The FM chip listening option has expanded to additional mobile devices, said Clip Interactive, a technology company, in a news release Tuesday. Consumers with the HTC One M8, HTC One M9, HTC Desire 610, LG G3 and Sharp Aquos Crystal can now listen to local FM radio without using data minutes on the Clip Interactive platform, it said. The platform allows consumers to listen to local stations without streaming, which "depletes data allowances and consumes more battery life," Clip Interactive said.

REC Networks filed a petition seeking an FCC rulemaking to improve low-power FM station (LPFM) coverage. The FCC should place the petition, which REC is calling LP-250, on a docket so LPFM can expand localism and protect existing broadcast service, REC said Monday. Larger service contours would allow LPFM stations to remain hyperlocal and improve signal quality within their current contours, REC said. LPFM stations face trouble with penetrating buildings in their 5.6 km area -- and increasing overall field strength can help, it said. REC proposed rules to ensure upgraded LP-250 stations won't face contour overlapping with full-service FM stations. REC also proposed to level the playing field of minor LPFM moves to moves with FM translators. This policy should eliminate the need for waivers, it said. "We need to eliminate the loophole that allows FM translators to easily come in on a LPFM’s second adjacent channel but a LPFM station must get a waiver to come in on the second adjacent channel of a translator," REC said. Rules that require co-owned LPFM translators to be located within a 20-mile localism zone and requirements that translators receive an LPFM signal over the air will ensure that LPFM stations remain local, REC said. REC said it will work with the LPFM community, NAB, National Public Radio, the National Translator Association and others on this petition.

Disney/ABC Television Group and Corus Entertainment, a Canadian media company, agreed to a long-term licensing agreement, Corus said in a news release Thursday. The multiyear agreement will allow Corus to secure English- and French-language rights to Disney Channel's content and includes authenticated streaming and video-on-demand rights for select programs on the channel, it said. Disney Channel will launch in Canada Sept. 1, offering Canadian viewers access to Disney Channel's shows, Corus said. Select Disney branded kids linear TV offerings will be launched as they are transitioned to Corus in the fall, it said.

The seventh annual OnDemand Summit on the business of on-demand TV is June 9 in New York, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The conference will address advertising and subscription fees, content, distribution options, on-demand and pay-per-view TV, and viewers' increasing use of Wi-Fi on mobile devices, summit producer Schramm Marketing Group said.

The FCC Media Bureau dismissed several petitions for review of the DTV transition “due to the passage of time, and with no objections put forth by petitioners,” the bureau said in an order Wednesday. The affected petitions were all filed in 2008, by the Association for Maximum Service TV, Gulf-California Broadcast Co., Harris Corp., NAB, NPG of Texas and Russell Withers, the order said.

The FCC’s proposal to expand the requirement that public inspection files be posted in its online database to cable operators will place “substantial” regulatory burdens on small operators, ACA said in its reply comments posted Wednesday in docket 14-127. ACA and the NCTA recommended “targeted relief” for smaller cable system operators, to “greatly ease the burdens of compliance for hundreds of small cable systems across the nation,” ACA said. Cable systems with fewer than 15,000 subscribers that aren’t affiliated with a large multichannel video programming distributor should be required only to file contact information in the online database and respond to inspection requests from the public through electronic means, ACA said. NCTA supported a six-month adoption for the requirement to maintain political files in the online database for all cable operators, and a two-year adoption period for small systems, it said in reply comments posted Wednesday. The commission should ensure its database is functionally ready to handle hundreds of additional documents, NCTA said. Noncommercial educational (NCE) radio stations and commercial stations with fewer than five full-time employees at each station should be exempt from new online file requirements, NAB said in reply comments posted Tuesday. The commission should ensure regulatory parity for entities with online public and political file requirements, NAB said. The commission should adopt a standard format for electronic political files and ensure they're as complete as possible, said the Campaign Legal Center, Common Cause and the Sunlight Foundation in reply comments posted Wednesday. Waivers for the requirement should be allowed only for limited situations, and the commission should create a shot-clock deadline for them, the three organizations said.

"Preliminary registered attendance" at the NAB Show reached 103,042, NAB said in a Tuesday announcement. The show's exhibition floor had 1,789 companies using 1.015 million net square feet of exhibit space, NAB said. The data are based on preshow and onsite registration and are "subject to an ongoing audit," it said. The show closes Thursday after four days of exhibits and six days of conferences. Final data from last year's event showed 97,915 attended and that total exhibit space was 947,000 net square feet, NAB said.

Seven members of the House and two senators joined as co-sponsors of the Local Radio Freedom Act (see 1503170042), NAB said in two news releases Wednesday. The resolution opposes new performance fees, taxes, royalties or other charges on local broadcast radio stations, NAB said. The representatives are Austin Scott, R-Ga., Frank Guinta, R-N.H., Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, Jeff Duncan, R-S.C., Lynn Westmoreland, R-Ga., Robert Wittman, R-Va., and Steven Palazzo, R-Miss. The senators are David Vitter, R-La., and Richard Burr, R-N.C. The resolution has 154 co-sponsors in the House and 13 in the Senate, NAB said.

"Everyone should be able to enjoy this golden era of entertainment, no matter where they live," Comcast Executive Vice President David Cohen wrote in a blog post Tuesday. If approved, a combined Comcast/Time Warner Cable would offer millions of Americans access to "the most robust" VOD platform, with more than 55,000 choices, he wrote. Comcast customers can access 80 live TV channels and more than 22,000 on-demand choices with its Xfinity TV Go app, he said. Comcast's cable division spent almost $10 billion on programming expenses last year, he said. A united Comcast/TWC would allow greater investment in programming and independent networks to "reach millions of households they wouldn’t otherwise," he said. As the parent company of NBCUniversal, Comcast focuses on entertainment and delivering diverse content and theme park attractions, he said. NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment networks will air more than 140 original series in 2015, he said. Comcast will continue to bring the future of TV to consumers and partner with content creators after the TWC transaction closes, Cohen wrote.

SES is partnering with broadcast and TV “technology innovators,” including Sony, at this week’s NAB Show to build a “full end-to-end” Ultra HD transmission system and deliver three days of “live and linear” Ultra HD broadcasts to a cable system on the floor of the show, it said in a Monday announcement. Sony is contributing content and Bravia 4K TVs to the project, SES said. Other partners include Harmonic, PacSat, Sinclair, Superior Satellite Systems and TelVue, it said. PacSat is providing uplink services from a truck parked next to an SES Ultra HD studio at the front entrance of the Las Vegas Convention Center’s South Hall, it said. “A mix of pre-produced content, feature coverage of events throughout Las Vegas, and live interviews with Hollywood and television celebrities and executives will be broadcast in Ultra HD to a fully operational cable system in the SES NAB booth” in South Hall, it said. NAB attendees “will be able to watch the live Ultra HD broadcasts” when they visit the SES, Harmonic and Sony booths, it said.