Public TV stations have taken additional voluntary steps to monitor and test the Warning, Alert and Response Network, and shouldn't be burdened by additional wireless emergency alert testing requirements, said the Association of Public Television Stations, CPB and PBS in comments posted Thursday in FCC docket 15-91. “Imposing any additional WEA testing obligations on noncommercial educational and public broadcast television stations remains just as infeasible, costly, and ineffective as it was eight years ago when the Commission last considered this same issue." Commercial broadcasters also have had concerns about expanding WEA requirements to include allowing pass-through of URLs (see 1601140047).

Mako Communications agreed to an $18,000 settlement with the FCC for failing to file required children’s TV reports and Class A certifications, said a consent decree issued Wednesday. The violations involved KNBX-CD Las Vegas.

Nexstar “reiterated its commitment” to buying Media General in a news release Monday in response to Meredith's newest offer to join with Media General in a “merger of equals” (see 1601070043). It "is clear that Media General favors a transaction with Nexstar and shares our commitment to seeing it to fruition,” said Nexstar CEO Perry Sook. Meredith’s proposed deal is “not competitive” with Nexstar's offer, he said. Though Meredith argued it could take months after the incentive auction for a Nexstar/Media General deal to be approved, Sook said the transaction could be approved right after the auction results are announced. “That Meredith sought to change its transaction terms is a clear admission that our proposal is superior,” he said. “We intend to take any steps that may be necessary to allow us to consummate our agreed transaction with Media General.” Meredith and Media General didn't comment.

The New York office of the FCC Enforcement Bureau warned three Bronx residents about pirate radio activity, in three letters sent out Dec. 28 and posted online Monday. Earl Armoogan and Everton Ladrick were warned about an unlicensed signal on 92.5 MHz emanating from the same address, while Joseph Rodney was warned about an unlicensed signal on 105.7 MHz. “You are hereby warned that operation of radio transmitting equipment without a valid radio station authorization constitutes a violation,” all three letters said. The recipients have 10 days to respond with evidence that they're operating with an FCC license.

Emmis Communications, which developed NextRadio (see 1408050056), sees 2016 as a “breakthrough year” for the FM-reception smartphone app, said CEO Jeff Smulyan on an earnings call. Having scored big NextRadio wins in 2015 with wireless carriers AT&T, T-Mobile and U.S. Cellular, “discussions with others both on the handset business and carriers are ongoing and very encouraging,” Smulyan said. Emmis also is having NextRadio talks in Australia, Canada, “all over” Latin America and Germany, and thinks NextRadio is an idea whose “time has come,” he said. Emmis thinks about 100 million smartphones globally will have “the ability to get NextRadio” by mid-2017, Smulyan said Thursday. “Remember with NextRadio, we have to do this one phone at a time,” he said. “We have to reach an agreement with the carrier,” then with the handset maker, to activate the FM chip that’s built into virtually all new smartphones, he said. “So it’s not as simple as just saying, OK, it is there, and 300 million phones get it.” But the “incredible support” NextRadio is getting “gives us hope against the background of an industry that’s frankly been challenged for the last number of years with flat to down growth,” he said of the radio business. At CES, NextRadio had “a pretty significant presence,” including staging an event with Blu, the largest supplier of unlocked phones for sale, through Amazon, Best Buy, Target and Walmart, he said. Emmis also demonstrated at CES a NextRadio automotive app with Ford, developed at the automaker’s “request,” and “we are really very excited about that,” he said. Verizon on the carrier side and Apple on the handset side remain the hardest nuts for NextRadio to crack (see 1504120004), he said, but “we are very encouraged by the conversations we are having.”

CES was the start of "an important new phase” for ATSC 3.0, as manufacturers and broadcasters began demonstrating products and services based on the “core” ATSC 3.0 candidate standards adopted last year, said ATSC President Mark Richer in a Friday statement. Those demonstrations will be repeated and enhanced at April's NAB Show, ATSC has said (see 1601040057). “The lion’s share of the standard has been completed and remaining items, like audio and interactivity, will be done in the months ahead.” ATSC is “on target to finalize the entire suite of ATSC 3.0 standards” this year, he said. CES featured the first live demonstrations of Ultra HD over-the-air broadcasts with high dynamic range using the ATSC 3.0's physical transmission layer adopted as a candidate standard in late September (see 1509290029).

The FCC will consider a report and order on expanding online public file requirements to cable, satellite and radio at its Jan. 28 meeting, said a tentative agenda released Thursday. Industry officials have told us the item is expected to apply only to top markets and include a phase-in period for smaller entities. The commission will also consider an NPRM on improving the Emergency Alert System by promoting state and local participation, supporting more testing of the system, and improving the security of the system, the tentative agenda said.

Nexstar finished negotiating terms to buy Media General, but “there can be no assurance that any transaction with Media General will result” because the Meredith/Media General agreement hasn't been terminated, said Nexstar and Media General in news releases Thursday. Under the original agreement with Meredith, Media General can't sign a deal with Nexstar until the Meredith pact is terminated, Media General said. Media General has made several proposals to Meredith to terminate the Meredith agreement, and “to date, Meredith has been unwilling to accept these offers,” Media General said: If Meredith doesn't agree to terminate the deal, Media General will hold a shareholder meeting on the Meredith transaction “as soon as possible.” If Media General shareholders reject the deal, the agreement with Meredith allows Media General to terminate the Meredith deal, Media General said. Under the Nexstar proposal, Nexstar would acquire Media General for $10.55 per share in cash, shares of Nexstar stock and a “contingent value right” for cash proceeds from the sale of Media General spectrum in the incentive auction. Nexstar said it intends to divest the TV stations necessary to obtain FCC regulatory approval. Meredith put forth a new proposal for a “merger of equals” between Meredith and Media General, which would allow that deal to “continue along the current regulatory approval timeline,” Meredith said in a news release. Nexstar and Media General won't be able to file their deal with the FCC before the Jan. 12 reverse auction quiet period, Meredith said. “Thus, a Nexstar-Media General combination could not be completed for at least a year, if not longer, significantly delaying any financial benefit to Media General shareholders, and exposing the transaction to potential market and industry risks.”

The FCC Enforcement Bureau signed a $540,000 consent decree with Cumulus Media for the latter's failure to properly identify the sponsor of a radio ad, the commission said in a news release Thursday. WOZQ Dover, New Hampshire, broadcast 178 ads in 2011 supporting a $1 billion hydroelectric energy project without identifying the sponsor, which was Northern Pass Transmission, a company with a financial interest in the project, the FCC said. “This is the largest payment in FCC history for a single-station violation of the Commission’s sponsorship identification laws,” the release said. “While failure to disclose these identities generally misleads the public, it is particularly concerning when consumers are duped into supporting controversial environmental projects,” said Enforcement Bureau Chief Travis LeBlanc in the release. Under the settlement terms, Cumulus Media Inc. subsidiaries Cumulus Radio Corporation and Radio License Holding CBC will pay the penalty and enter into “a robust compliance plan governing 195 stations across the country,” the release said. The plan includes a compliance officer, enhanced operating procedures, employee training on sponsorship identification, and a hotline for reporting violations, the release said.

All Tegna TV stations will begin using CrowdTangle’s social analytics platform to monitor social media, the broadcaster said in a news release Wednesday. “Stations will be able to use CrowdTangle to help track local and national breaking news and major events as well as help journalists tell stories and impact viewers,” it said. Tegna Media has been using CrowdTangle in some markets since August, Tegna said.