The FCC should reconsider its relaxed rules for ATSC 3.0 distributed transmission systems and instead adopt an expedited waiver process, said Microsoft in reply comments Friday in docket 20-74 (see 2108040076). NAB and America’s Public Television Stations didn’t push back on Microsoft’s arguments that an expansion of DTS would hurt unlicensed use of the TV bands, but they “embrace that outcome as a victory in eliminating a perceived ‘constrain[t]’ on their business objectives,” Microsoft said. “Their response is that they are happy with the apparently unintended outcome of expanded coverage and that any harm to unlicensed operations is unimportant,” Microsoft said. NAB and APTS’ response “confirms that the Commission erred” in the original order, Microsoft said. “The soundest approach to permit the further expansion of a broadcast station’s DTS signal beyond its maximum facility is through a targeted expedited-waiver process.” The FCC’s original decision “failed to account for the vast harms imposed on TV White Spaces and the public interest,” said the New America Foundation’s Open Technology Institute, Public Knowledge and Tribal Digital Village in joint reply comments in docket 20-74. “The ability of several rural, Tribal, and other hard-to-serve communities nationwide to procure broadband networks depends on the Commission getting this policy right."

A lack of interest in radio construction permits, especially for AM stations, could stem from the FCC’s local ownership rules, said Wilkinson Barker broadcast attorney David Oxenford in a blog post Friday (see 2108120037). A third of the permits in Auction 109 didn’t sell, and no permits for AM stations did. “I have been told that parties would have been interested in bidding on channels that went unsold but, because of the FCC’s ownership limitations, they were precluded from owning those stations,” Oxenford said: “Instead of providing new service to the public, these channels will lie fallow, providing service to no one.” Forty-two channels went unsold, some having opening bids as low as $750, Oxenford said. This auction and the upcoming comments on the 2018 quadrennial ownership review (see 2107160039) could “inform the Commission on the realities of the current audio marketplace,” Oxenford said.

A draft regulatory fees order on circulation still contains language that would increase fees for broadcasters, industry officials told us. The item went on circulation early this month. NAB, including President Gordon Smith, has been actively lobbying against the increase (see 2108050054), and an ex parte filing posted in docket 21-190 Friday documented calls by the trade group last week with aides to Commissioners Geoffrey Starks and Nathan Simington. The increased fees are intended to fund broadband mapping efforts that don’t directly aid or involve broadcasters, NAB said. “Any attempt to cobble together an argument that broadcasters should contribute to broadband mapping because they allegedly benefit from the Commission’s broadband activities is specious,” NAB said. “For mapping purposes, broadcasters are merely consumers of broadband, much like any other company or individual in the United States.” The FCC generally approves the regulatory fees order at the start of September, industry attorneys told us.

The FCC’s Auction 109 finished Aug. 5 and raised $12,344,110 from 67 bidders for 97 AM and FM construction permits, said a public notice listed in Thursday’s Daily Digest. Down payments are due Aug. 26, final payments deadline and long-form applications must be in Sept. 13, the PN said.

The FCC Media Bureau proposed a $1,500 forfeiture for Radio by Grace over a late-filed renewal application for W257DF(FM) Atlanta but will renew the station’s license, said a notice of apparent liability and order listed in Tuesday’s Daily Digest. The renewal application was due March 1 but filed July 19, just before the license’s July 22 expiration date. Radio by Grace didn’t provide an explanation to the bureau or comment to us.

Comments are due Sept. 8, replies Sept. 23, in docket 21-130 on KPTV-KPDX Broadcasting’s request to swap the channel of KPTV Portland, Oregon, from Channel 12 to 21, said Monday’s Federal Register.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit should reconsider a June ruling denying broadcaster PMCM’s appeal of the FCC's grant of a two-sided distributed transmission license to Connecticut Public Broadcasting’s WEDW Stamford (see 2106250042, said PMCM in a petition for rehearing filed Monday (in Pacer) in docket 20-1334. “Several elements of the Judgment were based on basic misapprehensions of the FCC’s action” and PMCM’s arguments, the petition said. The court based its decision on an action the Media Bureau discussed but never took, and misunderstood a decision reached by the full FCC, the petition said. “Perhaps because the case was not presented for oral argument,” the court’s decision “effectively failed to review the FCC application that was challenged,” PMCM said, offering to participate in oral argument if the case is reheard. The FCC didn’t comment.

The FCC Enforcement Bureau sent the second batch of equal employment opportunity audit letters for 2021 Friday, said a public notice. Each year, about 5% of stations are selected for EEO audits.

The FCC Media Bureau proposed a $20,000 fine for Prism Broadcasting over violations of FCC public file rules by WANN-CD Atlanta, said a notice of apparent liability Friday. Staff said the station’s filings of quarterly TV issues/programs lists were filed late for 21 quarters, the NAL said. The broadcaster said the late filing was due to small staff size and unfamiliarity with the rules and procedures, per the NAL, which said “Employee acts or omissions, such as clerical errors in failing to file required forms, do not excuse violations.” WANN’s license renewal application will be granted at the conclusion of this proceeding, the bureau said. The bureau also proposed a $15,000 forfeiture for Bethany Church for similar public file violations at WLFT-CD Baton Rouge. WLFT filed late quarterly TV issues/programs lists for 16 quarters, and blamed the error on staffing and flooding in 2016, said another NAL listed in Friday’s Daily Digest.

Comments are due Sept. 7, replies Sept. 20 on an FCC NPRM on technical changes to some radio rules, says Friday’s Federal Register on docket 21-263. The NPRM proposes changing some minor rules to delete outdated wording or harmonize them with other regulations. It was approved 4-0 (see 2107070062).