The FCC is trying to both claim it has addressed broadcast race and gender ownership diversity issues while insisting it also can't, when neither is true, petitioner anticonsolidation groups Prometheus Radio Project and others said in a 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeal reply brief Friday. They are challenging the 2014 quadrennial review, ownership reconsideration order and broadcast incubator program. They said the FCC and intervenor opposition briefs (see 1903220045) don't address their central arguments and that the agency's untying its ownership rules from race and gender diversity is without any support, thus deserving no deference. They said the FCC wrongly ignored the incentive auction's effect on race and gender diversity while also claiming the auction might help diversity efforts. They said the record doesn't support the claim the radio incubator will encourage new entrants and small businesses, including female and minority applicants. The agency didn't comment.

Magid Research's finding for Pearl TV that consumers in the Phoenix model market would be willing to pay up to $300 more for an ATSC 3.0-capable TV (see 1812060027) must be tempered with “this research was not a pricing study,” Magid analyst Nicole Meighan told the NAB Show this week in Las Vegas. “We would have to do more research on that, but this just shows that there is excitement and interest in paying.” Magid canvassed 95 consumers in 12 group “labs” in October on impressions of 3.0 features they were shown, said Meighan. After the labs, Magid picked 38 participants for six focus groups to “share what they actually thought in depth,” Meighan said. Enhanced 3.0 video with audio “drove the most interest across all the groups,” she said. "We would have to do more research in order to understand if enhanced video or enhanced audio alone is enough." The Phoenix research found 4K video was a 3.0 killer app for some, not all, with early Ultra HD adopters less swayed, said Meighan. The Pearl team was “a little bit surprised how high audio ranked” for dialogue enhancement and immersive 3D audio, a Pearl technology consultant said at the show (see 1904070001). Thursday, the FCC posted filings showing the extent to which broadcasters lobbied commissioners at the conference (see 1904110033).

Comments are due May 10, oppositions May 28 and replies June 4 on Apollo Global Management’s application to buy some Cox stations and pair them with TV stations from Northwest Broadcasting, said an FCC Media Bureau public notice Wednesday. Apollo would pay $3.1 billion for the Cox stations (see 1903060078).

An FCC forum on enhanced electronic newsroom technique procedures for live captioning local news programming will be 1 p.m. May 10 in the Commission Meeting Room, the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau said in a public notice Tuesday.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency will integrate HD Radio’s emergency alerts feature into its Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS) test and demonstration center in Maryland, said parent company Xperi Monday. For the first time, FEMA will be able to test the emergency alert system using commercial HD Radio receivers, said Ashruf El-Dinary, Xperi vice president-radio technology solutions. The HD Radio emergency alerts feature provides visual and auditory notifications to consumers, and the digital radio features allow broadcasters to expand public service information in communities, Xperi said. HD Radio receivers with the emergency alerts feature are available in select vehicles, and aftermarket and tabletop radios, in the U.S. and Canada. The emergency alert feature will be demonstrated at the NAB Show in the FEMA/IPAWS booth, Central Hall stand C3330.

Univision Communications sold the assets of Gizmodo Media Group and The Onion, as expected (see 1807100067). The buyer is Great Hill Partners private equity firm, which is starting G/O Media to operate the media companies "as independent assets," the broadcaster said Monday. GMG includes Deadspin, Gizmodo, Jalopnik, Jezebel and The Root. The Onion portfolio includes the namesake parody publication and The A.V. Club.

Over opposition of another broadcaster, Connecticut Public Broadcasting Inc. can move WEDW Bridgeport to Stamford, the FCC Media Bureau ordered Monday. CPBI noted that Stamford, with a 2010 census-measured population of 122,643 and the state's No. 3 city, doesn't have another full-power TV station licensed to it, while Bridgeport would continue to host WZME. PMCM objections included that Stamford is “a dummy site” to achieve CPBI's goal to serve New York City and the public broadcaster's distributed transmission system (DTS) application for WEDW proposes to “broadcast from the Empire State Building over a large swath of New York and northern New Jersey." The opponent said OK'ing the change “will open the floodgates” to similar applications using the DTS rules “to effectively reallocate licenses.” The bureau said now that "WEDW’s service area will remain the same." The floodgates argument was "speculative at best," staff said. The company didn't comment.

Nexstar agreed to sell to Circle City Broadcasting WISH-TV Indianapolis and WNDY-TV Marion, Indiana, for $42.5 million cash after Nexstar buys Tribune Media, said the divester Monday. CCB is a new minority-led broadcaster controlled and owned by DuJuan McCoy. He's owner-CEO of Bayou City Broadcasting. The divestitures (see 1903200058) complete Nexstar’s plan to comply with FCC ownership rules and to obtain FCC and DOJ approval of taking over Tribune Media transaction, it said. “The $1.36 billion of gross proceeds from the proposed station divestitures exceeds our initial estimate by approximately 36%,” said Nexstar CEO Perry Sook. “Our borrowings and leverage will be lower than anticipated at closing.” CCB will run the stations “hands-on,” with no shared service agreements or joint sales agreement, “maintaining full control of both stations and their content -- a tremendous win for diverse voices,” said the Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council.

A Massachusetts radio station's license was revoked for failing to pay regulatory fees 2014-2018, said a revocation order from the FCC Media Bureau and Office of Managing Director in Friday’s Daily Digest. Deane Brothers Broadcasting -- licensee of FM station WJDF Orange -- didn’t respond to attempts by the FCC and Treasury Department to collect its unpaid regulatory fees or to warnings that its license could be revoked. Neither the station nor the Deane brothers -- Jay, Donn and Fred -- could be reached for comment. A 2016 Worcester Business Journal article says the three brothers opened the station in 1995 to try to make the North Quabbin region more visible to the rest of the state, and its call sign was based on their initials.

There’s “big news afoot” involving the ATSC 3.0 commercial rollout at a Pearl TV-organized news conference planned for Monday at the NAB Show (see 1904040075), said a spokesperson Thursday. NAB President Gordon Smith, FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr, plus “a large group of U.S. broadcasters, and other industry participants,” will be on hand to discuss “near-term deployment plans” for 3.0, said a media advisory. It’s scheduled for 11:45 a.m. at the 3.0 presentation stage in the Las Vegas Convention Center’s North Hall.