A “diverse coalition of broadcasters” supports Gray Television’s proposal to modify the FCC’s significantly viewed rules, said Gray in a meeting May 11 with Media Bureau Chief Holly Saurer and Media Bureau staff, according to an ex parte filing in docket 20-73. Gray proposed in 2020 that the FCC relax the requirements for a broadcaster to prove its content is significantly viewed to allow the submission of signal reach data in lieu of Nielsen viewership numbers (see 2106100060). “The FCC’s process to modify the significantly viewed list, or to waive the significantly viewed rules, is outdated and burdensome for broadcasters and FCC staff, which reduces local service in small markets and short markets,” Gray said.
Broadcasters should be required to submit frequent reports on their progress toward providing an audio version of on-screen emergency graphics (see 2304260050), said the American Council of the Blind and the American Foundation for the Blind in a meeting Thursday with FCC Media Bureau Chief Holly Saurer and staff from the Media Bureau, Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau, and Disability Rights Office. “We remain concerned that the broadcast industry is not proactively seeking those solutions necessary to fully comply with the Commission’s rules that went into effect 8 years ago while continuing to request waivers,” said an ex parte filing posted Monday in docket 12-107. The Media Bureau asked the consumer groups what type of reporting would be “most beneficial in making progress” toward complying with the audible crawl requirement, the filing said. “We emphasized the necessity of frequent reports on progress, reporting on steps taken to advance research and development into a technical solution, regular community engagement, and training and best practices for broadcasters,” the consumer groups said.
The FCC Media Bureau rolled back a COVID-19-related relaxation of the lowest unit charge (LUC) rules for political ads, said a public notice in Monday’s Daily Digest. In March 2020, the Media Bureau said broadcasters airing free commercials for advertisers during the pandemic didn’t have to factor that into their calculation of their lowest unit rates for political candidates (see 2003260038). “After more than three years, the unprecedented circumstances that necessitated the 2020 Public Notice are no longer present,” said Monday’s PN. “Therefore, effective immediately, the temporary relief provided in the 2020 Public Notice is rescinded.” That means free time provided to commercial advertisers will count for future LUC calculations, the PN said.
The FCC Media Bureau proposed a $16,000 fine for a low-power TV station that operated at lower power levels at the recommendation of FCC staff but without formally filing for permission, said a notice of apparent liability in Friday’s Daily Digest. After conversations with FCC staff, Abacus Television’s WIIC-LD Pittsburgh began operating at lower power levels to avoid interfering with a nearby full-power station, the NAL said. The broadcaster never filed a required application for special temporary authority. “Abacus points to its mistaken belief that the informal conversations with and suggestions by Division staff were sufficient given the temporary nature of the operations and that a formal filing would be ‘unnecessary’ and ‘wasteful,’” said the NAL. The bureau declined to reduce the proposed fine because Abacus has a history of past violations, the filing said. Abacus “claims its apparent violation was the result of ‘misjudgments and distractions,’” said the NAL. “It is well-settled that such factors are not an excuse for failure to comply with the Rules.”
Two House members wrote to Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Deanne Criswell seeking answers about removing AM radio from electric vehicles. “We seek more clarity on the specific threats this poses” to the emergency alert system “and what FEMA is doing to ensure the EAS can continue to carry out its vital role,” said the letter Thursday from Reps. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., and Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J. “Especially given the growth in sales of EVs, it is vital for FEMA to make clear the negative impacts that lacking access to AM radio will have on public safety infrastructure.” The letter asks if FEMA did anything to dissuade removing AM radios, and how that removal would affect alerting systems. “America’s local radio broadcasters look forward to continued engagement with Administrator Criswell and her senior team to address this short-sighted decision by some automakers,” said an NAB news release on the letter.
Comments are due June 5, replies June 20, on Border International Broadcasting's petition asking it be allowed to have 100% indirect foreign ownership, the FCC Media Bureau said Thursday. The petition comes as the owners of BIB, which is licensee of WLYK-FM Cape Vincent, New York, are seeking to transfer ownership to a Delaware corporation ultimately owned by Canadians, the bureau said.
AM radio "is critical" to parts of rural America without reliable cellular or broadband access, such as farmers needing weather updates, the National Association of Farm Broadcasting told Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., Thursday, urging her to press automakers to not drop AM radio from vehicles. Noting Ford plans to not offer AM radio in its noncommercial vehicles starting next year, NAFB said automakers not offering AM radios in vehicles "will put into serious jeopardy an important lifeline and source of information to rural America, not just during times of emergency events but every single day."
Gray Television signed a rights deal with the Phoenix Suns and Phoenix Mercury basketball teams to deliver locally broadcast games to 2.8 million viewers for free using a combination of broadcast TV and streaming, said a news release Friday. That would triple the teams’ reach compared with their previous distribution over a regional sports network, the release said. All Suns and Mercury non-national exclusive games will be broadcast between Gray stations KTVK Phoenix, Arizona, and low-power station KPHE-LD Phoenix, the release said. KTVK will air 13 Mercury regular season games and all available post-season games, with the remaining regular season games airing on KPHE. Viewers will also be able to watch games through a streaming option via a Suns or Mercury branded app for smartphones and Smart TVs, the release said. The 2023 Phoenix Mercury season will stream direct to consumer for free, the release said. “The agreement is subject to the approval of the NBA and WNBA and any required resolution with the incumbent regional sports partner,” the release said. The first Phoenix Mercury game will air live on KTVK and be simulcast on KPHE May 25.
The FCC’s “unprecedented” actions on Standard/Tegna “raise serious concerns about the future of ALL broadcast transactions which may have a profound impact on broadcast viewers,” wrote NAB CEO Curtis LeGeyt in a blog post Thursday. “Every industry under the regulatory microscope of the FCC should be asking themselves if they are next” said LeGeyt. FCC staffers “who are not accountable to the public” as commissioners are “should not be allowed to make a final determination sending a multi-billion-dollar transaction to the gallows,” said LeGeyt. The Standard/Tegna deal showed the FCC’s 180-day shot clock is an “illusion,” and long delays in merger reviews keep companies from making needed operational changes, he said. The agency’s public interest review standard is too “amorphous” and allows the FCC to justify actions using “ad hoc concerns unrelated to its mandate,” the blog post said. “Ensuring that a given transaction complies with the FCC’s rules should be the primary focus of merger review, rather than allowing for arbitrary demands that fall outside the FCC’s oversight,” LeGeyt said. The agency’s handling of the review “has exposed the flaws in the current system of transaction review, and it is our hope that FCC will reverse course and correct this miscarriage of justice.” The FCC released an order Thursday memorializing Administrative Law Judge Jane Halprin's ruling Wednesday (see 2304260066) putting the transaction's hearing proceeding on hold until June 1.
The FCC’s proposals to update the foreign-sponsored content rules (see 2301250067) exceed the agency’s authority, said representatives of NAB, Fox, NBCU, Gray Television and the Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council this week in meetings with aides to Commissioners Nathan Simington and Brendan Carr, according to an ex parte filing posted Thursday in docket 20-299. Requiring broadcasters to obtain certifications from programming lessees is a burden on broadcasters and will clutter the FCC’s online public inspection files with useless documents, the broadcasters said. “We cannot conceive of a single public benefit from littering stations’ online public files with thousands of certifications stating that innumerable local entities -- churches, family-owned businesses, and high school football programs -- are not agents of Russia or China,” the broadcasters said. If the FCC goes forward with the proposals, it should clarify the rule doesn’t apply to ads for commercial products and services, and limit the public file requirement to instances where a lessee is a foreign governmental entity, the broadcasters said. The agency should also exclude religious and local programming from the rules, they said.