NAB will present formal proposals to the FCC on increasing digital power for digital FM broadcasts, adoption of the National Radio Systems Committee-5 standard as a “formal regulatory standard,” and “a non-experimental basis of the use of asymmetric sidebands for digital FM transmissions,” the association told Media Bureau staff in a meeting Monday, according to an ex parte filing posted Wednesday in docket 99-325.

Media Action Center's “baseless accusations” that the Enforcement Bureau influenced the Media Bureau to grant license renewals for five Entercom stations to prevent them from being included in the renewal hearing for Entercom's KDND Sacramento “should be stricken from the record,” the Enforcement Bureau said in a surreply filing in docket 16-357 (see 1701200052). The bureau also filed a motion to allow the filing of the surreply to respond to MAC's accusation. “The Bureau did not attempt to influence and indeed, had no influence on, the Media Bureau's decision to grant the pending applications for the Other Sacramento Stations or on the timing of this grant,” the Enforcement Bureau said. “For Petitioners to suggest otherwise is entirely inappropriate.” MAC asked that the license renewal proceedings for Entercom's station be widened to include the licenses of Entercom's other Sacramento stations, but the stations were granted renewals by the Media Bureau within a day of MAC's request. “Although the Media Bureau's action coincided with the pendency of Petitioners' request, this fact alone offers no basis for Petitioners to falsely accuse the Bureau of concocting a method with the Media Bureau 'to withhold from the presiding judge any authority to explore' the matters Petitioners raise in their Petition,” the Enforcement Bureau said

The FCC denied former Class A broadcaster Kingdom of God’s petition for reconsideration of the Media Bureau’s earlier order denying KOG’s request to have its license reinstated, said a reconsideration order released Tuesday. Though KOG said a recent Supreme Court Decision on corruption, McDonnell v. United States, required the FCC to overturn its earlier decision, the FCC said the case wasn’t relevant, and KOG’s other arguments had already been addressed by the agency.

Univision is warning that its legal fight with Charter Communications over its carriage contract (see 1607080022) could lead to a blackout. In a statement Friday, the broadcaster said it's made "many attempts to resolve the dispute by offering good-faith settlement solutions" but that given Charter's rejection of them, it is notifying the cable distributor's customers about possible lost carriage of Univision networks and stations. In a statement, the cable operator said, "We have a contract with Univision and expect them to honor it.” Fox News Network is similarly suing the operator over which contractual terms -- the ones it had with Charter or with Time Warner Cable -- apply now that Charter has purchased TWC (see 1607200065).

FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly will keynote the Hispanic Radio Conference in Fort Lauderdale March 28-29, said conference organizer Radio Ink in a news release Friday. O’Rielly will discuss possible ownership rule changes, net neutrality and other FCC issues, it said.

A Minneapolis man has pleaded guilty to one count of mail fraud after defrauding investors in his startup TV network of more than $2.1 million, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Minnesota said in a news release Wednesday. Colin Chisholm, 67, used his The Caribbean TV Network to solicit funds from investors as interim financing while it was supposedly on the verge of securing up to $100 million to begin broadcasting. DOJ said Chisholm also lied about his personal and professional background, including claiming he had been a Turner Program Services vice president and participated in the launch of CNN.

The Copyright Royalty Board said Tuesday it received a notice from SoundExchange of its intent to audit SiriusXM's 2013-2015 royalty payment statements for its webcasting and digital satellite radio services. SoundExchange monitors royalty payments for Sirius and other services as part of its role in distributing royalties to copyright owners and performers under Copyright Act section 112 and 114 licenses, CRB said in a notice in the Federal Register. CRB said it also received a notice from SoundExchange about its intent to audit the 2013-2015 royalty payment statements submitted by broadcasters Cox Radio and Hubbard Broadcasting. The board separately sought comments on motions requesting partial distribution of 2010-2013 retransmission royalty payments from the cable and satellite royalty funds. MPAA, NAB, NPR, PBS and other claimants jointly agreed that the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, Broadcast Music Inc., and the Society of European Stage Authors and Composers should receive 3.5 percent of the 2010-2013 royalties from the satellite fund. The performing rights organizations should also receive 3.5 percent of royalties from the cable fund for 2010-2011, and 3.55 percent of royalties for 2012-2013, claimants said. NPR should receive 0.16 percent of the 2010-2013 royalties from the cable fund, claimants said. Comments on both redistribution motions are due Feb. 22, CRB said.

The FCC should reverse its stance on joint sales agreements and shared service agreements to “address the continuing paucity of minority and new entrant broadcast ownership,” said Howard Stirk Holdings (HSH) owner Armstrong Williams and Sinclair Television Group CEO Christopher Ripley in a meeting Thursday with FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai (before being named chairman), according to an ex parte filing in docket 14-50. Without joint sales agreements, Williams, who is African-American, wouldn't have been able to acquire his stations, the filing said. “HSH represents one of only two television station licensee enterprises owned by African American owned companies in the United States today.” The sharing agreements gave HSH access to capital that otherwise wouldn't have been available, and the company faces “ongoing revenue and cost challenges” without them, HSH said. “These are invaluable and effective tools which were taken away by the Commission in the current Quadrennial Review, but which should again be allowed in order to enhance diversity of ownership and content, and help save and enhance local programming and advanced the larger public interest with a focus on local service.”

The FCC should “immediately” end the incentive auction quiet period for broadcasters and take other steps to expedite the repacking, said Preston Padden, a consultant to station owners on the auction, in “informal comments” filed in docket 12-268 Monday. The FCC should end the quiet period because broadcasters are no longer bidding in the incentive auction, and it would “harm no party” for the commission to permit “100 percent voluntary temporary channel sharing,” Padden said. Such sharing would also “expedite the post-auction transition and could give broadcasters more time to construct their new facilities,” he said. The FCC should make data available that could help identify stations that are a “bottleneck” to the repacking, Padden said. Agency and industry officials said the commission could end the quiet period early (see 1701190041).

OTA Broadcasting and the FCC Media Bureau agreed to a $32,000 settlement over KAXT-CD San Francisco's failure to record several political advertising buys in its political file, said a consent decree. It's based on an investigation in November into KAXT's running several ads on behalf of a candidate for the California State Assembly without recording them in its public file. “To settle this matter, OTA Broadcasting has agreed to establish a program among all of the broadcast stations of which it is the licensee to ensure their future compliance with the political file disclosure obligations,” the consent decree said.