The Standard/Tegna deal has been terminated, Tegna said in a news release Monday. Tegna will receive a $136 million termination fee under the agreement, the release said. Standard General didn’t comment. Tegna will initiate a $300 million share repurchase program and increase its quarterly dividend by 20%, the release said. “These initial actions reflect the Board’s continuing commitment to enhance shareholder value. We are taking the first step of immediately returning a significant portion of the excess capital accumulated during the pendency of the Standard General transaction,” said Tegna Board Chairman Howard Elias in the release. “We are actively reviewing TEGNA’s capital allocation strategy.” Tegna plans an investor call on its Q1 2023 earnings Thursday, the release said. The deal's collapse is "a major victory" for unions fighting the "hedge fund takeover of local news," said a statement from Jon Schleuss, president of the Communications Workers of America's NewsGuild sector. "For too long" hedge funds have taken over newsrooms and burdened them with debt to the detriment of local news, he said.

A Mount Vernon, West Virginia, FM 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. West Virginia Broadcasting owes about $11,600 for WTNJ(FM) for unpaid regulatory fees from fiscal years 2013-15, the order said. The broadcaster has 60 days to pay the fees or give the agency reasons why the costs should be waived or deferred.

Requiring AM radio receivers in cars would be counter to the principles of a free-market economy, CTA said Thursday in a blog post, reacting to a bill that would impose an AM mandate (see 2305170051). “Today’s drivers don’t drive Model T’s, and today’s listeners do not listen to gramophones,” said CTA. “While the majority of cars will have AM radios for the foreseeable future, innovation and consumer choice -- not the heavy hand of the government -- should determine the makeup of car entertainment systems.” Consumers who want AM radio in their cars will be able to buy such vehicles, CTA said. Mandating AM installation in cars “would be a nonsensical and counterproductive move by the federal government,” CTA said.

A “diverse coalition of broadcasters” supports Gray Television’s proposal to modify the FCC’s significantly viewed rules, said Gray in a meeting May 11 with Media Bureau Chief Holly Saurer and Media Bureau staff, according to an ex parte filing in docket 20-73. Gray proposed in 2020 that the FCC relax the requirements for a broadcaster to prove its content is significantly viewed to allow the submission of signal reach data in lieu of Nielsen viewership numbers (see 2106100060). “The FCC’s process to modify the significantly viewed list, or to waive the significantly viewed rules, is outdated and burdensome for broadcasters and FCC staff, which reduces local service in small markets and short markets,” Gray said.

The FCC Media Bureau rolled back a COVID-19-related relaxation of the lowest unit charge (LUC) rules for political ads, said a public notice in Monday’s Daily Digest. In March 2020, the Media Bureau said broadcasters airing free commercials for advertisers during the pandemic didn’t have to factor that into their calculation of their lowest unit rates for political candidates (see 2003260038). “After more than three years, the unprecedented circumstances that necessitated the 2020 Public Notice are no longer present,” said Monday’s PN. “Therefore, effective immediately, the temporary relief provided in the 2020 Public Notice is rescinded.” That means free time provided to commercial advertisers will count for future LUC calculations, the PN said.

Broadcasters should be required to submit frequent reports on their progress toward providing an audio version of on-screen emergency graphics (see 2304260050), said the American Council of the Blind and the American Foundation for the Blind in a meeting Thursday with FCC Media Bureau Chief Holly Saurer and staff from the Media Bureau, Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau, and Disability Rights Office. “We remain concerned that the broadcast industry is not proactively seeking those solutions necessary to fully comply with the Commission’s rules that went into effect 8 years ago while continuing to request waivers,” said an ex parte filing posted Monday in docket 12-107. The Media Bureau asked the consumer groups what type of reporting would be “most beneficial in making progress” toward complying with the audible crawl requirement, the filing said. “We emphasized the necessity of frequent reports on progress, reporting on steps taken to advance research and development into a technical solution, regular community engagement, and training and best practices for broadcasters,” the consumer groups said.

The FCC Media Bureau proposed a $16,000 fine for a low-power TV station that operated at lower power levels at the recommendation of FCC staff but without formally filing for permission, said a notice of apparent liability in Friday’s Daily Digest. After conversations with FCC staff, Abacus Television’s WIIC-LD Pittsburgh began operating at lower power levels to avoid interfering with a nearby full-power station, the NAL said. The broadcaster never filed a required application for special temporary authority. “Abacus points to its mistaken belief that the informal conversations with and suggestions by Division staff were sufficient given the temporary nature of the operations and that a formal filing would be ‘unnecessary’ and ‘wasteful,’” said the NAL. The bureau declined to reduce the proposed fine because Abacus has a history of past violations, the filing said. Abacus “claims its apparent violation was the result of ‘misjudgments and distractions,’” said the NAL. “It is well-settled that such factors are not an excuse for failure to comply with the Rules.”

Two House members wrote to Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Deanne Criswell seeking answers about removing AM radio from electric vehicles. “We seek more clarity on the specific threats this poses” to the emergency alert system “and what FEMA is doing to ensure the EAS can continue to carry out its vital role,” said the letter Thursday from Reps. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., and Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J. “Especially given the growth in sales of EVs, it is vital for FEMA to make clear the negative impacts that lacking access to AM radio will have on public safety infrastructure.” The letter asks if FEMA did anything to dissuade removing AM radios, and how that removal would affect alerting systems. “America’s local radio broadcasters look forward to continued engagement with Administrator Criswell and her senior team to address this short-sighted decision by some automakers,” said an NAB news release on the letter.

AM radio "is critical" to parts of rural America without reliable cellular or broadband access, such as farmers needing weather updates, the National Association of Farm Broadcasting told Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., Thursday, urging her to press automakers to not drop AM radio from vehicles. Noting Ford plans to not offer AM radio in its noncommercial vehicles starting next year, NAFB said automakers not offering AM radios in vehicles "will put into serious jeopardy an important lifeline and source of information to rural America, not just during times of emergency events but every single day."

Comments are due June 5, replies June 20, on Border International Broadcasting's petition asking it be allowed to have 100% indirect foreign ownership, the FCC Media Bureau said Thursday. The petition comes as the owners of BIB, which is licensee of WLYK-FM Cape Vincent, New York, are seeking to transfer ownership to a Delaware corporation ultimately owned by Canadians, the bureau said.