The FCC denied two applications for review that sought to overturn license renewals for several Emmis stations in Indiana and Illinois, the agency said in an order Friday (http://bit.ly/1kHUXAu). The applications were filed by David Smith, the Illinois Family Institute and Illinois chapter of Concerned Women for America in 2009 and 2010, and are related to indecency complaints filed against the Mancow’s Morning Madhouse radio show in 2002. Those indecency matters were settled with a 2006 consent decree, said the order. “Upon review of the AFRs and the entire record, and finding no basis in the Applications for Review to modify any of the Bureau’s decisions, we conclude that Smith and Petitioners have failed to demonstrate that the Bureau erred,” said the order. The applications for review concerned WFNI(AM) Indianapolis, WLHK(FM) Shelbyville, WYXB(FM) Indianapolis, WWVR(FM) West Terre Haute, Ind., WTHI-FM, Terre Haute and WKQX(FM) Chicago.

Claims that joint sales agreements create jobs are “absurd” and “not supported by any data,” said Free Press’s Derek Turner in a meeting with FCC Chairman’s Office Special Counsel for External Affairs Gigi Sohn, according to an ex parte filing Monday (http://bit.ly/1fkCcuS). “Because the entire purpose of the use of these agreements is to eliminate independent outlets, they not only result in fewer independent voices, but also reduce the number of broadcast employees that would have otherwise existed absent these arrangements,” Turner said. Sinclair “has a long track record of laying off workers and reducing the number of staff at each of its stations,” said the filing. The commission should “reject these farcical and self-serving attempts to paint the use of outsourcing by the industry’s leading companies as pro-jobs, and move forward to close the outsourcing loopholes.” Armstrong Williams, owner of Howard Stirk Holdings (HSH), expressed opposite views on JSAs in a meeting with Commissioner Mignon Clyburn and her staff, according to an ex parte filing (http://bit.ly/1fkYqBA). “Mr. Williams emphasized that without the ability to enter into JSAs and SSAs, as an African American, he would not have been able to fulfill his lifelong dream of being a TV station owner,” the filing said. Howard Stirk Holdings is involved in sharing deals with Sinclair. Sharing arrangements help HSH in retrans negotiations, to provide local programming and “to survive the competitive marketplace,” the filing said. “Singleton buyers of a TV station, especially in small and medium size markets, simply cannot get financing without these types of shared services agreements,” the filing said.

NHK will use next month’s NAB Show in Las Vegas to demonstrate a closed-circuit over-the-air transmission of 8K Super Hi-Vision content in a single 6 MHz UHF TV channel, NAB said Monday. It will be the first time outside Japan that wireless transmission of Super Hi-Vision is demonstrated over a single 6 MHz TV channel, NAB said. NHK will also present detailed results of a long-distance, single-channel, over-the-air 8K test broadcast recently conducted in Japan, it said. NHK’s booth also will feature a presentation theater with a 350-inch screen for viewing newly shot Super Hi-Vision content, including highlights from the Sochi Winter Olympic Games, it said. NHK has said it’s targeting the launch of Super Hi-Vision to coincide with the 2020 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo.

The full FCC should review the sharing agreements involved in the Tribune/Local transaction, said Free Press in reply comments on its application for review of the deal (http://bit.ly/1kD0JmP). In approving the transaction, the Media Bureau failed to consider the deal’s cumulative effects on the public interest, Free Press said, citing a recent Department of Justice filing on sharing agreements as additional evidence. The Justice filing “focuses, case-by-case, on the function of SSAs over their form -- asking whether their collective effect harms the public interest rather than whether specific contract provisions independently satisfy the attribution standards,” Free Press said. “Failing to account for such effects would otherwise create opportunities to circumvent the Commission’s rules and their underlying goals."

Chambers Communications sold ABC Oregon affiliates KEZI, Eugene; KDRV, Medford; and KDKF, Klamath Falls; to Heartland Media. The $29 million acquisition expands Heartland’s holdings to four stations, including NBC affiliate WKTV, Utica, N.Y., Heartland said in a press release.

The FCC Media Bureau issued four notices of apparent liability totaling $46,000 against Icicle Broadcasting, for violations of the commission’s public file rule at four Washington state radio stations, according to documents released Wednesday. KOHO-FM Leavenworth (http://bit.ly/1njoqzj), KZAL(FM) Manson, KOZI(AM) Chelan (http://bit.ly/1qciWIY) and KOZI-FM Chelan were missing reports from their public inspection files for various quarters between 2006 and 2012, the NALs said. The violations were “extensive,” meriting upward adjustments on the stations’ proposed fines, the NALs said. The bureau proposed a fine of $10,000 for KOHO and $12,000 each for the other three stations. KOZI(AM), KOZI-FM and KZAL will also have their license renewal applications granted for four years instead of eight, the NALs said.

Nielsen’s fourth quarter 2013 cross platform report highlights the dangers of self-reported behaviors in viewing content on mobile phones, TVB said in a press release (http://bit.ly/1e6Wh8j). “It’s clear that consumers do not accurately assess the time they spend with media.” Nielsen changed its methodology for measuring and reporting mobile video based on consumers’ actual behavior as monitored by device meters,” TVB said. Previously, Nielsen relied on claimed behaviors in consumer surveys, TVB said. “The differences are striking not only in comparison to TV, which, based on metered data, reached 155 hours and 32 minutes of Monthly Time Spent, but in the degree of overstatement that consumers report versus actual device monitoring.” This disparity “calls into question many recent studies that have proclaimed the demise of traditional media based on self-reported approximations of time spent with digital devices,” it said.

Univision will carry Bounce TV as a multicast channel starting next year on its stations in five major markets: New York, Los Angeles, Dallas, Orlando and Phoenix, Univision said in a press release (http://bit.ly/1q7prwK). The agreement builds on the existing distribution deals in San Francisco, Boston, Miami, Denver, Sacramento, Raleigh, N.C., and Tampa, Fla., Univision said. “Bounce TV has now completed multi-year renewals with all their affiliates."

A SESAC motion for summary judgment was denied in the antitrust case brought by broadcasters against the organization formerly called the Society of European Stage Authors and Composers, according to court documents. The performing rights organization represents composers and music publishers. U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer in New York ruled that broadcasters had presented enough evidence for a jury to find that antitrust laws had been violated, though he did reject “plaintiffs’ theories” of a “conspiracy” to inflate license fees “so broad as to embrace all SESAC affiliates,” said the court order. Television Music License Committee is funding the case against SESAC brought by Hoak Media, Meredith and Scripps. TMLC represents “the local television industry in negotiations with ASCAP and BMI,” the other U.S. performing rights organizations, said the release. The broadcasters filed the case in 2009. No trial date has been set, TMLC said. “The court cut through SESAC’s legalistic arguments and found that a jury could find that SESAC’s licensing strategy since 2008 has been to illegally inflate blanket license fees paid by television stations,” said TMLC.

CBS began dynamic ad insertion capabilities for its on-demand programming. The ads will be delivered through Canoe, an advertising technology company, CBS said in a news release Tuesday (http://bit.ly/1fESXXw). The capability “enables CBS to offer advertisers increased audience reach and the flexibility to easily change advertisements at any time within its on-demand programming,” it said. Dynamic ad insertion allows advertisers more opportunities “to reach key demographics as time shifting through VOD, as well as streaming and DVR, continues to grow,” it said. The addition of the tech is expected to further expand the network’s ability to monetize beyond the “live +3 and live +7 day windows,” it said.