The FCC “eagerly allowed” broadcasters to build their networks under the UHF discount “with absolutely no indication that such ownership would not be permanent or transferable,” said Ion, Univision and Trinity Broadcasting on an Aug. 11 conference call with an aide to Chairman Tom Wheeler, according to an ex parte filing posted Tuesday in docket 13-236. The UHF Discount lets broadcasters count UHF stations as half-stations for purposes of calculating how close they are to the FCC's national ownership cap. “The Companies represented on the call had utilized the Discount, with the Commission's full encouragement, to develop competitive television networks that have added to the diversity of viewing choices.” If the FCC eliminates the discount, “only full grandfathering for the current owners and free transferability to new owners would guarantee that their investments would not be lost and that the value of their programming networks and network reach would not be jeopardized,” the companies said. A waiver policy to consider “new ownership structures” for the affected companies “is neither workable nor realistic,” they said. A draft FCC order would eliminate the discount (see 1608080051).

The FCC Enforcement Bureau proposed a $15,000 penalty against a church pastor operating a pirate radio station in Broward County, Florida, said a notice of apparent liability: Kedner Maxime was warned in person by Enforcement Bureau agents several times in 2015, but repeatedly reactivated his radio station. “Mr. Maxime’s deliberate disregard of the Commission’s warnings warrants a significant penalty” the NAL said.

The FCC media ownership order​ “makes no progress on media diversity,” said Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights President Wade Henderson in a statement Thursday. The order has been voted but not released by the commission (see 1608110058). “While it holds the line on media consolidation in many respects, the FCC has set forth no research agenda or policies proven to increase the diversity of ownership in broadcasting,” Henderson said. A lack of diversity in media ownership is responsible for media exaggeration of “black criminality, unemployment and poverty,” the release said. “The stakes are high for communities of color and women and we urge the FCC to finally put diversity at the top of its agenda,” Henderson said.

The FCC Media Bureau is seeking comment on a petition for declaratory ruling to allow Corvex Master Fund to own up to 14.99 percent of Pandora, which itself was the beneficiary of a foreign-ownership declaratory ruling, said a public notice Friday. Corvex is “organized under the laws of the Cayman Islands and is ultimately controlled by Keith Meister, a U.S. citizen, through a series of intervening entities that are organized under Delaware law and owned and controlled by U.S. citizens,” the PN said. Pandora's declaratory ruling included a condition that the FCC must grant approval for foreign entities that want to acquire more than 5 percent of the company. Corvex wants to buy 9.99 percent but wants the FCC to preapprove up to 14.99 percent. The PN said Corvex contends granting the request will “facilitate investment” in Pandora and “facilitate the efficient operation of the secondary markets for trading stocks of a publicly traded company.” Comments are due Sept. 12, replies Sept. 27.

ATSC 3.0 will allow broadcasters to “datacast," which will create opportunities for public TV stations, said America's Public Television Stations in an ex parte filing posted Thursday in FCC docket 16-142. “Next Gen datacasting will allow Public Television to deliver encrypted and targetable IP data, including video and other large files, and thereby provide a wireless IP delivery network that is natively multicast and not subject to congestion or delay, like the television signals carrying it,” APTS said. “Public Television is eager to embrace the non-broadcast datacasting opportunities that Next Gen presents to enhance the public services we offer.” ATSC 3.0 would allow noncommercial stations to support FirstNet and first responders, send educational materials to schools, and perform a “C-SPAN-like” service for state legislative proceedings, the association said. The service also could present a nonbroadcast revenue opportunity for public stations by allowing them to provide datacast services to local businesses, it said.

The National Association of Latino Independent Producers supports the application from Univision and Grupa Televisa to allow Univision to be up to 49 percent foreign owned, it said in a comment in FCC docket 16-217. Univision is seeking a declaratory ruling to allow for the foreign ownership, along with an application to be owned 40 percent by Grupa Televisa. “NALIP has had the opportunity to partner with both Univision and Televisa on media diversity and promotion of Latino content creators and can attest to the companies’ continued commitment to the Latino community,” the filing said. NALIP said it's part of a joint incubator program with Televisa and Univision to “boost Latino diversity in television, digital media, documentary and production." The broadcaster's request is expected to be OK’d (see 1607080051), which also got backing from another filing in the docket. DOJ "with the concurrence of the U.S. Department of Defense and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security" asked the FCC to "defer action" on the Univision petition, said a letter filed in the docket. The three federal agencies "are reviewing this matter for any national security, law enforcement, and public safety issues but have not yet completed that effort," said the letter. They want the FCC to wait until their review is complete, the letter said. "The Agencies will advise the Commission promptly upon completion of their review.”

New FCC emergency alert system codes for storm surges and high winds will take effect Sept. 12, said a notice in the Federal Register. Though use of the codes isn't mandatory, broadcasters replacing their EAS equipment will have to install devices that can use the new codes by the following Sept. 12, and EAS equipment manufacturers will have to include the codes in new equipment by March 12, said a blog post on the website of law firm Fletcher Heald.

Ford's 2017 Escape and Fusion vehicles will come with dual-radio reception systems, including one of the first dual-radio applications for HD Radio, the automaker said Wednesday. Dual FM radio reception uses a second receiver and the rear window heater grid as a second antenna to help the radio choose between multiple signals on the same frequency, said Ford in an announcement. The second antenna and receiver reduce interference from the same radio signal when it’s received twice, helpful in cities and mountainous areas where radio signals tend to bounce around the surroundings, said Ford. The second receiver also helps discern the stronger signal for clearer reception, the company said. In testing the system, Ford assessed radio signals in Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, Minneapolis-St. Paul, New York, Pittsburgh and Seattle and determined the system allows listeners to hear stations longer when traveling between cities since there’s no middle zone where the radio plays overlapping stations. With a typical radio, at a midpoint between cities interference can last up to 15 minutes when a tuner is bringing in two stations overlapping the same frequency, it said.

The FCC upheld a Media Bureau decision granting a license renewal to a New Jersey radio station that allowed its license to expire in 2006 and continued broadcasting, not filing a renewal until 2010, said an order in Wednesday's Daily Digest. Atlantic City Board of Education filed for renewal of WAJM(FM) Atlantic City after Press Communications filed for a modification of spacing rules for its WBHX(FM) Tuckerton Press said spacing rules didn't protect WAJM since it had allowed its license to expire, but the bureau ruled otherwise. The FCC said in the order Tuesday that commission precedent supported granting a renewal to stations that allowed their licenses to expire. Commissioner Mignon Clyburn dissented from the vote, and Commissioner Mike O'Rielly concurred, saying the FCC is applying different standards to wireless and broadcast licensees. The FCC “consistently has allowed broadcast station licenses to be renewed even when the license term expired long before the renewal application was filed,” O'Rielly said in a statement issued with the order. “This seems inappropriate and problematic: we ought not have different standards for deadlines based on the service being offered and we ought not allow late filings.”

The FCC denied a PMCM application for review of Media Bureau Video Division decisions allotting a channel in Seaford, Delaware, that was connected with PMCM's relocation of a channel from Wyoming to Delaware, said a commissioner-approved order in Friday's Daily Digest. PMCM at first supported the allotment and then changed its position three years later, the order said. “In short, it appears that PMCM simply changed its strategy as developments unfolded.” PMCM's application was rejected for being untimely, the order said. The order had been slated for consideration on the consent agenda for Thursday's commissioner meeting and was removed just beforehand because it was OK'd on circulation.