Bonten Media Group of New York urged the FCC not...

Bonten Media Group of New York urged the FCC not to attribute for ownership quotas joint sales agreements (JSAs). Bonten launched new services made possible by the efficiencies generated by JSAs and shared services agreements, it said in an ex parte filing in docket 10-71 (http://bit.ly/Ofn1hl). “Attribution of JSAs involving more than 15 percent of a station’s advertising time -- as the commission reportedly has been considering -- effectively would require termination of these agreements, and their related efficiencies.” Bonten and Esteem Broadcasting, based in Virginia, have been creating new local news programs and upgrading stations to HD, Bonten said. These relationships have resulted in the hiring of reporters, more hours of local news, more in-depth coverage of issues important to the stations’ viewers, “and the ability for stations to reinvest in their programming, operations and infrastructure,” it said. The filing recounts a meeting with staff from the offices of Chairman Tom Wheeler and all the commissioners.