Chicago ABC AM radio station WLS refused to disclose the sponsor behind political ads run by Independence USA PAC despite being notified that the PAC’s sole sponsor is former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, said Campaign Legal Center, Common Cause and the Sunlight Foundation in a news release Thursday. “The Communications Act and the FCC’s sponsorship identification rules require broadcasters to go beyond simply naming the entity that paid for an ad,” the release said. WLS Chicago's listeners “were left completely in the dark as to the fact that Michael Bloomberg, hiding behind a deceptively named organization, was spending large sums of money to influence their votes and the outcome of the election,” the public interest groups said. A complaint against WLS was filed with the FCC by the groups, the release said.

The channel change of WPXS Mount Vernon, Illinois, down the TV dial from 21 to 11 is effective Dec. 15, said an FCC notice in Thursday's Federal Register. It said the move "will further the Commission’s goal of clearing UHF spectrum for new uses and allow WPXS to provide improved service to viewers." The Media Bureau recently approved the change (See 1410310063).

The U.S. Department of Justice is seeking comment on its proposed settlement to allow Media General to buy LIN Media for $1.5 billion, said a notice in the Federal Register. The settlement agreement mirrors an agreement between the two companies announced when they applied for transaction approval, and involves Media General's divesting seven stations (see 1410300060). Comments are due within the next 60 days, the notice said.

There has been "progress" and "a lot of discussion" on high dynamic range and wide color gamut within the ATSC’s S34-1 ad hoc group assigned to write specs for the video component of the next-gen ATSC 3.0 broadcast system, said ATSC President Mark Richer in an interview. "I don’t believe there are any final decisions" on HDR and wide color gamut, Richer said. "But these are areas that the whole industry has been looking at." The "production community" has been looking at HDR and wide color gamut, as have standards groups like the ITU and the Society of Motion Picture and TV Engineers as well as CE manufacturers, he said. "There’s also other work around the world," such as at the European Broadcasting Union, "where they’re taking a look at the ramifications," he said. "The one thing I can say -- and this is not specific to ATSC -- but the industry is coming to the realization that it isn’t just about more pixels, it’s about the quality of those pixels and how we can make them better. So there’s real interest in those things, and exactly where we’re going to end up in ATSC 3.0, I really can’t say yet. But we certainly will address the issue, and we’re communicating with the other standards organizations to make sure what we’re doing complements what they’re doing."

Ratings company Rentrak agreed to a contract expansion with Weigel Broadcasting to provide local market TV ratings to Weigel stations in Chicago and Milwaukee, Rentrak said in a news release Monday. It said Rentrak already provides ratings to Weigel stations in South Bend, Indiana, and the new deal with Weigel renews that agreement.

Aereo is cutting staff in its Boston and New York offices, Vice President-Communications and Government Relations Virginia Lam emailed us Thursday. “We are continuing to conserve resources while we chart our path,” Lam said. “This was a difficult, but necessary step in order to preserve the company.” In a letter to the company's Boston employees obtained by website Betaboston, Aereo CEO Chet Kanojia said the company has been unable to obtain outside investments since the recent nationwide injunction was granted against it by U.S. District Court in Manhattan Judge Alison Nathan. Lam said the company is looking for a way to continue. FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler and other commission officials have recently mentioned Aereo extensively in connection with a draft NPRM on classifying linear over-the-top video services as multichannel video programming distributors. The broadcasters' case against Aereo in New York has yet to be tried on the merits, and would likely continue in some form even if Aereo were to go out of business, Fletcher Heald attorneys Harry Cole and Kevin Goldberg told us. Though not involved in the case, Cole and Goldberg follow it for the firm's blog. Though broadcasters could pursue their case even if Aereo were to go out of business, the sort of default judgments that likely would occur with a defunct defendant are unlikely to further the broadcasters' legal agenda, said Cole and Goldberg. Fletcher Heald represents broadcasters, though not in any cases involving Aereo. Lam declined to comment further on the scope of the layoffs.

Gray Television reached separate agreements with the CW Network and NBC to extend and renew all its network affiliations with both networks, Gray said in news releases Wednesday. Gray said it has 24 NBC network affiliates, and with the addition of a new CW affiliate in Toledo, Ohio, will have 16 CW and CW Plus affiliates.

Meredith Corp. asked the FCC to direct PMCM TV to stop using Virtual Channel 3.10 for broadcast operations of WJLP-TV Middletown Township, New Jersey. WJLP’s unilateral arrogation of that channel openly defies the Media Bureau’s order assigning Virtual Channel 33 to WJLP, Meredith Corp. said in a letter posted in docket 14-150. Meredith’s complaint that its virtual channel is being modified or commandeered “is plainly erroneous,” PMCM said in reply comments. Its virtual channel remains exactly as it has always been, it said. It loses nothing by PMCM’s use of Virtual Channel 3.10, nor does Meredith have any claim to all minor channels associated with major Channel 3 “since the ATSC A/65 protocols explicitly envision coincident use of major channels by independent licensees,” it said. WJLP hasn’t received a single complaint from viewers about confusion, “and we must assume that CBS and Meredith have been similarly free from complaints or we would surely have heard about it,” it said.

Fox Television Stations’ opposition to applications for review by public interest groups against a waiver of the newspaper/broadcast cross-ownership (NBCO) rule is based on a misunderstanding of FCC rules, said the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition and United Church of Christ in a reply filing posted in docket 07-260 Monday. The waiver was granted in August (see 1408110046) to allow Fox to continue to own WWOR-TV Secaucus, New Jersey, and the New York Post. In an opposition filing posted last week, Fox said it has never violated the NBCO rule, and its FCC waiver is temporary, in alignment with agency rules, rather than a “de facto permanent waiver,” as the groups have claimed. Fox’s arguments are “based largely on Fox’s unsupported assumption that the FCC’s failure to act on a request for a waiver extension is equivalent to granting the request,” said the public interest groups. “Because Fox’s position is highly contested and the issue remains unresolved, the Commission should reverse the Order and decide this important question of law."

ABC exposed children to graphic sex in the opening scene of the show Scandal by airing it immediately after It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, said Parents Television Council in a news release Monday. “In less than 26 seconds we were taken from the Peanuts pumpkin patch to a steamy Scandal sex scene,” said PTC President Tim Winter. ABC should apologize for juxtaposing the two shows, PTC said. ABC did not comment.