The FCC “missed” by not defining streaming services as MVPDs and should correct that, said Hearst TV President Jordan Wertlieb at TV2025 on a virtual panel Thursday with Fox TV Stations CEO Jack Abernethy and Gray Television President Pat LaPlatney. “If we want to be intellectually honest, anyone distributing our signal is an MVPD,” Wertlieb said. The executives discussed their own streaming offerings but said broadcasting still delivers a larger audience than the alternatives. The “biggest indication” of broadcasting’s primacy is the NFL’s commitment to be on Fox into the 2030s, said Abernethy. Skyrocketing political advertising dollars demonstrate the same thing, he said. ATSC 3.0 will eventually allow stations to take full advantage of digital ads, Wertlieb said. Targetable ads will allow broadcasters to charge more, LaPlatney said. Abernethy and Wertlieb believe the most successful streaming operations will be those that focus on a niche, such as Fox’s upcoming weather channel. Hearst’s offering focuses on hyperlocal content for each station’s specific city, Wertlieb said. E.W. Scripps announced a foray into exports Thursday (see 2109230077). Asked about the future of retrans and declining cable subscribership, Wertlieb said the definition of retrans needs to be broadened, and LaPlatney said current rates don’t accurately reflect the audience broadcasters deliver. There might be ways stations could work with MVPDs to address or slow their subscribership declines, said Abernethy. “I do see those two ecosystems working together down the road,” said Wertlieb, saying broadcasters are working closely with MVPDs on ATSC 3.0. The execs expect auto ads to rebound sometime in 2022. Gambling ads are on rising but depend on jurisdiction, said Wertlieb. Betting is “a great category” for stations because it can’t be nationally advertised, Abernethy said.

The FCC Media Bureau will seek comment on two Gray Television channel substitution requests, said NPRMs Wednesday in docket 21-125 and 21-126. Gray wants to switch KNOE-TV Monroe, Louisiana, from Channel 8 to 24, and WYMT-TV Hazard, Kentucky, from 12 to 20. Comment due dates will be determined by Federal Register publication.

Bidding in FCC Auction 111 of 17 construction permits for low-power TV and TV translator stations begins Feb. 23, said an Office of Economics and Analytics and Media Bureau public notice Tuesday. The auction is closed, open only to specific applicants that submitted mutually exclusive proposals during a brief 2009 window or during a 2018 displacement window, the PN said. The short-form application window opens Nov.1; upfront payments are due Jan. 25.

The FCC should eliminate local ownership caps for AM stations but keep them for FMs, iHeartMedia asked an aide to Commissioner Nathan Simington on a call Friday, said a filing posted in docket 18-349 Tuesday: “Deregulation of AM ownership would bring increased investment to the AM band,” but reducing FM ownership limits “would lead to a migration of capital, resources, and talent away from AM stations.” IHeart also opposed GeoBroadcast Solutions' proposal to allow geo-targeted FM broadcasts. Changing booster rules to allow the tech would cause “a financial drain on broadcast radio” by “bifurcating FM advertising spends,” said iHeart, also noting concerns about interference affecting the emergency alert system. GBS has countered EAS concerns (see 2109200066).

The FCC Media Bureau proposed a $7,000 forfeiture for DiPonti Communications for failing to file a timely renewal application for translator W276DF Westerly, Rhode Island, and operating the station after the license expired, said an order and notice of apparent liability released Tuesday. The station’s renewal application was due in July 2017 but wasn’t filed until September 2020. DiPonti blamed the station having a shortened renewal period. The bureau also proposed a $3,000 fine for Guillermo Garza for KWMC(AM) Del Rio, Texas' late renewal application, which was due in April and filed in May. The bureau proposed a $1,500 forfeiture for Total Praise Channel over the late renewal application of translator W43DL-D, Montgomery, Alabama, and the same amount for the same violation for Holy Spirit Oil Filled Ministry for low-power FM KERC-LP Kermit, Texas. MB ordered that each of the station renewal applications be granted after their forfeiture proceedings.

The FCC should modernize Class D FM station rules and remove “stray” language about intermediate frequencies from proposed technical FM rules, said REC Networks in replies posted Monday in docket 21-263. Current rules for Class Ds don’t affect Media Bureau practices and should be clarified, REC said. Language in the proposal about intermediate frequency protection was likely included in the NPRM inadvertently, REC says (see 2109070065). The only other replies in the docket were from engineering firm Cohen Dippell. The FCC should eliminate the maximum power limit for AM transmitters, Cohen Dippell said.

Tests of FM radio geo-targeting technology show it doesn’t affect emergency alert system performance and that the “transition zones” between targeted areas can avoid affecting listeners, said Covington & Burling in a letter and report posted Monday in FCC docket 20-401. Roberson and Associates did the study on behalf of GeoBroadcast Solutions, which seeks a change to rules on FM boosters. Summer tests at Universal Media Access' KSJO(FM) San Jose showed the system works with analog and HD radio systems, the law firm said. “Listeners in FM transition zones experienced no material change.” Commissioner Geoffrey Starks endorses GBS efforts; NAB and iHeart Media oppose them (see 2108260034).

It's “premature” to set a date for a trial to determine damages in the Locast case, said an attorney for the streaming service’s operator, the Sports Fan Coalition, in a letter (docket 19-cv-07136, in Pacer) Friday. Both sides previously agreed to negotiate statutory damages before such a trial, and defendants have 30 days to decide on appealing the court’s decision against Locast (see 2109160047), the lawyer wrote Judge Louis Stanton of U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. “Defendants are currently analyzing their legal options and intend to engage with Plaintiffs in that negotiation, and regarding a potential overall resolution.” Don’t begin planning a damages trial unless no agreement or appeal is decided on by Oct.15, Locast asked.

The FCC Media Bureau granted KTUL Licensee’s petition to switch KTUL Tulsa from Channel 10 to Channel 14, over the objections of the Land Mobile Communications Council, said an order in listed in Thursday’s Daily Digest. LMCC argued the switch could interfere with public safety communications, but the bureau said those arguments are “unavailing.” In prior orders the agency declined to bar broadcasters from Channel 14 over land mobile interference concerns, the order said. “If LMCC believes there is another in-core UHF channel available for the Licensee’s use at its current site, it should have made a counterproposal with the requisite engineering,” the order said. The bureau is also seeking comment on a request by One Ministries for the allotment of noncommercial education Channel *4 to Fort Bragg, California, said an NPRM listed in Thursday's Daily Digest. Comment due dates in docket 21-123 will be determined after Federal Register publication.

Maryland's attorney general said the Tax Injunction Act bars federal challenge of the state's digital ad tax. In a Monday filing (in Pacer) at U.S. District Court in Greenbelt, Maryland, AG Brian Frosh (D) urged dismissing the case and industry’s motion for summary judgment. The 1948 tax law says federal district courts “shall not enjoin, suspend or restrain the assessment, levy or collection of any tax under State law where a plain, speedy, and efficient remedy may be had in the courts of such State.” At issue here is a tax and “federal courts have permitted a suit challenging a tax passthrough prohibition only where plaintiffs did not challenge the tax itself,” wrote the AG. The exception for lacking an efficient remedy doesn’t apply, it said.