The FCC Media Bureau proposed a $3,000 forfeiture for Broady Media Group’s WENO(AM) Nashville over a late renewal application, said a notice of apparent liability Wednesday. WENO’s application was due April 1, 2020, but wasn’t filed until July 31, 2020, the NAL said. “The Licensee provides no explanation for the untimely filing of the Application.”

NAB doesn’t object to the FCC collecting equal employment opportunity information under certain conditions, but state broadcast associations said the agency shouldn’t collect any EEO data, according to reply comments posted in docket 98-204 Tuesday (see 2110010066). The FCC “should decline here to take any such action,” said state broadcast associations in a joint filing, arguing the agency lacks the authority to collect the data and saying the data collection is redundant and raises constitutional concerns. If the FCC does collect EEO data, it shouldn’t be disclosed in a station-attributable form, said the state associations. “Indeed, this is the only permissible approach,” NAB said. It said FCC efforts to increase diversity would be more effective if they were focused on outreach rather than “regulatory fiat.” There's "no evidence, including in the comments on the Further Notice, that more paperwork obligations or data will actually increase employment diversity in broadcasting,” NAB said.

The FCC’s noncommercial educational FM new station filing window will open Tuesday and close at 6 p.m. EST Nov. 9, said a Media Bureau reminder public notice Monday. The deadline will be “strictly enforced” against both too early and too late applications, the PN said. The bureau will also strictly adhere to the 10-application limit for participants, the PN said. “If it is determined that any party to an application has an attributable interest in more than 10 applications, the Media Bureau will retain the 10 applications that were filed first,” and dismiss the rest, the PN said. The window is the first to use the bureau’s licensing and management system and is expected to draw a large number of applications (see 2110290060).

The FCC Media Bureau opened docket 21-422 for filings about the draft NPRM on using computer modeling to verify the pattern for directional FM antennas, said a public notice in Friday’s Daily Digest. Commissioners are scheduled to vote on the draft NPRM at their Nov. 18 meeting (see 2110280065).

Broadcast programming streaming service Locast will pay the plaintiff networks that sued it (see 1907310043) $32 million in statutory damages, under a proposed settlement (in Pacer, docket 19-cv-7136) filed Thursday with U.S. District Court in the Southern District of New York. The settlement between Locast and plaintiffs including Disney, NBCUniversal Media, Fox Broadcasting, CBS and ABC means Locast operators David Goodfriend and the Sports Fan Coalition and its directors are permanently enjoined from operating Locast or a similar service. It would dismiss Goodfriend as a defendant. Gigi Sohn, who has been a Locast board member, was nominated this week by the White House to an open FCC commissioner seat. Asked about timing, Locast counsel didn't comment.

IHeart Media’s request for FCC OK to be more than 25% foreign-owned got the nod by the Committee for the Assessment of Foreign Participation in the U.S. Telecom Services Sector, said an NTIA letter posted in docket 20-51 Wednesday (see 2110140043). The approval is among the first under the revised process that replaced the former "Team Telecom" review by U.S. security agencies after a 2020 FCC vote. The committee wants the FCC to condition approval on iHeart’s compliance with the same conditions it agreed to for a previous foreign ownership request: to hire a U.S.-based U.S. citizen to oversee national security concerns and be approved by DOJ. IHeart would notify DOJ before using any “new Outsourced or Offshored Service Provider” to collect personal information about subscribers, and about changes to where such data is stored. Those conditions are standard for foreign ownership requests, broadcast attorneys told us.

The briefing schedule for broadcasters’ challenge of FCC rules on foreign-sponsored content disclosures was changed, after a joint motion from both sides seeking to resolve scheduling conflicts (see 2108130074). Final briefs are due Feb. 25, said the modified schedule (in Pacer) from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit Monday. They were due Feb. 22. Initial briefs from broadcasters are now due Dec. 7, the FCC response Jan. 21, and the broadcaster reply Feb. 11.

The FCC Media Bureau issued two forfeiture orders for $1,500 each over late-filed license renewal applications, said notices in Monday’s Daily Digest. Pilgrim’s Journey's renewal application for WPJI-LP Hopkinsville, Kentucky, was due April 1, 2020, but not filed until May 19. Pilgrim’s Journey told the agency it wasn’t aware of the deadline because the company’s former president, who had handled FCC matters, died. Katie Davis’ renewal application for FM translator K269AV Tonopah and Goldfield, Nevada, was due June 1 but filed July 28. Davis didn’t give the FCC an explanation, the order said.

The full FCC denied Foundation for a Beautiful Life applications for review seeking permission to operate its Saratoga, California, low-power FM station, said an order released Monday. FBL’s license originally faced difficulty when the FCC said it constructed what's now DKQEK-LP Cupertino several miles from the location where it was licensed. FBL continued to broadcast from the site after its license was dismissed, and didn’t wait for the agency to rule on a special temporary authority request seeking permission to provide COVID-19 updates to Cupertino’s Mandarin-speaking residents. After the Media Bureau denied FBL’s requests, it appealed to the full FCC and unsuccessfully sought a stay from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit (see 2006260052). FBL argued the station provided an important information service for Chinese residents of the market, and that many of its errors were inadvertent. FBL unsuccessfully appealed a requirement that it submit copies of the bureau’s order commanding it to cease operating with any application it files for the next 10 years. By operating the station without a license, FBL was effectively a pirate, the FCC said. "The existence of a serious health crisis, while important, is not a mitigating factor,” said the order. “It does not override licensing requirements or justify a unilateral use of the public airwaves without prior authority.” FBL didn't comment.

An order updating the DTV table of allotments was unanimously approved Friday and deleted from the agenda for Tuesday’s FCC commissioners’ meeting, said a deletion notice listed in Monday's Daily Digest. The order was considered noncontroversial at the FCC and among broadcasters. “It’s really just housekeeping,” said Fletcher Heald broadcast attorney Matthew McCormick in an interview. The order would adjust the rules for the table of allotments to incorporate changes to the way TV channels are organized stemming from the broadcast incentive auction, the repacking and the lifting of a freeze on changes in November. The order also deletes rules that have become obsolete, according to the final version. McCormick said the changes are unlikely to have much effect on stations seeking to adjust their channels.