Unanimous Votes Expected for Nielsen, LPTV Meeting Items
Two broadcast items set for the FCC’s open meeting Thursday are seen as likely to be unanimously approved, industry and FCC officials told us. The order and NPRM on eliminating outdated analog rules for low-power television and the draft NPRM on updating references in the FCC rules to a now defunct Nielsen publication seek comment on relatively minor shifts, said BakerHostetler broadcast attorney Dan Kirkpatrick.
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The Nielsen NPRM seeks comment on updating FCC rules that refer to Nielsen’s Station Index Directory, which the company will no longer publish. The agency has used the directory to determine a given station’s market for MVPD carriage purposes, and the NPRM tentatively concludes the agency should shift to using another Nielsen publication, the Local TV Report. It also seeks comment on which Local TV Report should be used, whether there's any difference in the information provided by the two publications, and whether any other rules need to be updated because of the change.
Nielsen said it supports the FCC’s conclusions. In meetings with aides to Commissioner Nathan Simington and Commissioner Geoffrey Starks, “I expressed Nielsen’s support for the draft NPRM,” said an ex parte filing Friday, the sole filing posted in docket 22-239 since the draft item was announced. It’s possible some broadcasters could use the forum provided by the item to urge the FCC to move away from Nielsen for determining station markets, attorneys said. The LPTV Broadcaster’s Association made such arguments to the FCC (see 2206220070). Any actual movement on that sort of topic would require another proceeding, Kirkpatrick said.
An order and NPRM on updating rules for LPTV stations and translators would delete or revise references to analog Part 74 rules that have been invalidated by the transition to digital, said the draft version. The NPRM would seek comment on other ministerial rule changes, such as whether to amend FCC rules to assign LPTV/translator stations a three-letter call sign, or whether to modify over-the-air identification requirements to permit use of station PSIP (program and system information protocol) short channel names. “The vast majority (97%) of LPTV/translator stations completed their transition and are now operating in digital,” said the draft item. “Thus, analog television is now a legacy service.” No ex parte filings on the item appear in the electronic comment filing system. “Sometimes you have to clean up the rules,” said Fletcher Heald broadcast attorney Anne Crump.