NAB proposed concessions to its request for relaxed ATSC 3.0 multicasting rules to expedite FCC action, in a meeting with Media Bureau Chief Holly Saurer and Media Bureau staff, said an ex parte filing posted in docket 16-142 Thursday. The FCC could limit lateral hosting arrangements -- where broadcasters host the multicast channels of another broadcaster as part of an ATSC 3.0 sharing arrangement -- “to markets where there are likely to be capacity considerations that may make lateral hosting more useful,” the filing said. NAB proposed limiting lateral hosting arrangements to markets that are hyphenated (such as the San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose market), already have channel sharing agreements, have multiple public TV stations, or have fewer than six full-power TV stations, because all of those situations lead to limited capacity for the ATSC 3.0 transition. NAB has been pushing the FCC since 2020 to relax multicast sharing rules to allow broadcasters more flexibility in transitioning markets (see 2011100067), and insisted in this filing there’s no reason for the agency to oppose the practice. “There is simply nothing in the record to support the idea that viewers would somehow be harmed by lateral hosting,” there “are no novel policy considerations associated with lateral hosting,” and “there is no basis in the record of this proceeding to prohibit or limit the use of lateral hosting arrangements,” NAB repeated.
There should be closer coordination between government agencies and emergency alert system manufacturers on “validation, disclosure and the action steps” for future public warning cybersecurity vulnerabilities, said EAS equipment manufacturer Digital Alert Systems (DAS) in a meeting with an aide to FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, according to an ex parte filing posted Tuesday in docket 15-94. Vulnerabilities connected with DAS equipment were discussed at a hacking convention and the subject of FCC and Federal Emergency Management Agency notices to broadcasters last year (see 2301300054). “During the conversation, we confirmed that to the best of our knowledge, these vulnerabilities have not resulted in any actual compromise of the EAS,” DAS said. The company said it has been providing security patches to users without cost, and users haven't needed a major upgrade for the past three years. DAS also said the agency should bring back the National Advisory Committee to make recommendations on public warning system matters, and the FCC should oversee security certifications for EAS manufacturers.
Widely reported vulnerabilities in broadcaster emergency alert system equipment “have not resulted in any actual compromise of the EAS,” said equipment manufacturer Digital Alert Systems last week in a meeting with an aide to FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr, according to an ex parte filing in docket 15-94 (see 2210250057). DAS expressed concern about “uncoordinated disclosure” of security vulnerabilities. “One key recommendation in this area is the need for closer coordination between the public and private sector on disclosure of any future findings and the action steps to remediate issues,” DAS said. The company provisionally supports requiring EAS vendors to have a security certification, the filing said. DAS is working on “a virtualization of various aspects of EAS” and said such systems could help lower costs for EAS participants, and increase reliability. The FCC’s NPRM on emergency alerting cybersecurity listed concerns about vulnerable, out-of-date devices operated by smaller, low-power TV broadcasters (see 2210270058). The LPTV Broadcasters Association said it wants to eliminate the required EAS “box” and costs associated with it (see 2211040078). “We did acknowledge that the vast majority of incidents in the field were related to failure of some users to properly secure hardware, failure to implement basic network security practices, and failure to implement software updates in a timely manner,” the DAS filing said.
The FCC should act promptly on the Standard/Tegna deal, said a group of free market advocates from R Street Institute, the Competitive Enterprise Institute, the American Enterprise Institute and others in a joint letter to all four FCC commissioners posted Monday in docket 22-162. “Prolonged review can harm the public in delayed investment and innovation,” said the letter, signed by Roslyn Layton of Strand Consult, Steve Pociask of the American Consumer Institute, and Institute of Liberty President Andrew Langer, among others. The FCC is required to review deals expeditiously, but Standard/Tegna’s review included “not one, but two extensions of pleading cycles; two cycles of FCC document and information request; a rules waiver to allow the petitioners to raise new matters on reply; and two pleading cycles.” The FCC’s “failure to review this transaction in a timely manner carries great cost to the parties and diverts human and financial capital and human resources away from making productive investments,” the letter said. Standard General founder Soohyung Kim said last week the deal will grow more expensive for Standard the longer the FCC waits (see 2301230063).
Starting April 1, petitioners submitting filings to the FCC Audio Division must use the most recent 2020 U.S. Census Bureau data, said a public notice Thursday. “The U.S. Census releases census block, population and cartographic boundary data following each decennial census,” the PN said. Filings must use the most recent 2020 census data when “determining a particular community’s population in addition to the population served and overlap of service areas to communities and Urbanized Areas,” the PN said. “This requirement only applies to filings submitted to the Audio Division,” said a footnote. “The Video Division will issue a separate Public Notice at a later date to announce the use of 2020 Census data for television station filings.“
The FCC should end the dual transmission requirement and create an FCC ATSC 3.0 task force to enable the agency to “effectively and efficiently focus” on the 3.0 transition, said NAB President Curtis LeGeyt and several broadcast CEOs in meetings with Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, and Commissioners Geoffrey Starks and Nathan Simington Monday, according to an ex parte filing posted Thursday docket 16-142. Without FCC action and commitment to ATSC 3.0, the transition is “in peril,” said the broadcasters, including Nexstar CEO Perry Sook and Graham Media CEO Catherine Badalamente. “A stalled transition is threatening the future of the broadcast industry altogether,” said the filing, which says broadcasters need to be able to offer 4K to remain competitive, and can’t do so without 3.0. “As the transition continues to stretch out, broadcasters risk losing sports and other high-value content to pay-tv platforms that are permitted to employ more advanced technologies.” The broadcasters also asked the FCC commissioners “to demonstrate the agency’s commitment to ATSC 3.0” and support the transition. The agency should create a plan to end the requirement that 3.0 broadcasters also must transmit a 1.0 feed, the broadcasters said. A 3.0 task force “could draw on expertise from multiple offices and bureaus to attack problems as they arise” and “focus on our shared concerns about viewers losing access to television signals.” Rosenworcel has said consumers losing access to over-the-air TV signals is one of her primary concerns about ATSC 3.0.
The FCC should dismiss a foreign ownership petition from America-CV Station Group without prejudice (see 2104270082) after an appeals court threw out the company’s bankruptcy reorganization, said the Committee for the Assessment of Foreign Participation in the U.S. Telecommunications Services Sector in a letter to the FCC posted in docket 22-317 Thursday. The 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals reversed the company’s bankruptcy plans after an emergency motion stripped three of the company’s shareholders of equity and allocated full ownership to the fourth, said an opinion earlier this month. “When a modification to a Chapter 11 reorganization plan materially and adversely affects the treatment of a class of claim or interest holders, those claim or interest holders are entitled to a new disclosure statement and another opportunity to vote,” said the ruling. When the FCC asked about the ruling, ACV “was unable to provide a complete and accurate answer as to what the post-decision ownership structure will look like,” said the letter. “The Committee is unable to perform a risk analysis when the ownership structure of the application under review remains significantly in flux.”
The FCC proposed a $504,000 penalty against Fox for transmitting false emergency alert system codes during an NFL promotion in November 2021, said a notice of apparent liability in Wednesday’s Daily Digest. A three-second clip of EAS tones was aired on the FOX NFL Sunday pregame show as part of “a short comedic advertisement for an upcoming game,” the NAL said. The broadcast aired on 18 Fox-owned stations and 190 network affiliates, and the audio went out over Fox’s radio and satellite radio programming, the NAL said. “This manner of appropriation of the EAS Tones is exactly the type of simulation that the Commission’s rules seek to address and prohibit in order to avoid diluting the EAS Tones’ real meaning over time,” the NAL said. “This self-promotion for the purposes of additional economic gain at the expense of the integrity of the EAS constitutes egregious misconduct warranting an additional upward adjustment.” Fox didn’t comment. An FCC spokesperson confirmed the NAL was the enforcement item that had been set for Thursday’s open meeting agenda. The FCC published a deletion notice for that item and an adjudicatory item on noncommercial educational window selectees (see 2301240037) Tuesday.
The FCC’s online database of “pirate” unauthorized broadcasters went live Monday, covering the period from Jan. 24, 2020 to Dec. 31, 2022. “Subsequent updates will be published semi-annually,” said the database webpage. The database stems from provisions in the 2020 Preventing Illegal Radio Abuse Through Enforcement Act, which also increased penalties for unauthorized broadcasts and empowered the FCC to go after the landlords of properties hosting pirate broadcasts. While the Pirate Act database was originally due within 90 days of the bill’s 2020 approval, no funding was included for implementation and its enactment was closely followed by the COVID-19 pandemic, delaying FCC action, an agency spokesperson said. “Commission staff was nevertheless able to perform basic planning in anticipation of both conditions ending,” the spokesperson said. Funding for implementing the act was approved in March, the agency said. The database allows users to search for violations by state and links to individual citations, displaying violations on a map of the U.S. The database’s FCC page also includes a link labeled “Licensed AM and FM Radio Station Database” -- another database required by the Pirate Act -- that sends users to the “Facility Search” page of the FCC’s licensing and management system. The FCC also released a Pirate Act report to Congress Tuesday. According to the report, the agency has posted six full-time positions for pirate enforcement and is prepared to buy six mobile direction-finding vehicles for those hires to operate. “Purchase of the additional six vehicles has been delayed, however, until a GSA [General Service Administration] purchasing window opens.” The report also said the agency developed a plan for enforcement sweeps and issued 21 notices to property owners of potential enforcement action.
The FCC identified tentative selectees in 34 groups of mutually exclusive applications for noncommercial educational FM construction permits from the November 2021 NCE window, said a unanimously approved order Tuesday. The selectees include Gentry Communications Network’s application for Sulphur Springs, Arkansas; Remanente Broadcasting Network’s application for Boron, California; and Teleamerica Communications West Palm Beach’s application for Key West, Florida. The bureau made the choices using a ranking and point system based on which applicant would cover the largest area and population, and favors tribal groups and applicants with fewer other radio authorizations, the PN said. Petitions to deny the applications of the selectees are due 30 days after the order. The order had been listed on the FCC's January open meeting agenda as an adjudicatory item, an FCC spokesperson told us.