Monty Tayloe, Associate Editor, covers broadcasting and the Federal Communications Commission for Communications Daily. He joined Warren Communications News in 2013, after spending 10 years covering crime and local politics for Virginia regional newspapers and a turn in television as a communications assistant for the PBS NewsHour. He’s a Virginia native who graduated Fork Union Military Academy and the College of William and Mary. You can follow Tayloe on Twitter: @MontyTayloe .
Biography for Monty TayloeRecent Articles by Monty TayloeAn FCC draft report and order slated for commissioners' open meeting Wednesday creating a one-year window allowing certain low-power TV stations to convert to Class A status is expected to receive unanimous approval and perhaps an early vote, agency officials told us. The Class A window would open on the draft order’s effective date. The draft item has attracted little lobbying since it was announced last month, with the most recent filings in the docket (23-126) from June.Read More >>
An FCC draft order on the 2018 quadrennial review would extend the restriction on owning top-four duopolies to multicast channels and low-power TV stations but wouldn’t alter local radio ownership limits or rules barring major networks from purchasing each other, agency and industry officials said in interviews. The draft QR order, which officials told us runs some 90 pages, uses language that resembles the FCC’s arguments in an enforcement action and ongoing court case against Gray Television involving the company’s top-four combination in Anchorage, FCC and industry officials told us.Read More >>
Broadcast attorneys don’t expect seismic shifts in the sports betting and cannabis advertising landscapes soon, according to two virtual sessions convened Monday by the Federal Communications Bar Association. FCC guidance on whether broadcasters can advertise recreational marijuana use “would offer some great clarity,” but the likelihood of the agency issuing it while cannabis is classified as an illegal drug “is absolutely zero,” Wilkinson Barker broadcast attorney David O’Connor said. Orrick attorney Behnam Dayanim said, “It’s looking grim, at least in the immediate future” for shifts toward legalizing sports betting in states that haven’t already done so, such as Texas and California. Dayanim represents sports betting company Draft Kings.Read More >>
Nearly six months into a yearlong effort, members of NAB-led, FCC-involved ATSC 3.0 task force on the Future of TV Initiative (FTI) (see 2306090043) told us it will likely shift to delving into specific issues after spending early meetings covering 3.0 basics. Digital rights management (DRM) and encryption for ATSC 3.0 signals have become an early point of disagreement at working group meetings, but participants we spoke with said the process was largely collegial and praised the task force's diversity. “If we don’t have any tough conversations, we’re not doing it right,” said NAB Associate General Counsel Patrick McFadden, who oversees the task force.Read More >>
Broadcast TV executives are bullish on the future of retransmission consent but are seeing varying levels of softness in the advertising market, they said on Q3 earnings calls this month. Nexstar and E.W. Scripps have experienced softness in the national advertising market, which Scripps CEO Adam Symson ascribed to macroeconomic headwinds. “We’re seeing no sign -- by region or market -- of any kind of recession,” said Gray Television co-CEO Hilton Howell in Gray’s call last week.Read More >>
An FCC draft report and order slated for commissioners' open meeting Wednesday creating a one-year window allowing certain low-power TV stations to convert to Class A status is expected to receive unanimous approval and perhaps an early vote, agency officials told us. The Class A window would open on the draft order’s effective date. The draft item has attracted little lobbying since it was announced last month, with the most recent filings in the docket (23-126) from June.Read More >>
An FCC draft order on the 2018 quadrennial review would extend the restriction on owning top-four duopolies to multicast channels and low-power TV stations but wouldn’t alter local radio ownership limits or rules barring major networks from purchasing each other, agency and industry officials said in interviews. The draft QR order, which officials told us runs some 90 pages, uses language that resembles the FCC’s arguments in an enforcement action and ongoing court case against Gray Television involving the company’s top-four combination in Anchorage, FCC and industry officials told us.Read More >>
Broadcast attorneys don’t expect seismic shifts in the sports betting and cannabis advertising landscapes soon, according to two virtual sessions convened Monday by the Federal Communications Bar Association. FCC guidance on whether broadcasters can advertise recreational marijuana use “would offer some great clarity,” but the likelihood of the agency issuing it while cannabis is classified as an illegal drug “is absolutely zero,” Wilkinson Barker broadcast attorney David O’Connor said. Orrick attorney Behnam Dayanim said, “It’s looking grim, at least in the immediate future” for shifts toward legalizing sports betting in states that haven’t already done so, such as Texas and California. Dayanim represents sports betting company Draft Kings.Read More >>
Nearly six months into a yearlong effort, members of NAB-led, FCC-involved ATSC 3.0 task force on the Future of TV Initiative (FTI) (see 2306090043) told us it will likely shift to delving into specific issues after spending early meetings covering 3.0 basics. Digital rights management (DRM) and encryption for ATSC 3.0 signals have become an early point of disagreement at working group meetings, but participants we spoke with said the process was largely collegial and praised the task force's diversity. “If we don’t have any tough conversations, we’re not doing it right,” said NAB Associate General Counsel Patrick McFadden, who oversees the task force.Read More >>
Broadcast TV executives are bullish on the future of retransmission consent but are seeing varying levels of softness in the advertising market, they said on Q3 earnings calls this month. Nexstar and E.W. Scripps have experienced softness in the national advertising market, which Scripps CEO Adam Symson ascribed to macroeconomic headwinds. “We’re seeing no sign -- by region or market -- of any kind of recession,” said Gray Television co-CEO Hilton Howell in Gray’s call last week.Read More >>