A draft item on new channel sharing rules could present some new opportunities for TV broadcasters, but may be limited in its practical application, numerous attorneys representing both full-power and low-power broadcasters told us. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai distributed the draft item last week (see 1703020076), and it's scheduled for a vote at the March 23 commissioners’ meeting. The draft would allow limited sharing for LPTV and translators with each other and with full powers, and sharing outside the context of the incentive auction. It's good for the FCC to be giving broadcasters these options, but opportunities for them to be applied are likely to be “rare,” said Fletcher Heald broadcast attorney Peter Tannenwald. “There are several restrictions that could reduce the viability of channel sharing under the draft order,” said Wiley Rein broadcast attorney Ari Meltzer in a blog post.
The FCC is expected to reinstate the UHF discount at its April meeting but the rollback of other ownership rules could take longer, broadcast attorneys said in interviews Tuesday (see 1703010074). Though broadcasters are looking at the deal opportunities that could be opened up by relaxing media ownership rules, “Clearly some stars have to align” for large deals such as a Sinclair Broadcasting/Tribune, said Wells Fargo analyst Marci Ryvicker in an email to investors. There is a pending reconsideration proceeding on the 2014 quadrennial ownership rule review, but the FCC could issue an NPRM on changes to the ownership rules before or in addition to a reconsideration order, a broadcast attorney said, which could lead to a longer process. Raising the national ownership cap, which would be needed for the Sinclair/Tribune deal, could require congressional action, and there’s still an outstanding court proceeding on the quadrennial review, said Fletcher Heald broadcast attorney Dan Kirkpatrick. “It could take some time," he said.
President Donald Trump and FCC Chairman Ajit Pai met Monday, the first known dialogue since they assumed their positions -- a contact between a president and a head of an independent agency that is seen as infrequent. They met in January during the transition period, ahead of Pai’s appointment as head of the agency (see 1701170025). Monday's meeting was at 3 p.m. in the Oval Office, according to Trump’s schedule. Former FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler came under fire during the last Congress amid accusations that he took direction from the White House on the open internet order, a charge he denied.
An order that would increase flexibility of channel sharing rules for broadcasters was circulated Thursday and will be on the agenda for the FCC’s March 23 commissioners' meeting, said a blog post by Chairman Ajit Pai. Under his transparency pilot program, the full text and an accompanying fact sheet were released. “The draft item would give low power TV and TV translator stations more options to stay in business and continue broadcasting essential news and information to the public,” Pai blogged.
The UHF discount is unlikely to make it onto the agenda for March’s FCC commissioners' meeting, an official told us Wednesday, though numerous industry sources expected it to be there. Even if the item isn’t ready in time for the meeting, the commission is widely expected to re-establish the discount soon, said broadcast executives. Though the exact nature of the item remains in flux, broadcast allies still expect (see 1701110067) Chairman Ajit Pai’s office to circulate a draft item that would reinstate the discount and also to make some gesture toward possible changes to the national ownership cap. The latter could range from a simple statement of support for such changes to an effort to create a record on the matter, broadcast executives and attorneys said.
Looser regulation of industry is one of the keys to the Republican plan to get the country out of "stagnation," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., told the NAB State Leadership Conference Tuesday. Getting rid of "the regulatory monster" is a key goal, McConnell said in a speech that included praise for FCC Chairman Ajit Pai. "We hope he'll soon be followed up by a majority" that will take the FCC in a "less heavy-handed and regulatory direction," McConnell said of Pai. NAB President Gordon Smith and Sen Dick Durbin, D-Ill., also spoke at the event about the importance of broadcast journalism.
The range of auction results announced by stations exemplifies the intent of Congress and the FCC that each licensee in the incentive auction has a range of choices for what to do with its spectrum, Incentive Auction Task Force Chairman Gary Epstein said at America's Public Television Stations conference Tuesday. Though he said the FCC couldn't release details about how specific stations did, such information will become available when the commission issues its channel reassignment public notice in April. At that time, the FCC will "open the tent" to allow industry to see how the auction "played out," Epstein said. In a videotaped message played before the panel, Chairman Ajit Pai said he hoped the funds raised from the auction by public TV stations allow them to "enhance the services they provide."
America's Public Television Stations President Patrick Butler conceded Washington is "rife with rumor" that President Donald Trump will recommend a budget that doesn't include funding for the CPB (see 1702230060), and noncommercial educational stations shouldn't "fear the battle that will come." Along with public TV's extensive support in Congress, 70 percent of Trump voters support funding CPB and would tell the president to "leave public television alone," Butler said at an APTS conference.
Anxiety rose over the fate of the CPB in recent weeks, after reports the Trump administration may be mulling a FY 2018 budget that places its funding on the chopping block. The White House and appropriators resisted confirming any objections to the CPB last week. Broadcasting officials told us Capitol Hill appropriators may stand poised to uphold the funding, if the administration does push such a proposal.
The FCC approved unanimously an NPRM on ATSC 3.0 and an order relaxing location rules for FM translators at Thursday’s commissioners' meeting, as expected (see 1702210058). Commissioner Mignon Clyburn supported the NPRM on the new TV standard, but was critical of aspects of the document and said it didn’t do enough to show that TV consumers won’t have their service disrupted by the transition to ATSC 3.0.