KTSF-TV San Francisco launched a mobile TV Nielsen mobile measurement app. The app will help the station inform its research and insights, and drive advertising effectiveness, Nielsen said Monday in a news release (http://bit.ly/1izTTih). The app will allow KTSF “to go beyond how many viewers download an app and time spent to understand granular information important to advertisers such as demographics,” and ad campaigns that were watched, it said. Supplemental mobile viewing will contribute to existing TV audience estimates with mobile viewers, “allowing KTSF to identify additional viewing that it is not currently receiving credit for today,” it said.

Sinclair will sell WHTM-TV in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, to Media General, said the seller in a news release Monday (http://bit.ly/1q1lXgX). Sinclair said it’s also selling its interest in WTAT-TV in Charleston, South Carolina, to Cunningham Communications, which already owns the station’s license. Sinclair had provided services to WTAT through a sharing agreement. The deals, which combine for a sale price of $97.4 million, are related to Sinclair’s $985 million deal to buy Allbritton Communications’ TV stations. Sinclair said it expects to complete the buy of the Allbritton stations in Q3, “pending customary approvals and a waiver from the FCC.” Sinclair said last month it would shutter three other stations to bring the Allbritton deal into compliance with new FCC sharing arrangement policies (CD May 30 p4). The waiver would be a temporary one, allowing Sinclair to briefly own WHTM and an existing Harrisburg station at the same time, since the Allbritton transaction is likely to be approved before the Media General deal, Sinclair told us.

The FCC Enforcement Bureau proposed a $10,000 fine against Duhamel Broadcasting Enterprises for failing to ensure that its antenna structure was properly illuminated. The Federal Aviation Administration notified Duhamel that lighting was required for its antenna structure in Rapid City, South Dakota, the bureau said in a notice of apparent liability and order released Thursday (http://bit.ly/1oLympK). Given that public safety is at risk when antenna structures aren’t properly illuminated, “Duhamel’s failure to light the structure after the FAA notification warrants a significant penalty,” it said.

Rentrak expanded its partnership with CBS-owned TV stations by providing two Los Angeles stations with Rentrak’s local ratings services. KCBS and KCAL will have full access to Advanced Automotive Demographics, “which measure television viewing tied to automobile make/model purchase behaviors,” Rentrak said Thursday in a news release (http://bit.ly/1vYUMUf). With the addition of these stations, Rentrak provides its services to nine CBS-owned stations in five markets, it said.

Sander Media has sold Phoenix TV stations KTVK and KASW to Meredith Corp. for $407.5 million, Gannett said in a news release Thursday (http://bit.ly/UiN6i7). Sander is affiliated with Gannett, and operates some stations through sharing arrangements with the larger company. Both stations were conveyed to Gannett and then to Sander as part of Gannett/Belo (CD Dec 17 p6), said Gannett. The deal to subsequently sell them to Meredith arose out of a Department of Justice consent decree, which required Gannett to divest KMOV St. Louis to get approval for its Belo acquisition. At the close of the deal, Meredith simultaneously conveyed KASW to SagamoreHill of Phoenix, which, through its affiliates, owns and operates two TV stations in two markets, said Gannett.

The FCC Media Bureau canceled a $3,000 proposed forfeiture to Eternal Family Network. The bureau proposed the fine against EFN for allegedly failing to timely file kids’ TV programming reports for Class A station KEFN St. Louis, the bureau said in an order (http://bit.ly/1kOv0tT). EFN stated that it couldn’t locate the original reports when the renewal application was filed, “but could now provide evidence, in the form of originally filed reports and/or confirmation submissions, that the reports were timely filed,” the bureau said. It also canceled a proposed $13,000 forfeiture against Withers Broadcasting for allegedly failing to electronically file the quarterly TV issues and program lists for WVFX-TV Clarksburg, West Virginia, said a separate order (http://bit.ly/1jzmAXx). W. Russell Withers, the sole manager and full equity owner of the company, died in January, it said. “Based on the representative’s showing, we hereby cancel the forfeiture."

The FCC’s recent rule changing the way joint sales agreements are counted against the broadcast ownership cap takes effect Thursday, said the Media Bureau in a public notice Wednesday (http://bit.ly/1lDiyBG). That kicks off the two-year compliance period meant to allow broadcasters to unwind any agreements that are no longer practical under the new policy. The compliance period will end June 19, 2016, the PN said. The rule faces court challenges from Howard Stirk Holdings, NAB, Nexstar and the Prometheus Radio Project (CD June 16 p16), but no injunctions have so far been requested, according to court records.

The Sports Fans Coalition continued to urge the FCC to repeal the sports blackout rule. While the FCC may find it prudent to sunset the rules by a certain date, it shouldn’t “delay taking swift action on a final Order that would ultimately eliminate” the sports blackout rule, SFC and the National Consumers League said in an ex parte filing posted Wednesday in docket 12-3 (http://bit.ly/1iHmJrO). The rule is unnecessary because professional sports leagues, like the NFL, can rely on market forces to negotiate with cable- and satellite-TV providers to continue their blackout policies, it said. The rule serves as a government subsidy “that harms fans by cutting televised access to games the ticket buying public has determined are too expensive to attend in person,” it said. The filing recounts meetings with staff from the offices of Chairman Tom Wheeler and Commissioners Mignon Clyburn and Jessica Rosenworcel.

Scoring based on pre-auction assessments could distort pricing at the “critical end-stages of the” incentive auction, said an anonymous group of auction-eligible broadcasters in an FCC ex parte filing posted Tuesday in docket 12-268 (http://bit.ly/1q9LvpU). The group met with staff from the Incentive Auction Task Force, the Media Bureau and the Wireless Bureau last week. The FCC should release detailed information about any scoring mechanisms, as well as general information about likely auction pricing, the filing said. The broadcasters presented an option for estimating the possible funds available for broadcasters, using a “conservative estimate of forward auction revenue.” Their estimate projected $113 million in revenue per broadcaster, but the filing said the opening prices offered to broadcasters “should be much higher, allowing market forces to establish the actual market clearing prices, which could significantly exceed these values if forward auction revenue exceeds the estimated amount."

The FCC’s Incentive Auction Task Force should release the 100 simulated repacking scenarios it used to create a recently released staff analysis (CD June 4 p17) of potential aggregate interference to TV stations after the auction, said NAB in an ex parte filing posted online Monday (http://bit.ly/1uywlKI). The data gathered from the simulations “identifies certain stations to relinquish their licenses and assigns channels to the remaining stations,” the filing said. NAB wants the scenarios to “ensure that NAB’s analysis can comport with the FCC results,” the association said.