BBC R&D is eyeing “new innovations” to eliminate latency between an internet-delivered livestream and broadcast TV. Fans watching World Cup livestreams this summer on the BBC iPlayer experienced lags of 30 seconds, “with some complaining of hearing neighbours cheering goals that they hadn’t seen happen yet,” it said Wednesday. Latency is prevalent with “vast majority of live video delivered over the internet” because it takes longer to send video over the net reliably, the public broadcaster said. Low-latency techniques on display at the International Broadcasting Convention in Amsterdam “work by either reducing the duration of each segment” of video, or by creating the segments “progressively as a series of chunks that can be passed through the chain immediately as they become available,” said BBC. “In the future, live streaming viewers watching over the internet will be able to see the action at the same time as they would see it if they were watching on TV.” Rolling out the technology commercially “will take time, and it needs coordination with the whole industry," BBC R&D said.

A new C4 FM class would lead to further congestion of the FM band, said Beasley Media. And NAB and Alpha Media reiterated that in replies posted in docket 18-184 Tuesday. The proposals in the FCC’s Notice of Inquiry are “ill-conceived notions that would further clutter the radio dial and hamstring FM stations from improving their facilities in the future,” said Alpha Media. More than 100 small and independent broadcasters wrote with the opposite view, said the originator of the C4 proposal, SSR Communications. iHeartMedia doesn't object to the C4 class, but like other broadcasters it objected to the NOI’s proposal to allow the FCC to involuntarily reduce interference protection for FM stations that aren’t performing at their allowed level. “Such action would contribute to a higher ‘noise floor’ overall, remove desired-station service from existing listeners, and limit much needed transmitter-siting flexibility, all for the potential benefit of a limited class of individual stations,” iHeart said. “Both proposals should be dismissed because they will reduce the technical integrity of the FM band at a time when broadcasters already face interference that hinders service and their ability to compete,” NAB said. The association’s position hasn’t been supported by any evidence, SSR said.

Moving educational and informative programming to a multicast stream as proposed in the kidvid NPRM (see 1807120050) would “destroy” the production of new E/I programming because multicast viewership “drops over 90 percent from a station’s main channel,” said E/I programmer Litton in meetings Thursday with Commissioners Jessica Rosenworcel, Mike O’Rielly and Brendan Carr, recounted filings posted Monday in docket 17-105. The drop in viewership would also mean a drop in advertising, Litton said. “All that will be left of E/I programming in a multicast world will be reruns of already produced programming,” Litton said. “The STEM programming offered to teens and their parents will be frozen in time.” Litton also sent FCC members and Chairman Ajit Pai a letter from the Armed Forces Network commending the company for providing free E/I programming to AFN. “It would be unimaginable to think that one day this genre of television programming might not be available due to a change in F.C.C. broadcast regulations,” the letter said. Broadcasters need more flexibility in kidvid rules, countered Meredith in meetings with Pai and the Media Bureau Wednesday, said a filing posted Monday. The broadcaster highlighted its support for removing or limiting the ‘regularly scheduled’ KidVid programming requirement, lengthening the daily window for KidVid, flexible multicast options, and paperwork reduction.”

The FCC Public Safety Bureau canceled the planned broadcaster test of the Disaster Information Reporting System due to Hurricane Florence’s projected arrival on the East Coast, a Monday public notice said. The test had been set for this Thursday and Friday but it’s “likely” that DIRS will need to be activated for the storm, the PN said. The test was previously rescheduled because of Hurricane Lane (see 1809040062). The bureau will schedule a DIRS test for broadcasters “after the hurricane season is over,” the PN said. If DIRS is activated for Hurricane Florence, a separate notice will be issued, the bureau said.

Amendments and settlement agreements for mutually exclusive FM translator applications from January’s Auction 100 are due Sept. 20, said the Media Bureau in a public notice in Friday’s Daily Digest.

A federal judge issued a $910,700 judgment against Newman Broadcasting over the company’s claiming new entrant bidding credits for which it wasn’t eligible, DOJ announced Thursday. The alleged violation concerned bids for radio frequencies. Between 2005 through 2007, Newman certified it was eligible for a 35 percent new entrant bidding credit though it was “in part controlled by an experienced radio station owner with other stations in the same market” and thus not, the department said. The court judgment resolves a 2016 lawsuit by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia in U.S. District Court in Washington arguing the company violated the False Claims Act. Newman didn’t comment.

The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals granted motions by Prometheus Radio Project and Media Mobilizing Project to consolidate their appeal (in Pacer) of the FCC incubator order (see 1809040065) with already-combined ongoing appeals of the agency's media ownership reconsideration order and the 2014 quadrennial ownership review order (see 1802070053). So said Friday's order (in Pacer).

The FCC proposal to restrict interference complaints about translators from full-power FM stations to a 54 dBu contour will vastly reduce full-power stations’ listenership and cause losses of service, said most replies in docket 18-119 Thursday. “There are a substantial number of documented listeners who would be jettisoned from protection against FM translator interference,” said Beasley Media, Cox, Entercom, Gradick Communications, iHeartCommunications, Neuhoff Communications, Withers Broadcasting and Radio One. They offered a compromise of extending the cutoff to 42 dBu, and that wouldn’t be a hard barrier but instead require interference complaints based on a higher threshold of evidence. The contour proposal was the primary focus of most commenters, though not all radio licensees opposed it. Aztec Capital Partners, the company behind one of the petitions that inspired the proceeding, compared opponents of the proposal to “cattle barons” claiming dominion over the entire open range. Opponents ask for “governmental protection to service areas they are not entitled to, with FCC regulatory processes preserving their grazing rights against newcomers and other users of spectrum,” Aztec said. Bloomberg Communications said the FCC plan would create certainty for investments in translators. Numerous commenters -- such as the New Jersey Broadcasters Association -- argued that the proposal threatens the primary status of full-power FM stations, and would clutter the band. “The situation is a classic example of trying to fit 2 pounds of product in a one pound bag,” said Press Communications. NAB didn’t weigh in on the contours but took issue with FCC proposals that would limit listener participation in the complaint process: “Allowing a translator licensee to try to correct interference problems is often a cost-effective way to eliminate complaints quickly and efficiently.” Low-power FM groups opposed the FCC’s proposal to set a six complaint minimum for interference complaints. Such a high number favors larger broadcasters, said REC Networks.

The FCC shouldn’t restrict broadcasters incubating new entrants from receiving ownership waivers in “comparable markets,” said an NAB letter posted Tuesday in docket 17-289 responding to a push by members of the Advisory Committee on Diversity and Digital Empowerment. ACDDE members including former Commissioner Henry Rivera and National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters President James Winston have been arguing that the incubator order’s definition of comparable markets is too broad and would undermine the incubator program. The order was approved in August, and challenged in court Tuesday (see 1809040065). “Limiting the exercise of a reward waiver to markets within five market sizes of the incubation market is unduly restrictive and would inhibit participation,” NAB said. “The incubator program already sets a very high bar for incubating broadcasters to receive waivers.” The ACDDE members’ argument that broadcasters would exploit the program only to secure waivers in large markets is an “unproven, somewhat cynical assumption,” NAB said.

An 11-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit rejected PMCM’s en banc appeal of the court’s June decision (see 1806210073) upholding FCC rulings that prevent the company's WJLP Middletown Township, New Jersey, from being broadcast on virtual channel 3, said an order (in Pacer) issued Wednesday. It noted "the absence of a request by any member of the court for a vote.” Judge Brett Kavanaugh, currently under consideration for appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court (see 1809050061), didn’t participate. PMCM didn't comment.