Monty Tayloe

The complicated series of transactions in the Standard/Tegna deal and the companies’ own submission of “narrowly crafted” concessions at a “late stage” of the process led to the protracted review of the purchase and subsequent hearing process (see [Ref;2304040063]), said the FCC in a partially redacted response filing Tuesday (docket 23-1084) with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. The broadcasters' response is due Friday.

A draft ATSC 3.0 order on sunsets for the substantially similar and A/322 physical layer requirements remains a moving target that's unlikely to be voted quickly, said FCC and industry officials (see 2303130068). The draft report and order circulated in February would extend the substantially similar and A/322 physical layer requirements indefinitely, but broadcasters said there should be a specified date for the requirements to end. Under current FCC rules, the substantially similar requirement would end in June without FCC action. The A/322 physical layer was to sunset in March, but that was temporarily stayed by the agency last month.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit dismissed the Standard/Tegna broadcasters' appeal of the FCC’s hearing designation order (HDO), but expedited their petition for mandamus relief. It also ordered the FCC to respond to the petition by April 11, said an order Monday.

FCC regulations on broadcasting, telephony and accessibility will “become increasingly hollow shells of themselves” unless Congress decides to what degree the FCC should “move into the app ecosystem,” said Commissioner Nathan Simington at this week’s Free State Foundation Conference. Panelists at the event, including Commissioner Brendan Carr, also discussed broadband deployment and definitions, and the agency’s spectrum authority. The FCC “isn’t currently regulating the edge space, but that doesn’t have to last forever,” Simington said.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit should take up the Standard/Tegna broadcasters’ appeal of the FCC’s HDO, said NAB in an amicus filing Thursday. “This Court should treat this order according to its intent and effect—a de facto final denial of the license application—and hear the appeal,” NAB said in the brief filed late Thursday. Refusal to act is itself an agency final action, said the Standard/Tegna broadcast parties in a filing opposing the FCC’s motion asking the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to dismiss their appeal (see 2303280072). The FCC Media Bureau’s action “on gossamer evidence” injects “untenable unpredictability into license transfer applications,” NAB said.

NAB will take the FCC to court unless it delays the 2022 quadrennial review and concludes the 2018 QR, said an ex parte filing Wednesday and broadcast industry officials in interviews, “The Commission has no lawful basis for withholding the belated 2018 review, and that failure independently threatens the viability of the 2022 review,” said the filing in docket 22-459. Multiple broadcast attorneys said the trade group is resolved to pursue the matter in court and without FCC action NAB will petition the U.S. Court of Appeals for a writ of mandamus. The filing gives the agency until April 12 to toll the 2022 QR proceeding and conclude the 2018 iteration. It’s not likely the FCC will agree to the request, attorneys said.

Standard General, Tegna and Cox Media Group, in court filings Monday challenging the FCC’s hearing designation order (HDO), targeted the FCC’s merger review process, Holly Saurer’s dual role as Media Bureau chief and as Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel’s media adviser, and the FCC’s administrative law judge. The companies are seeking a ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit by April 21.

A draft NPRM on circulation on the FCC’s 10th floor would seek comment on the agency’s implementation of the Low Power Protection Act but also asks for feedback on an LPTV-backed proposal to replace the FCC’s use of Nielsen designated market areas with a population based system, FCC officials told us. Despite being included in the draft NPRM, the DMA proposal isn’t seen as having much traction at the agency: the Media Bureau said last year there's no viable alternative to Nielsen. The NPRM isn’t considered controversial and is expected to be unanimously approved. The FCC uses a census-based system for cellphones and should therefore be able to use it for television, said LPTV Broadcasters Association President Frank Copsidas in an interview: “What is so complicated?”

Programs to promote broadband access need a sustainable, reliable source of funding beyond the current one-time federal infusion, and should partner with local community organizations to succeed, said panelists Thursday at the FCC Communications Equity and Diversity Council’s “Lessons Learned from the Pandemic” virtual roundtable. “We cannot fund [broadband access programs] only at one time, during a crisis,” said Ovidiu Viorica, who manages the broadband and technology program for the New Mexico Public School Facilities Authority. “We have to make the funding predictable, and continuous because that's what it's going to take.”

Broadcasters, MVPDs and public interest groups don’t agree whether sharing arrangements and top-four affiliates hosted on low-power TV multicasts are loopholes in ownership rules or ways for broadcasters to achieve scale and serve needful communities, according to several 2022 quadrennial review replies filed in docket 22-459 for Monday’s deadline (see 2303060070). Other filings urged the FCC to study news quality and broadcaster diversity, or condemned the agency for starting the 2022 QR with the 2018 version still open. That left TV and radio companies “wondering whether the Commission will recognize significant changes in the marketplace,” said Gray Television.