The FCC should reaffirm its approach of assessing lower satellite TV station regulatory fees on both stations receiving Note 5 waivers and on those recognized as satellites in standard industry sources like BIA Kelsey or the TV and Cable Factbook, Ramar Communications said in a meeting with a Commissioner Mignon Clyburn aide recapped in a docket 17-134 filing posted Friday. Barring that, Ramar said, the agency should make clear that non-Note 5 waver stations will have the opportunity to show if they're satellite and not "standalone" stations. Communications Daily's parent publishes the Factbook.

Reducing or eliminating collection of ownership data in FCC media deregulation efforts would be “inconsistent” with Chairman Ajit Pai’s commitment “to make policy based on sound data and objective analysis,” said the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights in a letter to him Thursday in docket 17-105. Broadcasters asked the FCC to relax ownership reporting requirements (see 1707060060). Doing so would undermine efforts to increase ownership diversity and could run afoul of 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals directives that such data be used as the basis for FCC policy, the council said. “Any Commission decision to reduce, rather than augment, media ownership data collection would violate the mandate of the federal court.”

Entravision joined the calls from Ion and others for the FCC to revamp its repacking plans, in comments filed in docket 16-306 (see 1708170047). On-the-ground realities of the repack “outpaced” the FCC’s “overly optimistic” repacking plan, Entravision said. It declared support for Ion’s criticisms of repacking stations to channel 14, which faces increased interference from land mobile (LM) operations, putting Entravision in a “lose-lose” situation. The FCC should either reassign broadcasters from channel 14 or subsidize the technical solutions to LM interference, Entravision said.

Sinclair ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC affiliates and its Tennis Channel will be carried on YouTube TV in their markets, the broadcaster announced. YouTube TV is expected to expand to eventually include Sinclair’s CW and MyNetworkTV stations, and science-fiction channel Comet TV, it said. “Our viewers want the ability to access content on any screen and having this relationship with YouTube will provide value to not only our viewers, but our advertising relationships as well,” said Barry Faber, Sinclair executive vice president-distribution and network relations.

An Anchorage channel substitution will allow Gray to “resolve significant over-the-air reception problems experienced by viewers,” it commented on its channel change petition (see 1707310069) in docket 17-187. “Moving operations to the transmitter site of sister station KTUU will help mitigate instances where the station must go silent due to power outages at its current remotely-situated facility.”

Trinity Broadcasting Network added its support to Ion’s petition for reconsideration of the FCC’s repacking reimbursement structure (see 1708020055), in a filing in docket 16-306. Like Ion, Trinity wants the FCC to change its plans to provide only a portion of reimbursement funds upfront and fully reimburse for some modifications instead of partially funding them as upgrades, the filing said. Trinity and Ion also both object to the constraints of the 39-month deadline. “ION’s Petition seeks important and needed revisions and clarifications of the Commission’s current post-auction channel repack plan and policies in a number of critical areas,” Trinity said. Meredith has also filed in support of Ion (see 1708110043).

The FTC issued an early termination notice for E.W. Scripps’ proposed $292 million buy of four networks from Katz Broadcasting (see 1708010036), the agency's website said.

The radio station license the FCC unanimously voted to designate for hearing at the August commissioners' meeting (see 1708030026) surrendered its license, the Media Bureau said in a news release Wednesday. WRAX(FM) Lake Isabella, Michigan, had operated only one day a year since being licensed in 2010, and the FCC designated its license renewal application for hearing on whether it was meeting its public interest obligations. “Apparently in response” to the hearing designation order, licensee Radioactive surrendered the license to the FCC, the bureau said. “The Media Bureau has deleted the station’s call sign and dismissed the pending license renewal application,” said the release. “The now-vacant allotment will be available in a future auction of FM broadcast construction permits.” Radioactive didn't comment.

Final briefs in the challenge by public interest groups of FCC reinstatement of the UHF discount are due Nov. 22, said the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in an order (Pacer) Tuesday. Reinstatement of the discount is seen as a key enabler of Sinclair’s proposed buy of Tribune (see 1708150063). The court rejected a stay request from the petitioners -- which include Free Press, Prometheus Radio Project and the National Hispanic Media Coalition -- in June (see 1706150033).

The Media Bureau contacted the NAB Aug. 9 to ask about “the potential impact of making paper public files available to members of the community via email or paper mail,” in relation to FCC-proposed elimination of the main studio rule (see 1707030047), said an ex parte filing posted Monday in docket 17-106. NAB said it doesn’t object to broadcasters having the option to email or snail-mail public file documents to members of the public, but a requirement that they do so would be too onerous. For stations without a main studio in their community of license, “maintaining the paper file in an accessible location in the community of license is the best course,” NAB said. An existing rule that requires stations that have a main studio and public file outside their community of license to mail copies of their public file would have to be updated to account for changes to the main studio rule, the association said.