A newspaper that has “closed its doors” can no longer be a “voice” for viewpoint diversity purposes, NAB said in an FCC ex parte filing arguing against the newspaper/broadcast cross-ownership rule. “Retaining a rule that deters investment by broadcasters in the struggling print newspaper industry certainly cannot serve the public interest.” The increased options for consuming news on the internet make the rule outdated, NAB said in docket 14-50. “The only result that can rationally be expected from the continued prohibition is to hasten the demise of print newspapers.” A draft order wouldn't fully lift the cross-ownership ban (see 1606280056).

The UHF discount is “the regulatory foundation” Ion Media was built on, the broadcaster's representatives told aides to Commissioners Mignon Clyburn and Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, and to Chairman Tom Wheeler, in a meeting Wednesday, said a Friday ex parte filing in docket 13-236. “As a result of the economies of scale offered by the Discount, ION has managed to remain unaffiliated with any media conglomerate and has used its station group platform to develop an independent television network." If the FCC eliminates the UHF discount, it should allow “permanent grandfathering” for networks like Ion that are dependent on the discount, the broadcaster said. Without permanent grandfathering, such groups are likely to be broken up in the event of sale, which would eliminate the public service benefits of a large independent network, Ion said. A draft media ownership order deals with the UHF discount (see 1607070060).

​ATSC’s Technology Group 3 agreed Thursday to extend the candidate standard period on the ATSC 3.0 video document (A/341) by two months to Sept. 30, as expected (see 1606160052), the group said Monday in the July/August issue of its newsletter, The Standard. ATSC 3.0's framers pushed last month for the extension to give themselves more time to pick a winning high-dynamic-range technology for 3.0 video. A/341 was one of seven candidate standards for which TG3 extended the expiration dates to Sept. 30. But each of those candidate standards is “moving apace within the TG3 process” toward elevation as proposed standards, ATSC said. In two days of HDR demos and comparative tests hosted last month by CBS in New York, six HDR proponents vying to be chosen for A/341 (see 1605200031) “were given an opportunity to demonstrate their technology in any way they wished, using any of the available equipment and content,” said Madeleine Noland, the LG consultant who chairs ATSC’s S34 specialist group on ATSC 3.0 video, in a write-up in The Standard. During the event, “detailed comparative demonstrations were conducted using common pro-reference monitors and common content for apples-to-apples comparisons among the systems,” Noland said: “An expert viewing area was set up with a wall of monitors -- five consumer displays and 10 professional reference displays. Equipment also included a number of cameras, encoders, video servers, and more. Two live sets were constructed -- one predominantly light and the other dark. The sets were carefully designed to provide a range of luminance and colors to both show off and challenge the proposed technologies. In addition to content captured live, the demonstrations used pre-recorded content prepared in advance.” Noland didn’t indicate which of the six proponent systems fared best.

Russia denied entry to U.S. Broadcasting Board of Governors Chairman Jeff Shell, the board said in a news release Wednesday. Shell arrived at Moscow’s Sheremetevo Airport late Tuesday on a flight from Prague, but Russian security officials detained him for several hours in a locked room, then escorted him to a flight to Amsterdam, BBG said. Shell possessed a valid passport and Russian visa; the security officials gave no explanation but told Shell it was a lifetime ban, BBG said. BBG officials met Wednesday with U.S. Ambassador John Tefft in Moscow to discuss the matter, the board said. Shell, also chairman of NBCUniversal’s Filmed Entertainment Division, was appointed by President Barack Obama to chair the board that oversees all U.S. international media.

Media General agreed to a $700,000 settlement with the FCC Media Bureau over the company's attempts to block Gray Television from selling the spectrum of WAGT Augusta in the incentive auction (see 1604070070), said a consent decree released Wednesday. Media General sought an injunction in Georgia state courts barring Gray from dissolving a joint services agreement for WAGT as part of Gray’s purchase of Schurz stations. The FCC and DOJ said Media General’s request for an injunction was illegal. Media General later filed a complaint that omitted the injunction request, according to the consent decree.

The FCC should “regularly collect and disseminate” Form 323 media ownership data, study ownership disparity, and collect and make public equal employment opportunity data from broadcasters, said the National Hispanic Media Coalition in a meeting with aides to Chairman Tom Wheeler Thursday, according to an ex parte filing posted Tuesday in docket 14-50. The FCC also should analyze why diverse owners are entering or exiting broadcasting and with whom they're making deals, NHMC said. The commission also should “take a detailed look at how the spectrum auction has impacted ownership diversity,” said NHMC. A draft media ownership order is moving forward at the commission, commissioners testified Tuesday (see 1607120078).

Seventy-six unauthorized radio stations are operating in the New York metropolitan area, said a study backed by the New York State Broadcasters Association, said a NYSBA news release. The survey found that in New York 19 pirate stations were in the Bronx and 29 in Brooklyn, while in New Jersey 13 were in Newark and 15 in Paterson. “The 29 stations found in Brooklyn represent a 58% increase in the number of unauthorized 'pirate' stations operating in that borough, when compared to a similar survey conducted in 2015,” said NYSBA. The study “likely underestimated” the number of unauthorized pirate stations in the area, NYSBA said. “Last summer, the entire New York Congressional delegation asked the FCC to fix the problem. While the FCC has published an Enforcement Advisory, it needs to devote the manpower and resources to increase its enforcement efforts,” said NYSBA President David Donovan. “Congressional action will be important to assist the FCC in these efforts.” Some have said the commission needs to do more to combat pirate radio, including seizing pirates' equipment (see 1604120064).

That the NextRadio FM-listening smartphone app with activated FM-reception chips will soon be available on Samsung’s Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge is “a very big breakthrough” for the technology that Emmis Communications helped develop, said Emmis CEO Jeff Smulyan on a Thursday earnings call. The Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge are “the top-selling phones in the world” and will soon have NextRadio available “across all wireless carriers" in the U.S., Smulyan said. It marks the first time that “major phones” with NextRadio “will be available on every carrier,” he said. NextRadio also signed on Home Depot as its first paying advertiser last quarter, and is working with “a number of other test advertisers,” he said. Landing additional NextRadio ad and carrier support “is the catalyst that we believe our industry desperately needs,” he said. “We think it is a game changer and we think it simplifies the pretty remarkable progress that we are making with NextRadio.” But Apple has been a longstanding NextRadio holdout (see 1504140047) and still refuses to activate the FM chips in its iPhones, Smulyan acknowledged in Q&A. “We still need Apple, and we like Apple.” That NextRadio will soon be available on all Android phones, “among all the carriers,” means the technology will have penetrated more than 175 million smartphones in the U.S., about 62 percent of all the U.S. phones available, he said. That’s an opportunity “to change the landscape of radio forever,” he said. “We have said we won't quit until we have everybody, and the last everybody is Apple.” Apple didn't comment Friday.

Moving forward in the quadrennial review docket without studying the impact of the incentive auction on ownership diversity would be “a significant failure” and violate the Administrative Procedure Act and the orders of the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, said the United Church of Christ Communications Office in an ex parte filing in docket 14-50. “The Commission must conduct an analysis of the Incentive Auction’s impact on minority and female ownership in order to comply with the Third Circuit mandate in Prometheus II.” The FCC also should improve its collection of Form 323 demographic data and its analysis of that information, UCC said. The commission also should begin studying shared service agreements and local news sharing agreements along with the effects of ownership rules and duopolies, UCC said. The FCC “must conduct studies if Congress is ever to adopt a new minority tax certificate, which has received high-profile and public support from Republicans, Democrats, and the NAB,” UCC said. “While many actors in this space have professed interest in reinstatement of the tax certificate, an adequate record is necessary for the Congress do to so.” Representatives from Common Cause, the Future of Music Coalition, National Hispanic Media Coalition and UCC met with an aide to Commissioner Mignon Clyburn, the filing recounted.

Univision and Grupo Televisa want the FCC to issue a declaratory ruling authorizing up to 49 percent foreign ownership of Univision, said a petition released Thursday. The petition is connected with a plan for Univision to hold an initial public offering of its common stock. “Grant of the relief requested would enable Univision to accommodate increased foreign investment that may result from public participation in the IPO,” and “accommodate additional investment by Televisa, a Mexican company that is an existing investor in, and business partner of, Univision,” the petition said. Foreign investors now own 15.6 percent of Univision, but after the IPO, “it will be difficult and may be legally impossible for Univision to determine the citizenship of all of its shareholders,” the petition said.