Several Philadelphia-area elected officials -- including Reps. Brendan Boyle (D) and Brian Fitzpatrick (R) -- supported Fox-owned WTXF-TV Philadelphia’s license renewal petition, in letters posted Friday in docket 23-393 (see 2308230053). A Media and Democracy Project (MAD) petition to deny renewal of the station -- also called Fox 29 -- “ignores Fox 29 Philadelphia’s long record of exemplary service to the communities,” Fox said. MAD argued a defamation suit brought against Fox over its 2020 election reporting shows the company isn’t fit to be an FCC licensee. WTXF provides “fact-based journalism and local programming which keeps our constituents safe and informed,” said Boyle and Fitzpatrick in a joint letter included in the filing. “Your news department has been professional, honest, and fair in their reporting,” said a letter from Camden, New Jersey, Mayor Victor Carstarphen (D). Pennsylvania state legislator Anthony Bellmon (D) also wrote in support of the station. “This service should be encouraged, not threatened by baseless license renewal challenges—particularly at a time when a rapidly evolving media marketplace is challenging local media across the nation,” said Fox.

Comments are due Sept. 25, replies Oct. 10, in docket 23-281 on Vision Broadcasting’s request to be allotted noncommercial educational channel *4 in Alamogordo, New Mexico, as the community’s first local television service, said a notice in Friday’s Federal Register.

The Public Media Venture Group, the Korea Radio Promotion Association (RAPA) and WCTE Cookeville, Tennessee, launched a low-power television testbed to demonstrate what ATSC 3.0 can bring to public media, said a PMVG news release Thursday. WCTE’s Monterey, Tennessee, transmitter site will be a platform “for developing and demonstrating various ATSC 3.0 applications and use cases, such as enhanced emergency alerting, interactive education, and datacasting,” the release said. The broadcasters “anticipate the commencement of full ATSC 3.0 service to the Upper Cumberland region of Tennessee and Kentucky this fall,” the release said. The testbed was constructed with assistance from Korean ATSC 3.0 technology company DigiCAP. “In early August, a delegation of Korean engineers and technology suppliers visited WCTE to set up and test the new station,” the release said. “The launch of the testbed exemplifies the power of international collaboration and demonstrates how technology leaders and innovative broadcasters can come together to drive the future of broadcasting,” said DigiCAP Senior Vice President Joonyoung Park in the release.

Salem Media will sell South Carolina stations WGTK-FM Greenville, WRTH-FM Greer and WLTE-FM Pendleton to the Educational Media Foundation, said Salem in a news release Wednesday. “We have enjoyed our years in the Greenville-Spartanburg market but have made the strategic decision to divest our interests there,” said Salem CEO David Santrella. The price wasn’t disclosed.

The FCC granted a request from the Media and Democracy (MAD) Project to change the license renewal proceeding (see 2308220083) for Fox’s WTXF-TV Philadelphia from restricted to permit-but-disclose, said a public notice Wednesday. In restricted proceedings, ex parte presentations are generally prohibited, but they're allowed in permit-but-disclose if they're filed in the record. Fox opposed MAD’s request (see 2307180071. “We have concluded that classifying this proceeding as permit-but-disclose would, in this case, permit broader public participation and thereby serve the public interest,” said the PN. The WTXF- TV proceeding was assigned docket 23-293. “This wonderful decision will allow the broad bipartisan group of petitioners to meet with commissioners and staff,” said Preston Padden, a former Fox executive who supports the MAD petition. Emailed a Fox Television Stations spokesperson: “The Media and Democracy Project petition to deny the license renewal of WTXF-TV is frivolous, completely without merit and asks the FCC to upend the First Amendment and long-standing FCC precedent."

The FCC Media Bureau rejected an emergency petition from the Albuquerque Board of Education seeking the reinstatement of a canceled AM station and FM translator in Los Alamos, New Mexico, as procedurally defective, said a letter in Friday’s Daily Digest. The licenses for the stations were voluntarily surrendered to the FCC by owner Gillian Sutton and canceled in May, but that left the region with no local AM service. The ABE asked the agency to reinstate the licenses and assign them to the ABE on a temporary basis. The petition was filed two months later than the deadline for reconsideration of the license cancellation and, because ABE wasn’t a party to that proceeding, it doesn’t have standing to make such a request, the agency said. The FCC previously ruled third parties with no attributable interest in a surrendered station have no standing to seek reinstatement of the license, the letter said.

The FCC Media Bureau proposed a $9,000 forfeiture for B&C Communications’ WPAN Fort Walton Beach, Florida, over a failure to file timely 10 quarterly issues/programs lists, said a notice of apparent liability in Thursday’s Daily Digest. The bureau also proposed a $6,000 forfeiture for Guymon TV Translator over late license renewal applications for several translator stations in Guymon, Oklahoma. The applications were due Feb. 1, 2022, but weren’t filed until March 7, 2022, the Media Bureau said.

The FCC Media Bureau is seeking comment on three petitions requesting allotment of reserved noncommercial educational television channels, said three NPRMs in Wednesday’s Daily Digest. One Ministries petitioned for NCE channel *3 for Tulare, California, in docket 23-279 and NCE channel *2 Colusa, California, in docket 23-280. Vision Broadcasting seeks allotment of NCE channel *4 in Alamogordo, New Mexico. Comments on all three petitions will be due 30 days after Federal Register publication, replies 45 days after, the NPRMs said.

The FCC Media Bureau designated the licenses of several low-power radio and television stations for hearing over allegations owners Jennifer Juarez and Antonio Guel filed false transfers with the agency to avoid including the stations in a bankruptcy filing, didn’t disclose that buyer (Juarez) was the seller’s (Guel’s) niece and at the time a minor, and Guel continued to operate the stations for years after the 2010 sale, according to a hearing designation order in Friday’s Daily Digest. Guel also didn’t disclose for years that he's a Mexico citizen, likely violating the agency’s foreign- ownership rules. Guel, the former president of and 100% direct owner of Hispanic Christian Community Network, “apparently misrepresented material facts and orchestrated an illusory transaction” to transfer seven stations to Juarez, the order said. “The record developed so far raises substantial and material questions of whether Juarez controls the Stations, or whether HCCN and/or Guel exercise de facto control over the Stations,” the order said. The Media Bureau filing also includes an order to show cause why a cease and desist order barring Guel from continuing to operate the stations shouldn’t be issued. HCCN and Juarez took years to notify the FCC that their 2010 deal had been consummated, and HCCN made several filings on the stations’ behalf during that time, the HDO said. In a 2018 response to an FCC inquiry Juarez told the agency that Guel financed her purchase of the stations and had “an understanding” that HCCN wouldn’t file the consummation of the deal until Juarez finished paying for the station. “Publicly available information suggests she was a minor as of the March 2010 asset purchase agreement," the order said. “Filing an application in the name of a surrogate is deceptive and denies the Commission and the public the opportunity to review the qualifications of the real party who will control and operate a station,” said the order. Juarez and Guel have 20 days to respond to the order. Juarez and HCCN couldn’t be reached for comment.

Nexstar is seeing increased interest from sports entities looking to air games on broadcast TV, said CEO Perry Sook Monday in the company’s Q2 earnings call. The company's CW network has inked deals with NASCAR and the collegiate Atlantic Coast Conference. Nexstar’s Q2 net revenue was $1.24 billion, was “essentially flat” compared with 2022’s Q2, said an earnings release. “On paper, both ACC and NASCAR make money for the CW over time,” said Sook on the call. “We feel good about where we will end up and now it’s all just about getting to the starting line.” Sook said the company experienced some “softness” in adverting in Q2 but chalked it up to the company’s strong presence in large markets, where local advertisers behave similarly to national advertisers that have been affected by recession concerns. Sook denounced claims that on-demand offerings have supplanted linear video. “What can't be questioned is that literally all of the video profit and 80% of video revenue of the major integrated media companies are generated by the linear model today,” Sook said. Asked about ATSC 3.0, Sook said he doesn’t expect major revenue gains from the new standard for at least five years, though he highlighted the possibility of using 3.0 to provide a backup to GPS (see 2304170012). Nexstar is “confident” the ongoing Writer’s Guild of America strike won’t affect its content on the CW, since most of that programming was either already developed or unscripted, Sook said.