Broadcast political ad revenue from the 2022 midterms is expected to equal the record haul from the 2020 presidential race, said executives from E.W. Scripps and Gray Television on the companies' Q2 earnings calls Friday. 2020 election spending was pumped up by the presidential race, the self-funded campaigns of Michael Bloomberg and Tom Steyer, and the protracted U.S. Senate race run-off in Georgia. “It would have to be one banner year for '22 to overcome all those meaningful sources of political revenues that are completely absent this cycle,” conceded Gray Television COO Bob Smith, saying national fundraising trends have convinced him it's going to happen. “This midterm election will match the presidential cycle,” said Brian Lawlor, E.W. Scripps president-local media. Echoing other broadcasters, both companies said they expect the record political ad dollars to soften the blow of a possible economic downturn. “It should be clear that political revenue defies economic trends,” said E.W. Scripps CEO Adam Symson. Gray Co-CEO Pat LaPlatney said Gray will also be able to weather any “macroeconomic headwinds” because of its scale. IHeart CEO Robert Pittman echoed this view, adding iHeart has diverse advertisers that insulate it from advertising drops. Symson said E.W. Scripps’ strengthened local advertising division, retransmission revenue and emphasis on over-the-air TV will aid it in a slowdown.

The FCC has “often been overly lax” in assessing arguments by Standard/Tegna that certain documents aren’t germane to the merger proceeding, said the Communications Workers of America's NewsGuild and National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians sectors in a Tuesday meeting with Media Bureau Chief Holly Saurer and an aide to Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, according to an ex parte filing in docket 22-162. The FCC “must determine” whether some documents on the relationship among Standard, Tegna and Apollo Global Management referenced in the Applicants’ Comprehensive Exhibit “even exist,” the filing said. The FCC should grant a pending motion from May to require more information from the parties to the deal, the filing said. The agency should also overturn a ruling limiting organizational standing from the administration of former FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, the filing said. The groups said this proceeding is different from past deals where the FCC hasn’t treated the threat of increased retransmission consent fees as a public interest harm, the filing said. “Increased prices are a paradigmatic form of harm to consumer welfare.” Standard Media and the FCC didn’t immediately comment.

Low-power TV broadcasters, MVPDs and FM stations must submit their remaining invoices for broadcast incentive auction reimbursement by Sept. 6, said a reminder public notice from the FCC Incentive Auction Task Force and Media Bureau Thursday. “The Fund Administrator will initiate close out for any entity that has failed to initiate the process by the invoice filing deadline assigned to that entity,” said the PN. “Any unused allocations made to that entity’s account will be returned to the Fund and made available for allocation to other program participants.”

The Committee for the Assessment of Foreign Participation in the U.S. Telecommunications Services Sector is reviewing Standard Media’s foreign-ownership request for the transaction to buy Tegna, said a DOJ letter posted in docket 22-166 Wednesday (see 2208020040). “The Commission will be notified when the Chair has determined that responses to the Committee’s initial request for information are complete and the 120-day initial review period can begin,” the letter said.

The FCC Media Bureau identified tentative selectees in 27 groups of mutually exclusive applications for noncommercial educational FM construction permits from the November NCE window, said a public notice Wednesday. The selectees include Stonewall Alliance of Chico’s application for Willows, California; Restored Together Radio’s application for Bowman, Georgia; and Vanguard Association of Sunbelt Colleges’ application for Middletown, Indiana. The bureau made the choices using an analysis based on which applicant would provide a first or second NCE radio station to the population in the proposed service area, and favors localism and applicants serving the most people, the PN said. Petitions to deny the applications of the selectees are due 30 days after the order.

Broadcasters disagreed whether the number of FM6 “Franken FM” stations should be allowed to expand and whether interference protections for Channel 6 should be rolled back, in reply comments posted Tuesday in docket 03-185. Incumbent noncommercial educational stations should be allowed to move to Channel 200, NPR said. A “narrow proposal” to loosen interference protections “provides the framework" to benefit the public "without harming either group of licensees,” NPR said. There has been no interference testing involving ATSC 3.0 receivers, NAB said. “NAB urges the Commission to retain the existing channel 6 protection requirements at this time.” Disney and its station WPVI-TV Philadelphia also said interference protections should remain in place. Interference concerns about NCE stations on Channel 6 are based on outdated technology, said the Educational Media Foundation. “EMF, in all of its years of operating its reserved-band FM stations in Channel 6 markets, has yet to see any substantial interference caused to a Channel 6 station -- particularly since the digital transition.” A group of public media entities said the FCC should reject any proposals that would repurpose TV spectrum or threaten its integrity. “Any modification” of TV Channel 6 protection requirements “would run the risk not only of FM radio stations causing interference to current TV reception, but also causing material constraints on the availability of spectrum for television,” said America’s Public Television Stations, PBS and others. The record shows the FCC should allow new FM6 stations, said LPTV broadcaster Cocola Broadcasting. “It is purely speculative whether other stations would introduce new interference.” A group of existing FM6 licensees disagreed. “It is reasonable to limit FM6 service at this time to those stations with a significant history of FM6 service,” said the Preserve Community Programming Coalition. LPFM group REC Networks also objected to expanding FM6. “FM6 licensees have no true accountability to their communities through the lack of a public file requirement and have even fewer accountability requirements than LPFM stations,” REC said.

FCC Administrative Law Judge Jane Halprin terminated the hearing proceeding for Pennsylvania radio broadcaster Roger Wahl, said an order posted Tuesday in docket 21-401 (see 2206010065). Wahl, who was representing himself, “is not participating in this proceeding at the level necessary to render it a meaningful exercise of the opportunity for a hearing that has been afforded him, much less of the government’s time and resources,” Halprin wrote. Wahl’s license for WQZS(FM) Meyersdale was designated for hearing after he was convicted of attempting to have a woman sexually assaulted. Wahl repeatedly missed filing deadlines and failed to follow the court’s instructions, Halprin said. “The Presiding Judge has provided Mr. Wahl significant deference in this matter due to his choice to proceed without counsel,” said the order.” His repeated failure to produce required documents without explanation is particularly concerning.” After 30 years as a licensee, Wahl should understand the gravity of the hearing proceeding, she said. “The Presiding Judge informed Mr. Wahl several times that lack of filing could cause him to lose his license.” The ALJ’s order refers the matter back to the commission, and Wahl’s license is expected to be revoked. Wahl didn’t comment.

Sinclair Broadcast reached agreements with two Korean networks to collaborate on ATSC 3.0 tech in both Korea and the U.S., it said in a news release Monday. The deals with Korean Broadcast System (KBS) and Munhwa Broadcasting Corp. (MBC) include developing 3.0 TV technology and data distribution business opportunities, the release said. "KBS is interested in revitalizing the ATSC 3.0 receiver market including vehicles and mobile devices, developing disaster broadcasting technologies, and discovering various innovative service models that combine terrestrial broadcasting and 5G communication technologies,” said KBS President Eui-chul Kim. “I hope that the ATSC 3.0 Enhanced GPS technology, which has succeeded in commercialization in Korea, will be expanded to the U.S. self-driving mobility market in cooperation with the three companies,” said Sung-Jae Park, MBC president.

Standard/Tegna deal opponents said the transaction can lead to collusion on retransmission consent negotiations and said Standard, Tegna and investor Apollo Global Management haven’t been transparent with the FCC. “We find ourselves hard pressed to explain Apollo/Cox’s choice to invest in a competitor that does not involve collusion,” said the American Television Alliance in reply comments in docket 22-162 by Monday’s deadline. A collection of public advocacy groups and Communications Workers of America sectors jointly said the deal should be designated for hearing. “The uncertainty of the sources of funding in this case and the convoluted ownership structure” need to be explored in a hearing, they said. The FCC also should act on a May motion that sought to compel more disclosures from the companies, said the joint filing from Common Cause, the United Church of Christ Media Justice Ministry and others. They also denied claims the deal is good for diversity. The deal is uniquely designed to raise retransmission consent prices and merits FCC attention, said Altice. “Cox appears to have sold a single Boston station to Standard General so that Standard General, in turn, can use the station to buy 97 TEGNA stations with lower retransmission consent prices,” Altice said. “It is hard to imagine that an MVPD bargained for the possibility that Cox might essentially sell a station to a third-party so that the third party might acquire additional stations at Cox’s retransmission consent prices.” NCTA and ATVA asked the FCC to impose conditions to prevent joint negotiation or information sharing among the deal participants. “The proposed transaction creates a web of interlocking interests among the companies -- Standard General/TEGNA and CMG/Apollo -- thus raising concerns about information-sharing and coordination,” said NCTA. One commenter supported the deal. The transaction will create “enhanced opportunities to partner with Standard General and new TEGNA to better serve the Hispanic community in the United States, a community that has historically been underserved,” said Estrella Media.

Dueling letters from a former FCC commissioner and a sitting House member were the latest salvos in the ongoing lobbying battle over geotargeted radio Monday in docket 20-401. NAB, which opposes geotargeted radio, emailed reporters a copy of a letter to FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel from Rep. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla. Mullin expressed concern about the effect geotargeting could have on signal quality -- the technology the FCC is reviewing uses multiple boosters to target specific areas of a station’s market. “Poor radio service on one or several stations harms the entire industry, and could affect emergency alerting, Mullin said. Geotargeting proponent GeoBroadcast Solutions distributed a letter from former FCC Commissioner Harold Furchtgott-Roth. “Allowing these new technologies to compete in the marketplace on a voluntary basis would be consistent with the Commission’s objective to remove competitive barriers to entry,” wrote Furchtgott-Roth and Kirk Arner, both fellows at the Hudson Institute's Center for the Economics of the Internet.