Canyon Media Group opposed JER’s proposal to substitute Channel 246C for Channel 280C at Toquerville, Utah. Canyon said a noncommercial educational (NCE) station allotment at Channel 246C isn’t viable “based on the site restrictions that must be placed on the allotment,” in comments in docket 14-54 (http://bit.ly/1pss0uw). Substituting Channel 281C for Channel 280C for the NCE vacant allotment at Toquerville would be a more efficient spectrum allocation, it said. Canyon owns the translator K245BF at Cedar City, Utah, at Channel 245, “which would be first adjacent to petitioner’s proposed allotment at Channel 246C at Toquerville,” Canyon said. Granting allotment on Channel 246 would ultimately require Canyon’s translator to terminate service at Cedar City, it said.

The Puerto Rico Radio Broadcasters Association, Utah Broadcasters Association and West Virginia Broadcasters Association support a proposal to establish a method for disseminating emergency alert system messages in non-English languages, they said. The associations were added to the joint comments filed by other state broadcasters associations in docket 04-296 (CD May 30 p10). With the addition of the three associations, all 50 state broadcasters associations are represented in the initial comments, the associations said (http://bit.ly/1nLCTFH).

The FCC Media Bureau ordered Duncan Cable TV in Wilmington, Vermont, to carry low-power TV station WYCX-CD on its cable system in Wilmington. WYCX claimed it requested mandatory carriage on Duncan’s system in November, and Duncan hasn’t responded in writing, the bureau said in an order the FCC posted Friday (http://bit.ly/SiDIcX). Duncan’s system has more than 35 activated channels, “and not more than one-third of its channels are filled with broadcast signals,” the bureau said. Duncan failed to file an opposition disputing WYCX’s assertions, it said. WYCX provides coverage in the Vermont towns of Manchester and Londonderry and in South Charlestown, New Hampshire.

An NAB challenge to the FCC’s increased scrutiny of sharing arrangements should be dismissed because the public notice announcing the processing guidelines was not an FCC final order, the agency argued in a motion to dismiss filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit Friday. A response to the NAB’s May 12 petition against the guidelines, the FCC filing says, “The Communications Act makes clear that courts lack jurisdiction to review actions taken by FCC staff pursuant to delegated authority.” The NAB petition should also be dismissed because the broadcasters didn’t file for review with the FCC first, and because the FCC hasn’t yet acted on the public notice, said the commission, so NAB “failed to exhaust its administrative remedies."

The three stations Sinclair plans to close to obtain FCC approval for its deal to buy Allbritton “were not buyable as standalone stations,” said Wells Fargo analyst Marci Ryvicker in an email to investors Friday. Sinclair had tried to sell the stations but couldn’t find a buyer (CD May 30 p4) -- this was because without sharing arrangements the stations were no longer a worthwhile purchase, Ryvicker said. Closing the stations instead of selling them does not “impact” the Allbritton deal, she said. Since the closing stations aren’t in large markets, “we don’t think that these licenses will be very marketable in the auction,” Ryvicker said. Pai and O'Rielly’s characterization was false, said National Association of Black-Owned Broadcasters President Jim Winston in a news release Friday. “The unique circumstances in which Sinclair finds itself do not support any conclusion regarding the overall important benefits of the new JSA rule.” Sinclair may have had other business reasons for closing the stations, such as a tax deduction, Winston said. “This single instance does not refute the potential benefit that can result from” the JSA rule, he said.

The FCC Media Bureau granted low-power TV station WYCX-CD Manchester, Vermont’s must-carry complaint against Duncan Cable TV, said an order released Thursday (http://bit.ly/SiDIcX). The complaint was unopposed, and Duncan did not respond to WYCX’s request for carriage in Wyndham County, Vermont, the order said.

An order related to the Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation Act rules listed as circulating among FCC members is a procedural update to the act’s loudness standards, an agency official told us. As explained in an FNPRM last year, the proposed update was prompted by changes to the Advanced Television Systems Committee algorithm used to calculate loudness (CD Nov 5 p18), according to the official. The legislation references the old ATSC standard, and the order would update the language with the new one, the official said. The FNPRM didn’t receive any opposing comments, according to the proceeding’s docket 11-93 (http://bit.ly/1trMIbw). NAB asked that stations be permitted flexibility and time extensions for updating their equipment to the new standard. The Media Bureau didn’t comment.

The FCC Enforcement Bureau proposed a $6,000 fine for Real Life Broadcasting for allegedly failing to operate its WIFI-AM Florence, N.J., within authorized power limitations. The bureau directed Real Life to submit a written statement that the station is currently operating consistent with its license, the bureau said in a notice of apparent liability (http://bit.ly/1to77hD). The bureau applied the $4,000 base amount and an additional $2,000 due to Real Life’s “prior overpower operations,” it said.

The FCC Media Bureau fined Aerco Broadcasting $20,000 for failing to file quarterly TV issues and programs lists, and children’s TV programming reports and for failing to report the violations in a renewal application for its WSJU-TV San Juan, Puerto Rico. The bureau said the forfeiture shouldn’t be reduced “as it is in line with previous forfeitures the Commission has determined are not excessive relative to the Licensee’s ability to pay,” in a forfeiture order (http://bit.ly/1pkC2hh).

CBS said it reviewed and enhanced its procedures related to political ads as a result of a complaint against its WWJ-TV Detroit. The Campaign Legal Center and the Sunlight Foundation filed complaints against WWJ and stations owned by Gannett, Scripps and others alleging that they didn’t publicly disclose information about sponsors of political ads this year (CD May 2 p6). CBS also “accelerated the hiring of additional staff to assist with the political advertising disclosure process,” it said in a response to the FCC Media Bureau request for information. The bureau directed the stations to respond May 27 (CD May 13 p11). The bureau told us the other companies responded by the due date, but it did not provide copies of their filings, which had not been posted on the FCC website by our deadline. When CBS staff received the complaint May 1, it reviewed WWJ’s online file and found that an incorrect NAB form for a previous Senate Majority PAC advertising buy in 2013 was inadvertently uploaded to the station’s online political file, CBS said. The staff then uploaded the correct NAB form to its file, it said. The form identified the candidate and the relevant information on the office being sought and the election date, CBS said.