Tower Broadcasting bought four radio stations in the Elmira, New York, area from Pembrook Pines Elmira for an undisclosed price in a deal that closed Monday, Tower said. The stations are AMs WEHH Elmira Heights and WELM Elmira, and FMs WOKN Southport and WLVY Elmira, Tower said. Four translators serving the Elmira market were also part of the deal, Tower said.

The FCC has taken a “curious” approach to regulating broadcasting, said Matthew Berry, chief of staff to Commissioner Ajit Pai, in a speech to the Michigan Broadcaster Association Tuesday. “Where broadcasters support loosening regulatory requirements, the Commission opposes doing so,” Berry said in prepared remarks: “But in areas where broadcasters oppose relaxing regulation, the Commission supports it.” Instead, the FCC should be consistent and “promote regulatory parity” for broadcasting with competing industries. The draft order on AM revitalization is a step in the right direction, Berry said, though progress on the item “has been slower than many would have liked.” Broadcasters should weigh in at the FCC to ensure that proposals such as FM translators for AM and eliminating the ratchet rule are enacted, he said. “Translators aren’t a panacea. But they can serve as a bridge to the future as we work on long-term fixes for the AM band,” Berry said. Though he didn’t comment on the prospects for the AM revitalization, Berry said he was optimistic about prospects for a draft order that would allow broadcasters to disclose contest rules online instead of on air. “At the Commission, we face many difficult and complicated issues. The contest rule isn’t one of them.” Berry said. He expects the FCC will act “to bring broadcasters some common-sense regulatory relief,” on contests “within the next month,” he said. The commission has “made a mess of things” with its recent rules on TV incentive auction procedures and the post-auction band plan, Berry said. The FCC 2010 National Broadband Plan originally called for the incentive auction to generate 120 MHz of spectrum, but Berry said expectations are now reduced because of FCC actions. Berry also criticized plans to repack broadcasters into the duplex gap and reserve a vacant band for unlicensed use. “Broadcasters should have priority” in the broadcast band, he said. “Unfortunately, the Commission’s majority no longer believes that.” Repacking broadcasters into wireless spectrum is “a short-sighted, irresponsible attempt to put a bandage on flawed auction rules,” said Berry. The agency should also take up its required review of its ownership regulations and do away with outdated ownership rules, he said. Berry also said he was “optimistic” about efforts in Congress to change rules to allow the grandfathering of existing joint sales agreements. The commission had no immediate response.

Friday’s deadline passed for ATSC’s S34-2 ad hoc group to deliver a recommended ATSC 3.0 audio codec to its parent S34 subcommittee, but with no announcement on a winning system. A statement from ATSC President Mark Richer suggested an announcement on the winning codec might be a distance off. “ATSC will announce elements of ATSC 3.0 as they are approved for Candidate Standard status by ATSC’s Technology Group 3,” Richer emailed us Friday, in reference to the technology group chaired by Triveni Digital Chief Science Officer Rich Chernock that's overseeing all ATSC 3.0 standardization work. “In the case of audio,” Richer said, “the work of a subcommittee continues and there is nothing yet to announce.” Dolby AC-4 and the MPEG-H audio alliance of Fraunhofer, Qualcomm and Technicolor are the two proponents vying to be chosen as the ATSC 3.0 audio system (see 1508110027).

GNH Productions’ TV program Crime Watch Daily is exempt from equal opportunities requirements because it qualifies as a bona fide newscast, the FCC Media Bureau said in a declaratory ruling issued Monday.

Nexstar will repurchase up to $100 million of Class A common stock after being authorized to do so by its board, the broadcaster said Monday in a news release.

The FCC needs to fully disclose the impact of the incentive auction on low-power TV and translators, said Advanced Television Broadcasting Alliance Executive Director Louis Libin in a news release. “Either the FCC doesn't know the impact to LPTV and Translator stations or they are hiding the fact that an entire industry that our country depends on will be largely wiped out,” ATBA said Thursday. That day's FCC meeting showed that large companies and “their pseudo public-interest groups” have undue influence at the commission, emailed LPTV Spectrum Rights Coalition Director Mike Gravino in an email, calling the meeting “internet-age industrial policy at its worse."

Any petitions of reconsideration filed against the FCC auction rules approved Thursday “would serve no purpose other than to enrich some lawyers,” said Expanding Opportunities for Broadcasters Coalition's Executive Director Preston Paddenin a blog post Friday. Incentive Auction Task Force Chairman Gary Epstein and Vice Chairman Howard Symons are “old pros” who “did not need their jobs at the FCC,” Padden said. “They believe that the auction will be a success and they deserve the benefit of any doubt.” The situations under which the procedures public notice and other auction rules would lead to impairment are worst-case scenarios only, Padden said. “The reality of the auction almost certainly will create more clear wireless spectrum,” he said. “The incentive auction is offering broadcasters a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to monetize their spectrum right in the middle of turbulent times in our industry.”

Developers of the NextRadio smartphone app that lets listeners receive FM radio on their handsets are teaming with College Broadcasters Inc. on a sweepstakes competition to devise 60-second ad spots for the next phase of NextRadio’s consumer awareness campaign launching in October, the partners said in a Wednesday announcement. The contest “is designed to offer college students an opportunity to conceive, create, and submit a commercial radio spot and compete within a real world context,” they said. Three winners will be chosen, they said. Besides gaining national exposure, the first prize winner will get an expense-paid trip to the National Student Electronic Media Convention Oct. 22-24 in Minneapolis, they said.

The deadline for biennial FCC ownership reports was extended from Nov. 2 to Dec. 2, said a Media Bureau order released Thursday. “The filing should still include information current as of October 1, 2015,” the order said. “We are aware that some licensees and parent entities of multiple stations may be required to file numerous forms, and the extra time is intended to permit adequate time to prepare such filings.”

Sinclair sees $2 billion worth of “substantial opportunities” in relinquishing some of its licenses in the incentive auction, CEO David Amy said on an earnings call Wednesday. Amy has expressed interest in the incentive auction before (see 1506250060), though a Sinlclair executive subsequently said it wouldn't be actively participating (see 1507230064). The $2 billion number was arrived at using the median numbers for specific Sinclair stations provided in the Greenhill estimates of auction prices, Chief Financial Officer Christopher Ripley said. “The ultimate outcome will depend on the many auction variables which are unclear at this time,” Amy said. Ripley said Sinclair's view of the auction hasn't changed, but there's an industry view that the company won't participate. “So that's one of the reasons we put that statement in the earnings release here or call today, just to give some people a little bit more specifics around what the upside is for Sinclair,” Ripley said. The earnings could even be improved with channel sharing, Ripley said. Sinclair is in “active discussions” on channel sharing, he said.