NAB blasted arguments against relaxing local radio ownership rules Wednesday in a lengthy ex parte filing targeting iHeartMedia, the Future of Music Coalition, the musicFIRST Coalition and others. Filings in quadrennial review docket 18-349 from the coalitions are “riddled with legal, economic, and factual errors,” and arguments from NAB members iHeart, Salem and others are “inaccurate” and “invalid,” said the NAB ex parte. The coalition filings inflate the importance of prior ownership rulings by the 3rd Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals and misinterpret the U.S. Supreme Court’s Prometheus decision as affirming the FCC’s authority to review broadcast ownership rules, NAB said. “Prometheus was decided solely under” the Administrative Procedure Act and didn’t reach the question of how the FCC should weigh diversity and competition in doing the quadrennial review, NAB said. It also attacked arguments from NAB member iHeartMedia against expanding FM ownership caps and on the definition of the radio advertising market. “Nor can the Coalitions,’ iHeart’s, and other commenters’ wish to treat terrestrial radio stations as sealed in their own separate market find support in the record,” NAB said. It also called arguments by iHeart that changes to the subcaps would threaten public safety “highly suspect.” The FCC should reject “unmeritorious claims” that relaxing local radio ownership caps isn’t beneficial to radio, NAB said. The FCC “has no valid legal, competitive, or factual basis for continuing to retain the existing analog-era radio ownership limits.” A Future of Music Coalition spokesperson said the group stands by its arguments against radio consolidation. "NAB is looking increasingly desperate with the latest round of attacks. It’s easy to see why: they’ve failed to establish anything close to consensus even among commercial broadcasters for their radical proposal to weaken local ownership caps." The musicFIRST Coalition, iHeartMedia and Salem didn’t comment.

The FCC Media Bureau’s designation of numerous FM allotment channels in the commercial band as unreserved takes effect Thursday, said a notice for that day’s Federal Register. The channels had been reserved for noncommercial educational stations. The FM allotments are vacant due to the dismissal of an application or cancellation of a license, said the Media Bureau.

The FCC’s foreign-sponsored content disclosure rules impose “an open-ended duty of investigation” on broadcasters that would be “an exercise in futility,” said NAB, the National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters and the Multimedia, Telecom and Internet Council in a brief filed Friday with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in docket 21-1171. “It remains unclear how a broadcaster could ever determine the programming’s true source even if it identifies the lessee as a registered foreign agent,” the broadcast groups said. “Investigating government databases will not yield the information necessary to make that declaration.” The rules don’t include any provisions to counteract the harm the FCC is attempting to address -- foreign propaganda, the filing said. “The only possible harm that the Order’s investigation mandates could address is misrepresentation by foreign registrants of their status as sponsors of broadcast programming,” the broadcast groups said. “But that problem has never been known to occur.” Congress has expressly limited diligence that can be required of broadcasters to obtaining information from their own employees and those they directly deal with “and nothing more,” the filing said.

An email from a person claiming ownership interest in WQZS(FM) Meyersdale, Pennsylvania, to FCC Administrative Law Judge Jane Halprin could be a basis for additional allegations against licensee Roger Wahl (see 2112100056), Halprin said in an order in docket 21-401 Monday. The hearing proceeding over Wahl’s license could be “enlarged” if “further investigation indicates that Mr. Wahl has misrepresented the ownership status of WQZS to the Commission,” the order said. Halprin treated the email, from Julie Barth, as a petition to intervene in the case, which she denied. “Ms. Barth’s primary aim is to inform the Presiding Judge of her alleged ownership interest, with the ultimate goal of receiving proportional compensation if the station is sold,” the order said. Barth’s information doesn’t bear on whether Wahl’s criminal convictions render him unfit to be a licensee and “it is not within the authority of the Presiding Judge to address the validity of her financial claims against Mr. Wahl,” the order said.

Comments are due March 14, replies March 29, on Spanish Broadcasting System’s petition for declaratory ruling seeking FCC permission to be up 49.99 % foreign owned due to a litigation settlement, said a public notice Friday. The comments are to be filed in docket 22-61. Under the settlement, some investors -- including some foreign entities -- would receive a combination of cash and SBS stock, and could cause the company's aggregate foreign ownership to exceed the FCC’s 25% benchmark, the PN said.

The FCC Media Bureau rejected Beanpot License’s objections to WGBH Education Foundation’s decision to abandon a planned channel change and surrender an FM translator construction permit, said an MB letter to the companies involved Friday. The MB approved a channel change for WGBH’s translator W242AA, Beacon Hill, Massachusetts, but the foundation opted to cancel the change and turn in the construction permit after another broadcaster filed against it over possible interference. The bureau had also approved a modification for Beanpot’s translator W243DC Needham, Massachusetts, that was contingent on WGBH’s move, and Beanpot filed in opposition to WGBH’s reversal. Channel-change approvals for full-service stations require a modification of the station’s license, while translator licenses aren’t modified until the new facility is constructed, the Media Bureau said. This means full-power stations are obligated to change channels once a request is approved, but translators aren't. “If a translator permittee determines prior to permit expiration that it will not construct as authorized, the Commission will routinely cancel its construction permit upon request,” the letter said.

Schwab Multimedia appealed the FCC’s January denial of Schwab’s objection to a Media Bureau decision to deny Schwab a construction permit extension for a Culver City, California, AM station, said a U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit notice of appeal Friday (see 2201060048). Schwab argued COVID-19 delays prevented it from building the station.

NAB said its 2022 legislative priorities include passage of the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act (HR-1735/S-673) and legislation aimed at bringing back the FCC’s minority broadcast ownership tax certificate program. Lawmakers “should support laws and policies” like HR-1735/S-673 “that recognize and uphold broadcasters' unique and essential role in democracy and a free press,” NAB said. The House and Senate Judiciary committees are sorting through how to tweak HR-1735/S-673, which would let small news outlets negotiate revenue-sharing with online platforms (see 2202020068). “Reinstating the Tax Certificate Program at the FCC would encourage investment in broadcast station ownership for women and people of color and dramatically help underrepresented voices realize their dreams of radio and television station ownership,” NAB said. It backs the Expanding Broadcast Opportunities Act (HR-4871) and Broadcast Varied Ownership Incentives for Community Expanded Service Act (S-2456), which both would reinstate the program. The group opposes legislation to change the tax treatment of advertising spending, which is currently fully deductible as a necessary business expense, because “it would hurt consumers and small businesses, impact jobs and harm broadcasters' ability to serve their local communities.” NAB also touted its support for the Local Radio Freedom Act (House Concurrent Resolution 33/S-Con-Res 9), which opposes any new performance royalty on broadcast radio.

The FCC’s January order updating political recordkeeping rules takes effect March 14, said a Media Bureau public notice in docket 21-93 Thursday. The order updates FCC rules to conform to the language in the 2002 Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act and adds an online presence to the list of considerations broadcasters take into account when determining whether a write-in political candidate should receive political candidate ad pricing.

Oral argument in the broadcaster challenge of the FCC’s disclosure rules for foreign-sponsored broadcast content will be April 12, said a U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit order Wednesday (see 2201110063). The court hasn't ruled on a motion to stay the FCC’s rule from petitioners NAB, the Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council, and the National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters.