The FCC quadrennial review shouldn't be “a vehicle” for relaxing ownership rules, Common Cause said in a meeting with an aide to Commissioner Mignon Clyburn Monday, according to an ex parte filing posted Wednesday in docket 09-182. “Nested ownership structures lead to homogenization of content, to the detriment of the public interest.” The record on media ownership is incomplete and “more research must be done should the Commission consider relaxing or eliminating the newspaper-broadcast cross-ownership rules,” said the group.
The FCC Media Bureau granted MMK License a waiver of the significantly viewed exception to the network nonduplication and syndicated exclusivity rules for its WNKY Bowling Green, Kentucky, said an order in Tuesday's Daily Digest. MMK's petition for the waiver was unopposed.
The number of nations at the World Radiocommunication Conference supporting keeping the current UHF spectrum allocation for broadcast TV is growing rapidly, from 34 at the start of WRC-15 (see 1511040040) to about 125 now, North American Broadcasters Association (NABA) said in a news release. "While wireless interests argue that adding a primary mobile allocation in the band would result in 'harmonization,' the truth is that it would result in confusion, disruption, and fragmentation," NABA said Monday. It said the two services are "incompatible, with massive separation distances required to avoid interference between them."
The FCC Media Bureau approved an application to transfer three TV licenses owned by Jack Sander to Tegna, and granted a nine-month temporary waiver of the local TV ownership rule in a transaction connected to Gannett buying Belo, said a letter issued Monday. The stations are in markets where the former Gannett also held newspaper interests: KGW Portland, Oregon; WHAS-TV Louisville; and KMSB Tucson. The nine-month waiver is intended to allow Tegna to unwind a joint sales agreement in Tucson, the letter said.
The FCC Incentive Auction Task Force released the agenda public notice for its Dec. 8 reverse auction application workshop. The 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. workshop will include an overview of “the path to the reverse auction,” a step-by-step review of the application, information about channel sharing and relinquishment options, and a Q&A session, the agenda said. The workshop will also be streamed live with open-captioning via the www.fcc.gov/live, the PN said.
The Media Bureau dismissed an application for review of FCC rules on mobile TV devices after the application’s source, Elgato Systems, agreed to withdraw it “due to the passage of time,” said an order of dismissal issued Friday. Elgato filed the application in 2010, the order said.
The Enforcement Bureau proposed a $15,000 fine against Andrew Turner of Miami Gardens, Florida, for operating unlicensed radio station “BIG Station 95.9” in Broward County, Florida, after repeated warnings from the FCC, said a notice of apparent liability issued Friday. “Mr. Turner’s deliberate disregard of the Commission’s warnings warrants a significant penalty,” said the NAL. FCC agents tracked the station in January to a private home that featured signs advertising “One Caribbean International” and “WBIG International Solushuns, Inc.,” companies that Turner heads, the NAL said. Agents tracked the station to the same house in March, and left a notice of unlicensed operation at the house. Two more notices were issued in March, and agents found in September that the station was still operating out of the same house, the NAL said. According to a video of a working DJ marked as “live” streaming on wbigstation.net, the station is apparently still broadcasting. Officials at the station didn't comment.
The FCC released instructions for filing the short-form application for TV stations to participate in the reverse auction, and an online tutorial on the pre-auction process, in a public notice Thursday. To sign up for the reverse auction, applicants use their FCC registration numbers and the commission's auctions system. The application filing window begins at noon EST Dec. 8, and runs through Jan. 12 at 6 p.m. Although stations can back out of the auction after that window closes, they can't participate unless they file an application during that window. The applications asks for information about authorized bidders, the manner in which the station is relinquishing its spectrum, and for channel sharing information, the PN said. The process and options of the form are also explained in the online pre-auction tutorial, which takes the form of a narrated slide show illustrating and explaining the information required in the buildup to the March 29 auction start. “The FCC will allow you to make as many changes as you’d like to an application during the filing window, and will not consider information in your application until you click the CERTIFY and SUBMIT button,” said Pillsbury Winthrop attorney Jessica Nyman in a blog post. “You can even withdraw a previously submitted application up until the close of the filing window. So while you should strive to get it right the first time, if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.”
Nexstar agreed to buy four West Virginia TV stations from West Virginia Media Holdings for $130 million, Nexstar said in a news release. The deal “broadens Nexstar’s local television broadcasting and digital media platform with stations that are geographically complementary to the Company’s operating base while presenting significant financial and operating synergies,” Nexstar said Tuesday of the deal it expects to complete late next year. The West Virginia stations in the deal include WBOY-TV Clarksburg, WOWK-TV Huntington, WTRF-TV Wheeling, WVNS-TV Lewisburg.
The FCC could encourage more auction participation by implementing procedures that “facilitate deferred tax treatment of reverse auction proceeds,” said “representatives of the commonly-owned licensees of commercial broadcast television stations concentrated in several of the largest” designated market areas, according to an ex parte filing by Wiley Rein broadcast attorney Ari Meltzer in docket 12-268. The representatives weren't identified in the filing under a Media Bureau rule that allows broadcast auction participants to meet with the FCC to discuss the auction without disclosing their identities. “Realistic” broadcaster participation could result in a high clearing target and limited impaired spectrum, the broadcast representatives said. Other broadcasters have been raising similar issues at the FCC and in interviews with us (see 1511130041).