The FCC should take note of reports that DOJ is scrutinizing the proposed Standard General/Tegna deal, and examine “the coordinated efforts of a private equity fund and a hedge fund to transfer assets from one to the other, with the sole purpose of raising prices for their mutual benefit,” said a joint filing posted Monday in docket 22-162 from Common Cause, Public Knowledge, the United Church of Christ Media Justice Ministry, and two sectors of the Communications Workers of America. The groups argue that, if approved, the deal would become “a template” for other private equity entities and encourage collusive behavior, the groups said. The retrans price increases created from the deal’s after-acquired clauses “would not be the result of bona fide competition, but would simply be an artifact of an intentional manipulation of the transaction process by two interrelated parties with a shared interest in the incremental revenue,” said the filing.

A foreign-ownership request for Standard General’s proposed $8.6 billion buy of Tegna was OK'd by the Committee for the Assessment of Foreign Participation in the U.S. Telecom Services Sector, said an NTIA letter posted in docket 22-162 Friday. The committee, sometimes called Team Telecom, "has no recommendation at this time to the Commission approving the application and no objection to the Commission granting it,” said the letter. The foreign-ownership request was for Teton Parent, a subsidiary of Apollo Global Management, which owns deal participant Cox Media Group and is separately a financier of the transaction. Teton Parent sought permission to be up to 100% foreign owned, but the original petition for declaratory ruling also said 50% of the equity of Standard General is controlled through investment funds in the Cayman Islands and the British Virgin Islands, and Apollo’s nonvoting shares in Tegna after the deal is concluded will mean Tegna will be 49.16% foreign owned.

The FCC should require regulatees to disclose equal opportunity employment statistics and publish them in a digital portal, said a group of investors who said they have “collective assets under management or advisement of approximately $266 billion,” in an ex parte letter posted in docket 19-177 Friday. The signatories include Arjuna Capital, New York State Common Retirement Fund, Boston Trust Walden and Sisters of the Precious Blood. The request echoes recent filings from a collection of diversity groups (see 2208260045). “We believe public release of EEO-1 data improves transparency for investors and allows market participants to assess whether companies stand by their public commitments to pursue diversity, equity and inclusion,” said the letter. The FCC “is responsible for ensuring that companies it regulates operate optimally for consumers and the public,” the letter said. “Mandatory EEO-1 data disclosures will foster best practices that ultimately promote stronger performance for investors.”

Comments are due Dec. 19, replies Jan. 3, on proposals to update the FCC’s foreign-sponsored content rules (see 2210060068), according to a notice for Thursday's Federal Register. The proposed rule changes follow a U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit decision that struck down a requirement to check federal databases. Updates would include requiring broadcasters and programming lessees to certify that programming deals aren’t sponsored by foreign governments. A bill that would explicitly grant the FCC the authority to require the federal database checks has also been filed in Congress (see 2211030057).

Standard General founder Soohyung Kim and CEO Deborah McDermott met with FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, Commissioners Brendan Carr and Nathan Simington, and Media Bureau Chief Holly Saurer last week to push for approval of the company’s proposed buy of Tegna, said an ex parte filing posted Wednesday in docket 22-162. “There is nothing in the record that would justify failure to promptly approve the transaction,” said the filing. Meanwhile, the Communications Workers of America's NewsGuild and National Association of Broadcast Engineers and Technicians sectors repeated their calls for a hearing in their own ex parte filing. Differences in interpretation between the unions and the broadcasters over Standard’s presentations to lenders “is precisely the kind of substantial and material question of fact that should be designated for a hearing,” said the unions. Documents submitted into the record by the broadcasters “only seem to confirm” the unions’ arguments “that post-closing, station-level job cuts are an integral feature of the proposed transaction, and that the Applicants have not been forthcoming about their intentions,” said the CWA groups. “Mr. Kim and Ms. McDermott reiterated that they place a high value on local news operations and staff and that they have no intention of reducing either following the transaction,” said Standard’s filing.

The FCC should consider developments in the streaming marketplace, investigate filings in the geotargeted radio proceeding and prioritize ATSC 3.0, NAB said in meetings with aides to Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and Commissioner Brendan Carr last week, per an ex parte filing posted in docket 20-401 Tuesday. The FCC should gauge the evolution of the streaming market and “determine whether those events affect the Commission’s calculus in determining whether virtual MVPDs (vMVPDs) should be deemed to be MVPDs,” said NAB. Investigate the geotargeted radio filings “given the apparent fraud in the record,” a reference to multiple ex parte filings from broadcasters supporting Zonecasting that were later retracted, it said. “No licensee should be represented without its consent or without knowing that its representative has a direct financial interest in the outcome of the proceeding,” NAB said, asking the agency to remove those filings from the record and “swiftly take other appropriate action so as to not unfairly prejudice its deliberations.” Geotargeted radio company GeoBroadcast Solutions is using those filings “to manufacture a schism within the radio industry, claiming falsely that they demonstrate that larger broadcast groups are not on the same page with smaller ones,” NAB said. GBS didn’t comment. On 3.0. “a relatively straightforward proceeding to address the licensing of multicast streams hosted temporarily on other stations has been pending for approximately two years,” NAB said. “Expeditious resolution of this matter, as well as other pending issues, are critical to keeping the transition moving forward.”

Sinclair Broadcast signed a memo of understanding with Hyundai Mobis to develop and implement ATSC 3.0-enabled automotive business models in Korea and the U.S. The collaboration expands Sinclair’s coordination with the Korean market and the commitment to bring mobile services to the U.S., they said. Joint efforts will include geotargeting capabilities, enhanced GPS, software updates, in-vehicle entertainment, real-time emergency information and other public services, the companies said. Separately, Sinclair will demonstrate in the coming months an integrated automotive entertainment platform including music, talk radio and local television at a local Hyundai dealership in Baltimore, delivered through ATSC 3.0-enabled spectrum from local broadcast station WNUV-TV, it said.

The FCC’s proceeding on geotargeted radio “presents a range of complicated issues,” said Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel in a reply letter to two Democratic senators posted Monday. The FCC “takes seriously our role protecting against harmful interference and ensuring access to essential public safety information,” said the letter to Connecticut's Richard Blumenthal and Maryland's Ben Cardin. The two had sent a letter to the FCC raising concerns about the proceeding. “Before moving forward, the Commission will carefully review the potential impact of this technology, including whether or not our existing rules provide protections that would apply to this technology,” Rosenworcel said.

Changes to improve the accessibility and clarity of emergency alert system messages will take effect Dec. 12, said a notice for Thursday's Federal Register. The rule prioritizes internet-based common alerting protocol versions of EAS, which provide more fulsome alert text (see 2209290017).

An FCC order allowing broadcasters to use computer models to verify the pattern of FM directional antennas (see 2205190023) takes effect Thursday, said a Federal Register notice released Wednesday. OMB approved revisions to the information collection requirement in the item, said the notice. Previously, the agency allowed only the use of full-size or scale models to verify such patterns for FM.