Sinclair Broadcast and Nashville PBS have launched a virtual ATSC 3.0 channel on WNPT-VC Nashville, allowing the PBS station to offer viewers access to ATSC 3.0 capabilities without requiring the station to commit the resources necessary to broadcast an ATSC 3.0 signal. “Viewers with NEXTGEN TVs can view and select WNPT-VC in their programming guide and access the channel seamlessly over the internet,” said a joint release from Sinclair, Nashville PBS and America’s Public Television Stations. The programming on WNPT-VC mirrors that of Nashville PBS’ main channel, “while providing enhanced accessibility for those with NEXTGEN-enabled televisions,” the release said. Sinclair and APTS have committed to launching such virtual channels for APTS member stations in markets where Sinclair has deployed ATSC 3.0, but the public station hasn’t. The Nashville launch is the program’s second; the first debuted in Nebraska in October. Noncommercial educational stations have faced difficulties deploying 3.0 signals because of a lack of capacity in their markets. The transition requires stations to host the content of other stations, and commercial stations have tended to pair with other commercial stations (see 2203300052). “As we bring our trusted educational, cultural and civic programming into the ATSC 3.0 ecosystem, we are excited to enhance the viewer experience and expand the reach of public television in Middle Tennessee,” said Becky Magura, CEO of Nashville PBS, in the release.

President-elect Donald Trump and ABC agreed to a $15 million settlement in Trump’s defamation lawsuit against the network over comments anchor George Stephanopoulos made during a March 10 broadcast about a jury verdict on sexual assault allegations that journalist E. Jean Carroll brought against Trump. The U.S. District Court for Southern Florida issued an order closing the defamation case Monday. ABC will pay $15 million as a contribution to the foundation responsible for constructing Trump’s presidential library, the settlement agreement said. The network must also attach a note to an article on ABC's site stating that ABC News and Stephanopoulos regret the anchor's statements. Under the settlement, the network also agreed to pay $1 million for Trump’s legal costs. The defamation complaint was based on a Stephanopoulos interview with Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., on his Sunday ABC television show. Stephanopoulos repeatedly said during the interview that multiple juries found Trump liable for raping Carroll. In 2023, a federal jury found Trump liable for sexually assaulting Carroll but not for raping her. Generally, it is considered difficult for public officials to win defamation cases, because under U.S. Supreme Court precedent it requires proof that the journalist's statement was made with malice. As such, the bar for bringing such a case is “high” but not “insurmountable,” said Wilkinson Barker broadcast attorney David Oxenford in a blog post about a defamation case against Fox. Some see ABC’s settlement as connected to Trump’s impending presidency and his history of threats against the network. Trump has repeatedly threatened the network’s “license” (see 2409230022) and a conservative group has filed an FCC complaint against the network over its hosting of a 2024 presidential debate. ABC’s decision to settle the case instead of fighting it could “increase the possibility of additional lawsuits -- or threats of lawsuits -- from government officials who probably couldn’t actually win a defamation lawsuit because of the strong First Amendment protections that exist when speaking about those public officials or public figures generally,” said Freedom Forum First Amendment specialist Kevin Goldberg in an interview Monday. ABC didn’t comment.

The FCC’s Consolidated Data Base System’s public access search function will be discontinued Jan. 2, the Media Bureau said in a public notice in Monday’s Daily Digest. “The vast majority of all CDBS filed applications and associated attachments have been transferred to LMS [Licensing and Management System], and may be viewed using the LMS search function,” the PN said. “Persons seeking information regarding broadcast applications filed in either LMS or in CDBS should search LMS.”

Standard General’s lawsuit and conspiracy accusations against the FCC, Dish, Byron Allen, and several unions and public interest groups ignore rules protecting free speech and the conduct of government officials, said the defendants in a number of reply filings Tuesday, calling for the case to be dismissed (see 2409240017). Standard's lawsuit accuses those parties of being part of a racially motivated conspiracy to sink its acquisition of Tegna. “An agency’s conduct and oversight of an administrative proceeding is not a ‘conspiracy’ with parties who make submissions in that proceeding in accordance with agency procedures,” the FCC and Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said in a filing. “A ruling allowing this lawsuit to proceed would deter protected speech, discouraging vocal citizens, interest groups, and lobbyists everywhere,” said a filing from attorney David Goodfriend, who represented several unions opposing the failed Standard/Tegna deal. The defendants “have a constitutional right to donate to politicians and lobby the government, and no amount of rhetoric can support imposing a money judgment against them for engaging in protected speech,” said Allen Media. Dish and the FCC also argued that Standard’s case was improper because a hearing designation order isn’t a final agency action. Standard’s arguments that it needs the court to act to protect the FCC and others from conspiring against its future transactions should also be discarded because the agency is about to come under new leadership, the FCC said. The agency also dismissed Standard’s accusations of racial prejudice. “The allegations in the Amended Complaint are entirely consistent with the conclusion that the administrative process involved, not racial discrimination, but consideration of public interest factors submitted by interested parties,” the FCC said. “There is no ‘conspiracy’ exception to the First Amendment,” said Allen Media.

The prospects for achieving broadcast ownership deregulation are “better than at any point in the recent past” under the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump, said Nexstar CEO Perry Sook in a Q&A during the UBS Global Communications Conference. Sook said Monday he expects a congressional effort will scrap the 39% broadcast ownership cap and implement internal FCC changes that will ease rules on broadcasters within the first six months of the new administration. Incoming FCC head and current Commissioner Brendan Carr “gets it,” Sook said. “We've been in contact with him, and will continue to be in close contact.” Sook said that Carr’s repeated statements on taking away broadcast licenses and holding broadcasters to a public interest standard are aimed at NBC, CBS and ABC. “I think there is some animus or frustration with some of the networks for some of their content decisions.” However, Sook downplayed the threat. “FCC chairmen can't really unilaterally revoke licenses,” he said. “Now you can use your pulpit to commence hearings ... and ... make people's lives more expensive and more difficult, but unilaterally removing licenses is not really within the cards.” Along with Carr, Sook said Nexstar discussed deregulation with Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La. Unlike previous pushes to change the national cap, the broadcast TV groups support completely removing it this time, Sook said. “The industry itself is united around the need and not divided as to what the right number is.” Carr could spur TV market consolidation simply by signaling that waivers allowing top-four duopolies would be more liberally granted, Sook said, adding it’s a move he could make without a majority at the commission. Sook is also looking to Carr to eliminate the simulcast requirement for the ATSC 3.0 transition and establish a date certain to end ATSC 1.0. “We are spending time working with both the legislative and the executive branch to try and affect these changes.”

The FCC’s 2024 foreign-sponsored content rules violate the First Amendment and the Administrative Procedure Act and are outside the FCC’s authority over sponsorship ID, NAB said in an initial brief filed Tuesday in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit (see 2409160043). NAB successfully challenged the 2021 version of those rules, leading to the additional requirement in 2024 that broadcasters and entities leasing programming time from them certify that foreign governments aren't sponsoring lessees. The newer rules “dramatically expanded” the requirement by redefining a lease of airtime to include non-candidate political advertising and public service announcements, NAB said. The order violates the First Amendment by imposing content-based restrictions on protected speech, it said. The 2024 rules “radically increase the burdens on lessees, advertisers, and broadcasters by sweeping in hundreds of thousands of new transactions, including advertising spots, under the foreign-sponsor identification regime,” NAB said. That expansion isn’t a logical outgrowth of the FCC’s rulemaking process, which had sought comment only upon a request from broadcasters for a clarification on the length of ads excluded from the 2021 rules, NAB said. “The APA is not satisfied by a rumor mill,” said the brief. The FCC “still has no evidence of any foreign governmental sponsorship of any form of advertising, including political advertising,” NAB said. That is why the 2021 rules excluded “traditional, short-form advertising” from the requirements, “and the Commission never explained why its analysis changed.”

The FCC is seeking comment on NAB’s request for a retroactive waiver of the agency’s audible crawl rule while the comment period on the association's previous request for an extension of a waiver of the same rule remains open, said a public notice Friday. The FCC’s rule requiring aural description of visual, non-textual emergency information, such as radar maps, has been repeatedly waived since 2015, but the most recent waiver lapsed Nov. 26. NAB had already requested an extension by then, but comments on that request aren’t closed until Jan. 9, so the trade group last week asked the FCC to issue a retroactive temporary waiver until the agency decides on issuing a longer one (see 2411290007). Comments on the retroactive waiver are due Dec.13, replies Dec. 18, in docket 12-107, Friday’s PN said. Without the retroactive waiver, many broadcasters have ceased using radar maps to avoid violating the aural description requirement, NAB told the FCC. NAB has maintained that automated audio description of a visual graphic isn’t currently technologically feasible.

FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr, the incoming chair, suggested Friday the agency could open a proceeding on the definition of the broadcaster public interest requirement and that he's open to broadcast ownership deregulation. In an interview with CNBC Friday, Carr said broadcasters “have to operate in the public interest, and ... it's probably appropriate for the FCC to take a fresh look at what that requirement looks like.” He added, “There is something different about broadcasters and say, podcasters, where you have to operate in a public interest,” Carr said. “So right now, all I'm saying is maybe we should start a rulemaking to take a look at what that means.” Carr also said he wants a fresh look at “a whole set of ownership issues” and ensuring “we get investment in local news.” He reiterated that revocation of broadcaster licenses for not meeting the public interest is “on the table,” though he also said that the law prevents the FCC from engaging in censorship. “I don't want to be the speech police.”

The FCC under presumed next Chairman Brendan Carr will scrutinize the Skydance/Paramount deal but also remove restrictions on broadcast ownership and “rebalance the scales in favor of business,” former FCC aide Adonis Hoffman wrote in a blog post for The Media Institute Wednesday. Although the FCC would “normally” review only the transfer of broadcast licenses connected with Paramount/Skydance, Hoffman said Paramount has issues with audience measurement and minority shareholders questioning the deal and that could merit the FCC conducting a more thorough examination. A complaint filed against CBS about editing a 60 Minutes interview “is unlikely to pass legal muster” but is also likely to lead Carr to look more closely at the transaction, Hoffman said. Though Hoffman expects scrutiny of the Paramount deal, the agency also will be friendlier to other broadcast acquisitions. “The new FCC promises to be much less hostile to companies seeking to consolidate,” he wrote. “That alone should encourage the mergers and acquisitions deals that have been sitting on the sidelines awaiting a more favorable regulatory environment.” He said Carr is likely to “reconfigure the vast amount of power that FCC bureaus now have and to centralize that decision-making in the office of the chairman.” That will make it more difficult for bureaus to levy fines and derail deals, Hoffman said, adding Carr will also likely streamline or sideline the agency’s advisory committees. Carr’s FCC “can be expected to function more like an activist SEC,” with regulations always changing to reflect shifting market dynamics. “Having served at the FCC as a legal adviser, Commissioner and now Chairman Carr has the institutional credibility to be politically courageous in consolidating power and effecting change.”

Several large TV station groups stopped displaying weather radar maps because the FCC hasn’t granted an extension of the audible crawl waiver, NAB said in an ex parte filing posted Friday. The audible crawl rule requires that broadcasters provide an aural description of visual, non-textual emergency information like moving radar maps, but the FCC has repeatedly and continuously waived it since 2015 because broadcasters maintained compliance isn’t technologically possible. "The technology for automated audio description of a dynamic image simply does not yet exist to permit broadcasters to effectively and efficiently abide by the non-textual component of the Audible Crawl Rule,” NAB said in a previous filing requesting an extension of the waiver The FCC is seeking comment on granting another extension (see 2411250059) but didn’t temporarily extend the waiver that expired Tuesday to include the comment period as it has in similar circumstances. “Because compliance with the existing rule remains impossible, absent a waiver, many broadcasters will stop providing radar maps and other visual, non-textual emergency information, due to concerns about potential Commission enforcement,” NAB said. In Friday’s filing, NAB asked that the FCC grant an expedited, brief and retroactive extension of the waiver while the agency considers its request for a longer extension. The comment period for the longer extension closes Jan. 9. The American Council for the Blind backs the expedited extension request, NAB said. “There is no doubt that the Commission’s inaction regarding a waiver extension will harm the public,” NAB said. “It will lead to diminished useful information about emergencies for all Americans, including deaf and hard of hearing individuals who may rely on the visual emergency information conveyed by radar maps and similar images.” As part of the current extension request, NAB has also asked that the FCC change the rule to specify "that compliance is fulfilled if a station provides textual crawls that provide emergency information duplicative or equivalent to the information conveyed by the visual image.”