Sinclair ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC affiliates and its Tennis Channel will be carried on YouTube TV in their markets, the broadcaster announced. YouTube TV is expected to expand to eventually include Sinclair’s CW and MyNetworkTV stations, and science-fiction channel Comet TV, it said. “Our viewers want the ability to access content on any screen and having this relationship with YouTube will provide value to not only our viewers, but our advertising relationships as well,” said Barry Faber, Sinclair executive vice president-distribution and network relations.

An Anchorage channel substitution will allow Gray to “resolve significant over-the-air reception problems experienced by viewers,” it commented on its channel change petition (see 1707310069) in docket 17-187. “Moving operations to the transmitter site of sister station KTUU will help mitigate instances where the station must go silent due to power outages at its current remotely-situated facility.”

Trinity Broadcasting Network added its support to Ion’s petition for reconsideration of the FCC’s repacking reimbursement structure (see 1708020055), in a filing in docket 16-306. Like Ion, Trinity wants the FCC to change its plans to provide only a portion of reimbursement funds upfront and fully reimburse for some modifications instead of partially funding them as upgrades, the filing said. Trinity and Ion also both object to the constraints of the 39-month deadline. “ION’s Petition seeks important and needed revisions and clarifications of the Commission’s current post-auction channel repack plan and policies in a number of critical areas,” Trinity said. Meredith has also filed in support of Ion (see 1708110043).

The FTC issued an early termination notice for E.W. Scripps’ proposed $292 million buy of four networks from Katz Broadcasting (see 1708010036), the agency's website said.

The radio station license the FCC unanimously voted to designate for hearing at the August commissioners' meeting (see 1708030026) surrendered its license, the Media Bureau said in a news release Wednesday. WRAX(FM) Lake Isabella, Michigan, had operated only one day a year since being licensed in 2010, and the FCC designated its license renewal application for hearing on whether it was meeting its public interest obligations. “Apparently in response” to the hearing designation order, licensee Radioactive surrendered the license to the FCC, the bureau said. “The Media Bureau has deleted the station’s call sign and dismissed the pending license renewal application,” said the release. “The now-vacant allotment will be available in a future auction of FM broadcast construction permits.” Radioactive didn't comment.

Final briefs in the challenge by public interest groups of FCC reinstatement of the UHF discount are due Nov. 22, said the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in an order (Pacer) Tuesday. Reinstatement of the discount is seen as a key enabler of Sinclair’s proposed buy of Tribune (see 1708150063). The court rejected a stay request from the petitioners -- which include Free Press, Prometheus Radio Project and the National Hispanic Media Coalition -- in June (see 1706150033).

The Media Bureau contacted the NAB Aug. 9 to ask about “the potential impact of making paper public files available to members of the community via email or paper mail,” in relation to FCC-proposed elimination of the main studio rule (see 1707030047), said an ex parte filing posted Monday in docket 17-106. NAB said it doesn’t object to broadcasters having the option to email or snail-mail public file documents to members of the public, but a requirement that they do so would be too onerous. For stations without a main studio in their community of license, “maintaining the paper file in an accessible location in the community of license is the best course,” NAB said. An existing rule that requires stations that have a main studio and public file outside their community of license to mail copies of their public file would have to be updated to account for changes to the main studio rule, the association said.

​The DVB Steering Board approved a new next-generation subtitling delivery specification based on the World Wide Web Consortium’s Timed Text Markup Language (TTML) platform, DVB said in a Monday announcement. The new spec complements “bitmap”-based subtitling, which has been in use for more than 20 years, DVB said. TTML subtitles are “increasingly being adopted” by standards bodies, including ATSC and SMPTE, it said. The new spec “will allow service providers to transition over time to a common TTML subtitle format for both broadcast and internet delivered services,” it said. TTML subtitling for ATSC 3.0 is defined in the A/343 document, approved as a final ATSC 3.0 standard in December (see 1707180040).

The FCC Enforcement Bureau issued eight notices of violation against alleged unlicensed radio operators in Florida and one against an alleged pirate in California Friday, show documents released Monday. All Florida notices were issued for unlicensed signals said to be operating out of residences. Two were for homes in Miami, and others were warned in North Lauderdale, Miami Gardens, Pompano Beach, West Palm Beach, and two more in Oakland Park. The California NOV was issued against Stewart Kantor in San Jose, whose alleged unlicensed operation interfered with “over 200 sites of Verizon Wireless.”

The UHD Alliance will have more ubiquitous market presence and “expanded vision” under its new chairman, Warner Bros. Vice President-Technology Michael Zink, and new president, Mike Fidler, a former Sony and Pioneer executive, Fidler told us. The “original focus” of the alliance, formed at CES two years ago, was developing specifications, “and that’s still going to be a core part of the direction,” said Fidler. Members “also understood there was a need in the marketplace for greater education around the entire UHD category,” he said. “It’s very important for consumer education to be at a broader level of support coming out of the alliance.” Outgoing alliance President Hanno Basse, Fox Films chief technology officer, conceded at the NAB Show that he wished the Ultra HD Premium logo had wider market presence (see 1704240064). The alliance wants to boost membership to include the “traditional audio companies” and wants more participation from content companies, he said. The alliance also wants to expand its outreach to “the broadcast community, and how that evolves into an effective way to deliver a premium experience,” he said.