Arguments that joint sales agreements increased opportunities for minorities before the FCC changed the rules governing them are a “charade,” said FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler in a speech at a National Association of Black-Owned Broadcasters conference Thursday. Changing the JSA rule already has increased the number of minority broadcast owners, he said, promising that more minorities and women would own stations by the time his term ends than did when it started. The conference also featured a panel of commissioners, and Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., urged the agency to consider diversity as it reviews large industry deals and the incentive auction.

Pandora’s request for the FCC to waive foreign ownership rules so it can buy its first terrestrial radio station to get lower royalty rates could lead to further commission relaxation of such rules, said industry lawyers in interviews this and last week. The FCC should update its rules for foreign broadcast ownership to make it easier for “widely-traded, public entities” to comply, said NAB in response (http://bit.ly/1rLcegy) to Pandora’s petition for a declaratory ruling that it can buy KXMZ(FM) Box Elder, South Dakota, despite being unable to determine how many of its many shareholders are U.S. citizens. Comments were posted Thursday in docket 14-109 in response to Pandora’s petition to be allowed 100 percent foreign ownership (CD July 2 p6). The current rules are slanted to make it more likely that publicly traded companies will be treated as foreign owned, and changing them would be in line with the FCC’s relaxation of foreign ownership restrictions last year, said Minority Media and Telecommunications Council President David Honig, who supported relaxing the rules.

Pandora’s request for the FCC to waive foreign ownership rules so it can buy its first terrestrial radio station to get lower royalty rates could lead to further commission relaxation of such rules, said industry lawyers in interviews this and last week. The FCC should update its rules for foreign broadcast ownership to make it easier for “widely-traded, public entities” to comply, said NAB in response (http://bit.ly/1rLcegy) to Pandora’s petition for a declaratory ruling that it can buy KXMZ(FM) Box Elder, South Dakota, despite being unable to determine how many of its many shareholders are U.S. citizens. Comments were posted Thursday in docket 14-109 in response to Pandora’s petition to be allowed 100 percent foreign ownership (WID July 2 p6). The current rules are slanted to make it more likely that publicly traded companies will be treated as foreign owned, and changing them would be in line with the FCC’s relaxation of foreign ownership restrictions last year, said Minority Media and Telecommunications Council President David Honig, who supported relaxing the rules.

Low-power TV broadcasters and interest groups all want deadlines for construction permits for new LPTV stations extended well beyond the FCC incentive auction. They disagree over the method the FCC should use to do so, according to comments filed Thursday in docket 03-185 in response to an Advanced Television Broadcasting Alliance petition. The FCC should deny the ATBA petition and address CPs as part of a larger rulemaking on other LPTV issues, said the LPTV Spectrum Rights Coalition (http://bit.ly/1rdZizE). “A permittee must be able to anticipate at least the near-term fate of its station before investing in construction,” said LPTV licensee CTB Spectrum Services (http://bit.ly/1vSibK).

Grain Management is the one designated entity (DE) that clearly wants to compete in the AWS-3 auction and the FCC should allow it to do so, said Maurita Coley, chief operating officer of the Minority Media and Telecom Council, Monday at MMTC’s Access to Capital conference. Meanwhile, Rainbow PUSH Coalition President Jesse Jackson released a statement in support of Grain.

Closed captioning requirements for online video clips were approved by all five FCC members at the commission’s Friday meeting, and include a grace period for near-live clips as well as live ones, according to Media Bureau staff. Though both Republican commissioners voted in favor of the item, Commissioner Ajit Pai described his vote as a concurrence, while Commissioner Mike O'Rielly said he was concurring in part and approving in part. Both cited the commission’s failure to adequately examine the costs and benefits of the rule and tie implementation to real-world analysis as reasons for their reservations about the rules.

Closed captioning requirements for online video clips were approved by all five FCC members at the commission’s Friday meeting, and include a grace period for near-live clips as well as live ones, according to Media Bureau staff. Though both Republican commissioners voted in favor of the item, Commissioner Ajit Pai described his vote as a concurrence, while Commissioner Mike O'Rielly said he was concurring in part and approving in part. Both cited the commission’s failure to adequately examine the costs and benefits of the rule and tie implementation to real-world analysis as reasons for their reservations about the rules.

An order requiring video clips on the Internet to be closed captioned is planned to be part of the agenda for the FCC July 11 meeting, agency officials told us Tuesday. Chairman Tom Wheeler said as much during a speech last week at the M-Enabling Summit (http://bit.ly/1p18o0D), said Telecommunications for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Executive Director Claude Stout. Though several FCC officials confirmed that an IP clip closed caption rule is planned for the meeting, they said no prospective rule has yet been circulated, and with extensive recent ex parte filings in docket 11-154 (http://bit.ly/1lwfbOo) from NAB, NCTA and others, it’s not yet clear what form an eventual rule would take. The Media Bureau under Wheeler has been thought to be working on an order for a vote this summer (WID March 7 p5).

An order requiring video clips on the Internet to be closed captioned is planned to be part of the agenda for the FCC July 11 meeting, agency officials told us Tuesday. Chairman Tom Wheeler said as much during a speech last week at the M-Enabling Summit (http://bit.ly/1p18o0D), said Telecommunications for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Executive Director Claude Stout. Though several FCC officials confirmed that an IP clip closed caption rule is planned for the meeting, they said no prospective rule has yet been circulated, and with extensive recent ex parte filings in docket 11-154 (http://bit.ly/1lwfbOo) from NAB, NCTA and others, it’s not yet clear what form an eventual rule would take. The Media Bureau under Wheeler has been thought to be working on an order for a vote this summer (CD March 7 p5).

The House Commerce Committee’s latest draft of the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act is poised to clear the committee Thursday during a markup session, said industry officials and Capitol Hill aides in interviews. New language in HR-4572 will allow more flexibility for TV broadcasters in the unwinding of joint sales agreements and prohibit broadcasters from joint retransmission agreements with multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs) if the broadcasters are owned separately. An earlier version would have allowed MVPDs to elect joint retrans negotiation.