Gray Television will buy CBS affiliate WCAX-TV Burlington, Vermont, from Mt. Mansfield Television for $29 million, the buyer said in a news release Thursday. It's part of Gray’s strategy of “select acquisitions of market-leading stations,” said the broadcaster, what Wells Fargo analyst Marci Ryvicker called a “tuck-in acquisition strategy” in an email to investors. It "will expand the co.'s presence in another state capital and college market,” Ryvicker said. The deal is expected to close in Q3, Gray said.

The newspaper/broadcast cross-ownership rule is “no longer necessary to promote the public interest, and should be abolished,” said News Corp. Global Head-Government Affairs Antoinette Cook Bush in a meeting with FCC Chairman Ajit Pai Tuesday, according to an ex parte filing posted Thursday in docket 14-50. “The rule is outdated and fails to reflect the dramatic increase in news services available online and on cable.” Pai should eliminate the rule “in the context of the pending reconsideration proceeding rather than as part of any future Quadrenniel [sic] Review” to create certainty for the newspaper industry, the filing said.

Entercom planning to combine with CBS Radio violates FCC ownership rules because it would place multiple stations in the Sacramento and San Diego markets into the same trust, said Edward Stolz in a petition to deny filed against the transaction (see 1703210063). Stolz opposed the license renewal of KDND(FM) Sacramento. Entercom turned in that license after its renewal was designated for hearing before an administrative law judge. KDND’s renewal was challenged based on a 2007 radio contest it conducted that led to the death of a listener. In Tuesday’s petition, Stolz asked the FCC to reject the Entercom/CBS applications, adopt a petition that was never acted upon in the KDND hearing, and reopen renewal proceedings on Entercom’s other Sacramento stations. The Media Bureau renewed those licenses in January (see 1701190047).

Raycom Media’s purchase of ABC affiliates WWSB Sarasota, Florida, and WTXL-TV Tallahassee from Calkins Media closed Monday, the buyer said in a news release. The acquisition “strengthens Raycom Media’s southeastern footprint and national household reach,” it said.

A possible buy of Tribune by Fox may have been facilitated by the FCC’s recent action to restore the UHF discount (see 1704200048), said Wells Fargo analyst Marci Ryvicker and separately Gimme Credit analyst Dave Novosel in emails to investors. The potential deal could involve Fox teaming with Blackstone to offer an all-cash bid for Tribune, both Ryvicker and Novosel said. Tribune is worth $3.2 billion, Novosel said. “The opening for such a transaction was provided by a recent ruling by the FCC allowing TV station owners to count only half of their coverage areas for UHF when complying with rules that limit national coverage to 39% of U.S. households.” Both analysts said it isn't clear what the ownership structure of the new company would look like. It could be a joint venture with Fox and Blackstone as equal partners, Ryvicker said. “The deal could also be viewed as a defensive move, since Sinclair Broadcasting has also bid on the company,” Novosel said. “A combined Sinclair/Tribune would carry more leverage in negotiations with Fox regarding carriage fees for its programming.”

Penalties for unlicensed radio use should be more in line with the penalties for slamming/cramming, Commissioner Mike O’Rielly appeared to say in a tweet Monday. “Why does pirate radio 'station' by repeated lawbreaker get $20k NAL, but 150 slamming/cramming complaints gets $1m F.O. [forfeiture order]?” O’Rielly tweeted. The tweet ended with the hashtag “#FixPiratePenalties,” indicating O’Rielly was taking issue with the piracy proposed forfeiture rather than the slamming/cramming amount. In a follow-up tweet, O’Rielly clarified that he was referring to the notice of apparent liability issued Thursday against Sergio Plasencia for repeated unlicensed broadcasting in Miami, and a $1 million fine issued Wednesday against Advantage Telecommunications, a Florida-based long distance carrier. The Enforcement Bureau, the FCC and O'Rielly didn't comment. O'Rielly was critical of the bureau in a recent speech at the NAB Show (see 1704250053).

The Parents Television Council wants indecency complaints to be filed against an April 25 episode of the Fox show The Mick because in it, a minor calls her guardian “the mayor of tit town,” PTC said in a news release. “Not only was an indecent word used in a sexual context, but the dialogue was delivered by a minor,” PTC said. “The entire episode included graphic sexual dialogue and double-entendres, yet it was rated by Fox as appropriate for viewing by children as young as 14 years old.” The episode was about a teenage girl who wants breast implants, PTC said. Fox didn’t comment. “We urge the FCC to act and to help families protect their children from indecent content, just as the Congress has instructed and just as Chairman Ajit Pai has pledged,” the group said.

Attendance at the NAB Show reached 103,443, surpassing 2016's attendance of 102,513, said NAB in a news release. More than 26,000 of the attendees were international, from 161 countries, the release said. The 2017 event had more than 1,800 companies exhibiting in more than a million square feet, the release said.

Sinclair Broadcast will buy Bonten Media for $240 million in a transaction that was enabled by Thursday’s FCC vote to restore the UHF discount (see 1704200048), industry officials told us. Bonten owns 14 TV stations in eight markets that provide service to 1 percent of U.S. households, Sinclair said in a press release Friday. But Sinclair was right up against the 39 percent national cap, if its reach is calculated without the UHF discount, industry officials said. Though the Media Bureau said Thursday’s rule change likely won’t take effect for a month or so, the deal isn't expected to close until Q3 2017, the release said. Along with Bonten’s stations, the deal also includes four stations owned by Esteem that Bonten provides services to through joint services agreements, a role that will be taken over by the Sinclair-affiliated Cunningham Broadcasting, the release said. “We believe our economies of scale help us bring improvements to small market stations, including investments in news, other quality local programming, and multicast opportunities,” Sinclair CEO Chris Ripley said in the release.

The FCC designated 10 Media Bureau officials as regional coordinators to facilitate the repacking effort, said a public notice released Thursday. Regional coordinators “will act as a first point of contact at the Commission for stations and, with the support of other Bureau staff and other Commission bureaus and offices, will assist in resolving issues and challenges that stations in the region encounter as a result of the transition,” the PN said. The PN divides the nation into regions, and assigns the stations in each region to a coordinator. Low-power TV and translators also get their own points of contact in the PN. “The regional groupings are intended to be a tool to facilitate coordination among stations facing similar localized challenges,” the PN said. “It would seem like a good idea for station personnel to get to know their coordinators so that stations can feel comfortable in seeking the coordinators’ aid should such issues pop up during the transition process,” said Wilkinson Barker broadcast attorney David Oxenford in a blog post on the PN.