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.

FM boosters required for zoned broadcasts wouldn't raise the FM noise floor “in an appreciable manner,” said a GeoBroadcast Solutions' letter posted Friday in RM-11854. GeoBroadcast seeks rule changes to allow FM broadcasters to use its zoned broadcast tech (see 2006260029), which uses synchronized FM boosters to allow geotargeted radio broadcasts and localized ads. “While there is a minor localized effect on the noise floor, the regulatory question is whether any such impact will negatively affect other broadcasters or listeners, and the answer is clearly no,” the letter said. GeoBroadcast doesn’t envision the requested rule changes being used to permit boosters to air extensive alternative programming, it said. The company would support requiring broadcasters to air alternative programming for no more than three minutes an hour.

“There can be no doubt that a vote to grant Univision's Petition for Declaratory Ruling will inevitably lead to undue foreign interference in our political and electoral affairs,” said the Media Research Center in a letter posted in FCC docket 20-122 Friday. MRC, which operates conservative media watchdog site NewsBusters, opposes Univision’s request to be allowed to be up to 100% foreign owned, which Univision asked in relation to a deal for investment firms ForgeLight and Searchlight Capital Partners to buy a majority of the company (see 2005060038). Univision is “rife with business interest political bias” and “relies upon a lax immigration enforcement regimen in order to remain viable, and a willingness to nudge trusting viewers to vote for equally-minded candidates,” MRC said. Univision, part-owner Grupo Televisa, ForgeLight and Searchlight Friday pushed back on oppositions to the declaratory ruling and deal raised by Free Press and Mijente (see 2006190048). Their objections are to the FCC’s foreign ownership rules rather than deal-specific concerns, said the companies. The public interest organizations’ arguments that the deal represents broadcast consolidation also aren’t valid, the filing said. “That Free Press and Mijente would prefer a different, hypothetical buyer(s) of Univision is not valid grounds for objection.”

The FCC order laying out the requirement for ATSC 3.0 simulcast waivers (see 2006160064) takes effect Aug. 17, says Friday’s Federal Register. Thursday’s FR included the FCC’s declaratory ruling clarifying that broadcast ownership restrictions don’t apply to ATSC 3.0 datacasting (see 2006090055), which took effect June 9. Comments on an accompanying NPRM are due Aug. 17, replies Aug. 31.

Cox and ViacomCBS signed a multiyear deal that renews CBS affiliations for five stations, the programmer said Wednesday. It said CBS affiliates will remain available on its CBS All Access streaming service and be distributed across vMVPD platforms. The stations are KIRO-TV Seattle; WJAX-TV Jacksonville; WHIO-TV, Dayton; KYMA-DT Yuma, Arizona; and KVIQ-LD Rio Dell, California.

A group of low-power FM stations and engineers petitioned for reconsideration of the FCC update to LPFM technical rules (see 2004220065), said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 19-93. The order didn’t provide a factual or record basis for not incorporating rule changes to allow LPFM stations to increase their power, a proposal LPFM advocates call “LP-250,” the petition said. “Reviewing the FCC’s rationale, it does not present an argument against LP-250.” The petition seeks reconsideration of rule changes for directional antennas and transmitters. The petitioners include Peter Gray of KFZR-LP Frazier Park, California; Makeda Dread Cheatom of KVIB-LP San Diego; and engineers/public interest advocates Todd Urick of Common Frequency and Paul Bame of Prometheus Radio Project.

Radio's future remains unclear, said BIA Advisory Services Chief Economist Mark Fratrik in a Tuesday webinar his firm hosted. The economy and local advertising showed signs of improvement in May and June as states and localities reopened, but recent surges in COVID-19 cases could “put a stop sign on recovery,” Fratrik said. Ad trends tend to lag slightly behind the broader economy, said BIA Managing Director Rick Ducey. Pandemic economic issues also affect regions differently, so a station’s outlook can depend on its market, Fratrik said. Radio is slowly reclaiming its audience reach, Fratrik said. Its audience reach numbers are overall 95% of March, he said. Drive-time listening numbers are down because of a drop in commuting, but midday numbers are up from listeners working from home, he said. Stations shouldn’t expect much of a boost from political commercials because radio traditionally isn't a main outlet for political spots, Fratrik said. That could change this year as campaigns look for replacements for in-person political rallies, said Mark Levy, president of Revenue Development Resources. Money that would have gone to campaign branded merchandise for such rallies or for donor luncheons could get snapped up by radio, he said.