FCC Administrative Law Judge Jane Halprin called for a pre-hearing conference in Entertainment Media Trust’s license case after the broadcaster’s lawyers withdrew as counsel, said an order posted Monday. EMT’s former lawyers, Fletcher Heald's Davina Sashkin and attorney Anthony Lepore, still represent the Chapter 7 bankruptcy trustee Donald Samson who was assigned EMT’s stations by the Media Bureau. Earlier this month, the Enforcement Bureau questioned whether it's ethical for Lepore and Sashkin to represent both EMT and the bankruptcy trustee (see 1911060063). It's “puzzling” withdrawal of the attorneys was made known to the FCC through a correction to the record and not mentioned in a Nov. 14 teleconference, the ALJ said in the order. “It is also concerning that their Request for Correction of the Record and Notification of Withdrawal provided no detail with respect to the circumstances of the termination of their representation of EMT, who they have represented since the outset of this hearing proceeding.” Halprin and EB expressed concern the change in counsel shouldn’t affect deadlines, and Halprin ordered a conference for Dec. 5. Tuesday, Sashkin and Lepore didn’t comment.

The FCC Media Bureau granted requests by Terrier Media and Apollo Global Management to be allowed to have foreign ownership, said a declaratory ruling issued Friday alongside approval of Terrier’s deal for Cox and Northwest’s broadcast stations (see 1911220069). Apollo doesn’t own Terrier, but it sponsored the Cox and Northwest having assets combined into Terrier and the three individuals who control Terrier are all employees or officers of the hedge fund. “Upon review of the record and of the relationships between AGM and Terrier Media, and relying on our rules, the [Communications] Act, and precedent, we conclude that under the facts presented in this case, Terrier Media will be under de facto control of AGM,” MB said. Terrier sought permission to be up to 100 percent foreign owned, and asked for an FCC OK for up to 50 percent of Apollo to be owned by a company based in the Cayman Islands but controlled by U.S. citizens. Terrier’s requests were unopposed, said the ruling in Monday's Daily Digest.

FCC clarification on broadcaster political advertising disclosures appears to apply only to issue ads, not ads bought by political candidates or their campaign committees (see 1911180068), Wilkinson Barker broadcast attorney David Oxenford blogged Monday. That’s based on statements by Media Bureau staff on a webinar last week, Oxenford said. The ambiguity was part of NAB’s petition for reconsideration last week. A decision could take a long time, Oxenford said. It took the agency two years to issue clarification, he pointed out. “While we would hope that consideration of the NAB’s Petition will not take that long, these are complicated issues that may well take time to review.” MB didn’t comment.

The FCC hasn't made a decision about how to proceed after a full panel of the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected hearing the agency's en banc appeal of the Prometheus IV decision (see 1911200063), said Chairman Ajit Pai Q&A with us in a post-meeting news conference Friday. Pai said the agency is studying the 3rd Circuit's recent decision, a one-paragraph order saying a majority of judges in the circuit didn't vote for rehearing. Both Republican commissioners told us they supported the FCC moving ahead with an appeal to the Supreme Court. “The reforms we put in place are worth defending,” said Commissioner Brendan Carr. Commissioner Mike O'Rielly said he would back pulling proposals -- such as radio subcap deregulation -- from the 2018 broadcast ownership quadrennial review and moving ahead with them separately, if it wouldn't interfere with a high court appeal and were approved by the Office of General Counsel. Broadcasters made such a proposal Thursday (see 1911210065). Carr -- a former FCC general counsel -- also said he would need to see the OGC's opinion of such a plan. He said generally that the situation doesn't hold the agency “at full stop” on media ownership revision. Democratic Commissioners Jessica Rosenworcel and Geoffrey Starks condemned continued appeals. The FCC needs to “get to work” and address the issues raised by the 3rd Circuit, Rosenworcel said. Starks said he's “gobsmacked” that the court has had to tell the agency four times to collect data on diversity impacts. Later Friday, the Media Bureau approved a transaction that was changed to account for the court ruling (see 1911220069).

The national broadcast ownership cap doesn’t need to be lifted, said Weather Channel's Byron Allen in meetings with all five FCC commissioners last week, according to ex parte filing in docket 14-50. Allen was accompanied by attorney David Goodfriend, founder of The Sports Fan Coalition, which operates streaming service Locast. The current 39 percent cap is high enough “especially considering” the “so-called UHF discount,” the filing said. The meetings included discussion of “unique challenges” for minority owners of broadcasting, cable and satellite properties, “particularly the difficulty of obtaining access to capital.” Restrictive streaming contract provisions that limit the ability of affiliates to stream prime-time content were also discussed, the fling said. "Encouraging more favorable reverse network compensation structures for minority owners” was cited as a possible means of increasing minority broadcast ownership, the filing said.

The FCC Media Bureau granted Hemisphere Media’s (HMTV) petition for declaratory ruling to allow it to be up to 100 percent foreign-owned, said a docket 19-194 order in Tuesday’s Daily Digest. The Miami cable network and broadcaster already operates under a declaratory ruling allowing Mexico-based investors to own up to 49.99 percent of the company, the order said. “HMTV does not seek approval of a change in control and does not seek specific approval of any new foreign investors,” the order said, meaning that under the order, any increased amount of foreign investment would need to come from one of the foreign companies that already owns portions of HMTV. “We find that it will serve the public interest to grant the Petition,” the order said.

The FCC should reject Terrier Media’s amendments to its proposed deals with Cox and Northwest Broadcasting, said Common Cause and the United Church of Christ, Office of Communication in a joint ex parte filing posted Friday in docket 19-98 (see 1910310072). Terrier’s amendment “violates the goals” of the media ownership rules restored by a recent 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling, “using technicalities to circumvent compliance with those rules,” the filing said. The amendments, which would reduce the circulation of a newspaper involved in the deal and turn in the license of some TV stations, would take advantage of “the FCC’s own failure to update its rules,” the filing said. The newspaper broadcast cross-ownership rule’s singling out of daily newspaper circulation as an ownership benchmark and lack of mention of digital distribution show the rule’s definitions “no longer make sense in today’s media marketplace,” the filing said. The FCC’s “failure to meaningfully update the NBCO Rule does not mean it should permit the Applicants to exploit this loophole,” the filing said. “The Commission already turned a blind eye to the Court’s ruling when it granted a prior transaction even though it contained media ownership rule violations,” the filing said, referencing the approval of a Gray TV transaction in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. “This is part of a troubling pattern,” the filing said.

Deadlines for Entertainment Media Trust’s license hearing were extended by three months in anticipation of the dismissal of its Chapter 7 bankruptcy proceeding (see 1911060063), in an order from FCC Administrative Law Judge Jane Halprin posted Monday in docket 19-156. The hearing is now to commence in October, the order said. The bankruptcy is expected to be dismissed because bankruptcy trustee Dennis Sampson -- who currently controls EMT’s licenses -- filed in support of EMT’s request for dismissal, the order said. Once the bankruptcy is dismissed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Sampson will no longer be a party to the case, the order said.

The FCC shouldn’t have altered its political broadcasting rules without seeking public comment, said NAB, Hearst, Graham Media, Nexstar, Fox, E.W. Scripps and Tegna in a Friday-filed petition for reconsideration and clarification of two FCC orders on political advertising rules issued in October (see 1910170037). The orders concerned numerous political file complaints against stations owned by the petitioners. The FCC “erred in creating new disclosure and recordkeeping requirements without the benefit of input from the vast majority of the industry required to maintain political advertising files,” the broadcasters said. The political ad policies created by the orders are “in some cases unlawful” or “overbroad” and “counterproductive,” the petition said. Requirements to disclose federal candidates and issues are burdensome and could reduce speech, and stations' good-faith efforts to disclose the focus of political ads should be sufficient, the filing said. The petition also seeks a clarification that the rules apply only to noncandidate political ads, and for reconsideration of a rule barring broadcasters from identifying sponsoring entities using acronyms. The FCC should adopt a “more rational” approach that “requires broadcasters to make reasonable good faith efforts to disclose the topics that are the focus or the ‘gist’” of political ads, the petition said.

Broadcasters won’t be able to file new or modify existing quarterly children’s television reports after Dec. 17, said an FCC Media Bureau public notice on docket 17-105 Friday. The July kidvid order eliminated quarterly reports (see 1907100067) and replaced them with an annual requirement, and changes to the licensing management system to accommodate the new report mean the older sort can longer be filed or amended, the PN said. The bureau expects to be ready to accept revised children’s television reports starting Jan.1 “subject to OMB approval.”