The FCC Media Bureau approved channel changes for several TV stations, said Wednesday’s Daily Digest. Four Seasons Peoria’s request to change the community of license for WAOE Peoria, Illinois, to Oswego was granted, as was Gray Television’s request for Channel 9 to be allotted to Freeport, Illinois, as that area’s first local service. WRGB Licensee’s request to switch from 6 to 35 for WRGB Schenectady, New York, was greenlighted. The bureau will seek comment on Corridor Television’s petition to switch KCWX Fredericksburg, Texas, from 5 to 8.

The FCC unanimously approved an order on reconsideration of low-power FM rules and deleted it from the agenda of Thursday’s commissioners’ meeting, said a deletion notice Wednesday. Though the text wasn't released yet, an FCC official told us no significant changes were proposed. The draft order rejected recon petitions from Common Frequency and the Foundation for a Beautiful Life that had sought changes to LPFM technical rules and increased power levels for the radio service. A subsequent proposal for increased power levels is seen as more palatable to the FCC (see 2106140045). Comments on that Simple 250 petition from REC Networks are due Monday.

ATSC 3.0's single frequency network capability can help stations “greatly enhance robust reception” of broadcast TV signals, reported the Pearl TV-led Phoenix Model Market project Tuesday. “Technical coordination” between two transmitters situated miles apart in metropolitan Phoenix was shown in tests “to dramatically enhance what a consumer would be expected to receive,” said Pearl Chief Technical Officer Dave Folsom. Transmission antenna patterns from the two locations were designed intentionally to “overlap each other,” he said. “The improvement in signal level and service margin translates into a marked improvement in the additive signal's signal-to-noise component. That means we can either improve reception or increase carriage bandwidth for more data.”

Comments are due July 16, replies Aug. 2, in docket 21-221 on Scripps’ request to substitute Channel 26 for 13 at KTNV-TV Las Vegas, says Wednesday’s Federal Register. Wednesday is also the effective date for KHQA Licensee’s swap of KHQA-TV Hannibal, Missouri, from 7 to 22, the FR says. The Media Bureau approved Sinclair’s requested switch of WCYB-TV Bristol, Virginia, from 5 to 35, said an order Tuesday. The bureau seeks comment in docket 21-248 on VPM Media’s request to switch WVPT Staunton, Virginia, from 11 to 15. Due dates will come with FR publication.

About 1 million ATSC 3.0 TVs were sold to date, with 3 million-4 million expected to be installed in homes by year-end, said Pearl TV Managing Director Anne Schelle in an interview Monday. “This really is the year of awareness.” Six new U.S. metropolitan 3.0 markets will come on air this summer: Charlotte, Atlanta, Sacramento, Washington, D.C., Orlando and Baltimore, she said.

The FCC Media Bureau listed just over 300 analog low-power TV and TV translator stations that are at risk of having their licenses canceled if they don’t have a DTV construction permit by the July 13 deadline for those stations to transition to digital. “To avoid automatic cancellation of their station license, remaining analog LPTV/translator stations that do not have a digital construction permit should immediately file an application,” the public notice said. Construction permits for new digital LPTV and translator stations granted before Dec. 17, 2015, have the analog shut-off deadline as their expiration, said another PN Friday. Those facilities need to be constructed and operating by July 13 and to have filed a license to cover application within 10 days, the PN said: “Failure to do so will result in the construction permit being automatically forfeited without any further affirmative cancellation by the Commission.” Requests for waivers or extensions should be filed immediately, the PNs said.

The FCC should issue an NPRM on a CTIA and USTelecom proposal to do away with regulatory burdens for pro forma transactions, NAB told aides to acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, per a filing posted Friday in docket 17-105. “A single non-substantial internal transaction can result in filing requirements that strain resources, delay business decisions and divert sparse resources,” it said. Broadcasters have sometimes “opted to temporarily maintain a suboptimal corporate structure due to concerns that a pro forma application could delay or complicate other pending regulatory approvals,” NAB said. Apply “a uniform approach” to pro forma transactions across platforms, it said.

The FCC should adopt Gray Television’s proposal to allow alternative methods for broadcasters to demonstrate their stations are significantly viewed in a market, Gray told aides to Commissioner Nathan Simington, per a filing posted Thursday in docket 20-73. Gray wants the FCC to let broadcasters use Longley-Rice signal reach data in lieu of Nielsen viewership numbers (see 2005150062). Gray also urged the agency to change its rules to facilitate local news production and to update its definition of MVPDs “to account for the significant technological and marketplace changes since the Commission adopted its current rules.”

FCC Media Bureau approval of Gray Television’s request for a channel switch for KAIT Jonesboro, Arkansas, from 8 to 27 took effect Wednesday, said that day's Federal Register.

The FCC should grant Global Media & Entertainment Investments’ request for a declaratory ruling to own up to 49.99% of iHeartMedia over the radio broadcaster's objections, said a GMEI filing posted in docket 21-141 Wednesday. The radio broadcaster’s arguments (see 2105250041) that only the licensee can petition for such “would set a new, dangerous precedent that the Commission cannot veer from the level of advance approval,” said GMEI, which is controlled by U.K. citizens. IHeart sought permission for GMEI to own up to 14.99%. “Acceptance of iHeart’s theory would undermine the Commission’s ability to perform its obligations under the Administrative Procedure Act and otherwise deprive it of its authority to make a public interest determination based on the full record before it,” said GMEI.