FCC regulations on broadcasting, telephony and accessibility will “become increasingly hollow shells of themselves” unless Congress decides to what degree the FCC should “move into the app ecosystem,” said Commissioner Nathan Simington at this week’s Free State Foundation Conference. Panelists at the event, including Commissioner Brendan Carr, also discussed broadband deployment and definitions, and the agency’s spectrum authority. The FCC “isn’t currently regulating the edge space, but that doesn’t have to last forever,” Simington said.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit should take up the Standard/Tegna broadcasters’ appeal of the FCC’s HDO, said NAB in an amicus filing Thursday. “This Court should treat this order according to its intent and effect—a de facto final denial of the license application—and hear the appeal,” NAB said in the brief filed late Thursday. Refusal to act is itself an agency final action, said the Standard/Tegna broadcast parties in a filing opposing the FCC’s motion asking the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to dismiss their appeal (see 2303280072). The FCC Media Bureau’s action “on gossamer evidence” injects “untenable unpredictability into license transfer applications,” NAB said.
NAB will take the FCC to court unless it delays the 2022 quadrennial review and concludes the 2018 QR, said an ex parte filing Wednesday and broadcast industry officials in interviews, “The Commission has no lawful basis for withholding the belated 2018 review, and that failure independently threatens the viability of the 2022 review,” said the filing in docket 22-459. Multiple broadcast attorneys said the trade group is resolved to pursue the matter in court and without FCC action NAB will petition the U.S. Court of Appeals for a writ of mandamus. The filing gives the agency until April 12 to toll the 2022 QR proceeding and conclude the 2018 iteration. It’s not likely the FCC will agree to the request, attorneys said.
Standard General, Tegna and Cox Media Group, in court filings Monday challenging the FCC’s hearing designation order (HDO), targeted the FCC’s merger review process, Holly Saurer’s dual role as Media Bureau chief and as Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel’s media adviser, and the FCC’s administrative law judge. The companies are seeking a ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit by April 21.
A draft NPRM on circulation on the FCC’s 10th floor would seek comment on the agency’s implementation of the Low Power Protection Act but also asks for feedback on an LPTV-backed proposal to replace the FCC’s use of Nielsen designated market areas with a population based system, FCC officials told us. Despite being included in the draft NPRM, the DMA proposal isn’t seen as having much traction at the agency: the Media Bureau said last year there's no viable alternative to Nielsen. The NPRM isn’t considered controversial and is expected to be unanimously approved. The FCC uses a census-based system for cellphones and should therefore be able to use it for television, said LPTV Broadcasters Association President Frank Copsidas in an interview: “What is so complicated?”
Programs to promote broadband access need a sustainable, reliable source of funding beyond the current one-time federal infusion, and should partner with local community organizations to succeed, said panelists Thursday at the FCC Communications Equity and Diversity Council’s “Lessons Learned from the Pandemic” virtual roundtable. “We cannot fund [broadband access programs] only at one time, during a crisis,” said Ovidiu Viorica, who manages the broadband and technology program for the New Mexico Public School Facilities Authority. “We have to make the funding predictable, and continuous because that's what it's going to take.”
Broadcasters, MVPDs and public interest groups don’t agree whether sharing arrangements and top-four affiliates hosted on low-power TV multicasts are loopholes in ownership rules or ways for broadcasters to achieve scale and serve needful communities, according to several 2022 quadrennial review replies filed in docket 22-459 for Monday’s deadline (see 2303060070). Other filings urged the FCC to study news quality and broadcaster diversity, or condemned the agency for starting the 2022 QR with the 2018 version still open. That left TV and radio companies “wondering whether the Commission will recognize significant changes in the marketplace,” said Gray Television.
The full FCC should review and overturn the Standard/Tegna hearing designation order (HDO) by March 27 or the broadcasters will seek judicial review and challenge the constitutionality of the FCC’s administrative law judge, said Standard General, Tegna and Cox Media Group Friday in an application for review and motion for waiver and expedited review (see 2303160077). The HDO denies the transaction “without due process” and the FCC “should swiftly correct that overreach,” said the broadcasters. “If the Commission has not done so by 5:00 p.m. on March 27, applicants will have no choice but to seek judicial relief.”
The FCC’s administrative law judge won’t pause the hearing process and put the Standard/Tegna deal in front of the full commission, said an ALJ order Thursday. After that decision, Standard General asked three FCC commissioners to trigger “must vote” on the transaction, which would require Commissioner Geoffrey Starks to split with Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel to side with the agency’s Republicans. That's considered unlikely.
The full FCC approved a proposed $2.3 million forfeiture against two New York City pirate radio operators, plus an $80,000 proposed fine for another pirate radio operator in La Grande, Oregon, said a pair of notices of apparent liability released Wednesday. The NALs had been set for a vote at the FCC commissioners' open meeting Thursday, but a deletion notice on the items was released Tuesday.