Monty Tayloe

Representatives from ISPs, trade groups and state governments agreed that the FCC’s Rural Digital Opportunity Fund reverse auction process was flawed but disagreed about whether or how the agency should grant amnesty to some RDOF participants. “You should not be penalized for circumstances you could not have foreseen,” said Philip Macres of Klein Law Group, representing a coalition of RDOF participants calling for amnesty during a Broadband Breakfast panel Wednesday. Entities seeking amnesty after failing to meet RDOF obligations are just trying “to game the process,” said Republican Missouri state Representative Louis Riggs. “They treated us like a colony, you know-- extract wealth from us, give us nothing in return.”

The FCC’s proposed $1.8 million forfeiture against Nexstar and Mission Broadcasting over allegations that the companies misrepresented Nexstar’s control over WPIX New York (see 2403220067) is an unlawful attempt to overturn a previous FCC’s decision, violates the Constitution and changes rules without prior notice, Nexstar said in a response filing Monday. “The NAL is unlawful and the proposed forfeiture, divestiture obligations, and other requirements must be canceled and the NAL vacated in its entirety,” it said.

LAS VEGAS -- Broadcasters struggle with an unbalanced relationship with programming networks and tech companies, broadcast CEOs told NAB President Curtis LeGeyt in a panel discussion at NAB Show 2024 Monday. “We cannot finance the content for these networks and then have the network say ‘Watch it on our streaming service the next day,’” said Allen Media CEO Byron Allen. “A challenge is that we’re highly regulated and there are many who are not,” said Graham Media CEO Catherine Badalamente.

LAS VEGAS -- ATSC 3.0 is finally in a position to generate cash for TV stations and remains the industry’s hope, according to interviews with broadcasters and several 3.0 product announcements at NAB Show 2024. However, not everyone is convinced and even 3.0 supporters concede the transition still faces challenges. “We need a date certain” for the end of the FCC’s substantially similar requirements, said BitPath CEO John Hane. “If we had some relatively minor adjustments in the transition rules, a lot more stations would be converted.” “I’m sure it’s gonna pan out, it just won’t happen as fast as Americans like,” said Byron Allen, Allen Media CEO, in an interview.

LAS VEGAS -- The FCC Media Bureau’s Audio Division has been stretched by a spate of recent licensing windows but has added resources and hopes to catch up with delayed filings, said Audio Division Chief Albert Shuldiner on a panel with other Media Bureau staff at the NAB Show 2024 here Monday. The panel, which included Media Bureau Chief Holly Saurer, also discussed proposals to prioritize some broadcaster filings, the recent approval of geotargeted radio, and pirate radio enforcement. “Delay is not our No. 1 goal,” said Shuldiner.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency and the National Weather Service (NWS) joined commenters from the broadcast, MVPD and emergency alerting industries in pushing back on an FCC proposal (see 2402150053) requiring multilingual emergency alert system warnings facilitated by scripted templates, according to comments posted this week in docket 15-94. Though nearly every commenter acknowledged the importance of multilingual EAS, they also said the FCC’s proposal is too preliminary, would greatly burden broadcasters and MVPDs, and in some cases isn’t technically feasible. “The use of pre-installed templates may not be an effective approach,” said the FEMA Integrated Public Alert Warning System Program Office.

Broadcasters attending the 2024 NAB Show in Las Vegas will focus on exploiting and guarding against the latest advances in artificial intelligence, on making the now 7-year-old transition to ATSC 3.0 finally pay off, and on surviving an unfavorable regulatory landscape, industry officials told us. “We’ve been building out the service; now it’s put up or shut up time,” said Gray Television Senior Vice President Rob Folliard of ATSC 3.0. The show kicks off Saturday at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

The FCC’s unanimous order Tuesday allowing radio stations to use FM boosters to offer geotargeted ads and announcements comes over the objections of the nation’s largest radio broadcasters and NAB's years-long campaign against FCC authorization (see 2209230070. Although Tuesday’s order allows broadcasters to receive only temporary authorization for geotargeted content and seeks comment on procedures for a more permanent process, advocates for the ZoneCast technology pushed by GeoBroadcast Solutions (GBS) see the order as a win and the accompanying Further NPRM as mostly ministerial. “Today marks a monumental victory for small- and minority-owned FM radio stations,” said Roberts Radio CEO Steve Roberts, a longtime proponent of the technology. NAB “is pleased that the Commission is only authorizing the use of GeoBroadcast Solutions’ troubling technology on an experimental basis at this time,” the trade group said.

The FCC’s administrative hearing process increasingly results in huge discovery requests that can be expensive for entities with matters before the agency’s administrative law judge and faces an uncertain future due to a host of recent administrative law cases, panelists said during a Federal Communications Bar Association virtual event Tuesday. Discovery is the most time-consuming part of the process, said FCC ALJ Jane Halprin. In addition, the expense of pursuing a lengthy case before the ALJ is sometimes more than many licensees can stomach, said Smithwick and Belendiuk attorney Arthur Belendiuk during a separate panel. “Even if you win, you might lose,” he said.

Rising opposition to diversity, equity and inclusion policies puts the latest iteration of the Communications, Equity and Diversity Council in a difficult position, said several CEDC members Wednesday during the group’s first meeting under its new charter. “We have always been challenged in our work, but I cannot remember a time that we have been so challenged,” said former FCC Commissioner Henry Rivera, who has served on every FCC diversity committee dating to the 1980s.