If the FCC adopts all the proposals in the FM translator interference NPRM, “the demise of the FM radio service will occur,” radio licensee Monroe Public Access Cable Television commented early in docket 18-119. Limiting the distance at which full-power FMs could object to interference from translators could cause the erosion of their audiences, Monroe said. “Terrestrial radio is already beleaguered by online music services, YouTube and podcasts that have caused many people to migrate away from the FM radio band.” Such limits should be based on field strength rather than contour, Monroe said. “FM translator stations should not be provided equal or near-equal status to full power FM radio stations as the regulatory obligations for an FM translator station license will remain much less burdensome.” The FCC should adopt a standardized listener complaint form for translator interference disputes that would prevent “gamesmanship,” Monroe said. It supports the agency proposal to let displaced translators relocate anywhere on the dial.

An upcoming FCC report on the audio market could inform changes to radio rules under the upcoming quadrennial ownership review, Wilkinson Barker broadcast attorney David Oxenford blogged Tuesday. The report and the questions to which the FCC seeking answers were announced Monday (see 1807230041). “This study would seem to be looking at exactly the same issues that the FCC will be considering in the Quadrennial Review,” said Oxenford. If the audio market is considered to be broad, ownership rule changes could be seen as justified, whereas if the FCC determines that radio stations only compete with each other, rules may remain, he said.

Cox Enterprises “is exploring strategic options for its ownership or other interest” in its 14 TV stations, which could include “partnering or merging these stations into a larger TV company,” it said Tuesday. "We didn't take this decision lightly. It is clear that scale is critical for TV affiliates to be positioned well for the future,” said Cox CEO Alex Taylor. The 14 stations in nine states include WSB-TV Atlanta, KIRO-TV Seattle and WFXT Boston, it said. “Cox Enterprises has no immediate plans for the other parts of the portfolio.”

The FCC’s draft reimbursement proposal to give FM stations graduated reimbursements based on how the repacking has affected their service caused NAB “surprise and concern,” it told Incentive Auction Task Force Chair Jean Kiddoo and Media Bureau staff Thursday, said a filing posted Monday in docket 18-214. “It is unclear to NAB on what basis this tentative conclusion was developed.” The proposal would restrict funding to FM stations before it’s clear that such restrictions are needed and could create “perverse incentives” for stations to reduce service, said the association. The draft NPRM “adopts an incorrect (and unnecessarily restrictive) view of the Commission’s authority to distribute the additional funds Congress made available,” the group said. “The NPRM asserts that the Commission has authority only to reimburse FM stations up to $50 million from funds appropriated for Fiscal Year 2018, ignoring the fact that funds appropriated for Fiscal Year 2019 have no such restriction.” NAB wants the FCC to instead seek comment “on the necessity of adopting a prioritization scheme in this or a future proceeding.”

Low-power FM broadcasters urged the FCC to adopt a petition to increase LPFM power levels and allow them more interference flexibility, but NAB cautioned against the plan, in comments posted Monday in RM-11810. “Increasing the maximum LPFM power output could not only increase interference to existing FM services, but potentially change the carefully designed hyper-local nature of LPFM service,” NAB responded to the petition from REC Networks. “There is a disparity between how LPFM stations protect FM translator facilities and how FM translator facilities protect LPFM stations,” REC said. The petition would address technical issues that are affecting LPFM stations, REC said. “More than ample time has passed to demonstrate that the interference concerns of existing broadcasters have proven unfounded in the establishment of the LPFM service,” said Cambridge, Maryland, LPFM station WHCP-LP. Prometheus Radio Project and Common Frequency endorsed the REC petition, saying the FCC should work to “simplify and mesh” LPFM and translator regulation and interference methodologies “to eliminate the inconsistencies which lead to unnecessary points of contention.” The petition seeks to grant LPFM too much flexibility, said the Educational Media Foundation. “Existing FM services are already under-protected from LPFM, and the proposals of REC would only exacerbate such under-protection.” The creation of a new class of higher power LPFM stations would be “a welcome step toward a more robust presence for LPFMs on the dial,” said the Future of Music Coalition.

The FCC draft incubator order should be changed to prevent incubation in small markets from leading to ownership waivers in large markets, said members of the agency's Diversity and Digital Empowerment in a meeting with Media Bureau staff Friday, said a filing posted Monday in docket 17-289. The committee members included Multicultural Media, Internet and Telecom Council Senior Adviser David Honig, National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters President James Winston and Diane Sutter, president of ShootingStar Broadcasting. Bayou Broadcasting CEO DuJuan McCoy was also present, and the filing said the committee members spoke on the behalf of former FCC Commissioner Henry Rivera. With Rivera, the members made up the group that authored the ACDDE's position on incubators. The draft order runs counter to several of the diversity committee’s unanimous recommendations about how an incubator program should operate (see 1807120053). A provision in the draft that allows waivers granted to incentivize participation to be transferred to “comparable markets” would allow “incubation in a modest sized, and often not very diverse, 45-voices market like Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, Pennsylvania, (Metro Rank 77), to facilitate the securing of a waiver for a 6th FM station in New York City,” the members said. This “would have the unintended effect of deeply diminishing the likelihood that incubation would be used in the top 50 markets,” they said. The committee members said they are “at peace” with the draft order using the new entrant standard for determining eligibility, but it should be modified to acknowledge that the “Overcoming Disadvantages Preference” standard could be used if the new entrant method doesn’t work out. They asked for similar textual acknowledgement of other concepts in the draft, such as the eventual inclusion of TV incubators, and efforts to reach “mission-based entities” such as historically black colleges and universities. The members want the agency to push Congress to adopt policies that would allow tax relief to be an alternative incentive to incubating companies.

The U.S. subsidiary of a prominent Japanese radio-antenna manufacturer serving the big five U.S. automakers wants the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to exclude Chinese imports of automotive antenna components from proposed 25 percent Trade Act Section 301 tariffs, it commented, posted Friday in docket USTR-2018-0018. The list of proposed duties released June 15 (see 1806150030) was the second tranche of Trump administration tariffs, on which comments are due Monday and a hearing is Tuesday. This tariff schedule subheading is "a specialized product with limited customers and import volume,” said Robert Shield, Yokowo Manufacturing of America president. Few tech sector commenters had filed in the docket through Friday. Sage Chandler, CTA vice president-international trade, will testify for members. We couldn’t verify Friday whether Yokowo is one.

A longtime North Miami pirate radio operator and the couple who owned the shack he broadcast from were fined $144,344 by the full FCC, said a forfeiture order in Friday’s Daily Digest. “Today’s item will set clear Commission precedent going forward that landlords who materially assist with unlawful pirate operations can be held jointly and severally liable,” said Commissioner Mike O’Rielly in a statement that said if anything, he wishes the penalty were greater. Fabrice Polynice, also known as DJ Paz, and his landlords Harold and Veronise Sido argued against the fine but the FCC found the three -- with a history of unlicensed operation citations -- liable for the full amount allowed by statute. Without the statutory cap, the fine would have been $710,000, the order said. The statutory maximum for unlicensed operations “pales in comparison to penalties for other violations of Commission rules and is simply not enough to serve as a sufficient deterrent against operating pirate radio stations,” said O’Rielly. He endorsed the House Pirate Act (see 1807190055), which would raise the number to $2 million and toughen other piracy rules. Though Polynice argued that the agency needed to send him a citation before issuing a notice of apparent liability, O’Rielly and the agency disagreed. NALs “can be counterproductive,” O’Rielly said. “Warning enterprising pirates that you are on to them can send them underground, or onto another frequency, increasing the time it takes to get the pirate off the air.” Polynice was said to argue the FCC was selectively targeting him, and that the pirate radio enforcement was intended to hurt Haitian immigrants. Polynice “sees this Commission’s actions as a way to keep the Haitian community in a weak position and without the necessary information they need to succeed,” the order said. “Nothing in the Commission’s rules prevents someone who wants to serve an underserved community from providing programming legally.” Polynice and the Sidos couldn't be reached for comment.

Beasley Broadcast will buy WXTU(FM) Philadelphia from Entercom in a deal connected with Entercom’s proposed buy of WBEB(FM) Philadelphia from Jerry Lee Radio for $57.5 million, said Entercom and Beasley Thursday. Entercom said it divested WXTU to let it buy WBEB.

U.S. smart speaker ownership has passed 43 million people, NPR-Edison Research said, with “first adopters” who have owned one for more than a year using it for advanced things including smart home control. Three-quarters of the 909 adult-respondents owned their speakers for less than a year. In first-adopter households, the devices are the primary way those households consume audio, said Tom Webster, Edison senior vice president. Some 29 percent of early mainstream owners said their smart speaker replaced time spent with TV, and 28 percent listened to a podcast within the week, said the study done May 21-June 1 and emailed to us Wednesday. Nineteen percent of newer owners listen to audio most on a speaker connected to a smartphone, 17 percent of new and early adopters to audio most on an AM/FM radio, and around 70 percent of both use it for news. For mornings, traffic, weather and news are leading uses, and from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., top activities are ordering an item, listening to AM/FM and adding an item to a shopping list.