Already busy with spectrum auction issues, broadcast groups are asking for a two-month extension on comment deadlines in a NPRM on possible changes to the "totality of circumstances" test for good-faith retransmission consent negotiations. "The requested extension would materially assist broadcasters in their auction preparation and in meeting the FCC's strict deadline for auction participation," ABC Television Affiliates Association, CBS Television Network Affiliates Association, FBC Television Affiliates Association, NAB and NBC Television Affiliates said in motion posted Friday in docket 15-216. "The Associations and our members ... will be unable to participate fully in this retransmission consent proceeding and provide a comprehensive record to the Commission under the current comment deadlines given the FCC's recently set overlapping deadlines for the approaching spectrum incentive auction," they said. Comments now are due Dec. 1 with responses due Dec. 31; the broadcasters said they would prefer Feb. 1 and March 2 deadlines.

The FCC's approach to translators “isn't perfect” but shows “significant progress,” Commissioner Ajit Pai said in a released statement on the AM revitalization order Friday. The order itself was released later Friday. Pai said the order, as expected (see 1510220060), includes two windows allowing AM stations to get translators. “First, we will open a window in which AM stations will have greater flexibility to move an FM translator purchased in the secondary market,” Pai said. “And then we will give those AM stations still without an FM translator a chance to apply for a new one.” The AM order also makes it easier for stations to improve their signal quality and gives them more flexibility for site location, Pai said. “I’m hopeful that this two-prong plan will accomplish our goal of distributing FM translators to as many AM stations as want them.”

TVs in other markets also don't correctly tune to the desired station when receiving a signal from a station transmitting with a major channel number program and system information protocol in the same area where a different station is transmitting on the same over-the-air channel, PMCM said in an ex parte filing posted Wednesday in FCC docket 14-150. The Media Bureau assigned PMCM's WJLP Middletown Township, New Jersey, to virtual channel 33, though PMCM is seeking to be assigned virtual channel 3.10. But many viewers trying to watch WJLP on channel 33 are instead receiving WCBS-TV New York, which broadcasts on that channel, PMCM said (see 1510010031). Testing by PMCM shows that if WJLP were on the channel PMCM wants, most TVs would allow viewers to choose which channel they tune to when entering the virtual channel number, rather than automatically selecting one or the other, PMCM has said. The tests mentioned in the latest ex parte filing show that this works in other markets as well, PMCM said.

There should be a displacement application window for licensees with unbuilt low-power TV construction permits, the LPTV Spectrum Rights Coalition said in a meeting last week with Incentive Auction Task Force Chief Gary Epstein, Media Bureau Chief Bill Lake and other Media Bureau staff, according to an ex parte filing posted Tuesday in docket 12-268. Displaced LPTV stations will have such a window, but those with unbuilt construction permits won't, the filing said. The coalition was told “all new digital construction permits would have to wait until after the formal displacement window and process,” the filing said. “And then when they did file, no process other than everyone filing at once in a first come first serve manner,” the filing said. There are 780 LPTV and 760 TV translator stations that haven't completed their conversion to digital, but will be eligible to participate in the displacement application window, the filing said. The coalition also updated Lake and Epstein on its proposed legislation for an LPTV spectrum auction (see 1510150066).

Some TVs don't correctly tune to the desired station when receiving a signal from a station transmitting with a major channel number program and system information protocol (PSIP) in the same area where a different station is transmitting on the same over-the-air channel, PMCM said in an ex parte filing posted Friday in docket 14-150. The Media Bureau assigned PMCM's station WJLP(TV) Middletown Township, New Jersey, to virtual Channel 33 after the station's several unsuccessful attempts to be assigned virtual Channel 3.10. But many viewers trying to watch WJLP on Channel 33 are instead receiving WCBS-TV New York, which broadcasts on that channel, PMCM has said (see 1510010031). Testing by PMCM shows that if WJLP were on the channel PMCM wants, most TVs would allow viewers to choose which channel they tune to when entering the virtual channel number, rather than automatically selecting one or the other, PMCM said.

Reducing skywave protection for Class A AM stations could drive listeners from that band, said iHeartCommunications in a Sept. 29 meeting with an aide to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, according to an ex parte filing posted in docket 13-249 Thursday. The draft order on AM revitalization includes a Further NPRM that seeks comment on reducing skywave protections, broadcast industry officials have told us. The AM stations that would be most affected by such a rule change are also the stations that listeners tune to the AM band to hear, iHeart said, comparing the Class A stations to “an anchor commercial tenant in a retail development.” Discouraging listeners from using the AM band is counter to the goal of the AM revitalization, iHeart said. The FCC needs a “full and balanced” record on the issue and should find out what reducing skywave protections for Class A's would do to the AM band, emergency alert system warnings and other AM stations, iHeart said.

Media General and Meredith reached an agreement that will allow Media General to exchange information with Nexstar about the latter’s offer to buy Media General, Media General said in a news release Wednesday. Media General had announced a proposed buy of Meredith, which was followed last month by Nexstar’s announcement of its desire to buy Media General (see 1510060016). The agreement will let Media General “further evaluate” Nexstar’s unsolicited proposal, the release said. Media General’s board continues to endorse the Meredith deal, the release said. "Since we made our proposal, many Media General shareholders have expressed their support for our proposed combination,” said Nexstar CEO Perry Sook in another release. The market has reacted favorably to the Nexstar proposal, Sook said.

FM translators and joint sales agreements help minority broadcasters “thrive,” said FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai in a statement released Wednesday after his visit to minority-owned radio stations and a TV station operated by historically African-American school Tougaloo College. The school’s WLOO Vicksburg, Mississippi, might not have survived this long without its JSA, Pai said. He also visited an AM station that had found its FM translator “critical” to its operations. The FCC should support minority broadcasters with rules that will allow AM stations an exclusive FM translator [application] window and allow JSAs, and should establish “an incubator program to make it easier for minority entrepreneurs to enter the broadcast business,” Pai said. “I hope that these and other policies find bipartisan support in the months and years ahead.”

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit has granted an FCC motion to dismiss a petition for review filed by William Johnson, in which he sought to reverse the FCC’s decision to dismiss his application for review of an earlier decision dismissing his petition to rescind the transfer of a radio license for FM Translator Station W227AV in 2010. Johnson’s final petition for review was filed after the deadline for such an appeal, the court ruled.

Nielsen will begin its real world test of an enhanced system for gauging radio listenership in the cities of Washington and Baltimore Monday, the company said on a webinar and a panel at the National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters Thursday. The Critical Band Encoding Technology (CBET) system enhances the ability of Nielsen’s portable people meters (PPM) to pick up the inaudible signals behind radio content that Nielsen uses to assign ratings, said Nielsen Senior Vice President-Product Leadership Bill Rose. The system is seen as a response to The Telos Alliance’s Voltair device, which performs a similar function. The Voltair system can boost a station’s ratings by 8 percent, a Telos executive said at the NAB Radio Show, and it's seen as an important tool for any station that wants to remain competitive, Tony Gray, programming director of WYOB-FM, Oak Bluffs, Massachusetts, told us Thursday. Rose said the new CBET system is intended to provide “a level playing field” for “everybody.” Voltair devices cost about $15,000 and must be purchased by individual stations, radio officials have told us. Though Rose said Voltair can be used with the new CBET system, Nielsen doesn't endorse doing so. A Nielsen official told us Nielsen doesn’t endorse Voltair because of its “subjective use” and because it has the potential to make the PPM tones audible. The CBET has been extensively tested to ensure it doesn’t affect sound quality, Nielsen officials said. Voltair didn't comment. The rollout of the CBET is expected to begin in other cities in November, and Nielsen wants to complete the process this year, Nielsen officials said.