The FCC’s update of low-power TV rules will take effect Oct. 24, said a Federal Register notice for Friday. The order eliminates or updates references to analog Part 74 rules that became outdated with the LPTV digital transition (see 2207130041).

The FCC should ignore “dubious claims” that geotargeting would be uneconomical for FM broadcasters because those considerations are “far outside the FCC’s public interest analysis,” said National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters President Jim Winston in a meeting with an aide to Commissioner Geoffrey Starks Friday, according to an ex parte filing in docket 20-401. The FCC can defer to the business judgment of its licensees, Winston said. “There is broad support for this proposal among small and minority-owned broadcasters,” said the filing, posted Wednesday.

The full FCC unanimously proposed a combined $3.37 million forfeiture to penalize 21 TV licensees for multiple instances of violating the kidvid rules in 2016 by airing a Hot Wheels commercial during episodes of a Hot Wheels-themed TV show, said a notice of apparent liability Wednesday. Sinclair Broadcast owned 83 of the 115 stations involved, with 10 more owned by Sinclair-affiliated companies Deerfield Media and Cunningham Broadcasting. The filing also lists seven Nexstar stations and numerous smaller broadcasters with individual station violations but pays special attention to Sinclair and proposes the stiffest penalties for the company. “In the last 17 years Sinclair has been fined or admonished 11 times for program-length commercial violations, establishing an extensive history of prior offenses,” the filing said. “Sinclair, as a broadcast television company with roots stretching back five decades, was or should have been long aware of its compliance responsibilities in this context.” The proposed forfeitures “are warranted as a result of Sinclair’s lengthy history of prior offenses for similar violations; the extent, gravity, and circumstances of the violations here; and Sinclair’s ability to pay,” said the notice. It proposes a $2.65 million penalty for Sinclair -- $36,000 per station -- while smaller broadcasters face penalties of $20,000 per station. Nexstar would pay $26,000 per station due to its scale and ability to pay. “Unlike Sinclair, Nexstar does not have a lengthy history of prior offenses of the children’s television commercial rules,” the notice said. The violations were largely reported to the FCC by the broadcasters themselves, the filing said. Congress enacted the Children’s Television Act to put limits on advertising to ensure broadcasting will “remain a special place for kids’ content,” said Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel in a statement. “Those limits were ignored here, where broadcasters mixed toy commercials with content and violated our rules.” “If non-broadcast sources, including online outlets, are the ocean -- where there may or may not be harsh waves and danger -- then broadcast television is the trusted local pool,” said a statement from Commissioner Geoffrey Starks. The notice seems to indicate future kidvid violations might garner even stiffer penalties, assessed per violation, saying, “We use this opportunity to advise broadcast television licensees, satellite providers, and cable operators that the Commission may revise our approach to forfeiture calculations under the Children’s Television Act in future cases.” Assessing forfeitures per violation is supported by law and rule language and “would reflect the fact that the regulations are of long-standing and so should be well understood,” the filing said. The notice makes clear the FCC is still actively focused on enforcing kidvid rules, said University of Minnesota media law professor Christopher Terry. Concerns about whether the rules were still relevant with ubiquitous streaming were raised during kidvid proceedings under the previous administration. "Kid TV rules are still a thing, and broadcasters need to pay attention to the enforcement of them," Terry said. Nexstar and Sinclair didn’t comment.

Standard General “is not interested in cutting news or station staffing,” company executives including CEO Deborah McDermott told FCC Media Bureau Chief Holly Saurer and staff in a Sept.15 meeting, according to an ex parte filing in docket 22-162. Standard protested Tegna’s furloughs in 2020 when it was engaged in proxy battles with Tegna leadership, said the filing, posted Tuesday. McDermott “rebuffed the notion that plans for improving TEGNA’s DC news bureau would result in any reduction in local news or news staffing,” the filing said.

The Standard/Tegna deal has “broad support” from former employees and women in tech leadership, representatives from Standard, Tegna and Apollo Global Management-owned Cox Media Group told an aide to FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel in a videoconference Tuesday, according to an ex parte filing posted Friday in docket 22-162. The representatives also discussed the broadcast experience of Standard founder Soo Kim and CEO Deb McDermott, who would head up New Tegna, the filing said.

Entravision must reimburse Prescott Valley Broadcasting $10,815 for costs of the involuntary 2020 channel change of KPPV(FM) Prescott Valley, Arizona, said an FCC Media Bureau letter in Thursday’s Daily Digest. KPPV’s channel change was necessitated by upgrades to one of Entravision’s stations. Entravision and Prescott Valley disagreed about which costs are reimbursable, and in the letter the bureau approved various reimbursements involving legal fees and engineering costs, web design and advertising, denying others that Prescott hadn’t provided sufficient evidence costs were connected to the channel change. The bureau also rejected a petition for reconsideration from Prescott as having been filed before the proceeding was finalized. Entravision has 20 days to reimburse Prescott Valley.

Snake River Radio is unable to produce files showing when photos of its broadcast facilities for KPCQ(AM) Chubbuck, Idaho, were taken, the broadcaster said in a filing posted Wednesday in docket 22-53. The proceeding concerns KPCQ’s period of silence and whether Snake River’s tower was removed during some of that time (see 2205190048). “Snake River understands that absent the original digital files for the Site Photos, the only other evidence as to the date the site photos were taken” is a from declaration Snake River Managing Member Ted Austin, “under penalty of perjury,” which Snake River "understands the Enforcement Bureau may find not probative or argue is not sufficient,” the filing said. Snake River previously missed an Aug. 12 deadline to provide the evidence.

A bill proposed by Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., that would repeal broadcast ownership rules and prevent antitrust authorities from treating broadcasting as a unique market is unlikely to be approved any time soon, said Wilkinson Barker broadcast attorney David Oxenford in a blog post Wednesday. “Being introduced so late in the Congressional session with no other declared political support, the bill has little chance of becoming law in this session of Congress,” Oxenford said. The proposed Local News and Broadcast Media Preservation Act also contains elements similar to the proposed Journalism Competition and Preservation Act (see 2209130054), and would allow broadcasters to collectively negotiate with tech companies for use of their content. “With the rise of social media and an ever-changing media landscape, it is imperative that our local newspapers and broadcasters are given the freedom to adapt,” said Paul last week in a news release on the legislation.

The Committee for the Assessment of Foreign Participation in the U.S. Telecommunications Services Sector has granted a 12-day extension to the Spanish Broadcasting System to answer queries related to its foreign-ownership request (see 2208010052). “As such, the new 120-Day review period deadline is December 12, 2022,” said a letter posted Monday in docket 22-61.

“Having no standards, multiple standards, or ever-changing standards” for broadcast viewership ratings would create “any number of problems” in the video industry, said Nielsen CEO David Kenny in video conferences with aides to Commissioners Brendan Carr and Nathan Simington Wednesday, according to an ex parte filing posted Monday in docket 22-239. Simington and Carr have both expressed support for an FCC reexamination of the agency's reliance on Nielsen (see 2207180037). Nielsen has competitors but none has “devoted the resources necessary to provide a service as accurate and reliable as ours,” said Kenny. “Nielsen has worked hard to overcome the largely COVID-related concerns that led MRC [Media Ratings Council] to suspend Nielsen,” the filing said. Competitor Comscore is also seeking MRC accreditation.