Monty Tayloe

The FCC is expected to vote on an order on ATSC 3.0 distributed transmission systems (see 2007140047) by year-end, an agency official told us after Commissioner Brendan Carr referenced ongoing work on the item in prerecorded remarks for Monday's virtual NextGen Broadcast Conference. The FCC is working “on a proceeding to expand the use of single-frequency networks, which will ultimately help 3.0 reach its full potential,” Carr said. The proposed changes to the interference rules in the DTS proceeding would allow expanded use of single-frequency networks, which ATSC 3.0 advocates said is important for the new standard's future.

The FCC is seeking comment on proposed rules to require that broadcasters disclose when content is sponsored or provided by foreign governments, said an NPRM voted on Oct. 16 and released Monday (see 2009150059). Commissioner Mike O’Rielly concurred in part and approved in part and didn’t issue a statement. The other commissioners voted to approve. “We take this action in the midst of known attacks on our political processes by foreign governments and their representatives,” said Commissioner Geoffrey Starks. “This is about basic transparency and it frankly shouldn’t have taken us so long,” said Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel. None of the FCC Republicans issued a statement. Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., has repeatedly written Chairman Ajit Pai calling for disclosure rules. The NPRM would require disclosures if a foreign governmental entity -- as defined by Foreign Agents Registration Act -- pays a station to air material, or provides content free. The NPRM proposed requiring standardized disclosure language and applying requirements similar to those used for sponsored political ads, including a public file requirement.

FCC draft orders on expanding video description and allowing voluntary all-digital AM service are expected to be approved unanimously at Tuesday’s open meeting, said FCC and industry officials in interviews. Neither item has substantively changed from the draft versions released earlier this month (see 2010050056), FCC officials said. Ben Downs, vice president for early all-digital AM supporter Bryan Broadcasting, said he’s not surprised by the broad support for the AM radio order: “This is the right thing for everyone.” Items with unanimous support are sometimes voted ahead of open meetings, but that’s unlikely to happen with these, FCC officials said.

Broadcasters see the progress of the ATSC 3.0 rollout as one of several promising signs for the future of broadcast TV, despite the difficulties of the COVID-19 pandemic, said industry officials at the virtual NAB Show New York event Thursday. COVID-19 is “a double-edged sword” because the increase in TV and over-the-top viewing brought by the pandemic plays to 3.0 strengths, said John Taylor, LG Electronics senior vice president-public affairs and communications.

Stalled efforts at the FCC to deal with a looming, automatic increase in data requirements for Lifeline providers, which the agency itself said is “flawed,” could be affected by the ramped-up process to nominate a new FCC commissioner, but probably won’t, FCC and industry officials told us (see 2008240024). “There are broader issues at play” with prospective commissioner and current NTIA official Nathan Simington’s nomination, said United Church of Christ attorney Cheryl Leanza. Other industry officials noted the debate over Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act and the outcome of the presidential election as likely factors in Simington’s prospects (see 2009280038).

The White House coming under the control of Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden wouldn’t be a negative for broadcasting, said Sinclair, Graham Media, Entertainment Studios Network and E.W. Scripps CEOs on a virtual panel Wednesday for NAB New York. “The priorities of the FCC under Biden will be in other areas,” Sinclair's Chris Ripley said.

TV viewing has changed in the COVID-19 pandemic, and it isn’t clear which of those changes will persist, said CBS Chief Research and Analytics Officer Radha Subramanyam during a virtual Q&A Tuesday for the NAB Show New York. TV viewing in general and daytime viewing increased as people work from home and generally stay closer to home, Subramanyam said, and there's increased viewing later in the morning as home workers tend to sleep later. Viewership numbers decreased in summer and started to go back up with the cooler weather and the return of sports, she said. “Some things may be cyclical.” Higher than usual news consumption began before the pandemic, and has been fed by racial unrest and the presidential election, she said. With some pollsters predicting the results could drag on past Election Day, heightened news consumption could continue as well, she said.

Putting the question of broadcast ownership diversity in the hands of the Supreme Court could have consequences for minorities, said Diane Holland, aide to FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks, and National Association of Black-Owned Broadcasters President Jim Winston during a NABOB conference (see 2010020059) panel Friday. The matter going before “the very conservative” court could “do some damage,” Holland said. Court rulings that eliminate the FCC obligation to consider diversity or make efforts to examine the effects of the agency's decisions on diversity unconstitutional could make efforts to address ownership inequality more difficult, she said.

The FCC Disability Advisory Committee approved recommendations for best practices for creating high-quality audio description and real-time broadcast news captions Wednesday, at the group’s final meeting -- conducted virtually -- of its current term. An announcement of the roster for the DAC’s next term is expected in a few weeks, said Consumer and Governmental Affairs Attorney Adviser and DAC Deputy Designated Federal Officer Debra Patkin. The DAC’s recommendations for best practices aren’t intended to be the basis for regulations or have any bearing on pending FCC proceedings on captioning, said the resolutions approved Wednesday.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit pressed attorneys from both the FCC and petitioners the National Lifeline Association in oral argument Tuesday over an FCC rule limiting carrier reimbursement for customers who are close to being eliminated from the service. Judge Harry Edwards pressured FCC trial attorney Maureen Flood into walking back an argument that NaLA’s challenge to the rule was “untimely,” while Judge Neomi Rao cut off NaLA attorney John Heitmann of Kelley Drye at the very beginning of his time to question the trade group’s standing, saying his own argument undermined his case. “I think you are admitting you don’t get the reimbursement,” she told him.