Requests for modifications that would affect Auction 106 -- the planned April auction of FM construction permits (see 1910100051) -- are frozen, the FCC Media Bureau said in a public notice Friday. “This temporary freeze is designed to promote a more certain and speedy auction process,” the PN said. The freeze includes applications that would modify “any of the vacant non-reserved band FM allotments scheduled for Auction 106,” plus petitions for changes that would affect those allotments or wouldn’t protect those allotments, the PN said. Any filing submitted after Friday’s PN that fits those parameters will be dismissed, the PN said. “This freeze will automatically terminate the day after the filing deadline for post-Auction 106 long form applications.”

The FCC will auction 130 FM construction permits starting April 28, said a Media Bureau and Office of Economics and Analytics public notice. Auction 106 will include 34 permits left over from previous auctions, the PN said. The agency's seeking input on the bidding procedures for the auction, and comments are due Nov. 6, replies Nov. 20.

The FCC Media Bureau didn't renew the license of WRIR-LP Richmond, Virginia, in an order and notice of apparent liability posted Tuesday (see 1910080048).

Status reports filed in the hearing proceeding on licenses owned by Entertainment Media Trust should update the judge (see 1910020037) and not contain arguments, said FCC Administrative Law Judge Jane Halprin in an order posted Thursday in docket 19-156. She granted a motion to strike a status report filed by Donald Samson, bankruptcy trustee for EMT trustee Dennis Watkins. The motion to strike -- filed by another party in the case, Mark Kern -- argued the trustee isn’t a party there, and the report was “instead a substantive legal filing in support of EMT’s pending motion for stay,” the order said. In striking the trustee filing, Halprin rendered moot an Enforcement Bureau response. Halprin last week denied EMT’s motion to stay the ALJ proceeding to allow the stations to be sold as part of a bankruptcy process, but she also put the case on hold pending Media Bureau resolution of an application that would involuntarily transfer EMT’s stations to the trustee. Halprin said status reports should resume in November, by which time the trustee’s place in the proceeding will be clearer.

The FCC Media Bureau granted renewal but proposed a $1,500 forfeiture for a Richmond radio station that failed to file a license renewal application on time, said an order and notice of apparent liability posted Tuesday. Virginia Center for Public Press’ deadline to file for renewal of the license of WRIR-LP was June 3, but it wasn’t filed until July 15, the NAL said. “The Licensee provides no explanation for the untimely filing of the Application.” The bureau adjusted the proposed fine down from $3,000 because the station has a clean record and eventually filed a renewal application.

The deadline for low-power TV stations and TV translators to file for repacking reimbursement was extended to Nov. 14, said an FCC Media Bureau public notice on docket 16-306 Tuesday. The LPTV Spectrum Rights Coalition and National Translator Association requested the extension, the PN said. The original deadline was Oct. 15, and that remains for FM stations seeking repacking reimbursement, the PN said. “The initial 60-day deadline was proving to be too quick a process, with many consulting engineers, legal counsel, and equipment vendors not having enough time to assist all that needed help,“ emailed LPTV Spectrum Rights Coalition Director Mike Gravino. More time should lead to broader participation, he said.

A petition on relaxing interference rules to make it easier for ATSC 3.0 broadcasters to use single frequency networks (see 1910040038) has LPTV Spectrum Rights Coalition President Mike Gravino “very concerned." In an emailed newsletter Monday, Gravino called for a “crowd sourced impact analysis” to gauge the effect of the petition on low-power TV, Class A and TV translator stations. He's seeking information on whether LPTV will be able to benefit from the proposal, whether any efforts have been made to study the effects on LPTV, and what will happen to LPTV stations “displaced” by the signals from distributed transmission systems outside their full-power station’s contour. “During the next two years LPTV will still be moving around, and many with government funding to move,” Gravino emailed us. “While I am very concerned about this Petition, I am open to seeing to how it could benefit us, also.”

The FCC Media Bureau approved transfer of stations between elements and debtors of Liberman Broadcasting as part of bankruptcy reorganization, and a temporary waiver of FCC rules on foreign ownership, said an order in Monday’s Daily Digest. The transfer will cause Liberman to be more than 25 percent foreign-owned, but the agency will allow the reorganized company to file a petition of declaratory ruling within 30 days of the transfer being completed, to allow bankruptcy proceedings to resolve. The waiver “would merely enable the LBI Debtors to emerge from bankruptcy before filing a petition for declaratory ruling,” the order said. The bureau granted Liberman’s request over the objections of Latinx for Equitable Media. Latinx didn’t demonstrate standing in most markets involved, said the order, referring to a new FCC policy on organizational standing articulated in the order approving Nexstar's buy of Tribune (see 1909160065). Latinx also based objections on allegations that were withdrawn during the bankruptcy proceedings, and sought FCC intervention on whether Liberman would continue to offer Spanish-language programming, the order said. “The Commission is prohibited by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution” from ”interfering with freedom of expression in Broadcasting,” the order said.

The FCC Media Bureau is working on a revised form for annual children’s TV reports, said Legal Adviser Evan Morris at an FCBA event Monday. Reports will move from a quarterly requirement to annual after OMB gives final Paperwork Reduction Act approval to several provisions of the new rules approved by commissioners in July (see 1907100067). The forms are expected to be submitted to OMB for PRA OK in November, Morris said. The bureau will issue a public notice on the new form, staffers said. They should be ready for the first reports in 2019, said Media Bureau attorney Kathy Berthot. The documents are expected to look and function similar to the current ones but will have many more entries since they now account for four times as much time, attorneys said. Some large broadcast groups will still require stations to internally submit quarterly kidvid reports to make the task of compiling the annual report easier, Video Division Chief Barbara Kreisman said. FCC officials told us they aren’t aware of any submitted or pending appeals or recon petitions for the kidvid rules, and the deadline for appealing the rules at the agency has passed.

The FCC should seek comment on relaxing restrictions on distributed transmission systems (DTS) to let stations transitioning to ATSC 3.0 better use single frequency networks, said a petition for rulemaking from NAB and America’s Public Television Stations posted in docket 16-142 Friday. Changing the rules to allow broadcasters to set up SFNs on the edges of their station contours would improve coverage throughout station coverage areas, increase spectrum efficiency, and reduce the need for TV translators, they said. NAB and APTS want the FCC to seek comment on redefining station coverage areas to allow DTS transmitter signals to reach outside the service area of a station’s central transmitter, so they can better fill in gaps in the edges of an outlet’s coverage. The rule change won’t result in more interference for low-power TV stations, the groups said. “Stations could enhance service to viewers by improving coverage throughout their service areas and offering improved mobile coverage without the risk of encroaching on the service of stations in adjacent markets.” Fletcher Heald broadcast attorney Peter Tannenwald said more flexibility for DTS is probably a good thing for the public, but that it’s not clear what the proposal could mean for LPTV. Low-power s could lose some viewers outside their protected contour to interference from DTS transmitters, he said. “If the FCC encourages DTS to replace translators, new channels could open up that would benefit LPTV stations.”