Relaxed FCC rules on travelers' information stations (TIS), used to send noncommercial travel-related information to motorists over AM frequencies, will be effective June 4, said the agency in Tuesday's Federal Register. A TIS rule requiring filtering of audio frequencies transmitted over such stations will be relaxed to requiring it only above 5 kHz instead of 3 kHz, it said. "This rule change will enable TIS operators to improve the audio quality and intelligibility of TIS broadcasts." Commissioners approved a TIS order in March that held off on making other changes some requested (see 1503260059).

The seller of KXMZ(FM), Box Elder, South Dakota, and would-be buyer Pandora lobbied the FCC last week seeking "expedition since the proposed transaction has been pending for nearly two years," they said in a filing in docket 14-109. An FCC order Monday let Pandora exceed the 25 percent limit on foreign ownership and be as much as 49.9 percent foreign owned (see 1505040065), as expected (see 1504280046). Foreign-ownership reporting conditions that might be proposed in the declaratory ruling that Pandora seeks and whether the company would be willing to accept them were discussed, said the filing on meetings with aides to Commissioners Mike O'Rielly and Ajit Pai, also attended by representatives of KXMZ owner Connoisseur Media. "We also reiterated the public interest benefits of Pandora's programming for listeners of KXMZ," it said of the meeting with an aide to O'Rielly. But the FCC didn't approve Pandora's buy of KXMZ, and the order drew concern from O'Rielly and Pai.

Balloting on the first component of ATSC 3.0's physical layer is set to close May 6, ATSC said Friday in The Standard, its monthly online newsletter. The first ballot from ATSC’s Technology Group 3 is to elevate the “working draft” of a “system discovering and signaling” document to a “candidate standard,” the newsletter said. This “important part” of the physical layer is called the “bootstrap” or “preamble,” and it provides “robust signaling and synchronization,” it said. Balloting on the document began April 8, ATSC 3.0's framers said at the NAB Show (see 1504130030), If approved, the document would be the first part of ATSC 3.0 that’s elevated to candidate standard status “and represents a major milestone of the process,” it said. “Additional documents describing the physical layer and other layers of the system are expected in the coming months.” Balloting on each of ATSC 3.0's components typically will be a four-week process, it said. As ATSC 3.0's component parts are adopted as standards, they will be numbered after the ATSC specialist groups where they originated, it said. Since the S32 specialist group is responsible for the physical layer, the first document from S32 will be numbered “A/321,” it said.

As Congress looks at FCC process reform (see 1504300063), Expanding Opportunities for Broadcasters Coalition Executive Director Preston Padden said the agency's work on the TV incentive auction rulemakings “have been the most open and transparent proceedings I have seen in 40 years of being around the FCC.” Staffers working on the auction have provided all stakeholders “unlimited access” on issues as they come up, he said Friday. Before the report and order in May 2014, Chairman Tom Wheeler "invited every stakeholder group to visit with him for ‘one last shot’ to make their best arguments,” Padden said. “This was unprecedented. The FCC has not done everything our coalition has asked, by a long shot, but we could have no complaint about the openness, transparency and diligence of the process."

There’s no meaningful evidence that political candidates are disadvantaged by FCC last-in, first-out (LIFO) rules, NAB said in a meeting with Chief Bill Lake and other Media Bureau staff Friday. Canal Media Partners, which petitioned the FCC to give candidates priority over other advertisers (see 1503300017), also participated in the meeting, an ex parte filing said. “The petitioner’s theory is contrary to law, undermines the Commission’s policies and has absolutely no basis in the record.” Granting the petition would effectively eliminate “the use of LIFO to establish preemption priorities, with the likely effect of eliminating low-priced classes of preemptible time altogether,” NAB said. “That would eliminate an inexpensive option for political candidates and all other advertisers.”

Comments on the FCC rulemaking on granting the request of WJAR Providence, Rhode Island, to move from Channel 51 to 50 (see 1504220033) are due May 11, replies May 19, in docket 15-98, the agency said in Monday's Federal Register. "The Licensee has entered into such a voluntary relocation agreement with T-Mobile USA, Inc. and states that operation on channel 50 would remove any potential interference with authorized wireless operations in the adjacent Lower 700 MHZ A Block."

ESPN provided an updated statement on Verizon FiOS's new Custom TV bundling service (see 1504220058) Wednesday night: "The Walt Disney Company has been at the forefront of working with distributors to create new and innovative consumer offerings on multiple platforms. The issue here is that Verizon made unilateral decisions on how to offer ABC Family, Disney Channels, ESPN and ESPN2 that are in violation of our existing agreements," an ESPN spokeswoman emailed. Major broadcasters are "once again" blocking progress and consumer choice, the American Television Alliance (ATVA) said Thursday. Verizon's Custom TV would offer subscribers a customized version of cable programming with greater choice, ATVA said. "Rather than supporting an innovative new option for consumers, big broadcasters are threatening to sue Verizon," it said. ATVA urged Congress to look into why broadcasters that profit from taxpayer-owned airwaves are "desperate to limit consumer choice."

The FCC should take more steps to ensure communities continue to be served by public broadcasting after the spectrum incentive auction and repacking process, said the Association of Public Television Stations (APTS) and Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) staff, collectively PTV, in an ex parte notice posted at the commission Wednesday in docket 14-252. PTV met with commission staff Wednesday to discuss noncommercial educational (NCE) broadcasters, the auction and repack, PTV said. PTV urged the commission to grant the petition for reconsideration filed Sept. 15 and to revise its incentive auction rules to ensure at least one NCE reserved channel remains in each community after the auction. The petition presents an auction design that allows broadcasters to volunteer to participate and reserves space for new entrants in case an unserved area develops in the process, PTV said. The commission also should adopt a selection priority for displacement applications of translators that NCE licensees operate, it said. PTV also encouraged the commission to provide a selection priority for NCE translators where mutually exclusive displacement applications are filed. The commission shouldn't assign TV stations in the repurposed 600 MHz band during the repacking process, PTV said. "Placing television stations in the 600 MHz band risks creating many of the same challenges faced with channel 51 for years following the digital transition, but magnified and significantly more complicated due to the combined impact of interrelated geography, frequency, and power level variables," PTV said. A contiguous TV broadcast band should be maintained because of challenges with a repacking plan that combines broadcast and wireless services in the band, PTV said.

Turner Broadcasting System and Hulu announced a multiyear licensing agreement, Turner said Thursday. The agreement grants Hulu exclusive subscription video-on-demand rights to previous seasons of Turner’s programming from Cartoon Network and Adult Swim and current and upcoming series from TNT and TBS, it said. It's the first licensing agreement between Hulu and Turner, Turner said.

The FCC scheduled the upcoming auction for FM broadcast construction permits, Auction 98, to start July 23, the Media Bureau and Wireless Bureau said in a public notice Tuesday in docket 15-3. Auction 98 will offer 131 construction permits in the FM broadcast service, the bureaus said. The construction permits to be auctioned are 113 new FM allotments and 18 construction permits that were offered but not sold or were defaulted upon in previous auctions, the bureaus said.