The FCC should require Administrative Law Judge Jane Halprin to issue a supplemental decision on Lake Broadcasting to correct legal errors in the first one (see 1905310053), said Lake Broadcasting posted in docket 14-82 Wednesday. The proceeding concerns the proposed sale of a translator to Lake in 2012 and CEO Michael Rice’s status as a convicted sex offender who previously had station authorizations revoked over a lack of candor. Halprin’s initial decision should have excluded decades-old police reports describing alleged sexual misconduct by Rice before his conviction on similar charges, the brief said. “The Enforcement Bureau managed to turn this proceeding into a relitigation of Mr. Rice’ crimes, which occurred more than 28 years ago.” The decision ignored evidence submitted by Lake that Rice has been rehabilitated “and can be relied upon to be truthful with the commission.” The brief faults the decision for having an unusual identification number and containing Halprin’s “personal views” about Rice’s attempts to short-circuit the hearing process by withdrawing the application for the sale, the brief said. “The ALJ’s musings about abuse of process and disrespect for the forum are exaggerated and incorrect,” the company said: Halprin should make further findings of fact and issue a supplementary decision.

AT&T continues to offer terms that could lead to a CBS blackout on its DirecTV, DirecTV Now and U-verse platforms, the broadcaster said Tuesday. It said AT&T is offering "unfair terms well below those agreed to by its competitors." It said DirecTV and U-verse could lose CBS-owned stations in more than a dozen markets as of 11 p.m. Friday, and DirecTV Now customers nationwide would lose CBS network programming. AT&T also saw more than 120 Nexstar stations go dark earlier this month on the DirecTV and U-verse platforms (see 1907090048). AT&T said it's "disappointed to see CBS put our customers into the middle of negotiations." The telco said it wants to keep CBS stations in its lineups.

The FCC should delay acting on Apollo Global Funding subsidiary Terrier Media’s request for permission to be up to 100 percent foreign owned, said DOJ, DOD and the Department of Homeland Security, posted Monday in docket 19-196. Terrier wants to buy TV and radio stations from Cox (see 1907120052). “The Agencies currently are reviewing this matter for any national security, law enforcement, and public safety issues,” the letter said.

NAB submitted its comments previously filed on DOJ’s broadcast competition workshop (see 1906180056) to the FCC’s 2018 quadrennial review docket 18-349, said a filing last week. “Several points raised in our DOJ comments are relevant to issues being considered in the Commission’s quadrennial review proceeding.”

Petitions to deny in Terrier Media’s buy of Cox’s TV stations (see 1905290052) are due Aug. 12 in docket 19-197, said a public notice in Friday’s Daily Digest. Terrier is a subsidiary of hedge fund Apollo Global Funding. Oppositions to the petitions are due Aug. 22, replies Aug. 29. Though Apollo and the series of subsidiaries through which it controls Terrier are controlled by U.S. citizens, the company is considered foreign-owned under FCC rules “because the voting interests of its U.S. owners are held through a Cayman Islands entity,” said a public notice on the declaratory ruling. Comments on the petition for declaratory ruling are due Aug. 12, replies Aug. 27.In a supplemental filing posted Friday, Terrier asked that its planned buy of Cox radio stations (see 1906260083) be added to the foreign ownership petition.

The FCC Media Bureau rejected Northeastern Educational Television of Ohio’s appeal of the rejection of over $60,000 in expenses related to the post-incentive auction repacking, said an order Friday. NETO sought to be reimbursed for a pair of pre-repack field strength measurements for two of its stations, but per-transition measurements aren’t covered by the catalog of expenses and aren’t eligible for reimbursement, the bureau said. NETO argued the tests were needed for comparison to assess its post repack coverage, but the FCC determined each station’s pre-repack coverage using the TV Study software, the order said. “NETO does not and cannot explain how a pre-repack field strength test is required to confirm that the post-repack coverage is consistent” with the information in TV Study, the order said. “Neither the Spectrum Act nor the Incentive Auction R&O contemplated that pre-repack field strength measurements would be necessary or utilized in determining baseline coverage areas and population served.”

A hearing on allegations that radio licensee Entertainment Media Trust wasn’t truthful with the FCC about its ownership (see 1906050063) is set for July 13, 2020, said an order Thursday in docket 19-156 from Administrative Law Judge Jane Halprin after a pretrial conference Tuesday. April 3 is the deadline for requesting a summary decision, and June 22 for replies to objections. The allegations against EMT concern whether its stations are under the control of felon Robert Romanik, who calls himself “The Grim Reaper of Radio.” The parties will file monthly status reports, with the first due Aug. 6.

An FCC Media Bureau letter of inquiry that revealed an ongoing investigation into Sinclair(see 1906270068) over allegations of lack of candor was inadvertently posted last month through “a clerical error,” said FCC Chairman Ajit Pai during a post-meeting news conference Wednesday. The LOI was taken down later the same day it was posted. Sinclair said the LOI was connected with efforts to resolve outstanding issues connected with the Sinclair/Tribune hearing designation order. Pai declined to comment on further details of the investigation.

NAB Senior Vice President-Technology Lynn Claudy doesn’t buy into the notion that 8K long term will be “impractical” for terrestrial broadcasting, he blogged Tuesday. “In the world of ATSC 3.0, 8K is not on the near-term roadmap,” said Claudy, ATSC’s board chairman. But an “efficient compression scheme,” such as the Versatile Video Coding system due to be standardized by the end of 2020 (see 1903210057), in “concert” with single-frequency-network transmission configurations that increase the average signal-to-noise ratio in the broadcast service area, “could potentially facilitate reliable delivery of the data rates that are in the ballpark needed for 8K service,” said Claudy: “Never say never?” His “main point” is for broadcasters to “take notice that 8K is likely to become a major part of the media landscape, although not immediately,” he said. “It will be a niche market initially due to all the technical and economic challenges but in the longer term we’re likely to have 8K sets in our homes, high value content is likely to be produced in 8K and one way or another that content will be made available to the mainstream consumer audience.” There will be 8K opportunities for broadcasters, as 3.0 and “its eventual successors take hold,” he said. He advised “keeping up to date on the progress of 8K technology, products and market penetration” as “time well spent.”

The FCC Media Bureau and Office of Managing Director ordered two radio licensees to pay overdue regulatory fees, per Tuesday’s Daily Digest. Durlyn Broadcasting, licensee of WPNC(FM) Plymouth, North Carolina, owes over $11,500 in regulatory fees going back to 2010, while Livingston Fulton, owner of WSRA(AM) Albany, Georgia, owes $13,800 in overdue fees starting the same year, the orders said. Both have 60 days to show that full payment has been made or they could face license revocation.