Cable groups should support an NAB proposal that would require broadcasters using ATSC 3.0 multicasting and channel hosting to submit a showing to the FCC that they could transmit all hosted programming on a single 1.0 facility if there’s a complaint, NAB told the Media Bureau in a call Friday, according to an ex parte filing posted Wednesday. ATVA said its members shouldn’t be responsible for policing broadcasters and filing complaints, but NAB argued in the filing that cable companies would be the ones most affected by capacity abuse. “NAB is puzzled by ATVA’s apparent assertion that cable companies will suffer severe injury from abuse of the rule but also that the injury will be so subtle as to escape notice,” the filing said. “That is an abundantly reasonable proposal to address a situation that will never actually arise in practice,” NAB said. Though the filing gives the date of the call as May 10, NAB confirmed it occurred Friday.
The FCC Media Bureau denied an FM translator’s request to be allowed to remain silent and rescinded its license after learning the broadcaster, Powell Meredith Communications, didn’t construct the station in the authorized location and didn’t fulfill the conditions of its license, said a letter in Tuesday’s Daily Digest. PMC built its station on a ham radio tower in a recreational vehicle park rather than at the authorized tower site 30 yards away, the letter said. PMC argued the FCC was discriminating against the station because the company's sole principal is a minority, and said the agency was acting outside its authority. "There is nothing about the License Condition or LOI [letter of inquiry] that is disparate, discriminatory, or beyond the Bureau’s authority," the letter said. "The constructed facilities were not licensable because PMC provided false information in the License Application by stating that it had completed construction at the authorized location,” the letter said. That construction also violated FCC rules because of its “temporary nature,” said the bureau.
The FCC Media Bureau proposed a $6,500 penalty for a Methow Valley, Washington, TV translator for failing to file a license to cover on time and operating without authorization after its incentive auction displacement construction permit expired, said a notice of apparent liability in Monday’s Daily Digest. K44EN-D submitted documentation that it had constructed its displacement facilities and was operating from them, but it didn't do so until three years after completing them and six months after the permit expired, the NAL said. “It is well settled that administrative oversight is not an excuse for failure to comply with the Commission’s rules,” said the NAL.
Administrative Law Judge Jane Halprin's decision that Auburn Network’s broadcast licenses won’t be revoked over owner Michael Hubbard’s felony convictions (see 2205090059) ignores FCC policy and creates "a dangerous precedent," the FCC Enforcement Bureau said in docket 21-20 Thursday, asking the full commission for a reversal. It said the judge used multiple wrong legal standards for determining Hubbard’s corruption convictions for public corruption weren't disqualifying, and the decision ignores all the evidence in the record concerning mitigating factors. It said by not striking evidence Auburn submitted after the discovery period closed, Halprin's decision leaves open the possibility future cases could have parties introducing evidence in its written case submissions that couldn't be investigated by the other party -- "a dangerous precedent for allowing 'trial by ambush,'" the bureau said. It asked the commission to provide guidance "concerning the admissibility of 'ambush' evidence ... in hearings conducted on a written record to ensure future hearings adhere to procedural safeguards that reflect well-settled principles of fairness."
The American Militia Association, licensee of WHYU-LP Meyersdale, Pennsylvania, hasn't shown its intervention would help resolve a proceeding seeking to determine if Pennsylvania broadcaster Roger Wahl is qualified to keep that license, Administrative Law Judge Jane Halprin ordered in docket 21-401 Thursday. It sought to intervene (see 2205170080).
The FCC should undertake "extraordinary scrutiny" in reviewing the planned sale of 18 Spanish-language radio stations to the Latino Media Network, Republican lawmakers urged in a letter dated Wednesday to Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. Citing LMN's financial backing by Lakestar Finance, with ties to investor George Soros, they said the proposed sale "is the latest in a series of moves by elite progressives desperate to claw back support from Hispanic voters." The lawmakers said they "are concerned that far-left ideologues are attempting to consolidate and expand their control over the media, so they can flood the airwaves with propaganda." Signers were Sens. Mario Rubio and Rick Scott of Florida, Tom Cotton of Arkansas and Reps. Carlos Gimenez, Maria Salazar and Mario Diaz-Balart of Florida. The agency didn't comment.
The FCC issued a final rule Wednesday amending the FM table of allotments by adding Channel 263A at Hamilton, Texas. “We modify the FM station KNUZ license to specify operation on Channel 291A in lieu of Channel 224A at San Saba, Texas, and the FM station KRNR license to specify Channel 224A in lieu of 263A at Goldthwaite, Texas,” the Media Bureau said. The changes will be effective July 11.
Arm & Rage's attempt to limit FCC Enforcement Bureau document requests about fraud and tax evasion charges and the broadcaster's related request for an order (see 2205240047) are "based on nothing more than imaginings, assumptions, and conjecture about the Bureau’s intent in building its case moving forward," the bureau said in docket 22-122 Monday. It said Arm & Rage's Joseph Armstrong argued the bureau isn't entitled to discovery on elements of the crime for which he was convicted, but determining whether that conviction makes him and Arm & Rage unqualified to hold an FCC license means deriving into the circumstances of the conviction for submitting a false tax return. Arm & Rage can always challenge specific discovery requests in the future and seek a forced exclusionary ruling then, it said.
For its review of Standard General's proposed buy of Tegna, the FCC Media Bureau wants insight into New Standard's retransmission consent negotiation strategy. In a docket 22-162 filing Friday, the bureau made several requests for information, including whether retrans consent agreements would be negotiated jointly post transaction, if there would be any sharing agreements and details of anticipated staff reductions. The bureau also requested copies of submissions made to the FTC and DOJ on antitrust review. Responses are due June 13.