The 60-day settlement process to resolve mutually exclusive applications from the recent noncommercial educational FM station application window began Monday and stretches to Jan. 28, said an FCC Media Bureau public notice Monday. A freeze on amendments to NCE FM applications -- enacted for the NCE window -- was also lifted Monday at 6 p.m., the PN said. The Media Bureau received 1,282 applications for new NCE FM stations during the window, which closed Nov. 9 (see 2110290060), and has found 231 mutually exclusive groups, involving 831 of the applications. Thirteen applications were dismissed for having “numerous significant and egregious technical defects,” such as violating treaties with Mexico and Canada, the PN said.

Foundation for a Beautiful Life has appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit the FCC’s repeated rejections of its broadcast applications, said a filing (on Pacer) Tuesday. The full commission denied FBL’s applications for review in October (see 2110250050). The matter concerns a low-power FM station constructed by FBL several miles from the location where it was licensed. The FCC’s decision was “not sufficiently supported by evidence in the record” and is “arbitrary and capricious,” FBL said.

The CXR Radio Station Trust “should not be forced through an inflexible regulatory deadline to sell the Stations at fire sale prices,” said CXR, in a reply posted in docket 19-98 Wednesday on the trust’s request for an extension on a Dec. 17 deadline to sell two FMs divested as part of the Terrier/Cox deal (see 2111220059). “Political pressure” from trade-press articles and testimonials from public officials shouldn’t drive FCC decision-making on granting the extension, CXR said. Spanish Broadcasting Systems' valuation of the stations is based on recent sales affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, said CXR. “The deal market in 2020 and 2021 was basically non-existent.” The few transactions “were for AM stations and non-performing FM stations with most of them sold to religious programmers buying for 'stick' value, not commercial operators interested in going concerns.” The CXR stations are “materially different,” the filing said. “They both have ratings, revenue and cash flow.” CXR wants the one-year extension to conduct a multiple-round bidding process for the stations.

The Media Bureau reached a $1,000 settlement with an Illinois school district over incorrect FCC filings and a long period of silence for School District #99’s WDGC-FM Downers Grove, Illinois, said a consent decree listed in Monday’s Daily Digest. The station incorrectly certified on a license renewal application that it hadn’t been silent for 12 months and didn’t notify the FCC on time of the discontinued operations, though the agency granted it special temporary authority to go silent in 2019 and then two extensions due to technical issues and the COVID-19 pandemic, the consent decree said. WDGC also didn’t submit biennial ownership reports and equal employment opportunity program filings on time, the consent decree said. The bureau rejected an informal objection to the station's renewal application, saying that it's within discretion to extend the station's STA.

Two Florida Democrats, Reps. Charlie Crist and Darren Soto, weighed in on the FCC extending the Dec. 17 deadline for CXR Radio Station Trust to sell off radio stations divested as part of the Terrier/Cox deal, said letters posted in docket 19-98 Monday. CXR has asked for more time but would-be purchaser Spanish Broadcast Systems said CXR has rejected multiple offers from SBS for WPYO(FM) Maitland, Florida (see 2111180069). If the FCC were to grant the extension "based on unsupported claims about the unsatisfactory state of the market -- claims that are undermined by the fact that CXR has received a viable offer from an established radio operator,” it would undercut the purpose of radio ownership rules, Soto wrote. CXR “is under an obligation to consummate the sale of the stations as soon as reasonably practicable,” wrote Crist. Under SBS, WPYO would be the first and only Hispanic-owned station serving Orlando, Crist said.

Comments are due Dec. 13, replies Dec. 23, on Auction 112, which involves construction permits for 27 full-power TV stations and is set for June, said a public notice Friday in docket 21-449. The permits are for channels that have been allotted but for which there isn’t a current licensee, the PN said. The allotments include stations in Syracuse; Great Falls, Montana; and Flagstaff, Arizona.

A holiday marketing campaign on ATSC 3.0 and the enhanced audio features it enables begins in late November, said Pearl TV Thursday. The nine-week campaign will air in the 34 markets that have 3.0 and will educate consumers about Dolby audio features, such as enhanced dialogue, it said. Dolby’s Sound Decisions marketing campaign will demonstrate 3.0-exclusive audio features, and broadcasters will also air commercials on 3.0, themed the "Future of Television." ATSC 3.0 enabled TV will be available in stores “just in time for the holiday shopping season and a variety of retailer deals associated with recognized shopping events,” said Pearl.

A trust created to divest radio licenses as part of the Terrier/Cox deal rejected repeated purchase offers from Spanish Broadcast Systems, said SBS in comments posted in FCC docket 19-98 Thursday. CXR Radio Station Trust asked for more time to sell the stations (see 2111100079); the deadline is currently Dec. 17. SBS has made three offers for WPYO(FM) Maitland, Florida, but CXR, which is overseen by Houlihan Lokey broadcast broker Elliot Evers, rejected them as too low, SBS said. Evers told SBS he plans to hold the station off the market until its performance improves and its value rises, said the SBS filing. SBS’ most recent offer, made Nov. 3, was in excess of the station's value as determined by SBS’ appraiser, SBS said. The COVID-19 pandemic’s effect on station valuations isn't a sufficient reason to extend the sale deadline, said SBS. “The Media Bureau has expressly rejected the notion that a divestiture trustee may defer its required station sales while awaiting optimum market conditions,” SBS said: CXR’s request “comes at a time where few would argue that society, the economy, and even radio revenues are on the rebound from the crisis.” Evers declined to comment.

The FCC unanimously approved an NPRM Monday seeking comment on allowing use of computer models to show FM directional antenna patterns for applications. The item had been set for Thursday’s commissioners’ meeting, and wasn’t expected to be controversial -- no outside parties submitted filings to docket 21-422. The final version appeared little changed from the draft. Allowing broadcasters to use computer simulations instead of the full-size and scale models currently required will save money, broadcast engineers told us. “The requirements can be quite expensive,” said du Treil Lundin President Bob du Treil. “We tentatively conclude that requiring" FM and low-power FM "applicants to provide physical measurements as the only means to verify directional antenna patterns is outdated,” the NPRM said. It stems from a June petition by Dielectric, Jampro Antennas, Shively Labs, Radio Frequency Systems and the Educational Media Foundation. Petitioners argued that computer models are cheaper and may have improved accuracy over the model method. AM and TV antennas already can use computer modeling to demonstrate their patterns for applications, and the current rule puts FM applicants “on an unequal footing with their AM and DTV counterparts,” the NPRM said. A deletion notice Tuesday removed the item from the meeting agenda.

The Hart-Scott-Rudino waiting period for Meredith’s sale of its digital, content and print arms to Dotdash Media expired Friday, said Meredith Monday. The FCC Media Bureau approved the sale of Meredith’s stations to Gray Television Friday. Meredith will seek shareholder approval for the Gray transaction at a Nov. 30 shareholder meeting and expects closing on both deals Dec. 1.