The next filing window for biennial broadcast ownership reports opens Oct. 2, said the Media Bureau in a reminder public notice in Monday’s Daily Digest. “The accurate, and timely, filing of ownership information is critical to ensuring that the public knows who owns, operates, and controls broadcast stations,” the PN said. “We encourage licensees to prepare in advance” for the filing window, the MB said.
July’s broadcast station totals show a decrease of 96 VHF translators since July 2022 said an FCC release in Monday’s Daily Digest. The report shows 666 VHF translators, down from 762 in July 2022. No other service showed such a large swing, though the report shows that low-power TV stations increased from 1,865 in 2022 to 1,902 in 2023. There are 15,374 full-power radio stations and 1,758 full-power TV stations, compared with 15,371 full-power radio stations and 1,756 full-power TV stations in 2022.
Comments on the FCC’s ATSC 3.0 Further NPRM are due in docket 16-142 Sept. 15, replies Oct. 16, said a public notice Monday. The FNPRM seeks comment on the 3.0 patent marketplace. Rule changes to the physical layer and substantially similar sunsets and hosting rules from the order (see 2306230067) that accompanied the FNPRM take effect Aug 16, except for portions that still require Paperwork Reduction Act approval from OMB.
The FCC should promptly act on the Media and Democracy Project’s petition to deny the license of Fox station WTXF-TV Philadelphia, said the Media Action Center in an informal objection filed Thursday. The MAD petition isn't considered likely to lead to FCC action (see 2307060065). “It is not the marketplace, but the interests of the people that should determine what is broadcast,” said the filing. “Fox has failed in its duty to put the interests of the people it serves above its corporate profits.” MAD previously filed a petition against the renewal of the then-Entercom owned KDND Sacramento, which was designated for hearing over the death of a listener in radio contest, a matter cited by MAD in their petition against WTXF. Fox didn't comment.
The FCC should look into and discourage local broadcasters from encrypting their ATSC 3.0 signals with DRM, said a filing from YouTube personality Tyler Kleinle, aka Antenna Man, posted in docket 16-142 Tuesday. “That broadcasters are behaving this badly so early in the launch of NextGen TV has me deeply concerned about the future of free over-the-air TV,” said the filing. Antenna Man and fellow YouTuber Lon Seidman asked their viewers to sign a petition and file comments at the agency against broadcasters encrypting their signals with DRM. Broadcasters have begun encrypting their signals, though the makers of external ATSC 3.0 tuners haven’t completed a certification process that would allow those devices to decode the signal, thus cutting off users of those devices from the 3.0 signal, the filing said. Broadcasters in ATSC 3.0 consortium Pearl TV “do not seem to have any care for antenna viewers who lost access to local channels because of DRM encryption,” said the filing. “The certification process for a tuner to decode DRM appears to be extremely complex and expensive,” the filing said. Pearl TV didn’t comment. “Free over-the-air TV is something that should be free and open to the public on any tuner available without encryption,” said Antenna Man in a video urging the public to put pressure on the agency.
The FCC shouldn’t punt on removing interference protections intended to keep FM stations from interfering with Channel 6 TV stations in an upcoming order on FM6 stations (see 2306290056), said low-power FM entity REC Networks in a call with Audio Division Chief Albert Shuldiner and Media Bureau staff Friday, according to an ex parte filing posted Friday in docket 03-185. The protections are outdated, and tests by NPR Labs and others show that modern digital TVs aren’t affected by the same interference issues as receivers from the 1960s and '70s, the filing said. “There has been a 100 percent elimination of such receivers from service because of the DTV transition,” the filing said. “There has been no objection to the removal of the FM to TV6 protection requirements brought forward by any secondary television user of Channel 6,” REC said.
The FCC Media Bureau approved two TV channel reassignments for Sinclair Broadcast stations, said public notices last week. Sinclair Broadcast’s KCFW-TV Kalispell, Montana, will switch from Channel 9 to 17, and KCBY-TV Coos Bay, Oregon, will move from 11 to 34, the filings said.
The FCC must respond to the NAB’s mandamus petition on the 2018 quadrennial review within 30 days, said the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in an order released Friday. A reply from NAB is due 10 days later. NAB filed the petition in April (see 2304250029 seeking to compel the agency to complete the 2018 review of broadcast ownership rules before commencing the 2022 iteration.
Sixteen state attorneys general signed a letter Wednesday cautioning Zero Emission Transportation Association and the Electric Drive Transportation Association about their member companies’ plans to leave AM radio receivers out of their electric vehicles. “Without access to their main consumers -- automobile owners -- AM stations and the lifesaving signals they provide, might cease to exist,” said the letter, signed by AGs from Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Virginia, Utah and others. It's “vitally important” for officials to be able to deliver emergency information, and AM is “the backbone” of the emergency alert system, the letter said. “In light of the essential role AM radios play in the safety and well-being of Americans across the country, we urge your members to reconsider the decisions to eliminate AM radios in electric cars.”
A Gaffney, South Carolina, AM licensee must pay delinquent regulatory fees, said the FCC Media Bureau and Office of Managing Director in an order to pay or show cause Friday. Hope Broadcasting owes about $8,200 regulatory fees from fiscal years 2010, 2022 and 2012-2016, the order said. The broadcaster has 60 days to pay the fees or give the agency reasons why the fees should be waived or deferred.