A bipartisan group of former FCC commissioners have condemned the agency’s news distortion proceeding against CBS in joint comments posted Thursday. “These comments are submitted to emphasize the unprecedented nature of this news distortion proceeding, and to express our strong concern” that the FCC “may be seeking to censor the news media in a manner antithetical to the First Amendment,” said the letter from former Chairmen Alfred Sikes and Tom Wheeler and former Commissioners Gloria Tristani, Rachelle Chong and Ervin Duggan. Sikes and Chong are Republicans, while Chong, Duggan and Tristani are Democrats. The signatories “served under both Republican and Democratic leadership, and from that experienced perspective, express deep concern about the breadth of the content regulation authority asserted by this proceeding.” If the FCC doesn’t act to close the proceeding, it would suggest “that the Commission has been transformed into a tool of White House-driven speech suppression.” In response to a request for comment, the FCC repeated a statement from FCC Chairman Brendan Carr declining to end the proceeding, which it previously issued after a similar request from conservative groups (see 2503210060).

The FCC Media Bureau will give more consideration in the future to waivers for stations that constructed permitted facilities on time but failed to meet license application deadlines, said a unanimous order from the full FCC Tuesday. The item had been listed on Thursday’s open meeting agenda as an adjudicatory matter, but the agency released a deletion notice Tuesday.

Comments are due April 23, replies May 8, in docket 24-626 on an FCC proposal for cleaning up outdated references and processes in broadcast regulations, said a public notice Monday. “Numerous rule sections still reference outdated terms from the Commission’s legacy paper-filing processing procedures and discontinued databases, and are therefore incompatible with current electronic filing procedures,” the December NPRM said. The item was unanimously approved under the previous administration (see 2412100057).

FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said he won’t scrap the news distortion proceeding against CBS despite a collection of conservative groups urging him to do so (see 2503200047). “With respect to their request that the FCC immediately dismiss the complaint against CBS, my answer is simple: no,” Carr said in a statement. “The FCC’s review of the complaint against CBS remains active and ongoing.” The Center for American Rights, which filed the complaint, also responded Friday to the conservative groups’ filing. "Conservatives have complained about media bias for decades, and today it's worse than ever before,” said CAR President Daniel Suhr in an email. “Rather than just grouse about it, we are committed to doing something about it: to protect consumers from broadcast stations that will slant and distort the news in violation of their legal obligations."

Eight conservative groups want the FCC to dismiss its news distortion complaint against CBS to prevent setting precedent that could be used against conservative media, said a letter posted Thursday in docket 25-73. The letter -- from Americans for Tax Reform, the Center for Individual Freedom, Digital Liberty and others -- also called for the FCC to eliminate the news distortion and news hoax rules. “All of these rules and procedures open the door for politicians to play politics with broadcasting.”

Consumers would pay more under an ATSC 3.0 tuner mandate, the Consumer Technology Association told an aide to FCC Chairman Brendan Carr and Media Bureau staff in an ex parte meeting last week, according to a filing posted Tuesday. NAB has called for a tuner requirement in its recent ATSC 3.0 petition (see 2502260051). A search of TVs sold by a nationwide retailer showed that the average price of those with 3.0 tuners was $80 higher than 1.0 models, CTA said. “Given this sample, in addition to other known factors, such as patent licensing costs, it is reasonable to conclude that consumers would pay more if all televisions were mandated to include an ATSC 3.0 tuner,” the filing said. CTA “strongly believes the transition to ATSC 3.0 must remain voluntary and market-based, not guided by government mandates, and has consistently advocated this position in the record.”

The Federal Emergency Management Agency denied that it has frozen reimbursement payments to public broadcasters in response to CPB’s request that the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia (docket 1:25-cv-00740-TJK) intervene (see 2503140060). A docket entry Monday said that the court had denied CPB's motion for a temporary restraining order. “The Agency is taking no such action -- there has been no withholding of funding,” said FEMA in a filing opposing CPB's request Saturday. “Rather, the Agency has modified its process for the review of payment requests.” The “hold toggle” lets the agency manually review reimbursement requests before sending them out, FEMA said. “The Agency will process payment requests and approve them for payment as appropriate, simply with an added level of internal controls to ensure that payment requests are reviewed prior to payment being released.”

The full FCC should overturn the Media Bureau’s dismissal of the Media and Democracy Project’s petition to deny against Fox’s WTXF Philadelphia, MAD said in a response filing in docket 25-11 Monday. Fox argued earlier this month that the FCC should affirm the Media Bureau order, which came under previous FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. Current Chairman Brendan Carr reinstated petitions against NBC, ABC, and CBS that Rosenworcel had dismissed but didn't resurrect MAD's Fox petition. MAD conceded in a news release Monday that “it's unlikely" Carr "will move quickly to review MAD's appeal.” Fox said MAD “has sought to treat Fox 29 Philadelphia as collateral in its efforts to punish Fox 29 Philadelphia’s corporate parent for speech disfavored by MAD that never even aired on the broadcast station.” The bureau order dismissing MAD’s petition “properly applied the Communications Act and FCC precedent,” Fox added. It continued that MAD hasn’t identified Fox conduct that is relevant to the FCC character standards.

CPB wants a federal court to force the Federal Emergency Management Agency to remove a hold on paying reimbursement requests from public broadcasting stations connected to upgrades to emergency alerting, according to CPB filings in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia (docket 1:25-cv-00740-TJK). CPB administers grant funds from FEMA marked by Congress to help station upgrades connected with the Next Generation Warning System, but FEMA ceased paying the reimbursements to 42 stations after a White House executive order was issued to freeze grants, the filing said. “Not just future reimbursements for expenses not-yet-incurred, but also for reimbursements of expenses already incurred by these stations in reliance on the grant’s terms,” CPB said. FEMA didn’t inform CPB that the funds were on hold and is “refusing to provide any communications as to why the funds have been placed on hold, placing new restrictions on the grant, and refusing to provide any mechanism through which CPB can make any submissions in compliance with the grant,” CPB said. CPB can’t reimburse the stations but also faces potential liability over the unpaid funds, the filing said. The court should “enter a very focused and very feasible Temporary Restraining Order simply requiring FEMA to re-open the grant submission portal” and “return to timely processing and promptly paying requests to reimburse,” CPB said. FEMA didn't comment.

The Media Bureau on Tuesday granted a waiver of the top four prohibition to allow Gray Media to buy Fox affiliate KXLT-TV Rochester, Minnesota, even though it already owns NBC affiliate KTTC-TV Rochester in the same market, said a letter from Video Division Chief Barbara Kreisman. While FCC rules have allowed for top four waivers on a case-by-case basis for several years, they have rarely been granted. “Today’s action represents the first FCC approval of a new combination of two full-power, top-four ranked, same-market television stations in over five years,” said Gray in a news release. “Importantly, the FCC’s Media Bureau’s grant and written decision come just two months after the parties applied for approval of the transaction, which appears to represent the shortest processing time for a duopoly waiver in Commission history.” Gray’s proposed purchase of a top four combo in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, sat stalled at the FCC for 11 months before being abruptly granted in 2019, shortly after the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against the agency’s 2014 quadrennial review order (see 1909250064).