Four more radio broadcasters won’t face monetary penalties after coming forward about political file violations, in consent decrees Thursday. The disclosures in license renewal applications by North Shore Broadcasting, W & V Broadcasting, Cookeville Communications and Center Hill Broadcasting “combined with the exceptional circumstances brought about by the pandemic present a unique situation,” said the FCC Media Bureau. Each group disclosed on applications it couldn't certify its station complied. The broadcasters will be required to adopt a compliance plan and their renewals will be processed. The bureau last week announced similar arrangements with iHeartRadio, Cumulus, Beasley, Entercom and others (see 2007220070).

Seven TV more stations are in ATSC 3.0, said Nexstar Tuesday: in Oregon, Sinclair’s KATU Portland, Nexstar’s KOIN Portland and KRCW-TV Salem, Tegna’s KGW Portland, Meredith’s KPTV Portland and Oregon Public Broadcasting’s KOPB-TV Eugene, and in Washington state, KPDX Vancouver.

The FCC Media Bureau dismissed Spanish Broadcasting Systems’ petition for declaratory ruling seeking permission to be over 25% foreign owned after the broadcaster sought to withdraw it (see 1805290041), said a letter Tuesday. A group of SBS shareholders urged the agency not to dismiss the petition because it relates to their ongoing litigation with the broadcaster over whether their investment led to the company overtopping the FCC foreign-ownership threshold. Dismissal of the PDR, as requested by SBS, serves the public interest in light of the circumstances,” said the Media Bureau. After a Delaware Chancery Court rules on that case, SBS has to inform the FCC of the results and may have to file another petition, MB said.

Dish Network and Scripps blamed each other for stations in 42 markets in 31 states no longer being carried. Scripps said Saturday the impasse isn't about rates but other distribution terms. It said the blackout is its first on a distributor. Dish said the loggerheads were over Scripps' demand for higher rates and rejection of a Dish's offer of extension options.

Expansion of the footprint for ATSC 3.0, launched in South Korea in 2017, will continue “in earnest” in the near future, Parks Associates reported, noting launches on Las Vegas stations in May (see 2005260061) and elsewhere. It cited benefits including 4K HDR video support, immersive audio via Dolby Atmos and DTS-X, on-demand video, access to enriched interactive content and an updated emergency alert system. A required tuner could be a boon for smart TV makers such as Samsung, LG and Sony, which are developing 3.0-enabled sets. Data and analytics will drive personalization and search capabilities, and push notifications will play a prominent role beyond just operating system updates, it said: Smart TV’s role will evolve through COVID-19 to remain “front and center” in the U.S. connected home. Technology advances, proliferation of video apps and improved interoperability with other devices have pushed the smart TV to a more central residential role, Parks said. In Q1, 30% of TV owners said their most-used TV has a voice-enabled remote control or voice assistant -- or can be controlled by a smart speaker -- vs. 10% in the year-ago quarter.

The Independent Broadcasters Association filed articles of incorporation in Minnesota, with 600 owners of 2,877 stations as members, said founder Ron Stone in a news release Thursday (see 2007160056). The group also selected an initial board, a third of whom will turn over at the end of every year, starting in 2021. Board members include Stone, Tony Renda of Renda Broadcasting, Charles Johnson of Northstar Broadcasting, Mike Flood of Flood Communications and Allen Dick of Dick Broadcasting. The board meets for the first time next week, the release said. “The IBA will be running at full speed in August,” Stone said. “We anticipate delivering substantial parts of the program to our members before the end of 2020.” During the organization's first two years, the IBA's focus will include on revenue generation, digital services, sharing resources and group employee benefits, the release said.

Six of the country’s largest radio groups will pay no monetary penalty for repeated political file obligations because of the COVID-19 pandemic’s effects on the radio industry, said a release and consent decrees on settlements for iHeartRadio, Cumulus, Entercom, Beasley, Alpha and Salem. “We recognize that this period has placed the radio broadcast industry as a whole under significant financial stress from a dramatic reduction in advertising revenues,” the consent decrees say as a reason for the lack of civil penalty. Most also point to the broadcasters having confessed to the violations as a reason for the light punishment, but Entercom’s were discovered through a complaint and FCC investigation and still won’t involve a penalty. Of Entercom’s 234 stations, 196 were found to have political file violations, the Entercom consent decree said. The other consent decrees said the broadcast groups notified the FCC of multiple violations among their stations, but don’t provide further details on the scope of the violations. “In February 2020, iHeart voluntarily informed the Bureau that many of its stations had not routinely been uploading records of requests for the purchase of political broadcast time in a timely manner,” is a representative example. The groups committed to best practices and compliance plans and improved their political file compliance in 2020 during the pandemic, the consent decrees said. The compliance plans require the broadcasters to file reports on political file compliance through December 2021. “It is critical that information about political advertising is transparent to the public and candidates for office,” said Media Bureau Chief Michelle Carey. “Adherence to the requirements in the consent decrees will ensure compliance with the online political file rules during this election year.” The current FCC “has found several creative ways to use the COVID-19 pandemic to allow broadcasters to avoid compliance with the rules and, now, to exculpate them from violations,” emailed Andrew Schwartzman, Benton Institute for Broadband & Society senior counselor. He represented transparency groups bringing complaints about broadcast political file obligations in the past. “Even with these wrist slaps, the Commission is at least showing broadcasters that they must pay attention to the political file rules,” he said. The broadcasters didn’t comment.

July 31 is the effective date for the FCC February order on carriage election notice rules for low-power stations and for MVPDs (see 2002250075), says Wednesday's Federal Register.

The FCC regulatory fee process “does not pass muster under the Administrative Procedure Act and raises serious constitutional questions,” said NAB in calls with an aide to Chairman Ajit Pai and staff from the Media Bureau and Office of Managing Director, per a filing posted Monday in docket 20-105. “The FCC’s regulatory fee process remains a frustrating, impenetrable exercise despite repeated calls for more transparency and justification of how the fees are calculated." Freeze regulatory fees at 2019 levels, “because there has been no increase in the amount that the Commission is required to collect for FY2020” and because of COVID-19, NAB said. “These are extraordinary times that more than justify a slight deviation from the Commission’s usual approach to regulatory fees,” it said. “The pandemic has devastated many industries, none more than radio.” The group suggested simplified information collection and streamlined processes for hardship waivers to provide fee relief.

The FCC Media Bureau denied WIN Radio Broadcasting’s petition for reconsideration of a bureau decision that reinstated WTHE(AM) Mineola, New York, and granted the transfer of the station’s license from Universal Broadcasting of New York to Cantico Nuevo Ministry, said a letter in Friday’s Daily Digest. WIN argued Universal missed a January 2019 deadline to resume operations, and the bureau violated ex parte rules when it negotiated a settlement with Universal. The missed deadline was partly the result of the federal government shutdown at the time, which led to a delay in the bureau receiving filings from Universal, the letter said. The bureau also said settlement negotiations are exempted from the ex parte rules. “Whether the proceeding in this case is considered restricted or permit-but disclose, the subject matter of the settlement discussions only included ‘information relating to how the proceeding should or could be settled,’ and therefore the Consent Decree negotiations were permitted communications,” the letter said.