New FCC emergency alert system codes for storm surges and high winds will take effect Sept. 12, said a notice in the Federal Register. Though use of the codes isn't mandatory, broadcasters replacing their EAS equipment will have to install devices that can use the new codes by the following Sept. 12, and EAS equipment manufacturers will have to include the codes in new equipment by March 12, said a blog post on the website of law firm Fletcher Heald.

Ford's 2017 Escape and Fusion vehicles will come with dual-radio reception systems, including one of the first dual-radio applications for HD Radio, the automaker said Wednesday. Dual FM radio reception uses a second receiver and the rear window heater grid as a second antenna to help the radio choose between multiple signals on the same frequency, said Ford in an announcement. The second antenna and receiver reduce interference from the same radio signal when it’s received twice, helpful in cities and mountainous areas where radio signals tend to bounce around the surroundings, said Ford. The second receiver also helps discern the stronger signal for clearer reception, the company said. In testing the system, Ford assessed radio signals in Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, Minneapolis-St. Paul, New York, Pittsburgh and Seattle and determined the system allows listeners to hear stations longer when traveling between cities since there’s no middle zone where the radio plays overlapping stations. With a typical radio, at a midpoint between cities interference can last up to 15 minutes when a tuner is bringing in two stations overlapping the same frequency, it said.

The FCC upheld a Media Bureau decision granting a license renewal to a New Jersey radio station that allowed its license to expire in 2006 and continued broadcasting, not filing a renewal until 2010, said an order in Wednesday's Daily Digest. Atlantic City Board of Education filed for renewal of WAJM(FM) Atlantic City after Press Communications filed for a modification of spacing rules for its WBHX(FM) Tuckerton Press said spacing rules didn't protect WAJM since it had allowed its license to expire, but the bureau ruled otherwise. The FCC said in the order Tuesday that commission precedent supported granting a renewal to stations that allowed their licenses to expire. Commissioner Mignon Clyburn dissented from the vote, and Commissioner Mike O'Rielly concurred, saying the FCC is applying different standards to wireless and broadcast licensees. The FCC “consistently has allowed broadcast station licenses to be renewed even when the license term expired long before the renewal application was filed,” O'Rielly said in a statement issued with the order. “This seems inappropriate and problematic: we ought not have different standards for deadlines based on the service being offered and we ought not allow late filings.”

The FCC denied a PMCM application for review of Media Bureau Video Division decisions allotting a channel in Seaford, Delaware, that was connected with PMCM's relocation of a channel from Wyoming to Delaware, said a commissioner-approved order in Friday's Daily Digest. PMCM at first supported the allotment and then changed its position three years later, the order said. “In short, it appears that PMCM simply changed its strategy as developments unfolded.” PMCM's application was rejected for being untimely, the order said. The order had been slated for consideration on the consent agenda for Thursday's commissioner meeting and was removed just beforehand because it was OK'd on circulation.

BBC Sport 360, an experimental service bringing live and on-demand content to U.K. audiences in 360-degree video for the first time, launches Friday for the Rio Olympics, the BBC said Thursday. “Arm chair sports fans can get closer than ever to the Olympics action and enjoy a new perspective on a range of live sports, including the opening and closing ceremonies, athletics, and a closer-than-ringside view of the boxing.” BBC Sport 360 will be available through a dedicated trial app for Android, iOS and Samsung Gear VR devices, it said. Coverage also will be available online through the BBC Taster site, allowing viewers “to try, rate and give feedback to help the BBC learn from the experimental service,” it said. The BBC plans live 360 video footage of an event each day during the Games, with about 100 total hours of content and a choice of up to four camera angles, plus a daily 360-degree video highlights package, it said. The BBC is heavily into research on virtual-reality content to be sure it will be “ready” if such content becomes mainstream, it said in a June R&D update (see 1606090052).

The FCC should eliminate the UHF discount, the American Cable Association said in a letter posted in docket 13-236 Wednesday. “Elimination of the UHF discount is justified by the facts, the record, and sound public policy,” ACA said, urging the FCC to make the change “without further delay.” Retaining “the now unjustified UHF discount will exacerbate the harmful effects of the large scale consolidation occurring in the broadcast industry by potentially allowing some of the largest station groups to maintain a greater share of the national audience than Congress intended,” ACA said. A draft media ownership order would eliminate the discount (see 1607210055).

Correction: It was the FCC that requested that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit publish its judgment rejecting Free Access and Broadcast Telemedia's challenge of incentive auction rules (see 1608010060).

That the Association of Federal Communications Consulting Engineers (AFCCE) recently backed speedy FCC approval of the ATSC 3.0 transmission system is further evidence the next-generation broadcast standard will “move through this regulatory process at a fairly quick pace,” said Sinclair CEO David Smith on a Wednesday earnings call. AFCCE “finds no technical reason” to delay authorization of the ATSC 3.0 transmission standard and so urges the FCC “to take the requisite actions necessary for expedited consideration,” it told the commission in July 19 comments. Smith also thinks ATSC 3.0 “over time” will be adopted as “a global standard,” following its endorsement by South Korea, he said. “The long-term consequences of that as a function of our intellectual property is going to be very interesting to watch,” he said.

Hemisphere Media Group's request for a declaratory ruling on foreign ownership (see 1607280056) is similar to the Pandora matter previously approved by the FCC, said Wilkinson Barker broadcast attorney David Oxenford in a blog post Tuesday. Hemisphere “is a public company, and thinks that, from time to time, its foreign ownership might exceed 25%.” Oxenford said. The FCC decision on the Hemisphere petition and on petitions by Univision and Frontier Media “may give us an idea on where the Commission is heading on its broader review of its foreign ownership rules,” Oxenford said.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit denied a Free Access and Broadcast Telemedia request that the court publish its June 28 judgment (see 1606290057) rejecting Free Access’s challenge of the incentive auction rules, said a D.C. Circuit order. FAB’s claim was rejected because it doesn’t own a low-power TV station and thus lacked standing. FAB plans to file an en banc appeal of the judgment later this month, an official connected with the case emailed. The D.C. Circuit hasn't ruled on a similar challenge from Mako Communications.