The FCC Media Bureau approved three channel substitutions, in orders in Thursday’s Daily Digest. KVII Licensee’s KVII-TV Amarillo, Texas, will swap from 7 to 20, KUTV Licensee’s KMYU St. George, Utah, will change from 9 to 21, and Gray Television’s KAIT Jonesboro, Arkansas, will change from 8 to 27.
Switching Sinclair’s KBOI-TV Boise to Channel 20 (see 2104270084) would let it take advantage of better propagation of UHF signals and “prospective advantages of UHF broadcasting using the ATSC 3.0 standard,” said Sinclair comments posted Wednesday in FCC docket 21-156.
FCC FY 2021 proposed regulatory fees “inexplicably require broadcasters to pay for a portion of the $33 million that Congress expressly appropriated to pay for the implementation of the Broadband DATA Act,” which “neither regulates nor benefits broadcasters” and doesn’t involve the Media Bureau, NAB told Office of Managing Director staff. "For the third year in a row, the Commission has proposed a steep increase in regulatory fees for broadcasters,” which face revenue declines from the COVID-19 pandemic, per a filing posted Wednesday in docket 21-190. The wireless industry pays a lower rate, NAB said. This is due to “the questionable exclusion of scores of” Wireless Bureau employees from the main budget and the proposal not using the full number of Wireless Bureau employees when calculating what carriers “should proportionately pay,” NAB said.
Scripps is working with Amazon Advertising to sell Amazon over-the-top inventory across IMDb TV, Twitch, network and broadcaster apps, and Amazon’s news apps to local businesses, it said Tuesday. Scripps launched Octane OTT in 2019 as a platform for local advertisers to reach cord cutters and cord nevers via streaming services. Scripps recently rolled out Octane Verify, an integrated linear and OTT attribution solution.
The FCC Media Bureau approved three TV channel swaps, per orders in Monday’s Daily Digest. WLUK Licensee’s WLUK-TV Green Bay, Wisconsin, will switch from Channel 12 to Channel 18, Gray Television's KCRG-TV Cedar Rapids from 9 to 32, and WFXL Licensee’s WFXL Albany, Georgia, from 12 to 29. MB will seek comment on WGEM Licensee’s request to swap to channel 19 from 10 for WGEM-TV Quincy, Illinois, an NPRM said.
Two Gray Television channel swaps take effect Friday, says that day's Federal Register. KFVS-TV Cape Girardeau, Missouri, will switch from 11 to 32, and WRDW-TV Augusta, Georgia, will move from 12 to 27.
Channel 6 low-power TV broadcasters face “financial and logistical pressure” from the coming July 13 deadline for LPTV stations to go digital and FCC silence on an LP-6 proposal based on ATSC 3.0, said LP-6 broadcaster George Flinn in a filing posted Thursday to docket 03-185. The deadline appears to require the channel 6 stations cease analog audio broadcasts -- receivable on FM radios -- that are their primary content, and stations propose offering the radio signal as an ancillary service and broadcasting video over ATSC 3.0 (see 2104300063). It isn’t clear if that idea will be acceptable to the Media Bureau. “Time is truly of the essence since FCC guidance is critical to the build-out path that must be taken (and the financial outlay which must be incurred),” Flinn said: The matter should get "expedited consideration.”
FCC Administrative Law Judge Jane Halprin partially denied an Enforcement Bureau motion to compel Auburn Network and owner Michael Hubbard to produce certain documents as part of Auburn’s license hearing, said an order in docket 21-20 in Thursday’s Daily Digest. The hearing concerns Hubbard’s fitness to hold a license after he was convicted of six felonies for corrupt acts as speaker of the Alabama House (see 2102110005). EB asked the ALJ to force Hubbard to provide documents about the 23 felonies Hubbard was originally charged with, but Hubbard argued the non-convictions aren’t material. “The inquiry in this hearing proceeding does not extend to conduct beyond the six felonies for which Mr. Hubbard stands convicted,” ruled the ALJ. “Information regarding those charges for which Mr. Hubbard was not convicted or for which the conviction was overturned on appeal are not within the scope.” The ALJ agreed with the EB that Hubbard must provide the bureau with publicly available documents, and all documents about the six felonies that don’t fall under attorney client privilege. With the response likely to be large, Halprin extended the deadline to produce the documents from 10 to 60 days.
Comments are due June 11, replies June 28, on channel change requests, says Wednesday's Federal Register. Sinclair wants to swap 7 to 15 for KRCR-TV Redding, California, and KTVL Licensee wants to change 10 to 16 for KTVL Medford, Oregon.
The FCC Media Bureau listed seven radio station licenses in Kansas, Nebraska and Oklahoma that expire June 1 unless renewals are filed by then. Their applications were originally due Feb. 1, Monday's public notice said.