Nexstar may benefit from the political advertising and Olympics seasons and expected heightened mergers and acquisitions activity, Noble Capital Markets analyst Michael Kupinski emailed investors Wednesday. Nexstar “is expected to be a key consolidator,” Kupinski said. Its recent buy of digital media ad company Liquid will increase ability “to participate in the video advertising arena,” he said. TV broadcasters are more valuable in the “heightened M&A environment” expected due to relaxed ownership rules, Kupinski said.

A company with two FM stations wants the FCC Media Bureau to let a Mexican-owned company increase its stake from 25 percent to 100 percent, said a public notice Wednesday. The stations have been “in danger of failing” and the sale would help keep them on-air, said Grupo Multimedia's petition for declaratory ruling. Comments are due Jan. 19, replies Feb. 5. DOJ, DOD and the Department of Homeland Security asked the commission to delay acting on another foreign-ownership petition from Anco Media and Zoo Communications (see 1712190056). “The Agencies currently are reviewing this matter for national security, law enforcement, and public safety issues and cannot complete that review by January 18, 2018,” they wrote the FCC.

The FCC Media Bureau will no longer accept applications for minor changes for low-power TV and translator stations, said a public notice Wednesday. “This action will help to provide a stable database for eligible LPTV/translator stations to identify and apply for available channels in an upcoming displacement window.” Sixty days before the upcoming LPTV displacement window, the bureau needs to issue a PN listing locations and channels that aren’t going to be available during the window because of interference, and gathering that data is the reason for the freeze, the bureau said. It will continue to process pending applications, and consider requests for waiver of the freeze case-by-case, the PN said. The freeze is effective immediately, and the PN said it doesn’t require notice and comment because it's “procedural in nature.” The bureau won't delay the freeze to wait for Federal Register publication, the PN said. “Such a delay would be impractical, unnecessary, and contrary to the public interest because it would undercut the purposes of the freeze.” An announcement on lifting the freeze will follow the displacement window, the notice said.

Trilithic joined the Advanced Warning and Response Network Alliance, AWARN said Tuesday. “Trilithic has deep experience with alerting technology using the Common Alerting Protocol across diverse platforms,” said Executive Director John Lawson. The alliance also includes NAB, CTA and LG. “In 2018, we will work to develop a standards-based, end-to-end beta solution for advanced alerting,” Lawson said.

MediaTek is the first SoC supplier to finish “evaluation tests” of Verance’s Aspect audio watermarking for ATSC 3.0, the companies announced. At CES, they'll do “joint demonstrations” of MediaTek's DTV platforms integrated with the Aspect watermark, they said Tuesday. The FCC's Nov. 16 vote authorizing 3.0's voluntary deployment (see 1711160060) “paves the way for taking broadcasting to the next level,” they said. Verance is developing “go-to-market” partnerships for Aspect with consumer electronics companies and chipmakers, they said. ATSC’s "S33" specialist group on management and protocols picked Verance’s audio watermarking technology for 3.0 nearly three years ago (see 1504030030). It’s in the A/334 document on “audio watermark emission,” which ATSC approved as a final 3.0 standard in September 2016.

Comments on Italian-owned Anco Media’s FCC petition for declaratory ruling to buy Florida broadcaster Zoo Communications (see 1711290053) are due Jan. 18, replies Feb. 2, said a Media Bureau public notice Tuesday. An Anco owner, Marco Mazzoli, manages Zoo but doesn’t own an interest, said the petition.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai didn’t eliminate any possibilities for protecting from interference in the AM band, in a Dec. 6 reply letter to Rep. Steve Chabot, R-Ohio. The FCC may craft final rules on AM interference protection, seek comment on alternative proposals, or reject increasing such protections entirely, said Pai. Chabot wrote Pai in November with concerns that proposals on AM revitalization could interfere with Cincinnati-area radio stations.

The FCC Media Bureau approved reassigning WBIN-TV Derry, New Hampshire, from WBIN Inc. to Univision, it said in Monday's Daily Digest. Its sale was looked at as a potential test for how the FCC would handle "zombie" deals of stations that sold their spectrum at auction and then sought to sell the station itself to channel sharing partners (see 1708310037). The bureau dismissed as moot NCTA comments challenging the grant.

The FCC issued the text of the TV ownership cap NPRM, following 3-2 OK at Thursday's commissioners' meeting (see 1712140054). Comments are due 30 days after Federal Register publication, replies in another 30 days, said the rulemaking notice on docket 17-318.

Tegna agreed to buy San Diego TV and radio stations for $325 million cash from another broadcaster. The company said it agreed to buy from Midwest Television San Diego's KFMB-TV (CBS), KFMB (CW digital subchannel), and KFMB-AM-FM. The deal is expected to be completed in Q1.