FCC action to block Class A owner Latina Broadcasters from participating in the incentive auction and reject appeals from Class A's Fifth Street, Video House and WMTM is believed “imminent," said letters from Latina's owner to Commissioners Mignon Clyburn and Jessica Rosenworcel posted in docket 12-268 Monday. The FCC repeatedly has said in filings that Latina would be able to participate in the auction, but the commission is now taking action to block Latina after the appeal from the other Class A cited Latina as being similarly situated to Video House, WMTM and Fifth Street, which didn’t meet a 2012 deadline for Class A's to be eligible (see 1601250060.) “I understand that my business, my significant investment of time and money in that business, and my dream of serving the Hispanic community with targeted programming are in jeopardy because of an imminent action by the FCC that will essentially erase all that I have worked toward,” said Nora Crosby Soto in her letters to the commissioners.

The FCC should use “great care” in replying to GAO requests for information about the incentive auction’s impact on low-power TV, Free Access and Broadcast Telemedia said in an ex parte filing Friday. FAB has requested similar information from the commission through a Freedom of Information Act request. “The GAO and the Comptroller General have significant authority to seek out and obtain all agency facts, trends, and analyses available from any agency on behalf of Congress under the Congress' Constitutional and the GAO's added statutory authority,” FAB said.

The Association of Public Television Stations and PBS lobbied FCC officials to exempt noncommerical educational stations' low-power TV outlets from an FCC-proposed vacant channel demonstration requirement in any communities that lose NCE service because of the incentive auction. "As the Commission acknowledges in the rulemaking, most of the 'vacant' television channels after the auction will be available precisely because it is not possible to operate a full-power television station on such channels without causing harmful interference to other full-power stations," said an APTS and PBS filing posted Tuesday in docket 12-268. On the agency-proposed NCE full-power exemption from the vacant channel demo requirement to be for a community without such service due to the auction, it should apply to a community of license, not a designated market area, executives from the groups reported telling FCC Incentive Auction Task Force Chairman Gary Epstein and Vice Chairman Howard Symons and Office of Engineering and Technology and Media Bureau officials.

The FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau set a March 3 deadline for comments on a variety of petitions for exemptions from closed captioning requirements, the bureau said in a public notice Tuesday in docket 06-181. Petitioning the FCC are White Media Ventures for its show Conversations with Andre Whitehead, National Asian American Coalition for Owning a Piece of America, The Marvin Show for its program of the same name, and Dove Broadcasting for Nite Line and Beverly Exercise.

With the “new capabilities” of ATSC 3.0, terrestrial broadcasting “is poised to become an essential part of the next-generation content delivery network,” ATSC President Mark Richer said in the February issue of ATSC’s monthly newsletter, The Standard. “By leveraging broadcasters’ highly efficient one-to-many architecture and Internet protocol transmission, ATSC 3.0 will enable new over-the-air services such as 4K and HDR, immersive audio and targeted advertising, mobile TV and advanced emergency alerting.” CES “previewed how ATSC 3.0 will usher in the future of broadcast" TV, he said. At the NAB Show in April, “we expect to see real-world demonstrations of even more ATSC 3.0 capabilities,” he said. “With the lion’s share of the standard completed and remaining items, like audio and interactivity, wrapping up in the months ahead, we’re on target to finalize the entire suite of ATSC 3.0 standards for next-gen broadcasting this year.”

Latina Broadcasting wouldn't have “renewed investment” in its Class A station if the FCC hadn't consistently maintained that WDYB-CD Daytona Beach, Florida, would be protected in the TV incentive auction, Latina Broadcasting said in informal comments filed Monday in docket 12-268. Latina is concerned the FCC could revoke its protected status as the result of arguments made by Videhouse and other Class A stations that aren't protected in the auction (see 1601250060). “Latina urges the Commission to avoid disturbing its prior determination to afford WDYB protection in the Incentive Auction and repacking process,” said the filing.

Media General agreed to a $4.6 billion purchase offer from Nexstar, said a Nexstar news release Wednesday. The purchase agreement ends a struggle between Nexstar and Meredith over Media General's future, and entitles Media General's shareholders to net cash proceeds from the sale of Media General spectrum in the FCC incentive auction. Meredith will receive a $60 million termination fee under its original agreement with Media General. The new company formed by the deal will be called Nexstar Media Group and will divest some stations in order to receive FCC approval, the news release said. The transaction is expected to close in late Q3 or early Q4, it said.

The FCC should approve rules to facilitate multilingual emergency alerts as detailed in the Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council's Katrina Petition (see 1511170048), MMTC said in a letter to the FCC posted online in docket 04-296 Friday. “A definitive ruling to ensure multilingual communications during and after emergencies would save many lives,” MMTC said. “It would serve as a defining, transformative, and lasting statement of compassion by the Commission in the 21st Century.” MMTC proposed that the FCC could create rules that allow broadcast professionals serving multilingual populations to be treated as “first responders” and give them “priority in accessing transportation to and from radio stations that are providing emergency information to the public.” MMTC also proposed the commission reduce or waive regulatory fees for broadcasters that provide multilingual emergency messages. “In this way, these stations can recover some of the un-budgeted out of pocket costs of multilingual emergency operations,” MMTC said.

The FCC Media Bureau approved Nexstar’s $44 million deal with Reiten Television to buy four CBS-affiliated TV stations in North Dakota, said a letter released Thursday. The Media Bureau approved the continuation of a satellite exemption for three stations involved in the deal because it will “benefit the public interest by promoting access to broadcast services which may otherwise not be feasible,” the order said. The approval is conditioned on Nexstar terminating an existing joint service agreement on closing, the order said. The stations involved in the sale are KXMA Dickinson, KXMB Bismarck, KXMD Williston and KXMC Minot.

There's a "schism" between true virtual reality and 360 video, said Michael Davies, Fox Sports senior vice president-field and technical operations, in a Thursday news release. Davies thinks 360 video is more “attainable” and can be consumed on multiple devices, while full VR requires more specialized equipment and proprietary players, he said. Fox Sports is continuing “the growth of live production capabilities” for drones, said Director-Technical Operations Brad Cheney. “We are also testing new hardware which gives us better lenses, cameras and stability in the air.” Fox Sports is “in continuous dialog with the governing bodies, venue management teams and local officials to make progress as technologies change,” Cheney said. He said drones would be used in golf coverage and motor sports coverage in 2016.