Full-power and Class A TV stations have until July 9 to certify that the FCC’s listing of their facilities and technical information is correct, said a Media Bureau public notice Tuesday. The PN lists every station “eligible for protection in the repacking process and for relinquishment in the reverse auction,” but stations still have to verify the information is correct by submitting a pre-auction technical certification form by the deadline, it said. If the information on file is wrong, licensees have to attach an exhibit to the form providing the correct info, the PN said. “The Bureau will take such corrections into account for purposes of determining protection in the repacking process and the spectrum usage rights eligible for relinquishment in the reverse auction.” All TV stations on the eligible station list need to file the new form, “even if the licensee does not plan to participate in the auction or even though the licensee believes that its stations are far enough from any major city that it is unlikely that the auction will affect them,” said Wilkinson Barker broadcast attorney David Oxenford in a blog post. “Stations should be gathering this information as soon as possible so that they can begin to complete the FCC form to make certain that it is on file by the July 9 deadline.”

The FCC adopted NAB and the American Cable Association’s compromise proposal on the HD carriage exemption, as was expected (see 1505190057), said in a sixth report and order Wednesday. “The compromise reached by ACA and NAB as reflected in the joint proposal reasonably balances the interest of broadcast stations in having their HD signals transmitted in HD and the interest of small cable operators in upgrading their systems to carry HD broadcast signals in a manner that is cost efficient,” the order said. “No industry commenter has lodged any objection to the joint proposal.” The compromise order exempts small cable systems not offering HD programming from the HD carriage requirement. Systems using the exemption stop being eligible once they offer HD programming, starting Dec. 12, 2016. After, systems using the exemption that start offering HD programming have to notify local broadcasters that they are doing so, the order said. The order also redefines “small” as cable systems serving 1,500 -- rather than 2,500 -- or fewer subscribers, and not affiliated with a cable operator serving more than 2 percent -- rather than 10 percent -- of all multichannel video programming distributor subscribers, or having an activated channel capacity of 552 MHz or less.

Five broadcast TV groups collaborated to create a live-streaming and on-demand service for local newscasts called NewsOn, Cox Media said in a release Tuesday. NewsOn is a joint venture formed by ABC, Cox, Hearst Television, Media General and Raycom. The free service will be a downloadable application and gives users the ability to watch newscasts from any of the 112 participating stations, Cox said. The current participating stations are in 17 of the top 25 national TV markets, it said. Cox said NewsOn is expected to be available to the public by fall.

The FCC Office of General Counsel decided an NAB ex parte that was the subject of a complaint from the LPTV Spectrum Rights Coalition was “adequate,” according to a letter from the OGC’s office reprinted by the coalition. NAB’s ex parte filing covered a meeting among FCC officials, NAB, public TV groups and wireless carriers, but didn’t fully explain the purpose of the meeting, coalition Director Mike Gravino said. “What advantage has now been given to NAB members and APTS [Association of Public Television] members? What do they know to do, to submit, to plan for, that the rest of us do not? Has the Incentive Auction proceeding been compromised?” asked Gravino in an email newsletter on the matter. According to the OGC letter received by Gravino, the meeting's purpose was “to encourage the private stakeholders present to confer among themselves (apart from the Commission) about the challenges associated with repacking and to see whether they could agree on measures that might address these challenges and serve the interests of both broadcasters and carriers,” the letter said. “Arguably, under these circumstances, there was no need to file an ex parte notice of the meeting at all,” the OGC letter said. The FCC and NAB declined to comment on Gravino’s complaints and the OGC letter. “What is the ‘secret deal’ which was struck between these sellers and buyers? Why are they the only ones to know about the secret deal, and party to the secret negotiations?” Gravino asked. “If the FCC suggested an ex parte needed to be filed, then that ex parte needed to have been done in the proper form of full disclosure, as we have pointed out in our complaint,” Gravino said. “It clearly was not, and now the Office of General Counsel is attempting to cover the tracks of the [Incentive Auction Task Force].”

The FCC 's Emergency Alert System (EAS) Sixth Report and Order puts improvements in the EAS system based on the 2011 nationwide EAS test into effect, said the order released Wednesday. “Our rules governing these alerts must continue to evolve as legacy networks and services transition to next generation technologies,” the order said. The order adopts “six zeroes” (000000) as the national location code “pertaining to every state and county in the United States,” and the order requires EAS participants to use equipment capable of processing the code. Participants must also use equipment “capable of processing a National Periodic Test (NPT) event code for future nationwide EAS tests” so future national, regional, state and local activations are consistent, the order said. Test data must now be filed in an Electronic Test Report System that was constructed to be “a practical, accessible, and minimally burdensome tool for recording EAS dissemination data,” the order said. The data will be used for developing an FCC Mapbook for illustrating how EAS alerts are propagated throughout the country. EAS participants are also required to ensure that EAS visual messages are “readable and accessible to all members of the public,” the order said.

The FCC Media Bureau granted Pandora's application to purchase KXMZ(FM) Box Elder, South Dakota, from Connoisseur Media over the objections of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), an order issued Tuesday said. The decision in Pandora’s favor has been expected since the commission issued a declaratory ruling allowing the deal to go forward without requiring Pandora to establish that it doesn’t have majority foreign ownership, said Wilkinson Barker broadcast attorney David Oxenford, who represents seller Connoisseur Media. Though ASCAP had filed a petition to deny the application, the Media Bureau said it didn’t have the standing to do so. ASCAP’s standing argument is “too attenuated and speculative to demonstrate that ASCAP has suffered or will suffer an actual or imminent injury-in-fact as a result of the KXMZ(FM) transaction,” the order said. The Media Bureau instead treated ASCAP’s arguments as an informal objection, which was also rejected. “We find that ASCAP fails to establish a substantial and material question of fact that grant of the Application would be inconsistent with the public interest,” the order said. ASCAP has the option of filing a petition for reconsideration of the bureau-level decision, but it’s not clear if it will do so, an attorney familiar with the matter said. ASCAP didn't respond to a request for comment. The purchase of KXMZ is intended to allow Pandora to qualify for music rights at the same rates enjoyed by broadcasters, Pandora has said. To fulfill that part of its plan, Pandora will have to argue the matter before the Radio Music License Committee, copyright attorneys have told us.

The FCC Media Bureau and Brooks Broadcasting agreed to a $2,500 settlement over Brooks' station KPSO-FM Falfurrias,Texas, operating less than the minimum required hours, according to a consent decree issued Thursday. KPSO was ceasing its daily programming at 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday, the decree said.

The FCC needs to ensure that the incentive auction won't create “white areas” where there's no access to noncommercial educational broadcasting, said officials from the Association of Public Television Stations, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and PBS in a meeting Tuesday with aides to Commissioners Mignon Clyburn and Mike O'Rielly. The FCC has “the authority to reserve a portion of the public airwaves for noncommercial educational service and the obligation to continue doing so,” the public TV entities said in a filing in docket 12-268. “The Commission has never made the continued existence of noncommercial educational reserved spectrum subject entirely to market forces and cannot reverse this well-settled policy now.”

NAB Show organizers hired an independent research firm, Exhibit Surveys, of Red Bank, New Jersey, to verify attendance at the 2015 event by asking showgoers to self-certify in a one-question “yes” or “no” email questionnaire whether they actually made the trip to Las Vegas. “Your response is extremely important for the accuracy of this project,” said the canvassing email. “Our records indicate that you registered for the 2015 NAB Show which was held April 11-16 in Las Vegas. Please click on the link below to confirm whether or not you attended and to verify your registration demographics. If any information is incorrect or missing, please select the appropriate response.” The “preliminary registered attendance” was 103,042 for the 2015 NAB Show, organizers said in an announcement April 14, the third day of the show. “All numbers are based on pre-show and onsite registration and subject to an ongoing audit,” organizers said then.

Graham Holdings sold TheRoot.com, an online magazine focused on news, opinions, culture and entertainment from the perspective of African-Americans, to La Fabrica, a division of Univision Interactive Media, said Graham and Univision in news releases Thursday. The Root launched in 2008. The website's publisher was hired by Univision (see separate report below in this issue).