The FCC Enforcement Bureau proposed a $15,000 fine for an alleged Passaic, New Jersey, pirate radio operator who the bureau said continued operating his unlicensed station La Raza 91.9 FM on 91.9 MHz despite repeated warnings from the bureau, said a notice of apparent liability released Friday. Ivan Angeles has a history of operating unlicensed FM stations in New Jersey, said the NAL. The bureau sent Angeles five notices of unlicensed operation between 2012 and 2015, and in February and August this year tracked radio signals to Angeles' home in Passaic. Angeles hasn't responded to any of the warnings, said the bureau. It proposed a $10,000 fine for the unlicensed operation, and adjusted it upward for Ramirez’s disregard of repeated warnings.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit dismissed two mandamus petitions from PMCM related to its appeal of an FCC Media Bureau ruling concerning what virtual channel PMCM’s WJLP Middletown Township, New Jersey, can be carried on. PMCM had asked the D.C. Circuit to compel the bureau to assign a virtual channel to the station, and to compel the FCC to require the station to be carried on channel 3 on cable systems where PMCM elects must-carry status.The appeals relate to PMCM’s attempt to use the same main program and system information protocol channel as Meredith’s WFSB Hartford. Since the bureau assigned the station a virtual channel in June, PMCM’s first request is moot, the D.C. Circuit ruled. The channel 3 mandamus was denied because PMCM didn't demonstrate a “clear and indisputable right” to such relief, the order said. A lawyer for PMCM had no immediate comment.

The FCC Enforcement Bureau should “enact a vigorous campaign of enforcement activities to disrupt and permanently terminate all pirate radio stations,” Commissioner Mike O’Rielly said in a blog post Thursday. He said the bureau promised it would develop a "comprehensive policy and enforcement approach” toward pirate radio but hasn't done so. “Given the stakes, this issue shouldn’t wait any longer,” O’Rielly said. The blog post included a draft enforcement policy that he said is intended to “inspire those working on this issue” to suggest changes. O’Rielly’s suggested policy includes education efforts for building owners, advertisers, political candidates, concert promoters, equipment manufacturers and “those entities that may knowingly or unknowingly assist pirate radio operations in any capacity.” They “should be on notice that facilitating pirate radio broadcasting will not be tolerated, and may be subject to enforcement or legal actions, as permitted under law,” O’Rielly said. The bureau didn't respond to a request for comment. Broadcasters have expressed concern about the bureau's ability to enforce piracy rules in the wake of field office closures (see 1508130029).

Any steps the FCC takes to help AM radio without allowing an AM-only translator license application window would be “relatively small change,” said former Republican FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell and former Democratic FCC Commissioner Michael Copps in a joint blog on The Hill's website Wednesday. “On this point, all Democrats and Republicans” can agree, the editorial said. Copps left the FCC in December 2011 and is now a special advisor to Common Cause. McDowell left the commission in May 2013 and is now a partner at Wiley Rein. Being able to use a translator to broadcast on the FM band is key because the AM band suffers from increasing interference caused by the widespread adoption of fluorescent lighting, among other things, the blog post said. The application filing window was promised by the FCC two years ago, and that promise should be fulfilled, said the two men. The window “is especially important for women and minority owners of AM stations, who are more likely to run small standalone stations on shoe-string budgets,” they said. Despite their many differences while commissioners, the need for the FCC to help AM radio is an issue on which they are “fully united,” they said.

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler and Media Bureau Chief Bill Lake are apparently alone in thinking that eliminating the syndicated exclusivity rules is a necessary or even a good step for the agency to take, Rick Kaplan, NAB executive vice president-legal and regulatory affairs, said in a blog post Wednesday. It responded to a blog post Lake wrote the day before arguing for the end of the syndicated exclusivity and network non-duplication rules (see 1509220024). Kaplan said Lake's blog post was "an attempt to reverse the palpable lack of enthusiasm for the Chairman's plan, and took aim at Lake's arguments against rules Lake called "past their prime." Any argument that retransmission consent rules obviate any need for preserving local exclusivity is off base, as Congress was explicit in the 1992 Cable Act, when it set up retrans rules, that changing or deleting the rules in a way that would allow for carriage of distant stations in the place of local stations carrying the same programming isn't the intent, Kaplan said. "Contrary to Mr. Lake's central claim, Congress was well aware of the importance of the exclusivity rules when it granted retransmission consent rights to broadcasters," Kaplan said. And Congress' preservation of local exclusivity in the 2014 satellite reauthorization law is further evidence of "how hollow Mr. Lake's claim rings," Kaplan said. Neither Lake nor Wheeler is making a case for how eliminating exclusivity rules will benefit consumers or fix some regulatory problem, Kaplan wrote. "Their central premise is simply that the rules are 'old' and 'unnecessary,'" Kaplan said. "It's time to shelve this proposal and move on to more important matters that preserve localism, competition and diversity for the benefit of consumers."

NAB Labs partnered with Washington-based startup incubator 1776, said the association in a news release Tuesday. Under the terms of the partnership, NAB Labs will “engage with early-stage startup companies pursuing innovations in areas important to local communities and media companies,” it said. NAB will hold office hours at the 1776 Campus and host events, it said. NAB said other 1776 partners include AT&T, CEA, Comcast, Georgetown University, Microsoft and Wilkinson Barker.

Since broadcasters pay hefty regulatory fees and are required to provide their services free to the public, allowing AM radio licensees to obtain FM frequencies through translators is not a spectrum giveaway, NAB said Friday in a meeting with FCC Media Bureau Chief Bill Lake and bureau staff, according to an ex parte filing. “Unless the Commission is interested in a communications industry that supports only those services for which consumers must pay hefty fees, it should make it a priority to care about the health and well-being of free over-the-air radio and television,” NAB said. An AM-only window for FM translator applications is the best way to help AM stations and would be “a huge victory for diversity,” NAB said. The proposal has the support of “a large number of minority broadcasters and the Congressional Black Caucus,” NAB said. A proposal for a waiver allowing AM stations to purchase and move distant translators from up to 250 miles away would be effective only as a complement to the window, not a replacement for it, NAB said. The 250-mile proposal “threatens to favor large station groups over small ones and big markets over small,” NAB said.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit denied David Schum’s appeal of an FCC order approving the transfer of a radio license from his company to another company, Bernard Dallas. The transfer was part of a judgment against Schum in Texas state court and subsequent bankruptcy proceedings, said the opinion. Schum failed to show how the court's overturning the FCC decision would prevent injuries to him and his business, and so doesn’t satisfy standing requirements, said the unanimous decision. All of the harms caused by the sale of the station stem from Schum’s bankruptcy and the state court decision against him, and wouldn’t be altered by overturning the FCC decision, the D.C. circuit ruled.

The FCC Enforcement Bureau proposed a $15,000 fine for an alleged Paterson, New Jersey, pirate radio operator who continued operating his unlicensed station KalienteMix on 90.5 MHz despite repeated warnings from the bureau, said a notice of apparent liability released Friday. Alejandro Ramirez “has a history of operating unlicensed FM stations in New Jersey,” the NAL said. The bureau sent Ramirez two Notices of Unlicensed Operation in 2013 and 2014, and in May and August this year tracked radio signals to two different properties in Paterson, one owned by Ramirez’s wife. Two more notices were sent to Ramirez, with no responses received. The bureau proposed a $10,000 fine for the unlicensed operation, and adjusted it upward for Ramirez’s disregard of repeated warnings, the NAL said.

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler’s statement Thursday that providing an AM-only FM translator window amounts to a giveaway of spectrum “simply does not withstand review,” Wilkinson Barker broadcast attorney David Oxenford said in a blog post Friday. Wheeler made the statement in a post-meeting news conference in response to a question from Communications Daily. “This cannot be the full reason for his opposition,” he said. “An AM-only window for FM translators is no more a give-away of free spectrum than is any other translator filing window.” Wheeler may have other reasons for opposing the window, Oxenford said. “In the rapid give and take of a press conference, the Chairman’s comments may not have reflected all of the concerns that he has about an AM-only window for FM translators.”