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.
The FCC is expected to start its planned appeal of the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling on Prometheus IV with an en banc appeal at the 3rd Circuit. That could make the agency unlikely to grant further waivers of ownership rules connected with the case, said academics, broadcasters and appellate attorneys in interviews. That could affect the approval of pending deals at the FCC, broadcast attorneys said.
The FCC is expected to unanimously approve a draft NPRM seeking comment on eliminating seldom-used rules on broadcast antenna siting (see 1910040053), said broadcast industry and FCC officials in interviews. The media modernization item is set for Friday’s commissioners' meeting but could be voted ahead of time, officials said. The rules prohibit granting an FM or TV license if the applicant controls a uniquely situated antenna site. Created in 1945, the rules are expected to have little effect on the industry for decades, numerous broadcast attorneys told us. The draft item also seeks comment on whether the siting rules will have relevance during the transition to ATSC 3.0. “We are aware of no instance where a license application or license renewal application was denied on the basis of a violation of these rules,” said the draft NPRM.
NPR, NAB and the Educational Media Foundation (EMF) have concerns about FCC proposals to update technical rules on low-power FM stations, posted through Tuesday in docket 19-193 for Monday’s NPRM comment deadline (see 1907310044). Representatives for LPFM entities such as REC Networks and Prometheus Radio Project said proposals don’t go far enough to relax interference restrictions for LPFM. “20 years is enough time to take the training wheels off and move LPFM forward into the next 20 years,” said REC Networks. “The net effect of enacting these proposals would be more congestion in the already crowded FM band,” NAB said.
South Korea launched an emergency alert system using ATSC 3.0, similar to enhanced alerts advocated by the Advanced Warning and Response Network Alliance, said executives from South Korean firm DigiCap and AWARN Executive Director John Lawson at NAB New York. The system has been in place for a month and so far transmits emergency messages similar to those using established technology. Lawson and DigiCap CEO Peter Han were optimistic it will lead to further developments in the U.S. and South Korea. “Beginning is halfway done,” said Han, quoting a Korean proverb. “If you never start, you never finish.”
NEW YORK -- The FCC appeal of the media ownership ruling at the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is the right move, said Nexstar CEO Perry Sook, Gray co-CEO Pat LaPlatney and Meredith Local Media Group President Patrick McCreery on a panel at NAB Show New York Wednesday (see 1909250064). The executives also discussed transaction prospects, ATSC 3.0 and prospects for a recession. There isn't anything the broadcast industry can do that would appease the 3rd Circuit, Sook said. “It's the only choice,” he said. “Two judges in Philadelphia have setting media policy for the whole country for 20 years.”
The TV Parental Guidelines Monitoring Board hasn’t done anything to make ratings more accurate in the five months since the FCC said the board is “insufficiently accessible and transparent to the public” (see 1905160085), said Parents Television Council President Tim Winter to reporters Tuesday. He promoted PTC research saying violence and profanity in TV shows rated for children has increased over the past decade. After measuring and recording instances of violence and profanity on prime-time network broadcast TV during “sweeps week” in 2017-18, PTC found 28 percent more violence and 43.5 percent more profanity on TV-PG shows in 2017-18 than in 2007-08. “There was over 150% more violence, and 62% more profanity total, on programs rated TV-14,” PTC said. “We are urgently calling on Congress to ensure that the TV content ratings system, and the TV Parental Guidelines Oversight Monitoring Board, is overhauled to improve the accuracy, consistence, transparency and public accountability of the TV ratings,” Winter said. The call to improve the board isn’t intended to control what people watch, said film critic and content ratings supporter Nell Minow to reporters. “We want parents to have the information they need,” said Minow, whose father, then-FCC Chairman Newton Minow, famously called television a “vast wasteland.” The current, industry-controlled board is “fake oversight,” said Penny Nance, CEO of Concerned Women for America. Two of the board’s seats earmarked for non-industry groups are held by what Winter called industry front groups, Entertainment Industries Council and Call for Action. Both groups have boards that include numerous TV industry executives, according to their own websites. “You cannot be the pitcher and the umpire in the same game,” said Minow. Winter wants congressional hearings and symposiums on improving the ratings board to include independent oversight by child behavior experts. “What we have isn’t working,” Winter said. The board and the trade groups that oversee it -- NCTA, NAB and the Motion Picture Association -- didn’t comment.
Broadcasters, broadcast attorneys and music industry insiders are surprised at FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly’s recent interest in payola. No one we interviewed this week disputed the illegality of record companies paying to have songs played on the radio, but many told us it hasn’t seemed like a pressing issue for several years. Several wouldn't speak on the record because it's not an issue they need to keep up with now.
A petition on relaxing interference rules to make it easier for ATSC 3.0 broadcasters to use single frequency networks (see 1910040038) has LPTV Spectrum Rights Coalition President Mike Gravino “very concerned." In an emailed newsletter Monday, Gravino called for a “crowd sourced impact analysis” to gauge the effect of the petition on low-power TV, Class A and TV translator stations. He's seeking information on whether LPTV will be able to benefit from the proposal, whether any efforts have been made to study the effects on LPTV, and what will happen to LPTV stations “displaced” by the signals from distributed transmission systems outside their full-power station’s contour. “During the next two years LPTV will still be moving around, and many with government funding to move,” Gravino emailed us. “While I am very concerned about this Petition, I am open to seeing to how it could benefit us, also.”
The FCC Media Bureau is working on a revised form for annual children’s TV reports, said Legal Adviser Evan Morris at an FCBA event Monday. Reports will move from a quarterly requirement to annual after OMB gives final Paperwork Reduction Act approval to several provisions of the new rules approved by commissioners in July (see 1907100067). The forms are expected to be submitted to OMB for PRA OK in November, Morris said. The bureau will issue a public notice on the new form, staffers said. They should be ready for the first reports in 2019, said Media Bureau attorney Kathy Berthot. The documents are expected to look and function similar to the current ones but will have many more entries since they now account for four times as much time, attorneys said. Some large broadcast groups will still require stations to internally submit quarterly kidvid reports to make the task of compiling the annual report easier, Video Division Chief Barbara Kreisman said. FCC officials told us they aren’t aware of any submitted or pending appeals or recon petitions for the kidvid rules, and the deadline for appealing the rules at the agency has passed.