FCC staff proposed a $5,000 fine, half the base amount, for a first-time rule breaker that moved a low-power FM station before getting an OK, violating rules for less than three weeks. Iglesia Centro de Liberacion can move the transmitter for KJJG South Houston, Texas, along with having less than a two-notch channel distance from two nearby FMs by taking care of the penalty and "if there are no other issues that would preclude grant," the Media Bureau said Tuesday.
Two radio CEOs told FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, Commissioner Brendan Carr and Deputy Chief Sarah Whitesell and others in the Media Bureau their industry is "threatened" by new competition and "restrained from responding" by "outdated structural ownership rules that have not been substantially updated since 1996." That came in meetings Thursday with Connoisseur Media's Jeffrey Warshaw and Dhruv Prasad of Townsquare Media, recounted a filing Tuesday in docket 18-227. The executives cited competition from Facebook and Google, saying there's "no longer a siloed audio marketplace where broadcast radio stations compete only with each other." The agency may begin its 2018 quadrennial media ownership review next month (see 1811080063).
Replies to Ion seeking to change WUPX-TV Morehead, Kentucky’s community of license to Richmond, Kentucky, are due Dec. 4, said Friday's Federal Register. A prepublication notice showed the initial-comments deadline is Nov. 26 (see 1811080061).
Nexstar is seeking FCC OK to buy KFVE (MyNetworkTV) Honolulu in an approximately $6.5 million deal, it told the agency in documents posted Thursday. Nexstar owns KHON-TV (Fox) Honolulu and two satellite stations in that market. It also seeks to buy, all from HITV License and in that market, KFVE satellite stations KGMV Wailuku and KGMD-TV Hilo.
The owners WLNN-CD, Boone, North Carolina, will pay $2 million and relinquish the license under a consent decree that ends an investigation by the FCC Media and Wireless bureaus of licensee Carolina Rays. It's about it possibly submitting wrong information in its incentive auction application and transferring control of the Class A station without FCC OK, said Friday's order.
Comments on Ion’s request to amend the DTV table of allotments to change WUPX-TV Morehead, Kentucky’s community of license to Richmond, Kentucky, are due Nov. 26, says a notice for Friday's Federal Register. Replies are due ten days later, the notice says.
Comments on procedures for auction 100 for this fiscal year of 13 mutually exclusive FM translator construction permits still are due Nov. 15 (see 1810190050), replies Nov. 28, says a notice for Friday’s Federal Register.
If the FCC has to activate broadcasters' online public files not yet activated despite March's deadline to do so, there could be consequences during license renewals in 2019, blogged Wilkinson Barker broadcast attorney David Oxenford Tuesday. The Media Bureau said it will turn on unused public files Nov.15 (see 1811050028). “With license renewals for radio starting in June 2019, a review of the online public file will likely be part of the FCC’s review of the renewal application,” Oxenford said. Incomplete or unactivated files “will likely lead to FCC fines,” he said. The agency can find noncompliant broadcasters “from the comfort of their own computer, any time of any day,” Oxenford said.
The FCC Media Bureau will activate the online public inspection file accounts of all radio broadcasters who haven’t yet activated their own accounts on Nov. 15, said a public notice Monday. All radio broadcasters were required to have their public inspection files in the FCC database by March 1. “The Media Bureau also reminds licensees of the obligation to immediately place all required documents in the online public file,” the PN said.
Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff and his wife Lynne completed their $190 million cash buy from Meredith of Time, Meredith announced Thursday. "Meredith will provide short-term business continuity services and has entered into a multi-year agreement with the Benioffs to provide services such as consumer marketing, subscription fulfillment, paper purchasing and printing." The broadcaster still plans (see 1809170034) to use the money to pay down debt.