The top 10 national nonbroadcast networks for the 2013 to 2014 ratings year were USA Network, ESPN, Turner Network Television (TNT), TBS Network, History, Disney Channel, Fox News Channel, Nickelodeon, A&E Network and FX.5, the Media Bureau said in a public notice Wednesday.The ranking is based on Nielsen ratings, the PN said. The commission’s video description rules require multichannel video programming distributors with more than 50,000 subscribers to provide 50 hours of video description per quarter during prime time or children's programming on the top five national nonbroadcast networks, the PN said. Though the networks currently subject to that rule are USA, Disney Channel, TNT, Nickelodeon and TBS, that lineup is based on the ratings available in 2011. On July 1, the requirement will update to the top five from the 2013-2014 ratings year. Though that's currently USA, ESPN, TNT, TBS and History, the networks have 30 days to seek an exception to the video description requirement based on whether they air 50 hours of prime time programming that isn't live or near-live, the notice said.

A series of webinars on the details of the incentive auction has been rescheduled, the FCC Incentive Auction Task Force and Wireless Bureau said in a public notice Wednesday. The webinar on the forward auction phase will be Jan. 15 at 10:30 a.m., the webinar on the reverse auction phase will be Jan. 20 at 10:30 a.m., and the webinar on the integration of the two phases of the incentive auction will be Jan. 23 at 10:30 a.m. “Additional details about the webinars, including how interested parties can attend, will be released soon,” the PN said.

Rivet News Radio, an Internet radio news application, made its Rivet Auto application program interface (API) available Monday, the company said in a news release. The API offers a way for app platforms and car manufacturers to target and customize radio news to drivers. It also allows drivers to filter content based on their locations and interests.

The FCC’s further rulemaking seeking comment on applying closed captioning quality standards to programmers is likely to attract “a disproportionately large and loud response,” said Fletcher Heald broadcast attorney Harry Cole in a blog post on the law firm's website. It’s not clear how much the FCC can regulate programmers who aren’t affiliated with other entities the FCC regulates, Cole said. “How precisely can the Commission justify extending its regulatory tentacles to such companies?” he said. Laws mandating access for the disabled could give the commission a handle on applying captioning rules to programmers, but any eventual rule will have to go into detail about the source of FCC authority, Cole said. Comments on the second Further NPRM are due Jan. 20, replies Jan. 30 (see 1412310036).

Viewers of three multichannel video programming distributors in more than 15 markets experienced blackouts in the first week of January, said a group of MVPDs and others seeking changes to retransmission consent rules. Broadcasters blacked out subscribers of DirecTV, Dish Network and Verizon FiOS to extract higher retrans fees, said the American Television Alliance in a news release Monday. ATVA said Cordillera Communications blocked DirecTV viewers in at least 10 markets. Capitol Broadcasting prevented Dish viewers from seeing two stations in the Raleigh area, said the alliance. It said Coastal Television Broadcasting in Alaska blocked the direct broadcast satellite company's subscribers in Anchorage, and Vision Alaska II is blocking viewers in Fairbanks and Juneau. Bristlecone Broadcasting also blocked Verizon FiOS customers from viewing WSYT (Fox) Syracuse, New York, said ATVA. NAB didn't have any immediate comment Monday.

A TIA motion for leave to file an amicus brief in support of the FCC in the petition for review proceeding against its incentive auction order should be denied as untimely, NAB said Wednesday in an opposition motion filed at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. “For four months TIA stood by silently as the parties hammered out a consolidated briefing schedule that places tight constraints on the parties’ word limits, briefing format, and filing deadlines, NAB said. “Now, at the eleventh hour, TIA appears with a proposed amicus brief that would in effect give a lopsided, 4,000-word extension to the Federal Communications Commission ('FCC') and its intervenors.” TIA's brief was filed Dec. 23, the same day as other respondent briefs, but TIA had not previously filed for leave to intervene, according to online court records. Allowing TIA to join the case would “cause extreme prejudice to NAB and Sinclair," NAB said. The broadcasters “are in the midst of responding to three Respondent side briefs while adhering to the scheduling Order’s inflexible word limits and tight deadlines,” NAB said. The court should reject TIA's request, NAB said.

The FCC's decision that programming and retransmission consent contract information should be available with safeguards to parties in the Comcast/Time Warner Cable and AT&T/DirecTV merger reviews is “within its broad discretion,” the FCC said in a respondent's brief filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. Filed Friday in response to the content companies' petition for review of the commission's decision to release Video Programming Confidential Information, the brief asked the court to affirm the FCC's protective orders “expeditiously so that the merger reviews can proceed as promptly as possible.” The joint challenge by CBS, Disney, Viacom and other content companies “rests on the premise -- wholly unsupported -- that parties will not comply with the protective orders’ provisions, and that the Commission will not punish violators when warranted,” the brief said. The protective orders for the VPCI “contain robust safeguards against abuse, and the Commission has made clear that the orders will be vigorously enforced,” the brief said. Not allowing access to the VPCI would “weaken” the FCC's ability to defend a merger review decision against court challenges and disrupt the merger review process, the FCC said. Content company suggestions that VPCI in the record be made anonymous “would be inappropriate, are unworkable, and would only serve to create unacceptable delay that could, by itself, prevent the transactions from moving forward,” the FCC said.

Nexstar Broadcasting reached a distribution agreement with Charter Communications, Nexstar said in a news release Thursday. The prior agreement between the two companies expired at midnight Dec. 31, but the new deal was reached before that deadline, “enabling Charter subscribers in fifteen markets to enjoy uninterrupted access to network, local news and other programming,” the release said. “No material service interruptions related to distribution agreements” have occurred with Nexstar's station group since 2005, the news release said.

Comments on the FCC’s second Further NPRM on Closed Caption Quality Standards are due Jan. 20, and replies Jan. 30, the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau said in a public notice Wednesday. The second Further NPRM asked for comments on proposed requirements for video programmers to file contact information and certifications of captioning compliance with the Commission (see 1412160047).

Cellcom Israel launched Cellcom TV, an over-the-top service, in Israel. The platform includes Israeli digital terrestrial TV channels, VOD services and additional advanced viewing capabilities, Cellcom said in a news release.