FCC members upheld a pair of challenged Media Bureau decisions. In a memorandum opinion and order Wednesday, the commissioners rejected a 2012 petition for reconsideration by Powell Meredith Communications, that being the one of a series of pleadings by PMC regarding a 2007 reversal by the bureau of its grant of an application of a displacement application by KBFY-LP Fortuna, Arizona. In the order, the FCC said PMC would have had to cease operations on channel 53 in 2011 anyway, which all low-power TV stations operating on out-of-core channels 52-69 had to do at the end of that year. In a separate order Wednesday, commissioners dismissed a pair of applications for review by David Schum of a denial of his petition for reconsideration of 2015 and 16 bureau decisions on transfer of radio station licenses.

The FCC received 22,000 reports from emergency alert system participants on the results of Wednesday’s second nationwide test of the EAS (see 1609280074), said Public Safety Bureau Chief David Simpson during a news conference Thursday. The FCC and Federal Emergency Management Agency are still compiling the results, Simpson said. He declined to say this week’s test had gone better than its 2011 predecessor, but he credited the lessons learned from that test with helping this version. Asked about the success of bilingual alerts in English and Spanish that were tried during the test, Simpson confirmed that some alerts had gone out in Spanish, though some Spanish-language stations had to broadcast in English because of a quirk of the alerting rules and the way the system functions. “That is exactly the kind of thing we wanted to test,” he said.

Wednesday's nationwide test of the emergency alert system (EAS) will “be an opportunity to assess the readiness of America’s core public alert and warning infrastructure,” said Public Safety Bureau Deputy Chief Lisa Fowlkes in a blog post Monday. The test is set for 2:20 p.m. EDT, and will include bilingual alerts, a new nationwide location code and a new test alert code (see 1609260079). “The rapid dissemination of authoritative information can save lives,” the blog post said: State and local emergency planners should use the occasion of the nationwide test to ensure that their local government agencies are familiar with EAS, that 911 call centers are included in their alerting plans, and that they are familiar with their state's emergency communications coordinator. “We encourage all stakeholders to stay informed and involved in the future of alerting,” Fowlkes said. Meanwhile, the Public Safety Bureau denied a request from EAS equipment manufacturer Gorman-Redlich for a waiver from rules requiring stations to upgrade their equipment to be able to broadcast the new EAS nationwide location code, said an order in docket 15-94 released Tuesday. Gorman-Redlich argued “certain manufacturers” are unable to upgrade their equipment, and doing so would be a financial burden to broadcasters. Gorman-Redlich wasn't specific enough about the costs that would be incurred and why the equipment couldn't be upgraded, and its waiver request was so broad it would have covered most radio stations in the country, the order said.

A proposed new class of C4 FM stations backed by FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai could affect FM translators and low-power FM stations, said Wilkinson Barker broadcast lawyer David Oxenford in a blog post Monday. “Upgrades by Class A stations to Class C4 could cause interference to the existing translators and LPFMs, perhaps requiring these secondary stations to have to change frequency.” Pai's office said the proposal would protect the FM translators granted to AM stations as part of the FCC AM revitalization effort (see 1609230067). If the proposal advances, the agency “would be faced with the need to weigh the benefits of the upgrades that some stations could enjoy against the limits on translators and other FM upgrades that could be precluded,” Oxenford said. “We’ll see if anything happens on this proposal in the waning days of the current FCC administration.”

The FCC should grant Nexstar's request for a waiver to allow its deal to buy Media General to be approved during the incentive auction (see 1609220035), said the National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters and Heartland Media letters posted in docket 16-57 Friday. “Extended delay harms all parties to the transaction by leading to increased costs of financing,” said Heartland, which is to buy some of the stations being divested as part of the transaction. NABOB supports the waiver because it will aid the African American-owned Bayou City Broadcasting, which is also buying divestitures from the deal.

Sinclair Chief Financial Officer Chris Ripley told an investor conference that ATSC 3.0 is “on track” to be approved by the FCC at the beginning of next year, Wells Fargo analyst Marci Ryvicker emailed investors. Ripley said Sinclair retracted its predictions about political advertising revenue (see 1609210075) due to a “lack of visibility,” Ryvicker said. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump's fundraising efforts are late, though Ryvicker said it's possible he could make up for lost time: “It sounds to us like the door is open to maybe meeting the old political Q4 numbers, but again there is no visibility.”

Nexstar pushed the FCC to grant a waiver to have its $4.6 billion planned buy of Media General approved despite the ongoing incentive auction, as expected (see 1607190058). “When the FCC adopted its rules for the Incentive Auction, it declared that the 'quiet period' and the corresponding prohibition on major ownership changes for stations subject to an Incentive Auction application would last 'only a matter of months,'” Nexstar said in a supplementary filing on the waiver: “More than eight months have passed since the commencement of the Incentive Auction quiet period and the prohibition on major ownership changes, and the Incentive Auction has now entered a second stage with no definitive end date in sight.” Nexstar initially requested the waiver in February when it filed the Media General application too late to have it approved before the auction began, but the broadcaster remained silent on the waiver until its new supplementary filing. DOJ has given its nod to the deal, the FCC's 180-day shot clock has expired, and the time period for petitions to deny the transaction has passed, Nexstar said. “The FCC now stands as the only obstacle to closing, and the Applications are ripe for grant.” Attorneys have told us the FCC would likely not grant the waiver out of concern it would further complicate the incentive auction; Nexstar said that isn't a significant issue. “With the exception of two stations, the actual licensee of any Media General station will not change nor will its [FCC registration number] in connection with this Transaction,” Nexstar said. Delaying the deals approval because of the auction “unnecessarily subject the Applicants’ consummation of the Transaction to the vagaries of an Incentive Auction that will last several more months in a best-case scenario and could well stretch beyond that into 2017,” Nexstar said. “There are no public interest benefits to be gained by applying these rules to the Transaction. In fact, the growing delay in concluding the Incentive Auction steadily increases the market distortion and public harm caused by strict application of these rules.” Bayou City Broadcasting, which is set to buy two stations being divested by Nexstar as part of the transaction, also urged the commission to expedite the approval process. BCB is small and African-American owned, said CEO DuJuan McCoy in a letter supporting the waiver request. "Any extended delay in closing this transaction could have extreme negative financial consequences for me and my company and could perhaps create insurmountable obstacles that could jeopardize my ability to close this transaction and/or financially operate the properties after closing based on our original financial assumptions."

The FCC should launch a rulemaking on creating a Class C4 FM allocation, Commissioner Ajit Pai said Thursday in a speech at the 2016 Radio Show, prepared remarks show. “Class C4 FM stations would have more power than Class A FM stations but less power than Class C3 FM stations.” A C4 allocation would allow hundreds of Class A FM stations to upgrade to Class C4 FM stations, Pai said. “They could broadcast with increased power and provide service to more Americans so long as they didn’t impact the existing service contours of other stations.” The FCC received positive feedback on the idea and the Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council supports it, Pai said. “An NPRM would allow us to ask the right questions, explore the advantages and disadvantages of the proposal, and receive the views of all stakeholders.” Pai also urged the wireless industry to expand the activation of FM chips in smartphones. The Communications Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council recommended activated FM chips as a way to further disseminate emergency alert system messages, Pai noted. “I wholeheartedly support CSRIC’s recommendation and will continue to urge the wireless industry to activate FM chips in smartphones.” Pai also praised FCC efforts to open windows for FM translators, saying it received 671 applications and granted 624 during the first window. In the ongoing second window, the commission received 268 applications and granted 200 of them, Pai said. Pai also said he would push for the FCC to take up more aspects of the AM revitalization proposal in 2017.

The FCC should define the protected contour for TV stations using ATSC 3.0 just as it does for the current standard, NAB told staff from the Office of Engineering and Technology and the Media Bureau in a meeting Tuesday. “Next Generation TV will have the same interference characteristics as the current television transmission standard, and petitioners have requested no changes to the emission mask or power levels,” said a filing posted Thursday to docket 16-142. “There is no need for the Commission to make any changes to its regulatory processes for applications associated with or affected by the use of the new standard.” The association also continued its recent push to get the agency to issue an NPRM on ATSC 3.0, which CEO Gordon Smith has said FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler has said could come in months (see 1609070065).

Correction: What NAB CEO Gordon Smith said FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler told him is that the agency would take up ATSC 3.0 once it finished some other ongoing proceedings (see 1609130043), (see 1609070065).