The FCC Media Bureau rejected a complaint by seven related broadcasters claiming that DirecTV failed to negotiate the retransmission consent agreements in good faith. While a party in a retrans negotiation must give an explanation for rejecting the other party's offer, it's not required to justify that explanation with documents or evidence, the bureau said in its order issued Friday. Blackhawk Broadcasting, Bristlecone Broadcasting, Broadcasting Licenses Limited Partnership, Eagle Creek Broadcasting of Laredo, Mountain Licenses, Northwest Broadcasting and Stainless Broadcasting filed a complaint in June in which they asked the FCC to step into the retrans negotiations. They alleged that DirecTV wasn't negotiating in good faith and asked the agency to force it to show numbers to back up its estimations of the market value of the group's signals (see 1506120021).

The FCC should launch a rulemaking based on the efforts of the Downloadable Security Technology Advisory Committee, TiVo said in a meeting Tuesday with Media Bureau Chief Bill Lake, FCC Chief Technology Officer Scott Jordan, aides to Chairman Tom Wheeler, and Media Bureau staff, said an ex parte filing posted Thursday in docket 15-64. The FCC should also issue a clarification that Charter Communications must continue to provide and support CableCARDs until “post-CableCARD successor solutions that enable retail competition are widely deployed and consumers no longer need or desire to use CableCARDs,” TiVo said. “The very predicate for a functioning retail market is that consumers and manufacturers have certainty that navigation devices purchased at retail will continue to be able to receive the cable signals that consumers have bought.”

Rovi released its Music Discovery Platform that combines three of the company's products to enhance the listening experience, it said in a news release Wednesday. The platform is comprised of Rovi's Search, Recommendations and Conversation Services tools and "enables Rovi customers to give listeners instant access to songs, albums, suggested tracks, playlists and artist information," said Rovi. The platform also allows for a "fluent, error-tolerant voice solution" for music search and discovery, it said.

The FCC Media Bureau denied NCTA’s request for an extension of the Nov. 9 deadline for reply comments on the Downloadable Security Technology Advisory Committee’s report, in an order released Wednesday. NCTA had asked for more time so it to respond to what it said are changes of the position of Public Knowledge and the Consumer Video Choice Coalition from what is represented in the report (see 1510280070). Those changes are shown by an Oct. 20 ex parte filing by Public Knowledge, NCTA said. The ex parte filing doesn’t justify changing the comment date, the bureau said. “Even after the filing of the October 20 Ex Parte interested parties have twenty days before the reply comment deadline to prepare their filing." The denial is “consistent with the Commission’s policy that ‘extensions of time shall not be routinely granted,’" the bureau said.

The CPB said it believes its Office of Inspector General’s limited audit of CPB Radio Community Service Grants expenditures in FY 2014 at 10 CPB stations showed that “while there were no across-the-board findings that would indicate a systemic problem, there is room for improvement at every station.” The CPB OIG’s audit report on the 10 stations, issued in late September, said the stations generally complied with Communications Act requirements on financial reporting and other activities, but eight didn’t meet all requirements. The OIG also found limited cases in which the stations didn’t meet CPB accounting rules. The audited stations included five university-run stations and five community stations. Seven of the stations were solely radio entities, while three were joint TV-radio stations -- KCND(FM) Bismarck, North Dakota, KEDT(FM) Corpus Christi and WOUB(FM) Athens, Ohio. Nine of the 10 stations have already corrected or “initiated actions to bring their stations into compliance” with the Communications Act and CPB requirements, CPB said in a Friday news release.

The FCC Media Bureau extended the reply comment deadline for its NPRM on good-faith negotiations in retransmission consent to Jan. 14, it said in an order released Friday. An extension was requested by NAB and several network affiliate organizations, which all said the original deadline of Dec. 31 would make it difficult for them to participate in the incentive auction. The American Television Alliance (see 1510260025) argued against the extension, but the bureau said it granted it in part “given the importance of the issues in this proceeding, and in light of the intervening holidays.” Telco interests also had opposed the delay (see 1510280047).

The FCC will make it easier for the blind and visually impaired to access video programming on multiple devices, at its Nov. 19 meeting, said FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler in a blog post Thursday. Speaking of a second report and order, on reconsideration, and second Further NPRM on accessibility of user interfaces (see 1510290071), Wheeler said the commission's “new rules would require covered manufacturers and [multichannel video programming distributors] to inform consumers about which accessible devices and features are available and how to use them.” The FCC will also “take additional steps to ensure that consumers who are deaf and hard of hearing can more easily activate closed captioning features,” he said.

QVC launched an app for Apple TV that allows customers to buy products from the device with a remote control click. A "speed buy" button shown on screen during programming will allow registered customers to view product details and buy the showcased item with a click or tap of a finger, without having to enter credit card and shipping information, said QVC. Customers can also browse through the product carousel at the bottom of the screen to view more details or buy items previously featured on air. The app will be available with the release of Apple TV Friday in the U.S. and in the U.K. and Germany in coming weeks, said QVC.

Incompas and NTCA efforts to influence the dialogue in retransmission consent reform have been "empty" and lacking any real evidence of a failing video market, NAB said in an FCC filing posted Thursday in docket 15-216. It responded to a joint Incompas/NTCA survey released earlier this month supposedly showing deep problems in the video market (see 1510200049). NAB said the survey of Incompas and NTCA members was "far from scientific" and overflowing with flaws, "starting with the fact that it was obviously conducted to produce a policy-driven outcome." The language used in the survey results seems to point to the survey using particularly loaded language, and it didn't include questions that would have undermined a narrative that blames broadcasters, NAB said. The questions not asked include inquiring about profitability of voice and broadband services, about broadband subscriber trends, and about how ratings play into programmer payments. While the survey asked about retrans negotiations, NAB said, "apparently no such questions were asked about ... negotiations with non-broadcast programmers." Nor did the survey give hard data about retransmission fees, the group said: "There is a far cry from describing a rate increase as '100%' versus detailing the actual figures," which could be pennies. NAB also criticized Incompas and NTCA's argument that retrans fees hurt broadband adoption rates, because "causation is tenuous, to say the least, especially consider how many other costs are baked into a consumer's pay TV bill ... including but certainly not limited to the cost of nonbroadcast programming and the sky-rocketing costs to lease or buy mandatory in-home equipment."

The FCC should grant an NAB petition for waivers of prior express written consent rules designed to fight telemarketing, said NCTA and a coalition of broadcasters that includes Gray, Mission and Nexstar, in docket 02-278. Broadcasters send automated text messages for breaking news, weather, and traffic alerts that could be affected by the rules, the broadcaster filing said. It’s arbitrary and capricious to grant such waivers only to the Coalition of Mobile Engagement Providers and Direct Marketing Association, NCTA and the broadcasters said. The commission should grant the petitions because of “confusion regarding the written consent requirements, and exposure to “pointless and expensive class action litigation,” NCTA said.