The Media Bureau on Tuesday granted a waiver of the top four prohibition to allow Gray Media to buy Fox affiliate KXLT-TV Rochester, Minnesota, even though it already owns NBC affiliate KTTC-TV Rochester in the same market, said a letter from Video Division Chief Barbara Kreisman. While FCC rules have allowed for top four waivers on a case-by-case basis for several years, they have rarely been granted. “Today’s action represents the first FCC approval of a new combination of two full-power, top-four ranked, same-market television stations in over five years,” said Gray in a news release. “Importantly, the FCC’s Media Bureau’s grant and written decision come just two months after the parties applied for approval of the transaction, which appears to represent the shortest processing time for a duopoly waiver in Commission history.” Gray’s proposed purchase of a top four combo in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, sat stalled at the FCC for 11 months before being abruptly granted in 2019, shortly after the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against the agency’s 2014 quadrennial review order (see 1909250064).

NAB’s call for an ATSC 3.0 tuner mandate (see 2502260051) is “highly concerning” and a reversal of its stance in a 2017 joint petition with CTA and others, which requested FCC authorization of the new standard, CTA said in a meeting last week with aides to Commissioner Nathan Simington, according to an ex parte filing posted Tuesday. “The key element” of that 2017 joint petition “was the voluntary nature of the transition,” CTA said, adding that it “strongly believes the transition to ATSC 3.0 must remain voluntary and market-based, not guided by government mandates.”

The FCC and NAB disagreed in court filings this week about how last week’s 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling upholding the FCC’s forfeiture order against Gray Media applies to the broadcaster challenge of the 2018 quadrennial review order in the 8th Circuit. Oral argument in that case is set for March 19. The 11th Circuit ruled against Gray, saying Note 11 -- an FCC rule against broadcasters swapping network affiliation to get around ownership limits -- doesn’t violate the Communications Act or the First Amendment (see 2503070004. The 8th Circuit petitioners, which include Zimmer Radio, Nexstar, NAB, Beasley Media and Tri-State Communications, have made similar arguments against Note 11 in their filing opposing the 2018 QR, which expanded the reach of the rule to include low-power stations and multicast streams.

Broadcast ownership rules are helping strangle local news and must go, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said in an interview last week on Nexstar's NewsNation. "We need to let some of these broadcasters get to scale so they can hire the local reporters," Carr said. Asked about regulating Big Tech, he said the agency is "taking a look at a lot of different options," including reform of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. The FCC could also play a role in "bring[ing] some greater transparency" to Big Tech, Carr added.

The full FCC approved two notices of apparent liability against Florida pirate broadcasters proposing a total of just more than $385,000 in penalties, according to NALs and a release issued Friday. The NALs were each approved 3-1, with Commissioner Nathan Simington dissenting. Simington said in September that he will dissent from all proceedings involving monetary forfeitures until the FCC responds to the U.S. Supreme Court’s SEC v. Jarkesy decision (see 2409060054). The agency proposed penalties of $325,322 for Abdias Datis for operating an unauthorized station in Miami and $60,000 against Aaron Streeter over a station in Miami Gardens. The agency previously approved a $120,000 forfeiture against Datis in September for operating a station in Miami under the same name, “Unique FM.” FCC agents found the station operating in November 2024 and as recently as last month (see 2409260026). The FCC doesn’t have the authority to collect forfeitures on its own and relies on local U.S. attorneys to pursue collection. Streeter was operating a station called “Da Pound FM” that was found by FCC agents in March 2024, the release said. Streeter told the FCC then he would cease broadcasting but was found doing so again last month. “The FCC will not tolerate unlicensed radio broadcasting. It’s that simple,” said FCC Chairman Brendan Carr in the release. “Licensed radio stations have invested time and money into their operations and are relied on by the listening public for news, entertainment, and even lifesaving warnings. Pirate operations break the law and get in the way of these important services.”

FCC Administrative Law Judge Jane Halprin should rule that low-power radio and TV station owner Antonio Cesar Guel lacks the character to hold an FCC license and order him to cease and desist from “operating, controlling, managing or providing any assistance” to any FCC-licensed station, said the Enforcement Bureau in filings in the hearing proceeding (docket 23-267) posted this week. “The preponderance of the evidence” shows that Guel engaged in a sham transfer of his stations to his 17-year-old niece, falsely claimed to be an American citizen repeatedly, and made multiple false statements to the agency for years, even during the current ALJ proceeding, the EB said. Guel has also admitted to many, but not all, of the allegations against him and unsuccessfully sought a summary judgment order to end the proceeding. In depositions and testimony during the hearing proceeding, Guel, his niece and his daughter Maria Guel gave multiple conflicting statements about Antonio Guel’s relationship and level of control of multiple companies and licensees, including Mekaddesh Group Corporation, the Hispanic Family Christian Network and the Hispanic Christian Community Network. All those entities operate from the same address. “Given Mr. Guel’s pattern of brazen material misrepresentations to the Commission,” a cease and desist order “is not only legally authorized, it is necessary,” the EB said. The bureau's filings also ask Halprin to impose a forfeiture against Guel.

FCC Chairman Brendan Carr sent a warning Monday to iHeartMedia about compliance with agency payola rules and gave the broadcaster 10 days to submit information on its deals with artists related to an upcoming concert, according to a letter to CEO Robert Pittman. “To the extent that radio industry executives believe that the FCC has looked the other way on ‘payola’ violations in recent years, I assure you that this FCC will not be doing that,” Carr wrote. The FCC issued an enforcement advisory on payola earlier this month (see 2502060054). The letter focused on the upcoming May 3 iHeartCountry Festival in Austin. “It would be particularly concerning to me, if on the heels of the FCC's Enforcement Advisory, iHeart is proceeding in a manner that does not comply with federal ‘payola' requirements.” Carr said he wants to know if iHeart is “secretly forcing” musicians to choose between being compensated for playing the festival or receiving less favorable airplay. The letter gave iHeart 10 days to inform the FCC about the artists playing the concert, their typical compensation, their compensation for playing iHeart’s event, and whether those deals involve airplay. It also asked for information on iHeart's payola policy, whether it shared the FCC enforcement advisory with stations, and any specific training given to employees at the festival on FCC rules.

Oral argument in NAB’s challenge of the FCC’s foreign-sponsored content rules is scheduled for April 7, said a clerk’s order Friday in docket 24-1296 at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. NAB has argued that the FCC didn’t give proper notice that the rules would apply to all non-candidate political advertising, while the FCC under former Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said the rules were properly imposed and authorized by Congress. As a commissioner, current Chairman Brendan Carr dissented in part from the rules, also arguing that the agency didn’t give broadcasters enough notice. When a Carr-opposed order from the Rosenworcel administration was the subject of oral argument in the 5th Circuit earlier this month, the FCC declined to defend portions of it (see 2502040061).

The FCC and FTC should improve the audience measurement of Spanish-language broadcasters, a host of such broadcasters told FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez and FTC Commissioner Alvaro Bedoya at a roundtable Wednesday at Florida International University. Gomez and Bedoya said they would seek to “continue the conversation” and hold further roundtables on the issue. “This sounds like something industry needs to sit and figure out,” Gomez said. Asked about the chances of the FTC intervening, Bedoya said it would be important to show his Republican colleagues that the matter involves market failure and is not related to diversity, equity and inclusion. “I’m going to be very blunt: That brand -- DEI -- is not in favor right now. This is not about that.” Nielsen uses overly small sample sizes to determine audiences for Spanish-language broadcasters, leading to inaccurate measurements and fluctuating ratings, the broadcasters said. Nielsen didn’t immediately comment and didn’t attend the panel, though Bedoya said the company was invited. Two households leaving a ratings panel can cause a station’s ratings to be cut in half, said Entravision Chief Governmental Affairs Officer Marcelo Gaete. “Six thousand Latinos are deciding the fate of 50 million,” said Stephanie Valencia, owner of the Latino Media Network. The broadcasters mentioned Nielsen’s lack of competition as the reason the company hasn't improved how it handles Spanish-language broadcasting. “They need to have skin in the game,” Gaete said. Nielsen is “an unregulated monopoly,” said Raul Alarcon, CEO of Spanish Broadcasting System.

Addressing the FCC’s recent enforcement actions against broadcast networks, former Democratic FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said Wednesday that the commission should move quickly on current Chairman Brendan Carr’s proposal for a proceeding on the meaning of the FCC’s public interest standard (see 2412060067) so that boundaries are clear. In an article for the Brookings Institution, Wheeler said using “ill-defined government policy as a tool of political coercion is something that is historically associated with authoritarian governments.” The public interest proceeding would not only help eliminate the vagueness that plagues the chairman’s current interpretation, but it would also identify how he would enforce the rules when applied to broadcasters "that are much more one-sided in their support of [President Donald Trump's] policies,” Wheeler said. The proceeding should include a proposed definition from Carr, followed by an open public debate and an FCC vote, he said. The FCC chair’s power "to interpret the vague public interest doctrine invites its politicization,” he said. “Simply rattling the chairman’s saber can have a chilling effect on editorial and business decisions.”