The remaining portions of the FCC order allowing some noncommercial stations to do third-party fundraisers (see 1704200048) is to take effect Nov. 13, 60 days after scheduled Tuesday Federal Register publication. Some of the rule’s provisions that didn’t involve information collection took effect July 5 (see 1705050021). Others awaited paperwork approval from the Office of Management and Budget. That approval was received in August, a new FCC FR notice said.

The FCC Media Bureau rejected Edward Stolz’s petition for reconsideration of its decision to renew the licenses of five California radio stations owned by Entercom because he lacks standing and his petition doesn’t raise new facts, said a letter Monday. The full FCC rejected other appeals by Stolz connected with Entercom’s former station KDND(FM) Sacramento last week, also for a lack of standing (see 1709080039). “Stolz fails to demonstrate that he is currently a competitor in the Stations’ market and lacks the direct competitive injury or likely financial injury required to assert such standing as an ‘aggrieved party,’” Monday's letter said.

If the FCC requires simulcasting of stations transitioning to ATSC 3.0, that rule shouldn’t require identical content on both stations and should have a three-year time limit, NAB said in a Wednesday meeting with Media Bureau Chief Michelle Carey and other staff, said an ex parte filing posted Monday in docket 16-142. NAB has consistently argued against any sort of simulcasting requirement. The association laid out what provisions it would like to see in such a rule, including allowances to let stations demonstrate the capabilities of the new standard for consumers still viewing in 1.0. The FCC should permit stations to “from time to time, transmit programming intended to highlight features and capabilities not available using ATSC 1.0 without transmitting substantially similar content on another station,” the group said. It wants the agency to except localized emergency warnings and allow the simulcasting station to air alternative content to “address, for example, breaking news, features or content that cannot be transmitted using ATSC 1.0.” Broadcasters should be able to get waivers of a simulcast requirement if they can’t find a simulcast partner, NAB said. “Rural markets should not be shut out of innovation solely because they do not have enough broadcast stations to participate in partnership arrangements.” NAB also proposed that the FCC allow broadcasters to rely on both components of the 3.0 physical layer, A/321 and A/322, and that it not require use of A/322 for other services that use 3.0. NAB asked the FCC not to mandate consumer education efforts for the 3.0 move and said it doesn’t object to allowing low-power stations to transition to 3.0 without simulcasting.

Edward Stolz doesn’t have standing to appeal administrative law judge decisions on Entercom’s former station KDND(FM) Sacramento, commissioners said in an order. Stolz had filed a reconsideration petition against a hearing designation order on KDND that didn’t permit him to intervene in the proceeding, and later an application for review against the proceeding being terminated (see 1612290039). The KDND HDO was terminated after Entercom voluntarily surrendered the station’s license. KDND was originally designated for hearing over a 2007 radio contest that led to the death of a listener (see 1610280058). Stolz argued he had standing to appeal those matters because he was in the station’s listening area and separately involved in a pending appeal of FCC approval of a deal involving a station that competed with KDND. Stolz raised his status as a possible potential competing licensee only after the agency rejected his listener argument, Friday’s order said. Even if he initially raised that argument, the possibility that he might win a pending case involving another station doesn’t mean he has a stake in the KDND matter, the order said. Since Stolz doesn’t have standing in the initial case, his appeal of the HDO’s dismissal is also invalid, the order said.

BBC is working on an “original interactive audio drama pilot” for Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant voice devices that lets users “actively” play a role in plots. “We wanted to make it feel like you’re having a genuine, direct interaction with the other characters in the piece,” blogged BBC R&D producer Henry Cooke Wednesday. “We haven’t come across any other interactive stories like this on voice devices, and we’re excited to see how people respond.” BBC R&D built a “story engine” that will allow the pilot to be released “across different voice devices,” he said. “As far as we know, there aren’t many people developing cross-platform voice experiences in this way.”

The FCC likely will loosen its broadcast ownership rules for top-four TV stations, which could give broadcasters increased leverage and make retransmission consent negotiations with MVPDs tougher, Cowen analyst Paul Gallant emailed investors Wednesday. Broadcaster ability to own two must-have stations in a market "would clearly enhance prospects" in retrans talks, Cowen said, pointing to Time Warner Cable's subscriber losses in its 2013 dispute with CBS (see reports in the Aug. 26 and 30 issues of this publication). Cowen said since Chairman Ajit Pai said MVPD consolidation hurts broadcasters, it's unlikely the FCC would block that greater broadcaster negotiating leverage with limits on joint retrans. It also said broadcast ownership rules changes could lead to station swaps across multiple markets, with numerous broadcast groups ending up with top-four combinations, giving numerous broadcasters more retrans power without going through large-scale deals like Sinclair buying Tribune. The FCC is less likely to change the UHF discount than to address the ownership rules, and seems likely in coming months to OK simulcasting ATSC 3.0 signals, Cowen said: If the agency sticks to not preventing broadcasters from tying 3.0 carriage to 1.0 carriage, that could also make retrans talks -- including issues of buying equipment and devoting bandwidth to ATSC 3.0 channels -- with MVPDs more tense. Gallant said agency approval of Sinclair/Tribune without conditions limiting joint retrans seems likely, though that might not come this year.

Citing temporary technical issues with the FCC Media Bureau Licensing and Management System over Labor Day weekend, the bureau and the Incentive Auction Task Force are pushing forward by seven days the priority filing window deadline for TV stations that got new channel assignments after the incentive auction to be reauthorized and relicensed, said a public notice issued Wednesday. The filing window now closes Sept. 15 instead of Sept. 8, they said. The bureau earlier this month delayed an ownership report deadline also amid LMS issues (see 1709050053).

The “pace of work” is accelerating on the CTA-CEB32 “family” of recommended ATSC 3.0 practices now that more of the next-generation broadcast system “becomes finalized,” wrote Brian Markwalter, CTA senior vice president-technology and research, in the September issue of ATSC’s monthly newsletter, The Standard. Once work on CTA-CEB32 is complete, it will consist of 11 parts plus an overview that will be “easily mapped to ATSC 3.0 standards,” said Markwalter, an ATSC board member. CTA-CEB32's components “will help close the loop between the broadcast side and receivers through industry agreed-upon guidance so that interoperability can be achieved in a mixed environment of independent broadcasters and TV manufacturers,” he said. CTA-CEB32.5 on ATSC 3.0 audio was the first component to be finalized, and recommended practices for the system’s logical layer (CEB32.3) and video (CEB32.4) are “approaching the ballot stage,” while that for the physical layer (CEB32.2) is being drafted, he said. Work begins next on system integration (CEB32.1), he said.

The FCC shouldn’t entertain requests to eliminate broadcast rules such as the online public file, children’s TV reports and Form 323 filings, the Institute for Public Representation said in a meeting with Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel Thursday, according to an ex parte filing in docket 17-105. The institute also updated Rosenworcel on its objections to the reinstatement of the UHF discount and the status of its case against the 2014 quadrennial review (see 1708220058) in the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, where an FCC motion to hold the case in abeyance is still pending.

The FCC should waive Tuesday’s repacking construction permit deadline for stations assigned to channel 14, said Ion in a letter posted in docket 12-268 Friday. Ion has filed a recon petition (see 1708240040) asking the FCC to reassign stations that were repacked to channel 14 since they face interference from land mobile operations. “The Commission and ION know that any construction permit application ION files for channel 14 in San Francisco will result in ‘unresolvable interference.’ But if ION fails to file the required construction permit application by the upcoming deadline, it may be alleged to be in violation of the FCC's repack rules,” the company said. The FCC should act on its recon petition and similar requests by Univision and others, waive the Tuesday deadline for channel 14 stations, locate alternative channels for stations that were repacked onto the channel, and reimburse all stations there for equipment necessary to overcome the location on the dial’s interference challenges, Ion said.