The FCC Enforcement Bureau and the broadcast parties to the Standard/Tegna deal are grappling over a deadline extension for the broadcasters' appeal of the hearing proceeding (see 2303070081) before FCC Administrative Law Judge Jane Halprin, according to dueling filings posted Wednesday. The EB asked the ALJ to give it and the other parties in the case -- Common Cause, the United Church of Christ Media Justice Office and two unions -- until March 20 to respond to the broadcasters’ motion to certify the matter to the full commission, while the broadcasters said responses should be due Thursday. “While the matters raised by the Motion to Certify are set forth in a concentrated manner, they represent complex issues that will require additional time and effort,” the EB said. “The May 22, 2023 expiration date for the underlying merger agreement and financing commitments of more than a dozen lenders is fast-approaching,” said the broadcasters. Further delay in the proceeding will “exacerbate the harms” caused by the HDO, they said. The FCC rules governing this unusual set of circumstances aren’t clear on when the deadline should be, according to the bureau. The only deadline for this sort of filing specified in the regulations gives the appealing party just five days to file an application for review, the Standard/Tegna filing said: “It is inappropriate for the Enforcement Bureau to take sides and seek to extend the deadline for oppositions expressly set by FCC rules in order to further delay action on this matter.” The Communications Workers of America's NewsGuild and National Association of Broadcast Engineers and Technicians sectors said Wednesday they don't oppose the EB's extension request.

Extensions for the ATSC 3.0 substantially similar and A/322 physical layer sunsets shouldn’t be open-ended, said the NAB in an ex parte call with an aide to FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks, according to a filing posted in docket 16-142 Wednesday. In a separate letter to Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, the National Religious Broadcasters said continuing to require broadcasters to transmit in both 1.0 and 3.0 is “financially wasteful and unsustainable.” An open-ended extension of the substantially similar requirement would be "a dramatic shift from the Commission’s previous approach for no reason at all,” NAB said, arguing market incentives will keep broadcasters from transitioning in a way that leaves their viewers unable to receive their signals. Letting the market control the transition is how the FCC treats the wireless and tech industries, NAB said. “This process should not be different simply because a different bureau within the Commission is currently responsible for shepherding the transition.” An “overly prolonged transition would be a failed transition, and may prove fatal for OTA television broadcasting, particularly for smaller broadcasters,” said NRB, seconding NAB’s call for an FCC ATSC 3.0 task force (see 2302160056). For ATSC 3.0 multicast hosting, the agency should require only in limited circumstances that broadcasters submit showings that they aren’t using more capacity than they could transmit on their own, NAB said. Such showing should be required only in response to a commission inquiry or a complaint from a cable operator “that made a prima facie case the Commission deems worthy of a response,” the filing said. The full FCC temporarily stayed the sunset of the ATSC 3.0 A/322 physical layer requirement Monday, said an order. The requirement was to expire that day. A report and order on the physical layer sunset and the 3.0 substantially similar requirement was circulated to the 10th floor last week (see 2303030064), and the stay will last while that item is pending, Monday’s order said. NAB said in the ex parte filing that it doesn’t object to an extension for the physical layer standard if it isn’t open-ended. “We find the public interest is best served by preserving the status quo during this brief period of time in order to consider this open question,” said the order.

The FCC’s administrative law judge should immediately certify to the full FCC an application for review of the Media Bureau order designating Standard/Tegna for hearing, said Standard, Tegna and Cox Media group in a motion Friday. “At a minimum, no hearing should proceed before the Commission can rule on the Media Bureau’s mistaken premise,” the motion said. Several attorneys told us that under FCC rules, hearing designation orders can’t be appealed to the full FCC until the ALJ has made a final ruling in the matter, but the broadcast parties disagree. “Subjecting the Applications to a full evidentiary hearing effectively is a denial of the Applications and, therefore, the Media Bureau’s issuance of the HDO is a “final” agency action masquerading under the guise of an interlocutory decision,” said the filing’s final footnote. The motion questions the authority of the Media Bureau to block the deal over retransmission consent and staffing concerns and emphasizes that action must be taken quickly. The deal’s May 22 “final extension date” “will come and go long before a full evidentiary hearing could be completed. The Applicants have no ability to extend that deadline,” the motion said. “If the FCC fails to grant the Applications before that date, the financing obligations of more than a dozen lenders helping to fund the transactions will expire as well.” The filing also questions the constitutionality of the FCC’s ALJ, raising points based on recent U.S. Court of Appeals ruling and U.S. Supreme Court arguments. “There is a controlling question of law as to whether an FCC ALJ is even permitted to make rulings in this matter as required by the Media Bureau’s HDO,” the motion said. “The Commission should have the opportunity to decide whether it wants to avoid a constitutional challenge to its ALJ before this matter proceeds further.” The broadcasters intend to file for relief directly with the FCC March 17 if their request is still pending and, “if necessary, subsequently to seek judicial review,” the motion said.

A report and order and further notice on sunsetting certain aspects of the ATSC 3.0 rules was circulated to the FCC's 10th-floor offices, according to Friday’s circulation list. The draft item would extend the sunset dates for the requirements that broadcasters’ 3.0 and 1.0 programming streams be substantially similar (see 2209070048) and transmit their primary 3.0 video streams in compliance with ATSC's A/322 physical layer protocol standard, industry officials told us. Without FCC action, the substantially similar requirement would end in June, and the A/322 requirement will expire Monday (2208090040). The item is also expected to include language clarifying the agency’s stance on ATSC 3.0 multicasting, which broadcasters requested (see 2302020075).

The FCC Media Bureau granted Gray Television’s channel substitution request to shift KOSA-TV Odessa, Texas, from Channel 7 to 31, said an order Wednesday. The bureau seeks comment in docket 23-79 on Sinclair Media’s request to change KCFW-TV Kalispell, Montana, from 9 to 17. The bureau also is seeking comment in docket 23-78 on Reno Licensee’s request to shift KENV-DT Elko, Nevada, from Channel 10 to 20.

Broadcasters should act now on data privacy concerns about ATSC 3.0, before the tech gets too far along, FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks told public TV officials at the America’s Public Television Stations Public Media Summit Tuesday. Since 3.0 will allow broadcasters to collect data on their viewers in ways they haven’t been able to do previously, broadcasters should ensure they will be “good actors” with private data, he said. Unlike MVPDs, broadcasters don’t have a contractual relationship with their viewers, which complicates privacy concerns since viewers don't have an opportunity to opt in or out of data collection, he said. Starks said he’s concerned about the possible sale of viewer data, such as real-time location information. APTS CEO Patrick Butler said in an interview Tuesday that public TV stations support protecting consumer privacy in 2.0 and have no plans to sell consumer data. Starks said industry and the FCC should work together on the issue, but he stopped short of endorsing NAB’s call for an FCC ATSC 3.0 task force (see 2302160056). “Figuring out the right mechanism to make sure that [ATSC 3.0] gets going is something that I'm working on,” Starks said in response to a question about the task force proposal.

The continued inclusion of AM radios in electric cars “deserves urgent attention,” from DOT and the FCC, said FCC Commissioner Nathan Simington in a release endorsing a letter sent by several former Federal Emergency Management Agency leaders to the Department of Transportation. “I underscore and affirm their concerns in the strongest possible terms,” he said. “The success of the National Public Warning System hinges on the use of AM radio,” and it will no longer function if EV makers stop including such radios in new vehicles due to interference concerns, said the letter from multiple former FEMA heads, including Craig Fugate, Michael Brown and Pete Gaynor. The interference is “resolvable” and DOT Secretary Pete Buttigieg should secure assurances from automakers that they will “put public safety before profits,” the letter said. “The public safety community and the American public rely on AM radio,” said Simington. “Auto manufacturers now, and increasingly in the future, will rely on spectrum.” The FCC should strike a balance between “the velocity of innovations” and “the stability of institutions,” he said.

NAB laid out a provisional timeline and membership Thursday for its proposed FCC ATSC 3.0 task force. The proposed task force would, in the short term, focus on expediting 3.0 applications and clarifying multicast hosting rules, but in a six- to 12-month time frame it would work on modifying coverage standards and MVPD notice requirements to streamline the application process, NAB said in a letter to the FCC posted in docket 16-142. The timeline pegs to a nine- to 12-month time frame encouraging the sale of devices to convert non-3.0 compatible machines -- an issue often stressed by FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel -- and identifying metrics for ending the 3.0 transition. NAB’s proposals for task force staffing include “consumer advocates from the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau,” FCC staff familiar with rolling out new tech such as 5G, Public Safety Bureau staff to work on alerting, and staff from the International Bureau and Office of Economics and Analytics. “The Commission should make this transition the top priority -- rather than merely one issue among many -- for a dedicated team of FCC staff,” the letter said. The FCC said it's still weighing NAB's proposal (see 2302100062).

The NAB Show April 15-19 in Las Vegas will have over 1,000 companies exhibiting their products, said a news release Wednesday. “Exhibitors are expected to occupy more than 575,000 net square feet of exhibits space,” said NAB. The 2019 show, NAB’s last before the COVID-19 pandemic and the cancellation of in-person 2020 and 2021 installments, drew 1,600+ exhibitors. NAB said last year that 2022’s show drew around 900 exhibiting companies. "Companies, large and small, are turning out en masse to exhibit at NAB Show, including more than a few that skipped last year's show," said Chris Brown, NAB executive vice president-managing director, Global Connections and Events. Exhibiting companies for 2023 include Adobe Systems, Canon, AT&T, Microsoft, and Sony.

Gray Television and Marquee Broadcasting agreed to a station swap that will lead to Gray owning a full-power television station in every market in Georgia, where Gray is based, said a news release Wednesday. Under the deal, Gray will sell KNIN Caldwell, Idaho, its Fox affiliate in the Boise market, to Marquee, which will sell to Gray WPGA Perry, Georgia, its MeTV affiliate in the Macon market. EW Scripps operates KNIN under a shared services agreement. The deals are expected to close in Q2, Gray said. The swap will have little effect on the company’s reach under the national ownership cap and isn’t expected to face regulatory hurdles, Gray told us. “We have no presence in Macon, and Marquee has no presence in Boise,” said Chief Legal and Development Officer Kevin Latek. “It’s a good deal for both parties.”