Comments are due Sept. 8, replies Sept. 23, in docket 21-130 on KPTV-KPDX Broadcasting’s request to swap the channel of KPTV Portland, Oregon, from Channel 12 to 21, said Monday’s Federal Register.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit should reconsider a June ruling denying broadcaster PMCM’s appeal of the FCC's grant of a two-sided distributed transmission license to Connecticut Public Broadcasting’s WEDW Stamford (see 2106250042, said PMCM in a petition for rehearing filed Monday (in Pacer) in docket 20-1334. “Several elements of the Judgment were based on basic misapprehensions of the FCC’s action” and PMCM’s arguments, the petition said. The court based its decision on an action the Media Bureau discussed but never took, and misunderstood a decision reached by the full FCC, the petition said. “Perhaps because the case was not presented for oral argument,” the court’s decision “effectively failed to review the FCC application that was challenged,” PMCM said, offering to participate in oral argument if the case is reheard. The FCC didn’t comment.

The FCC Enforcement Bureau sent the second batch of equal employment opportunity audit letters for 2021 Friday, said a public notice. Each year, about 5% of stations are selected for EEO audits.

The FCC Media Bureau proposed a $20,000 fine for Prism Broadcasting over violations of FCC public file rules by WANN-CD Atlanta, said a notice of apparent liability Friday. Staff said the station’s filings of quarterly TV issues/programs lists were filed late for 21 quarters, the NAL said. The broadcaster said the late filing was due to small staff size and unfamiliarity with the rules and procedures, per the NAL, which said “Employee acts or omissions, such as clerical errors in failing to file required forms, do not excuse violations.” WANN’s license renewal application will be granted at the conclusion of this proceeding, the bureau said. The bureau also proposed a $15,000 forfeiture for Bethany Church for similar public file violations at WLFT-CD Baton Rouge. WLFT filed late quarterly TV issues/programs lists for 16 quarters, and blamed the error on staffing and flooding in 2016, said another NAL listed in Friday’s Daily Digest.

Comments are due Sept. 7, replies Sept. 20 on an FCC NPRM on technical changes to some radio rules, says Friday’s Federal Register on docket 21-263. The NPRM proposes changing some minor rules to delete outdated wording or harmonize them with other regulations. It was approved 4-0 (see 2107070062).

The public can comment by Oct. 4 on DOJ’s proposed final judgment against Gray Television’s buy of Quincy Media’s stations, said Thursday’s Federal Register. The judgment requires divestiture of 10 stations to Allen Media, as proposed by Gray earlier this year (see 2107280060). Gray has closed the Quincy transaction (see 2108020064).

NAB told the FCC it should allocate the costs of implementing the Broadband Deployment Accuracy and Technological Availability Act to bureaus associated with broadband mapping instead of raising regulatory fees for broadcasters. President Gordon Smith spoke with acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel Monday, per a filing posted in docket 21-90 Thursday: The proposed regulatory fee increase would lead to broadcasters subsidizing 16% of the costs of the mapping effort. The increase is “not only unfair and contrary to the statute, but extremely difficult for radio broadcasters in particular to absorb” with the pandemic, the filing said. NAB asked the FCC to remove the Media Bureau from its calculation of the cost of the mapping effort and distribute the costs to licensees associated with the International, Wireless and Wireline bureaus.

The FCC Media Bureau's grant of Gray Television’s request to allot Channel 26 to Eagle River, Wisconsin, takes effect Thursday, says that day’s Federal Register. Comments on KVVU Broadcasting’s request to swap the channel of KVVU-TV Henderson, Nevada, from 9 to 24 are due Sept. 3, replies Sept. 20, per Wednesday’s FR.

FCC Administrative Law Judge Jane Halprin extended the discovery period and other deadlines in Auburn Network’s hearing proceeding to provide more time to resolve conflicts between Auburn and the Enforcement Bureau over what documents must be produced, said an order in docket 21-20 (see 2108020046). Discovery was to conclude Aug. 16 but is extended to Oct. 15. The affirmative case is now due Nov. 30, the responsive case Jan. 18, and the deadline to request oral hearing has moved to Feb. 22. “Additional extension of these deadlines is not anticipated absent a showing of extraordinary circumstances,” the order said. The additional time is partly to allow Auburn to recast its interrogatories to comply with Halprin’s ruling that confidential documents the broadcaster seeks about interactions between the EB and Media Bureau can be requested only via the Freedom of Information Act. Auburn seeks to argue that the process leading to the hearing designation order was improper, the order said. Halprin “does not have authority to rule on what appears to effectively be an application for review of the Hearing Designation Order,” the order said. Wednesday’s order is intended to “re-focus” remaining discovery requests on information relevant to the impact of Auburn owner Michael Hubbard’s felonies on the company’s fitness to hold a license, the order said. Halprin denied EB’s request for a status conference as no longer necessary.

The FCC, to “create and preserve racial justice,” should act quickly on seven initiatives for social diversity, said the Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council in a letter to acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel’s office filed Wednesday in docket 17-105. “There is no better time than now to give effect to this moral imperative,” said the letter, signed by new MMTC President Robert Branson. MMTC wants the agency to give minorities more access to FM station ownership through geotargeting and a C4 class, improve the radio incubator program, require equal opportunity in procurement, press Congress on the minority tax certificate, include diversity impact statements in FCC orders, vigorously enforce equal employment opportunity rules, and pursue multilingual emergency alert system messages, the letter said. The FCC “carries the enormous responsibility of overseeing one-sixth of our national economy, including some of America’s fastest-growing industries and greatest exports,” the letter said. The agency’s “long and malodorous history of minority exclusion should both haunt and motivate all of us,” MMTC said. “Hopefully, looking back on 2021, future students of history will recognize the FCC as an agency that seized the moment and swiftly affirmed its commitment to racial justice.”