FCC Media Bureau draft NPRMs on digital AM and same market, commonly owned radio stations sharing content generated little activity in the FCC’s electronic comment filing system and aren’t considered controversial for Friday’s FCC agenda (see 1910290053), broadcast attorneys told us. An FCC official told us that few changes to the draft versions are expected.
The FCC’s proposal to eliminate requirements that broadcaster applications be advertised in local newspapers got wide support from nearly all commenters in docket 17-264. Public interest groups, noncommercial broadcasters and full-power broadcasters backed allowing online and on-air notices instead. Entities representing newspapers and print advertising had commented on a previous iteration of the proposal, but the electronic comment filing system didn’t show such filings this time around. Comments were due Monday.
The FCC isn’t expected to issue a 2018 quadrennial ownership review order this year, and many broadcasters aren’t betting on quick movement on that issue, licensees and broadcast attorneys told us. Broadcasters “weren’t ever holding their breath” waiting for the radio ownership deregulation and possible changes to top-four ownership restrictions that might have been expected in a 2018 QR order, said Fletcher Heald broadcast attorney Anne Crump. The FCC didn’t comment.
Full-power broadcasters and ATSC 3.0 boosters clamored for the FCC to relax rules governing distributed transmission systems (see 1910110040), in comments posted through Wednesday in docket 16-142. Microsoft and low-power broadcast entities have interference concerns. NAB and America's Public Television Stations' petition is “premature,” said the National Translator Association. “3.0 is incompatible with the present system, and the public’s paramount interest must be to preserve interference-free TV for present reception.”
The FCC and NAB petitioned Thursday for a full panel of the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn a three-judge panel’s 2-1 decision against the FCC in the Prometheus IV ownership case, as expected (see 1910250006). For 15 years, “the same divided panel of this Court has frustrated the Commission’s repeated attempts to modernize its media ownership rules,” the FCC said. Prometheus is “irreconcilable” with “the proper role of courts in reviewing agency action,” NAB wrote.
Entertainment Media Trust’s administrative law judge proceeding is on hold while the broadcaster battles its own bankruptcy trustee in U.S. Bankruptcy court over how the case should proceed, according to filings (here and here) in docket 19-156 (see 1910020037). EMT filed for Chapter 7 and now seeks to have the bankruptcy proceeding voluntarily dismissed, a request that the FCC Enforcement Bureau -- EMT’s opponent in the ALJ proceeding -- seconded. Chapter 7 bankruptcy trustee Donald Samson, who's now the effective licensee of EMT’s stations as part of the bankruptcy process, opposed both requests. Samson and EMT are represented by the same attorneys, which EB said in a footnote could be an ethical violation. “This dual representation appears to raise a conflict that should be addressed,” the bureau said. It's “common practice” for bankruptcy trustees to hire specialty counsel who have background with the matters connected with a bankruptcy, Fletcher Heald broadcast attorney Davina Sashkin, one of the attorneys representing EMT and Samson, emailed. “Because Mr. Samson has control over EMT, he has essentially stepped into the shoes of EMT before the FCC,” she said. EB “has engaged in a relentless scorched earth campaign against EMT and then Mr. Samson, and are now calling my integrity into question,” Sashkin said. “It is wholly unprofessional.” The bureau didn't comment.The ALJ proceeding is on hold while awaiting a decision from the bankruptcy court on whether the bankruptcy will proceed, and on whether the ALJ case should be stayed if it does, the filings said. Administrative Law Judge Jane Halprin scheduled a pre-hearing teleconference for Nov. 14 on the timeline for the ALJ case, over Samson’s objections, said an order Wednesday.
The FCC should reduce equal employment opportunity filing obligations rather than accede to diversity group calls for stiffer enforcement, said broadcasters, NAB, NCTA and America’s Communication Association in reply comments posted through Tuesday in docket 19-177. Broadcast opponents said stiffer EEO rules would likely be unconstitutional, but diversity groups such as the Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council and the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights disagreed.
Terrier Media is restructuring its deal to buy most radio and TV stations from Cox Media and Northwestern's TV outlets to be in compliance with the 3rd U.S. Court of Appeals Prometheus ruling, said Terrier President David Sambur in an amendment (see 1910250006). “Applicants have agreed to make certain targeted changes to the Northwest Transaction and the Cox Transactions to address any concerns regarding compliance with the Commission’s current and possible future media ownership rules,” the amendment said. It posted this week in the FCC consolidated database system.
The rechartered FCC Advisory Committee on Diversity and Digital Empowerment will focus on improving access of minority and female would-be broadcast owners to capital, addressing digital redlining, and increasing tech-sector diversity, said FCC Chairman Ajit Pai in a recorded video at ACDDE's first meeting in its latest incarnation. Anyone spending time at a tech conference can see “we're not where we need to be in terms of diversity and inclusion in the tech sector,” said Commissioner Brendan Carr.
The FCC’s draft NPRM on all-digital AM radio would seek comment on allowing AM stations to voluntarily switch to all-digital service; technical standards and notification procedures for such a switch; and possible consequences such as interference, said the draft version of the item set for the upcoming Nov. 19 commissioners' meeting. The item tentatively concludes that the FCC should allow such transitions, and that all-digital operation would improve quality and potentially the coverage of AM broadcasts. It would also allow for the transmission of auxiliary data such as song and title information, the draft NPRM said. “The AM service has struggled for decades with a steady decline in listenership caused by interference and reception issues and the availability of higher fidelity alternatives,” the draft NPRM said. The draft item also seeks comment on possible co-channel interference that could arise from all-digital service, and on whether operation should be allowed at night. The FCC previously has sought comment on relaxing nighttime restrictions on some AM stations but hasn’t pulled the trigger on actual rule changes; the draft item seeks comment on whether all-digital AM stations involve the same nighttime interference issues as analog ones (see 1901290055). The other broadcast item is an NPRM seeking comment on relaxing rules preventing same-market, commonly owned radio stations from airing the same programming. The draft seeks comment on whether the rules promote spectrum efficiency, and whether it should be relaxed to be less stringent or apply only to FM stations. “The current version of this rule was adopted a generation ago, in 1992, and there have since been considerable changes in the radio broadcast industry,” the draft NPRM said.