Waiting for a low-power TV rulemaking proceeding to extend the deadline for construction permits for new LPTV stations would be “counterproductive to the point of being nonsensical,” said the Advanced Television Broadcasting Alliance in reply comments (http://bit.ly/1qp4DBH) posted Tuesday in docket 03-185. The proceeding stems from an ATBA petition for a deadline extension on the permits (CD Aug 18 p6) until after the incentive auction. Though most of the initial commenters supported extending the deadline, the LPTV Spectrum Rights Coalition had argued that any such extension should be part of the larger LPTV rulemaking and LPTV licensee CTB Spectrum Services had said it should be part of a larger effort to address LPTV issues. “Everyone recognizes that no reasonable person would construct an expensive facility that the government might render useless in a year or two,” said ATBA. The Wireless Internet Service Providers Association was the only entity to file initial comments opposing the proposed extension, which CTB called “impractical as well as harsh” (http://bit.ly/1tucbpx). Requiring a separate extension application for each construction permit “will explode the amount of paper work for both permittees, which, remember, are small businesses, and the Commission, whose resources are far from infinite” said CTB. LPTV licensee Miriam Media supported the extension (http://bit.ly/1rN0BFX), arguing that the NAB’s court challenge of the incentive auction report and order have increased the likelihood of a delayed incentive auction. “It is unfair to require construction decisions and large expenditures by LPTV permittees in advance of any ability to make an informed decision,” said Miriam Media.

Sports Fans Coalition submitted more than 4,000 letters from sports fans opposing retaining the sports blackout rule. The fans wrote to the FCC saying local blackouts don’t encourage attendance “but rather deprive them of seeing the games at all because they are physically unable to go to the stadium,” the coalition said Tuesday in an ex parte filing (http://bit.ly/W7mPUH). “These blackout rules serve no purpose other than to punish fans for not attending the game,” the letters said. The letters were obtained through the fan advocacy organization, FanFreedom.org.

The FCC Media Bureau admonished two Illinois TV stations for failing to comply with the limits on commercial matter in children’s programming. The commercial matter may have been inserted into the programs by the stations’ TV network, but this doesn’t relieve the stations of responsibility for the violations, the bureau said in letters to WGEM-TV Quincy and WREX-TV Rockford (http://bit.ly/1sR16uk) (http://bit.ly/1pd10cV).

Gray Television’s transfer of six stations formerly involved in shared services agreements to minority and female owners (CD Aug 28 p16) shows that opposing media consolidation can aid media diversity, said the National Hispanic Media Coalition in a news release Thursday (http://bit.ly/1lyFTXV). “If the FCC makes serious efforts to stem the tide of media consolidation, more ownership opportunities will be created for women and people of color,” said Jessica González, NHMC general counsel. The divestitures “appear to be the direct result” of the FCC’s new policies toward “sidecar deals that indicate control or influence,” said NHMC. González said she hoped the next such transfers would include Latino owners.

Revisions to the Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation (CALM) Act will be effective June 4. The FCC is replacing the current recommended practice that was incorporated in 2011 with one that applies “an improved loudness measurement algorithm” to conform to an ITU algorithm, it said Wednesday in a Federal Register notice (http://1.usa.gov/1mTrErJ).

The FCC Media Bureau admonished KTTC-TV Rochester, Minnesota, for failing to comply with the limits on commercial matter in children’s programming. The commercial matter may have been inserted into the program by the station’s TV network, the bureau said Wednesday in a letter (http://bit.ly/1tL8WHK). It said even if so, this doesn’t relieve the station of responsibility for the violations.

Gray Television will transfer six TV stations to new minority and female owners through deals brokered by MMTC Media and Telecom Brokers, the brokerage arm of the Minority Media and Telecommunications Council, said the broadcaster in a news release Wednesday (http://bit.ly/1vStuhY). The stations had been operated under shared service agreements, all of which were unwound as part of the transfers, Gray Senior Vice President-Business Affairs Kevin Latek told us. “This proves that Sinclair didn’t have to turn in its licenses” for stations involved in sharing arrangements that were part of its deal to buy Allbritton’s TV stations, Georgetown Law Institute for Public Representation Senior Counselor Andrew Schwartzman told us. In working to sell the stations, MMTC was allowed to market them to “socially disadvantaged enterprises, such as businesses controlled by women, minorities, or innovative new entrants, or non-profit entities such as a school or religious institutions,” Gray said. The company said its KXJB-TV Fargo, North Dakota, will be transferred to Major Market Broadcasting, which airs programming from Diya TV, “America’s first South Asian broadcast television network.” KJCT-TV Grand Junction, Colorado, will be transferred to Jeff Chang and his wife Gabriela Gomez-Chang, and broadcast programming targeted toward the Hispanic population, said Gray. Female owned Legacy Broadcasting, a new company, will buy KHAS-TV Hastings, Nebraska, KAQY-TV Monroe, Louisiana, and North Dakota’s KNDX-TV Bismarck and KXND-TV Minot, said Gray. It’s “shown how a corporation can deploy its assets creatively for the great benefit of the industry and the public,” said MMTC President David Honig. FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said he applauds Gray and MMTC’s “commitment” to finding buyers that increase diversity of ownership and programming. “Such actions demonstrate how our rules can actively promote both competition and diversity, keep stations on the air, and serve the public interest,” Wheeler said in a statement (http://fcc.us/1vStX3R

NAB’s petition for review of the FCC incentive auction order must be expedited to avoid placing “the entire broadcast industry at risk of committing to an expensive and legally flawed process that will be impossible to unwind fully,” said the association in an emergency motion filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit Wednesday. “NAB does not believe that any court has ever vacated the results of a Commission auction after it has occurred.” That would leave broadcasters “forced to accept reductions in their coverage area and population served, with no practical remedy,” said NAB. Though low-power TV industry officials and others have told us other court challenges to the order are likely, NAB’s motion said the association isn’t aware of other likely challengers. It urged the court (CD Aug 18 p6) not to worry about future challengers in considering expediting the petition. The motion also revealed details of NAB’s objections to the order. Along with finding fault with the commission’s choice to use the updated TVStudy software to calculate interference, NAB also said the FCC violated the Administrative Procedure Act with the software. The FCC “did not make clear which version of TVStudy it intends to use in the incentive auction -- indeed, Commission staff continues to release updated versions of TVStudy -- thus precluding meaningful notice and comment by interested parties,” NAB said. It objected to the auction order only preserving populated coverage areas and not preserving broadcasters’ fill-in translator stations. Filed alongside the motion are declarations from Nexstar and Sinclair executives that the auction will reduce their stations’ coverage areas and cost them money. “If the auction occurs before this Court’s decision, and this Court sets aside the results because the Commission miscalculated coverage areas and populations served, the entire auction will have to be unwound,” said NAB. It requested a ruling on the motion by Sept. 5.

An informal process for handling consumer complaints of closed captioning issues generally works more quickly than forwarding actual complaints, said AT&T, Comcast and DirecTV in an ex parte filing posted Tuesday in docket 05-231 (http://bit.ly/1qKgruu). Forwarding complaints requires the parties to redact information before sending, the joint filing said. In situations where such a complaint is filed directly with the video programming distributor, the companies indicated that the VPD “could follow the practice that some companies follow today and relay the pertinent information to the programmer in question,” it said. The filing recounts a teleconference with Eliot Greenwald of the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau.

The FCC Media Bureau admonished two North Carolina Hearst stations for violations of FCC rules for advertising during children’s programming, according to letters issued Tuesday. WXII-TV Winston-Salem (http://bit.ly/1onxHEj) and WYFF Greenville (http://bit.ly/1p7ffjj) were admonished for the same October incident, when the Web address for a kids show on the NBC network was shown briefly at the end of the show’s broadcast. Because the website contains an online shop, it violates FCC rules for ads during kids’ TV shows, the letters said. “We note that while the commercial matter may have been inserted into the program by the Station’s television network, this does not relieve the Station of responsibility for the violations,” the bureau said. The stations were admonished because the incident appears “isolated,” the letters said. Hearst had no immediate comment.