Various court challenges of the FCC 2014 quadrennial review ownership rules were transferred, as expected (see 1611170055), to the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, said an order (in Pacer) filed by the court clerk Wednesday. Though appeals of the FCC rules had been filed both in the 3rd and D.C. circuits, the case was given to the D.C. Circuit in a lottery to determine venue. The Prometheus Radio Project filed an unopposed motion to move the case to the 3rd Circuit, since that court heard the previous iterations. Other petitioners challenging the rules are the Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council, News Media Alliance and National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters. NAB appealed the rules to the FCC, and several attorneys said they expect the court to allow the process at the agency -- which will shortly be controlled by Republicans seen as hostile to the ownership rules -- to play out first.

The ATSC 3.0 suite of standards will have “future extensibility” to support an upgrade to 8K resolution, ATSC President Mark Richer emailed us Tuesday through a spokesman. ATSC 3.0's H.265 video codec “can be extended to support delivery of 8K video,” Richer said. ATSC 3.0 also “incorporates a number of other mechanisms for future extensibility, including the “flexible boot strap signal” in the standard’s physical layer and the internet protocol layer, he said. “These and other features of 3.0 could be used to signal the presence and parameters of the 8K transmission to new receivers.” ATSC 3.0's framers for years have positioned 8K as “within the realm” of where the standard ultimately would “evolve to” (see 1404080061). As an issue, 8K jumped in importance at CES with the multitude of 8K TV prototypes showcased on the main show floor and analyst projections that 8K product would make it to market soon (see 1701090053).

The Media Bureau granted a one-week extension of the deadline for comments on reconsideration petitions appealing FCC 2014 quadrennial review ownership rules, said an order released Wednesday. The deadline for comments is now Jan. 27, replies Feb. 3. “The need to develop a full and complete record in response to the petitions provides good cause for waiving the Commission’s rule to allow for additional time,” the order said. Prometheus Radio Project and other public interest entities sought a one-month extension based on the holidays and the changeover in FCC leadership. NAB and Nexstar objected, saying an extension wasn’t needed for an issue as well-worn as media ownership (see 1701060059). “A shorter, one-week extension of time is warranted in these circumstances and ... such an extension will not unduly delay the Commission’s consideration of the reconsideration petition,” the order said.

Univision “had a productive meeting with President-elect Donald Trump” (see 1701090069), it said in a news release Monday. The meeting concerned “issues facing Hispanic and multicultural communities in America,” it said. Univision and Trump were seen as having a contentious relationship during the presidential election. “Our Univision News team will continue to cover the Trump administration with the rigor that we have brought to the coverage of every administration that preceded it,” the media company said.

The UHD Alliance will soon broaden its outreach to broadcasters on certification criteria for high dynamic range and other premium performance attributes, Dan Schinasi, director-product planning at Samsung Electronics America, told us at CES. Typifying that outreach, the alliance will have the European Broadcasting Union host the next alliance meeting in late January at its Geneva headquarters, said Schinasi, alliance spokesman. “There’s no simple answer” how the alliance’s Ultra HD Premium certification logo could be applied to broadcast content that qualifies for it, he said. “Really what’s important” is that broadcasters throughout the world “are interested in making sure that HDR metadata -- if there is metadata attached to it -- that it’s transported, that we don’t lose anything,” he said. It’s the subject of a “very active discussion” as to what performance attributes would be included in a UHD Alliance spec for broadcasters, he said. “Certain attributes are more demonstrable than others,” he said. “There’s different thoughts, different philosophies, of what’s important.”

FCC Administrative Law Judge Richard Sippel issued a protective order that will apply to “commercially sensitive confidential information” in license renewal hearing proceeding for Entercom's KDND(FM) Sacramento, according to the text of the order. KDND's license was designated for hearing based on an incident involving a radio contest that led to the death of a participant (see 1701090050). The protective order will apply to documents in the proceeding and to documents from investigations of Entercom that predated the proceeding, the order said.

The Incentive Auction Task Force is seeking comment on whether to require progress reports of repacked stations that don't receive repacking reimbursement funds, said a public notice released Tuesday. Progress reports from stations that do receive such funds are intended to help the FCC track stations' efforts to complete construction of their new facilities and see how repacking reimbursement money is spent, the PN said. Some questions on the proposed progress report “are meant to gather information regarding stations’ completion of tasks necessary to meet major expenditure and construction milestones,” and others “require broadcasters to identify potential problems which they believe may make it difficult for them to meet their construction deadlines,” the PN said. The progress reports will be due quarterly during the repacking and at certain milestones, such as five days after a relocated broadcaster ceases broadcasting on their pre-auction channel. The PN proposes collecting progress reports from auction eligible broadcasters that don't receive reimbursement funds to make tracking the repacking easier. “We believe that data that includes only Reimbursable Stations and excludes Non-Reimbursable Stations will not completely capture the progress of all stations,” the PN said. Under the proposal, such stations would file reports on the same schedule as stations that receive funds. Comments are due Jan. 25, replies Feb. 6.

Norway this week becomes the first country to begin a hard switch off of FM transmissions to complete the transition to Eureka-147 digital audio broadcasting radio services, said Digital Radio UK, the group that’s promoting a DAB switchover in the U.K. During a Wednesday ceremony in the Arctic city of Bodø, at precisely 11:11 a.m. local time, a giant dial will be moved from FM to DAB to signify the moment of the transition, the group announced Monday. The Norwegian switch off will be implemented region by region across six regions, ending in the northern regions of Troms and Finnmark Dec. 13, it said. DAB digital radio services launched in Norway in 1995, and now cover 99.7 percent of the country, it said.

All Entercom stations in the company’s Sacramento cluster should be included in the license renewal proceeding of Entercom’s KDND(FM), said the Media Action Center, which is disputing the station’s renewal over an on-air contest that led to the death of a 28-year-old mother (see 1612290039). “The foolish on-air contest stunt that resulted in the negligent homicide death of Jennifer Lea Strange flowed from an abandonment of oversight and responsibility, not by KDND staff, but by a completely intertwined, interconnected and mutually organized and managed entity known as Entercom Sacramento License," said the group in a petition to enlarge issues filed in FCC docket 16-357 Monday. The petition also asks the FCC to consider the matter of Entercom’s character in the hearing, an argument the agency previously rejected, the filing said. “A character issue against Entercom Sacramento is warranted based on overwhelming evidence, and may be the only way to convince the regulatee that compliance is a necessary part of doing business as a licensed enterprise." The center said the company violated reporting rules by failing to disclose the terms of a settlement with the victim’s family. Entercom Sacramento “should be required to disclose all the terms of the settlement and submit the showings required by rule,” said the group, which says it seeks to hold broadcasters accountable for their public-interest obligations. “A reporting violation issue is needed.” Entercom didn't comment.

Q3 was a “landmark quarter” for the NextRadio FM-reception smartphone app, Emmis CEO Jeff Smulyan said on a Thursday earnings call. NextRadio developer Emmis landed adoption of the app on the Samsung Galaxy S7, the top-selling smartphone in the world and one that’s sold by all major U.S. carriers, Smulyan said. “Stay tuned for announcements about NextRadio being adopted by other manufacturers.” Emmis also just reached a renewal agreement with Sprint that keeps NextRadio pre-loaded on the carrier’s Android devices, he said. “That’s our first renewal and Sprint was our first partner, and we’re happy about that.” NextRadio has surpassed 25 million listening hours, but “the reality is this is still the early stages,” he said. “We have come an awfully long way since this project started.” Emmis thinks NextRadio “is the catalyst that our industry needs,” he said. But landing NextRadio on the iPhone remains the toughest nut to crack, Smulyan said. “We have a whole game plan” for winning Apple’s support, but nothing “definitive,” he said in Q&A. Emmis defied the “skeptics” when it won NextRadio adoption among all the major U.S. carriers after Sprint, he said. “We won’t rest until we are in every smartphone, and we’ve got to get Apple.”