FCC Opposes PMCM Mandamus Filing Over PSIP Sharing

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit should deny a writ of mandamus filed by broadcaster PMCM TV in order to keep broadcasting on Virtual Channel 3.10, said the FCC in an opposition filing Tuesday. The Media Bureau had ordered PMCM’s station WJLP-TV Middletown Township, New Jersey, to stop broadcasting on that channel while it considers a proposal to allow the station to share a Program and System Information Protocol with Meredith Corp.’s WFSB Hartford (see 1410200057). WFSB uses RF Channel 3, and the subchannels attached to a radio frequency channel are commonly understood to belong to the broadcaster that holds that RF channel, several broadcast attorneys have told us. On Nov. 10, PMCM filed an application for review of that order with the FCC and asked for an emergency stay, and also filed a writ of mandamus request with the D.C. Circuit the same day, according to court documents. In response, the bureau stayed its own order until Dec. 1 “to permit orderly briefing” and suspended the briefing schedule on PMCM’s application for review, the FCC’s filing said. The FCC order doesn’t cause harm to PMCM because the FCC authorized it to broadcast on virtual Channel 33. Though PMCM had argued that the shift would be confusing to viewers, the FCC disagreed. “The magnitude of such confusion -- for a station that has been on the air just since September 30 -- may be questioned,” the FCC said. “In any event, PMCM plainly has the power to mitigate such confusion by informing its audience,” the commission said. Staying the FCC’s order would “encroach” on the FCC’s authority to handle questions “best considered and resolved in the context of a notice and comment proceeding,” the commission said. “The balance of equities plainly favors the agency’s approach,” the FCC said.