Although the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit rejected requested injunctions against the incentive auction by Class A and low-power TV broadcasters, those cases are proceeding on the merits and could still have an effect on the auction proceedings, according to court filings and interviews. Briefing in the cases filed by Free Access & Broadcast Telemedia (FAB), Mako Communications and Videohouse will be complete in May, with court decisions likely being issued during or just after the auction, attorneys have told us. Legal challenges against the FCC's treatment of LPTV would greatly complicate the auction if resolved in the broadcasters' favor, since the current repacking plan doesn't set aside room to protect LPTV, broadcast attorneys told us.
Monty Tayloe
Monty Tayloe, Associate Editor, covers broadcasting and the Federal Communications Commission for Communications Daily. He joined Warren Communications News in 2013, after spending 10 years covering crime and local politics for Virginia regional newspapers and a turn in television as a communications assistant for the PBS NewsHour. He’s a Virginia native who graduated Fork Union Military Academy and the College of William and Mary. You can follow Tayloe on Twitter: @MontyTayloe .
Schurz Communications paid its full $325,000 FCC indecency fine -- the maximum possible -- to lift an Enforcement Bureau hold on the Gray/Schurz transaction, Schurz’s attorney Jack Goodman told us Monday. The bureau “held up” the transaction even though approval of the deal “posed no risk” to the FCC's being able to recover its proposed forfeiture (see 1507010066), Goodman said. The Parent’s Television Council pointed to the proceeding against WDBJ Roanoke, Virginia, and broadcaster reaction to it during a news-media call Monday as evidence that indecency regulation can be effective.
The FCC voted to seek comment on expanding the scope of its video description requirements, with Commissioners Ajit Pai and Mike O'Rielly approving in part and dissenting in part because they said the proposal exceeds the FCC's authority. As expected, the NPRM asks for comment on increasing both the number of hours of described video required (see 1603160057) and the number of pay-TV carriers and broadcasters required to provide the service. That's an overreach, since Congress authorized the FCC only to increase the number of required hours, the Republican commissioners said. "The law is what the law is," Pai said. "It simply doesn't allow the commission to have its cake and eat it too." FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler called the proposal "logical," and Commissioner Mignon Clyburn said it furthers the goal of "universal opportunity and inclusiveness."
The FCC will require state emergency alert system organizations to document their multilingual EAS offerings, said an order approved Wednesday by a 4-1 vote, with Commissioner Mike O'Rielly dissenting in part. The order is a response to “The Katrina Petition,” a 2005 request for multilingual EAS offerings by the Independent Spanish Broadcasters Association, the Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council and the United Church of Christ. “We reaffirm our commitment to promoting the delivery of Emergency Alert System (EAS) alerts to as wide an audience as technically feasible, including to those who communicate in a language other than English or may have a limited understanding of the English language,” the order said.
Though Tuesday evening is the final deadline for broadcasters to enter their spectrum in the incentive auction and has been billed by the Incentive Auction Task Force and Chairman Tom Wheeler as the start of the auction for months, no actual bidding is likely to happen for more than a month, according to statements by Chairman Tom Wheeler and IATF officials. The window for broadcasters to tell the FCC what they'd like to happen to their spectrum in the auction -- called the initial commitment window -- opened Monday at 10 a.m. EDT, and will close Tuesday at 6 p.m. Broadcasters that don't make an initial commitment to sell all their spectrum or relocate to VHF by Tuesday's deadline will be repacked, the IATF has said. To give broadcasters a chance to test the sign-up process, the commission made it available for a preview period starting last week.
The federal government spends close to $1 billion a year on advertising, but very little of that is going to minority-owned broadcasters, said panelists at the FCC Office of Communications Business Opportunities roundtable Wednesday. “Our purpose is not to indict but to understand why federal government ad dollars are not more spread out,” said OCBO Director Thomas Reed.
Broadcasters need to be more aware of their vulnerability to hacking and cyberattacks, said panelists on an NAB webcast on cybersecurity. Broadcasters are considered “critical infrastructure” by the federal government because of their role as “first informers,” and have a responsibility to maintain their ability to transmit emergency alert system messages and information, said Kelly Williams, NAB senior director-engineering and technology policy. It's “vital” that broadcasters prevent attackers from taking over or shutting down “broadcast resources,” said David Simpson, chief of the FCC Public Safety Bureau.
AM broadcasters, engineers, professional sports teams and associations don’t agree on whether the FCC should alter some protections that prevent Class B, C and D radio stations from interfering with the more powerful Class A stations, in comments filed in docket 13-249 in response to a Further NPRM and notice of inquiry on AM revitalization. Dual-band broadcasters also opposed an FCC proposal to require them to surrender one of their licenses, and NAB and the Society of Broadcast Engineers argued the proceedings should focus on reducing the growing interference from unlicensed devices rather than changing power levels in the AM band. It’s “discouraging” that the FCC “seems content to allow the ambient noise levels in the AM broadcast band” to continue to increase and accepts “the deteriorating RF environment as a given,” SBE said.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit’s denial of a requested stay of the incentive auction by Class A broadcasters Fifth Street, Videohouse and WMTM makes it uncertain what sort of relief the court ultimately will be able to grant if the broadcasters prevail in their case, broadcast industry officials told us. Oral argument in the case is May 5, making it likely bidding in the incentive auction will be underway by the time the court issues a decision, according to the timelines most recently offered up by the FCC Incentive Auction Task Force. “No one knows” how the court could make the stations whole if it decides in the broadcasters' favor after the auction has begun, Videohouse CEO Ron Bruno said in an interview.
Nexstar’s proposed deal to buy Media General would create an overly large broadcaster with too much power in retransmission consent negotiations and disregards FCC rules for joint sales agreements, said petitions against the transaction filed in docket 16-57 by several public interest groups, the American Cable Association, Dish Network, ITTA and Cox Communications. The public interest groups’ petition is framed as a petition to deny the proposed sale. ACA, Dish and ITTA is styled as a petition “to deny or impose conditions” and the Cox filing is a “petition for conditions.”