Citing temporary technical issues with the FCC Media Bureau Licensing and Management System over Labor Day weekend, the bureau and the Incentive Auction Task Force are pushing forward by seven days the priority filing window deadline for TV stations that got new channel assignments after the incentive auction to be reauthorized and relicensed, said a public notice issued Wednesday. The filing window now closes Sept. 15 instead of Sept. 8, they said. The bureau earlier this month delayed an ownership report deadline also amid LMS issues (see 1709050053).

The “pace of work” is accelerating on the CTA-CEB32 “family” of recommended ATSC 3.0 practices now that more of the next-generation broadcast system “becomes finalized,” wrote Brian Markwalter, CTA senior vice president-technology and research, in the September issue of ATSC’s monthly newsletter, The Standard. Once work on CTA-CEB32 is complete, it will consist of 11 parts plus an overview that will be “easily mapped to ATSC 3.0 standards,” said Markwalter, an ATSC board member. CTA-CEB32's components “will help close the loop between the broadcast side and receivers through industry agreed-upon guidance so that interoperability can be achieved in a mixed environment of independent broadcasters and TV manufacturers,” he said. CTA-CEB32.5 on ATSC 3.0 audio was the first component to be finalized, and recommended practices for the system’s logical layer (CEB32.3) and video (CEB32.4) are “approaching the ballot stage,” while that for the physical layer (CEB32.2) is being drafted, he said. Work begins next on system integration (CEB32.1), he said.

The FCC shouldn’t entertain requests to eliminate broadcast rules such as the online public file, children’s TV reports and Form 323 filings, the Institute for Public Representation said in a meeting with Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel Thursday, according to an ex parte filing in docket 17-105. The institute also updated Rosenworcel on its objections to the reinstatement of the UHF discount and the status of its case against the 2014 quadrennial review (see 1708220058) in the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, where an FCC motion to hold the case in abeyance is still pending.

The FCC should waive Tuesday’s repacking construction permit deadline for stations assigned to channel 14, said Ion in a letter posted in docket 12-268 Friday. Ion has filed a recon petition (see 1708240040) asking the FCC to reassign stations that were repacked to channel 14 since they face interference from land mobile operations. “The Commission and ION know that any construction permit application ION files for channel 14 in San Francisco will result in ‘unresolvable interference.’ But if ION fails to file the required construction permit application by the upcoming deadline, it may be alleged to be in violation of the FCC's repack rules,” the company said. The FCC should act on its recon petition and similar requests by Univision and others, waive the Tuesday deadline for channel 14 stations, locate alternative channels for stations that were repacked onto the channel, and reimburse all stations there for equipment necessary to overcome the location on the dial’s interference challenges, Ion said.

The FCC needs to study whether the improvements brought by ATSC 3.0 are worth rendering many existing TVs obsolete and disproportionately affecting low-income and minority households, blogged Rosa Mendoza, executive director of the Hispanic Technology and Telecommunications Partnership on Thursday. “Without sufficient answers, low-income and minority families could be adversely affected and we could see the digital divide widen.” The FCC should require that broadcasters simulcast in both 1.0 and 3.0 during the transition, and give consumers enough time to switch to the new technology, HTTP said.

Raycom Media temporarily extended its carriage agreement with DirecTV through Tuesday to ensure uninterrupted service for 54 stations amid recovery from Tropical Storm Harvey (see 1708310049), the broadcaster announced Thursday.

Sinclair reached a multiyear affiliation deal with Fox Broadcasting for five Sinclair Fox affiliates that were at the end of their terms, said a Sinclair news release Wednesday: WACH Columbia, South Carolina; KFOX-TV El Paso; KRXI-TV Reno; WFXL Albany, Georgia; and WSBT-TV South Bend, Indiana. It "includes the ability to participate in vMVPD deals,” said Sinclair Executive Vice President-Distribution and Network Relations Barry Faber.

Evine Live will sell WWDP Norwell, Massachusetts, for “an aggregate of $13.5 million in a series of two transactions,” Evine said in a news release Wednesday. “The transaction includes two agreements with unrelated parties.” The deal will allow the company to retire $6.2 million in high-interest debt, the release said. The deal is expected to close in Q4 or in Q1.

The FCC Enforcement Bureau issued 10 warning letters to alleged pirate radio operators in New York, Pennsylvania, Alaska and New Jersey, according to notices of unlicensed operation released Tuesday. FCC and broadcast officials said a recent uptick in the number of such notices is the result of changes to how such information is publicized and a more aggressive enforcement policy (see 1708180057). The warning letter issued in Alaska was to the Anchorage Baptist Temple; and a warning letter issued to Kacy Rankine of West Orange, New Jersey, identified him as the operator of pirate Roadblock Radio. A notice issued to Jonathan Campbell of Uniontown, Pennsylvania, said his unlicensed broadcasts came to light after an interference complaint from the local county 911 operation. The bureau also warned seven unlicensed operators in New York -- Yonkers, Monroe, Spring Valley, New York City and three more operators were warned in Brooklyn (here, here and here).

The majority of emergency alert system Law Enforcement Warnings were about notification of road closures and non-emergency traffic disruptions, making it unacceptable to use in lieu of creating a new Blue Alert code to warn about dangers to police officers, said the DOJ Office of Community Oriented Policing Services in reply comments in FCC docket 15-94. “There is often a perceived lack of urgency associated with the LEW event code,” the COPS Office said. “A dedicated EAS event code for Blue Alerts would streamline Blue Alert plans across the nation and will help to integrate existing plans into a coordinated national framework, the COPS Office said. "Such a code would also serve as the central and organizing element for Blue Alert plans coast-to-coast and greatly facilitate the work of the National Blue Alert Network.”