The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit upheld an FCC denial of an appeal of the Media Bureau’s denial of a low-power FM license to Philadelphia nonprofit Nueva Esperanza, according to an opinion (in Pacer) released Friday. Though Nueva Esperanza had presented arguments to the court that a policy explanation laid out in a blog post should be binding on the FCC, the court never reached that issue, agreeing with the FCC that the appellant misinterpreted the blog post by then-bureau Chief Bill Lake and FCC rules, said an opinion by Senior Judge Douglas Ginsburg. The panel also included Circuit Judges Sri Srinivasan and Judith Rogers. The evidence shows “no reason to think the Commission’s interpretation of the Blog Post is arbitrary and capricious,” the opinion said. “Therefore, we need not reach the question whether the Blog Post is binding upon the Commission.” Nueva Esperanza’s application for an LPFM license was initially found to be mutually exclusive to several other applications. The other mutually exclusive stations banded together and reached an agreement to share spectrum, making their application more favorable under the FCC’s point system for resolving such matters, the order said. When Nueva Esperanza was denied in favor of the combination, it appealed on the ground that the other applicants colluded, filing individual mutually exclusive applications separately with the plan of combining to get a more favorable score. Nueva Esperanza argued this was expressly forbidden in a blog post from Lake that stated that multiple groups shouldn’t “attempt to maximize the chances of receiving an LPFM” permit by submitting multiple applications with the expectation of sharing time.” The FCC denied Nueva’s appeal, pointing to a previous paragraph of the blog encouraging separate organizations in the same area to apply individually with the expectation of joining together if they are found to be mutually exclusive, the order said. Since the organizations were separate entities that filed their timeshare agreement after they were found to be mutually exclusive, their agreement doesn’t run afoul of rules, the agency said. The D.C. Circuit agreed with the FCC’s interpretation, Ginsburg said. “The Appellant’s interpretation of the Blog Post is incorrect.”

Requests for more information on Sinclair's purchase of Tribune are “premature at best” and not supported by the law, they said in a joint opposition filing to a recent requests from Dish Network, Public Knowledge, Common Cause and the American Cable Association (see 1707180047). The “appropriate vehicle” for those entities to request additional information is through comments or petitions to deny, the combining broadcasters said. “Movants fail to justify any departure from the Commission’s transaction review procedures, and the Motion accordingly should be dismissed or denied.” The entities also haven’t demonstrated why they need more time to file, and their extension request also should be denied, Sinclair and Tribune said.

Sinclair and Nexstar agreed to share spectrum during the ATSC 3.0 transition in the 43 markets where they both own stations, they said in a news release Thursday. The coordination deal involves “a plan to spearhead the transition” in the 54 markets where only one of the companies has a station. Under the agreement, the broadcasters would share their spectrum within their markets, “with some spectrum remaining as 1.0 and other spectrum migrated to ATSC 3.0,” the two TV station owners said. “Specific market roll out schedules and sharing arrangements are in development in anticipation of the FCC approval of the new ATSC 3.0 standard by the fourth quarter.”

Liberty Media’s John Malone and Mexico-based-broadcaster Grupo Televisa may be interested in buying Univision in the wake of that company’s recent decision to delay an initial public offering, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday. The FCC earlier this year ruled that Grupo Televisa could purchase up to 49 percent of Univision (see 1701030055). Univision didn't comment.

The FCC unanimously approved a notice of apparent liability for a proposed $66,000 fine against Seward, Alaska, FM licensee Kenai Educational Media for “actions that undermine the effectiveness of the Emergency Alert System” and failing to maintain public records or respond to agency inquiries, said a Wednesday news release. Kenai’s noncommercial educational KIBH was failing to monitor EAS sources, didn't make EAS information available to staff, was in violation of staffing and public file rules, and had programmed its EAS equipment messages for a radio station serving a different geographic area, the NAL said. “A broadcaster’s failure to meet these FCC requirements is a serious offense which can pose real dangers for their communities,” the release said. Kenai Educational Media didn't comment.

If broadcasters or the FCC ask Congress to expand the $1.75 billion repacking reimbursement fund, that’s when broadcasters should seek “assistance” for FM stations affected by the repacking, Wilkinson Barker broadcast lawyer David Oxenford blogged Wednesday. Congressional intervention is possible because the total cost of the repacking was found to be more than the reimbursement fund last week (see 1707140070). “There is no provision in the law providing for reimbursement of expenses incurred by FM stations for the costs they incur due to the effects of the TV repacking process,” Oxenford said. With an NAB reconsideration request on the repacking pending and lobbying around the vacant channel order heating up, broadcasters “need to stay” alert to repacking developments, Oxenford said.

ATSC 3.0 includes “the accessibility tools” necessary to comply with FCC rules for closed captioning, said NAB and CTA in a meeting with aides to Chairman Ajit Pai and staff from the Media Bureau, Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau and the Office of General Counsel Thursday, an ex parte filing said. It said the 3.0 petition was intended to show that the agency has “previously approved technologies closely related to the Next Gen TV standard for closed captions in the past,” not “elide the requirements of Section 79.1 with respect to the types of programming that must be captioned.” ATSC 3.0 devices “will fully meet their accessibility obligations,” CTA and NAB said Monday in docket 16-142. The A/343 document, approved as a final ATSC 3.0 standard in December, defines the required technology for closed caption and subtitle tracks over multiple transports.

The “accelerated pleading cycle” proposed by the FCC for comments on Sinclair's buying Tribune is “clearly inadequate,” said Common Cause in a letter to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai Monday in docket 17-179. The applications are “woefully deficient” in demonstrating public interest benefits and the FCC should require additional information and defer the pleading cycle until that information is added to the record, the group said. It backed a similar request last week by Dish Network, Public Knowledge and the American Cable Association (see 1707130068).

The Federal Emergency Management Agency will conduct a nationwide emergency alert system test either Sept. 27 or, as a backup, Oct. 4, FEMA said in a letter posted Friday in FCC docket 15-94 to Public Safety Bureau Chief Lisa Fowlkes. The proposed test would be “originated in the same manner” as the national test conducted last September, FEMA said. Meantime, a dedicated EAS event code for blue alerts would facilitate the adoption of new blue alert plans in the 23 states that don’t yet have one, and a national blue alert network would help save police lives, said the National Association of Police Organizations in comments posted in FCC docket 15-94 Monday. “Lack of a dedicated Blue Alert EAS event code is one of the main obstacles to states adopting and using Blue Alert plans,” the filing said. “With the number of law enforcement officer assaults, injuries, and deaths increasing sharply in recent years, a functioning National Blue Alert Network, with all states participating, is vital.” Commissioners approved an NPRM at their June meeting (see 1706220045).

The BBC served 24.1 million stream requests during this year’s Wimbledon tennis championships via BBC Sport and BBC iPlayer, making it the most streamed Wimbledon in history, the broadcaster said in a Monday announcement. The most popular match was the July 10 “epic” that Gilles Muller won over Rafael Nadal after 66 games, generating 1.4 million stream requests, it said. “With more people streaming this year’s tournament than ever before, BBC Sport also saw record numbers of users signing in,” it said. During the second week of the tournament a weekly record of 2.1 million “unique browsers” signed into BBC Sport, it said.