadcasters are “waiting on the release of reimbursement funding approvals to fully engage material vendors and construction crews.”

CBS and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers reached an early contract renewal agreement covering 3,500 technicians, the broadcaster said in a news release Wednesday. The IBEW represents CBS workers in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Washington, St. Louis, San Francisco, Dallas, Miami and Atlanta, the announcement said. The contract was ratified by the affected workforce and will be effective Feb. 1 and goes through April 30, 2021, it said. The current contract was scheduled to end Jan. 31 and the new deal includes pay increases, increased benefit contributions and “a path forward for new media,” said the company.

The second filing window for full-power and Class A stations to seek alternate channels and expanded facilities will open Oct. 3 and close Nov. 2, the FCC Incentive Auction Task Force said in a public notice in docket 16-306 Wednesday. The first filing window closed Friday. During the second, stations can amend or modify their initial construction permit application, the PN said. Such requests have to protect applications from the first window or from the initial channel reassignments, it said. “Additional costs incurred in constructing alternate channels or expanded facilities are not reimbursable under the TV Broadcaster Relocation Fund and must be paid by the station.”

The NTIA is repealing rules for the Public Telecommunications Facilities Program (PTFP), it said in Wednesday's Federal Register. The PTFP grant program helped nonprofit organizations and local governments build public TV and radio stations, but no funds have been available for PTFP grants since FY 2011, it said. “The regulations are unnecessary and obsolete.” The repeal was effective Wednesday.

Conducting the nationwide emergency alert system test following hurricanes Harvey, Irma, Jose and Maria “will provide insight into the resiliency of our national-level alerting capabilities in impacted areas,” the Federal Emergency Management Agency said in a news release Tuesday. The test is set for Sept. 27 at 2:20 p.m., but could be moved to Oct. 4 if the September date is canceled because of another emergency. The EAS test also will provide data on how the Integrated Public Alerts and Warning System performs “during and following a variety of conditions,” the agency said. “With two major hurricanes already making landfall, and a potential for two more impacting our nation, we need to have the ability to maintain the continuity of critical infrastructure under various conditions.”

Washington, D.C., launched a government noncommercial radio station that will provide information on community affairs, current events and government resources, Mayor Muriel Bowser’s (D) office said in a news release Tuesday. DC Radio will be run and broadcast from the city’s Office of Cable Television, Film, Music and Entertainment, and is part of a broadcasting partnership between Howard University’s WHUR-FM and the city. The station is one of two municipally owned full-power radio stations in the country, the release said.

A call by top House Commerce Committee Democrats for the FCC to investigate whether Russian government-owned radio service Sputnik broadcasts propaganda over U.S. airwaves aimed at influencing the 2016 presidential election and other contests is “the newest intellectual height reached by the US establishment,” said Sputnik parent Rossiya Segodnya Editor-in-Chief Margarita Simonyan in a statement. House Commerce ranking member Frank Pallone, D-N.J., House Communications Subcommittee ranking member Michael Doyle, D-Pa., and Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., sought the FCC probe Monday, citing concerns about potential violations of the Communications Act's public interest standard. Sputnik began terrestrial broadcasts in July in the Washington, D.C., area using 105.5 FM, which it leased from owner Reston Translator (see 1709180054).