The FCC AM revitalization draft order and FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler's views on the AM translator application window are expected to be the primary topics at the NAB Radio Show in Atlanta opening Wednesday. Radio broadcasters also are concerned about enforcement or rules against pirate radio stations (see 1509240066) and recent proposals by Commissioner Mike O'Rielly, the possible application of online political file rules to radio, and the progress of the effort to get active FM chips in smartphones. So said industry lawyers in interviews this week. “They're going to be asking, 'Where is the AM revitalization?'” said Womble Carlyle radio attorney John Garziglia, of broadcasters at the upcoming show.
A proposal to loosen FCC foreign ownership rules and change the way transactions with foreign buyers are handled by other federal agencies is likely to find favor with industry and could get traction at the commission, said attorneys familiar with the FCC's foreign ownership process. Outlined by Commissioner Mike O'Rielly in a blog post last week, the proposal would increase the transparency of the review process for deals involving foreign-owned companies. Since part of that process involves review by the numerous federal agencies outside the FCC that make up "Team Telecom" (a working group of representatives from the departments of Justice, State, Defense and Homeland Security, among others), the commission and the parties to a transaction don't always know the status of deals involving foreign companies, O'Rielly said. Easing the process for foreign companies to do business here would lead to similar overtures for U.S. companies doing international business, he said.
Amid FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler’s vocal opposition to an AM-only FM translator window, groups and other commissioners are working to have the measure passed as part of the AM revitalization draft order (see 1509170041), industry and agency officials told us. Wheeler said Thursday that he views the AM-only window as a spectrum giveaway (see 1509170041). NAB and industry officials believe a majority of the other commissioners favor the proposal.
Proposals to include an AM-only window for FM translator applications in the AM revitalization draft order amount to a request for free spectrum, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said during a news conference Thursday. “It’s not the general policy of this agency to give away free spectrum.” Wheeler said the other proposals in the draft order are modifications to allow AM to function better that “make a lot of sense” and should be considered separately from the translator window issue. During a subsequent news conference, Commissioner Ajit Pai disagreed. “An AM only translator window is not a giveaway,” Pai said, saying the proposal has wide support among broadcasters and in Congress. Pai said his office is discussing the proposal with other offices and he is hopeful the commission will approve an order that includes the window. Many AM broadcasters are pushing for such a window to allow them to take advantage of the lower interference and larger audience of the FM band (see 1509160036).
The FCC unanimously approved updated rules for broadcast contests that will allow TV and radio stations to publicize contest rules on the Internet as an alternative to broadcasting them, as was expected (see 1509040043). “Updating our rules to allow use of the Internet to disclose contest information is a common-sense move that will benefit both broadcasters and consumers,” Chairman Tom Wheeler said in a written statement.
It turns out after all that for broadcasters planning to stay in the business, the proximity of the FCC incentive auction isn't a deterring mergers and acquisitions, attorneys and financial analysts told us this week. They referred to a $2-billion-plus deal unveiled last week, Media General/Meredith (see 1509080061), and the $400-million-plus Gray Television/Schurz (see 1509150075) deal unveiled this week. Many incentive auction observers had speculated that broadcast M&A would slow as the auction approached (see 1411280041).
Media General is likely to receive federal antitrust approval for its proposed $2.4 billion purchase of Meredith, attorneys who follow broadcast transactions and former Department of Justice officials told us. Though it’s not known whether DOJ or the FTC would review the deal, several recent media deals have gone to DOJ, including Media General’s buy of LIN Media last year. Media General’s familiarity with the process from the LIN deal and its upfront plan to divest stations in overlapping markets suggest it’s confident the Meredith deal will survive scrutiny, said Fletcher Heald broadcast attorney Dan Kirkpatrick. FCC OK also is expected (see 1509080061).
The FCC should streamline the process for deploying broadband infrastructure on federal land, FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai said during a “Fireside Chat” at the Montana High Tech Jobs Summit Monday with Commissioner Mike O’Rielly and Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont. Streamlining deployment approval on federal lands could speed up the process of spreading broadband throughout the country’s rural areas, Pai said. “Ubiquitous broadband” is a key to helping rural areas compete in the global economy, Pai said. The commissioners also discussed disruptive innovation, net neutrality and the TV incentive auction. The event also featured a panel on spectrum and the wireless economy that included policy officials from Charter Communications and NAB.
NAB petitioned the FCC to reconsider its incentive auction procedures public notice on the issues of market variability, repacking broadcasters in the duplex gap, and reserving space for wireless mics. The challenges, posted Friday in docket 12-268, won't “require the FCC to delay the auction or upend fundamental aspects of its auction design,” the association said in a news release. “Both issues can be addressed through software settings and do not require reevaluation of the Commission’s auction design.” Speaking on an episode of C-Span's The Communicators filmed before NAB's petition was posted online, Incentive Auction Task Force Chairman Gary Epstein said the auction is on track to start March 29 as planned.
A CTIA proposal to change the conditions under which broadcasters must vacate their sold 600 MHz spectrum after the incentive auction to make way for the new wireless owners (see 1509100072) isn't as limited as the wireless organization is making it out to be, said an NAB spokesman. The FCC proposal is to require low-power TV stations to leave their former spectrum once the wireless licensee “commences operations” -- setting up permanent facilities and antennas. That plan won't allow for market testing that is “integral to the deployment of broadband,” said CTIA Vice President-Regulatory Affairs Scott Bergmann in an interview. Instead, CTIA wants the commission to define the commencement of operations as beginning when wireless carriers begin doing limited market tests in “certain select markets.”