Broadcasters overwhelmingly support a rule change letting contest rules be disclosed online instead of on-air, but want flexibility over how often the online location should be broadcast and how specific the announcement of the Web address should be, according to replies in docket 14-226. Only iHeartMedia, the state broadcast associations of North Carolina, Ohio and Virginia and Clarke Broadcasting replied. “Announcement of a short, branded home page URL address makes more sense than announcement of a lengthy URL address containing backslashes and potentially unusual characters because the short home page address is almost always more memorable and understandable,” said the broadcast associations, echoed by iHeartMedia. Requiring stations to recite long, specific Web addresses on air is “unnecessary given consumers’ familiarity with website addresses and how to enter them into their browsers,” iHeartMedia said. Stations should be able to decide how often to mention the Web address, commenters agreed. “It would be bad programming to follow each 'mention' of one of these contests with an announcement that the contest terms are available on our website,” said Clarke. “The announcement itself would disrupt the normal programming flow and quickly begin to irritate our listeners, who are very familiar with these long-running contests.” Broadcasters were similarly supportive in initial comments, with several referring to the change as a rare FCC action where everyone agrees (see 1502200035).

The FCC notice of apparent liability to Schurz Communications' WDBJ Roanoke, Virginia, (see 1503230068) is “remarkably punitive” and disappointing, NAB said in a statement Monday. “This unprecedented fine against a family-owned broadcaster with a demonstrated commitment to serving communities is wholly unwarranted." Proposing the maximum fine of $325,000 against the TV station for inadvertently airing pornographic content that was largely visible only on large-screen HDTVs could mean problems for other broadcasters, Pillsbury Winthrop broadcast attorney Scott Flick said in a blog post Monday. “Stations in an analog world could usually rely on the low resolution of the medium to solve 'background problems' like adult magazines in the background of a bookstore interview,” Flick said. “In a hi-def world where DVRs make it possible for viewers to replay and analyze video frame by frame, stations must be conscious of every corner of every frame.” The growing focus on the mobile audience and tiny screens makes worrying about large screens counterintuitive, Flick said.

EchoStar wants to “underscore its request” that the FCC Media Bureau “grant expeditiously” the waiver it seeks of the analog tuner requirement (see 1502270044) so it can market a new model of SlingLoaded HD Internet-enabled DVR in the U.S. without an over-the-air analog tuner, said the company in reply comments posted Friday in docket 15-47. No opposition to the petition was filed in the docket, and “the lone commenter,” CEA, “unambiguously supported grant of the waiver in order to provide consumers with access to a new, competitive, cost-effective choice in an increasingly popular category of consumer entertainment devices” (see 1503130017), EchoStar said. The waiver EchoStar seeks will give consumers "access to a new device that combines over-the-air television content with over-the-top streaming content functionality from almost any broadband-enabled multimedia platform, all in a sleek, ultra-thin, energy-efficient form factor,” the company said. Although EchoStar believes consumers won’t be “adversely impacted” by a waiver, EchoStar “has committed to the labeling, marketing, and consumer education conditions” the bureau imposed in granting past waivers, it said. “Any such obligations should be lifted if the Commission declines, as it should, to impose labeling and education requirements in the pending analog tuner rulemaking proceeding” for low-power TV, it said.

A group of broadcasters withdrew a 2012 petition for reconsideration that had challenged rules requiring disclosure of political ad rate information, said a withdrawal filing posted online Friday. "It is axiomatic that disclosure of price information is anti-competitive and disrupts markets," said the original petition jointly filed by Cox Media, Dispatch Broadcast, E.W. Scripps, Gannett, Hearst, Media General, Meredith, Graham Media, Raycom and Schurz Communications. An attorney representing the broadcasters in the proceeding didn't comment.

At the end of the 2014 campaign, the ratio of political advertising time to political news stories on Philadelphia’s major TV stations was 45:1, said a study released Thursday from Philly Political Media Watch. In the eight weeks leading up to the election, it said viewers of the top six stations in Philadelphia were bombarded with nearly 12,000 ads designed to influence the outcome. The study was a collaboration between technologists, academics, journalists and civic activists, funded by the Democracy Fund and the Rita Allen Foundation and led by the Internet Archive. Other major participating organizations were the Sunlight Foundation, the Committee of Seventy and the University of Delaware’s Center for Community Research and Service. The study was based on an examination of political ad and news broadcasts in the Philadelphia market, chosen for the pilot project because of its size and a coverage area that includes parts of three states, Delaware, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Candidates and outside groups spent more than $15 million Sept. 1-Nov. 4 to air nearly 14,000 TV ads on the stations in the entire Philadelphia market, including surrounding municipalities and some small stations in New Jersey, the report said.

The FCC Public Safety Bureau is seeking comment on an application for a new Travelers Information Station (TIS) to operate on 1670 kHz in southeastern Chester County, Pennsylvania, said a public notice posted online Friday. Avon Grove Regional Emergency Management Agency also asked the bureau for waivers of antenna height and field strength limits for the station, which it says won't interfere with other broadcasters. Comments are due April 20, replies May 5.

The FCC should create a path for low-power TV stations that survive the post-incentive auction repacking and meet certain criteria to become Class A stations, said Capitol Broadcasting in an ex parte filing Thursday. The same suggestion was earlier made by Gray TV and DTV America. The criteria for stations to go Class A wouldn't require the commission to grant priority based on the type of programming provided, but instead to do so "based on requirements that LPTV stations be operational and commit to providing a certain level of service to the local community,” Capitol said.

If the FCC grants Pandora’s application to buy KXMZ(FM), Box Elder, South Dakota, the FCC should “condition the grant on Pandora's agreement not to assert entitlement to the [American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers] Radio Group License prior to January 1, 2017,” ASCAP said in an ex parte filing posted in docket 14-109 Wednesday. Pandora has been seeking to buy the station since 2013 (see 1306170033). “This would allow Pandora to own KXMZ, which is what it says it wants, but it would mitigate the public interest harms by enabling the music industry, radio broadcasters and Pandora to continue ongoing efforts to resolve issues that, if not resolved, threaten to lead music licensors to take steps that would ultimately impact negatively the bulk of the commercial radio industry,” said ASCAP. Songwriters and music publishers have said that Pandora’s purchase of the station could provide the digital broadcaster with the same publishing royalty rates as terrestrial competitors, which would provide the former with a competitive advantage.

The FCC should preserve one noncommercial educational channel in each community during the post-incentive auction repacking, said Association of Public Television Stations President Patrick Butler and other APTS, Corporation for Public Broadcasting and PBS officials in a meeting with Commissioner Mike O’Rielly Monday, said an ex parte filing posted in docket 12-268 Wednesday. Holding space for an NCE channel would “allow any broadcaster to volunteer to participate in the incentive auction, and at the same time would continue the Commission’s well-established reserved spectrum policy by ensuring space for a new entrant in the event that an unserved area develops,” the filing said. The FCC also should grant priority status to displacement applications for translators connected with NCE stations after the auction, the public TV representatives said. The FCC should avoid repacking any stations into the new wireless bands, the filing said. The commission should “maintain a contiguous television broadcast band due to the insurmountable challenges with implementation of a repacking plan that intermingles broadcast and wireless services in the 600 MHz Band,” the filing said.

The FCC shouldn't stop broadcasters from pre-empting political advertisers using last-in, first-out (LIFO) policies, broadcast companies, associations and affiliate groups said in reply comments in docket 15-24, responding to Canal Partners Media’s request that the commission do so. “The law requires that stations treat candidates as well as they treat their best commercial advertisers -- but stations certainly are not required to provide candidates with better treatment than their best commercial advertisers,” said Media General, echoing NAB, Sinclair and every other entity that filed reply comments. It would be “a mistake” for the FCC to start dictating the way stations sell advertising time, said the ABC affiliates. CBS and NBC affiliate groups also opposed Canal in their reply comments, and nearly all endorsed NAB’s position opposing the change. NAB has acknowledged that the LIFO policies favor commercial advertisers over political candidates, Canal said, pointing to an NAB publication called The Political Broadcast Catechism. Canal also said TV stations haven't been disclosing their LIFO policies to political ad buyers, and disputed that blocking LIFO policies would elevate candidates over other advertisers. “Until someone becomes a “legally qualified candidate,” that person "cannot get in line to establish a position in the LIFO pecking order,” Canal said. “But commercial advertisers can get in the LIFO line whenever they want.”