The Patent and Trademark Office accepted CTA’s statement of use on the NextGenTV logo as a certification mark for ATSC 3.0-compliant TVs, clearing its final hurdle toward a trademark registration certificate, said an agency notice Tuesday. The certificate “will issue in due course barring any extraordinary circumstances,” said PTO. CTA’s July 1 statement of use said the logo was first deployed commercially “at least as early” as March 2020 (see 2107260021).

The FCC Media Bureau canceled a notice of apparent liability proposing a $4,500 forfeiture for Autaugaville Radio after it was found that the agency's licensing and management system listed the wrong license expiration date for Autaugaville’s Alabama stations WXKD(AM) Brantley and W292HL Troy, said an order listed in Tuesday’s Daily Digest (see 2108020048). With the incorrect date in the LMS, the broadcaster couldn’t file renewal applications on time, the order said.

The FCC’s FY 2021 regulatory fees NPRM ignores congressional requirements that the fees be based on benefits provided to the payor, said NAB in a meeting Wednesday with acting FCC General Counsel Michele Ellison and staff from her office, according to an ex parte filing posted Monday in docket 21-190 (see 2108170065). The NPRM’s “pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey approach to assessing fees for Bureaus and Offices that have little or nothing to do with broadcasters” would “certainly result in an unconstitutional delegation of authority,” the filing said. “The Commission must rectify its’ [sic] error and simply remove the Media Bureau contribution to this purely broadband-centric exercise,” the filing said.

The FCC Media Bureau proposed a $3,500 forfeiture for Natkim Radio for failing to file a timely license to cover for its translator station W285FR, Palatka, Florida, and for operating the translator after the broadcaster’s construction permit had expired, said a combined order and notice of apparent liability listed in Monday’s Daily Digest. The bureau will grant Natkim’s license renewal application when the forfeiture is resolved, the order said. Natkim’s engineer told the FCC he was primarily responsible for the translator’s construction and he “inadvertently failed to notify [Permittee] that a license to cover application was required,” the NAL said.

State broadcast associations said the FCC should “hold the line” on FY 2021 regulatory fees. The request came in calls last week with aides to Commissioners Geoffrey Starks, Brendan Carr and Nathan Simington, said three similar ex parte filings posted in docket 21-190 on Friday (see 2108170065). Broadcast associations from Minnesota, Georgia, Indiana, Montana and Missouri participated in the calls. Requiring broadcasters to face increased regulatory fees to cover the FCC’s broadband mapping efforts violates legislation requiring regulatory fees be tied to the benefit they deliver and is inconsistent with the FCC’s past practice, the representatives said. The FCC’s plan “to charge broadcasters 16% of its operating costs while those same broadcasters hold only 0.07% of the spectrum” regulated by the FCC “is an unsustainable approach,” the filings said. The FCC should keep fees level for broadcasters and launch a separate proceeding to investigate charging regulatory fees to additional entities, such as tech companies, the filings said. “By expanding the universe of payors, the Commission can reduce the impact of the fees on any one particular industry, like broadcasting, while achieving greater fairness for all.”

The FCC Media Bureau canceled a proposed forfeiture for the Minority Educational Broadcasting Association, and instead admonished the low-power FM broadcaster, said an order released Friday. The bureau changed the order due to Minority’s inability to pay, the order said. “Licensee indicates that it does not generate any funds and therefore does not have or maintain a bank account,” the order said. The agency had issued a notice of apparent liability for $3,500 against Minority for failing to file a license renewal on time and continuing to operate WPJM-LP Palatka, Florida, after the license expired, the order said. Minority also argued that the violation was due to an oversight, but the bureau said the FCC “has long held that violations resulting from inadvertent error or failure to become familiar with the Commission’s requirements are willful violations.”

Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council President Robert Branson again pushed for FCC action on a range of initiatives MMTC said would “create and preserve racial justice.” The effort came on a call Wednesday with an aide to acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel (see 2108040064), said an ex parte filing posted in docket 17-105 Thursday. The proposed policy moves include authorizing geotargeted radio, a C4 FM class, multilingual emergency alerts, a broadcast incubator program, and the addition of diversity impact statements in FCC orders.

Changing the draft FY 2021 regulatory fee order (see 2108130076) to prevent an increase for broadcasters from the Broadband Data Act is a unique situation that won’t lead to long-term changes for the agency’s regulatory fee methodology, NAB told an aide to FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr in a call Thursday, said an ex parte filing posted in docket 21-190 Tuesday. The FCC “can rest easy that this appropriation is a purple cow,” the filing said. The FCC “should not muddle through” and “simply do nothing to adjust its approach because it is complicated or difficult or tedious,” NAB said. “That would be an abdication of responsibility to the American public.”

The FCC Enforcement Bureau is “intentionally abusing the discovery process” said Auburn Network in a motion posted in docket 21-20 Monday calling for a recent EB filing to be struck and the bureau to be sanctioned (see 2108040061). “Auburn asks that the Presiding Judge consider whether the Enforcement Bureau can continue in this proceeding due to abuse of process,” said the motion. The bureau violated process rules by twice filing replies to Auburn filings that under the rules don’t provide for replies, Auburn said. “If the Enforcement Bureau is not sanctioned, this proceeding will spin out of control with the parties filing replies and counter-replies,” said Auburn. “This is exactly what the Enforcement Bureau wants.” The bureau’s reply filing disputed Auburn’s characterization of the number of documents the EB had asked Administrative Law Judge Jane Halprin to privately review. “It is in the public interest for the record to accurately reflect that the Bureau requested that the Presiding Judge consider reviewing in camera all of the documents for which Auburn claimed privilege,” said the bureau. “Does the Enforcement Bureau believe that the Presiding Judge is incapable of reading the Enforcement Bureau’s late-filed July 23, 2021, Motion to Compel,” asked Auburn in the most recent motion. “What is the purpose of the Enforcement Bureau Motion and unauthorized Reply, if not to abuse process?” The bureau declined comment.

Xperi’s HD Radio is expanding into the commercial truck category, said the company Monday. Receivers will be available first on the digital dash display of the Mercedes-Benz Freightliner Cascadia truck, said the company. HD Radio’s digital broadcast system sends a signal over traditional AM and FM frequencies, allowing up to three additional channels of new audio programming, along with information such as album art, station logos, song and artist information, traffic, weather and critical emergency alerts.