Oral argument in the court challenge against the FCC incentive auction order by NAB and Sinclair could be heard as early as March, said the briefing schedule released by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit Thursday. Final briefs are due Jan. 27, and oral argument is typically heard at least 45 days after the last briefs are filed, the order said. In an expedited case such as this one, oral argument is typically heard very soon after the final brief, an attorney experienced in such matters told us. The court’s schedule is very close to the one requested by all three parties to the case in a joint filing (see 1410060045), designed to allow the case to wrap up before the mid-2015 incentive auction. NAB and Sinclair asked to brief their cases separately, since their objections are focused on different sections of the auction order. NAB raised issues about the commission’s use of updated OET-69 software, while Sinclair argued that the FCC violated the law by requiring displaced licensees to cease operating on their old channels within 39 months of the auction even if their replacement facilities aren’t usable. The D.C. Circuit said petitioners will file their briefs jointly, limiting the amount of space each argument will have. Their initial brief is due Nov. 7.

NAB again urged the FCC to dismiss Mediacom’s petition for a rulemaking to modify FCC rules for video programming vendors. The proposals aren’t supported by any evidence, legal rationale or public interest justification, NAB said in reply comments in RM-11728 posted Thursday (http://bit.ly/1oxLcs9). Broadcasters and other video content providers agree with NAB that Mediacom’s proposals are beyond the scope of the FCC’s authority “and would only serve to benefit multichannel video programming distributors ... at the expense of consumers and the public interest,” it said. Limiting the ability of broadcasters and MVPDs to reach retransmission consent agreements that suit the unique circumstances of the parties, subscribers, content and other considerations “will impede the development and distribution of programming to consumers,” it said.

The deadline for comments on the draft TV Broadcaster Relocation Fund Reimbursement Form was extended to Nov. 26, the FCC Media Bureau said in a public notice Monday (http://bit.ly/1zjz2aG). The extension was requested by NAB, which said it needed the time to “include the input of broadcast engineers with experience replacing and altering broadcast transmission equipment, many of whom have other professional obligations in October,” the PN said.

Dish Network subscribers lost channels from Turner Broadcasting Monday night due to a carriage negotiation disagreement. Boomerang, Cartoon Network, CNN and other channels were pulled from the direct broadcast satellite company's lineup, Dish said in a news release (http://bit.ly/1uBdK0a). Turner "refused to extend the overall agreement," it said. Dish said it's committed to reaching an agreement that returns the content. Turner said it worked for months to reach a fair agreement, "including multiple extensions and compromises," (http://bit.ly/1x5SVMT). It's unfortunate that Dish "is once again operating in a disruptive manner that takes away networks and programming from their customers," Turner said. The blackout shouldn't have an adverse effect on subscriber trends for Dish, a Wells Fargo analyst said in a research note. A deal "is likely to get done at some point," said analyst Marci Ryvicker. Much of Turner's affiliate growth rests with its key TNT and TBS networks, she said.

The FCC Enforcement Bureau has imposed a $20,000 forfeiture on Florida pirate radio station, according to a forfeiture order released Friday (http://bit.ly/1nsEwdU). Marc-Nus Charles has been operating an illegal radio station on the 92.5 MHz frequency in Pompano Beach and ignored written warnings that doing so was illegal, the order said. Charles also didn’t respond to a June Notice of Apparent Liability issued in the matter, the order said.

An FCC proposal to allow digital replacement translators (DRTs) associated with full power stations to have priority in the repacking over LPTV stations is “probably the worst case scenario for LPTV," said LPTV Spectrum Rights Coalition President Mike Gravino in an email. The proposal is part of the LPTV NPRM issued by the FCC last week (see 1410140176). “The reality is that the primaries can use this to literally wipe out LPTV stations,” Gravino said. Since DRTs would be used to fill coverage gaps that might be created by the repacking, Gravino expressed support for the NAB’s court challenge of the incentive auction. “Go get them,” Gravino said.

There were 30,506 total U.S. broadcast stations Sept. 30, according to FCC totals released Thursday (http://bit.ly/ZwqVHf). There were 15,433 full power radio stations, 4,715 of which are AM, the FCC said, 1,782 full power TV stations, 430 Class A stations and 2,015 LPTV stations.

The FCC proposed fining Midessa Television $86,400 for allegedly operating three broadcast auxiliary services (BAS) stations without authorizations. Midessa allegedly operated an additional six BAS stations, “all in conjunction with its full power and low power television stations,” the commission said in a notice of apparent liability (http://bit.ly/1EYD5cV). Midessa’s apparent violations continued for years, “including for a substantial time after it became aware of its unauthorized operations, thus warranting a significantly increased penalty,” it said. The FCC declined to downwardly adjust the proposed fine “in light of Midessa’s delayed disclosure of the violations and its lengthy unauthorized operation,” the commission said. Midessa had no immediate comment.

National Religious Broadcasters urged the FCC to reject a petition that challenges the license of WWXX-FM Washington. The petition, filed by George Washington University Law School professor John Banzhaf, asks the FCC to determine that use of the Washington, D.C., football team name is prohibited over the air. While most public attention has focused on whether the team name Redskins is inherently derogatory and can be categorized as “obscene” or “profane” for broadcasting, “I am alarmed that Professor Banzhaf’s petition went further by declaring the use of this term name to be ‘hate speech,'” NRB President Jerry Johnson said in a letter last week to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler (http://bit.ly/ZytSaD). This term has been used recklessly “by some in our nation and other democracies in an attempt to expunge opposing viewpoints from the marketplace of ideas,” he said. The petition would have no impact on religions or religious leaders “who may wish to express strong feelings about homosexuality, homosexual acts, the homosexual lifestyle ... even if some would regard such views as ‘hateful’ views,” provided they didn’t deliberately and repeatedly and unnecessarily use words on the air that most people would regard as hateful toward gays, Banzhaf said. One can express and debate religious or other ideas without repeatedly using words “which are most derogatory if not hateful regarding those one wishes to condemn, no matter how strongly,” he said. The station, which has a sports talk and play-by-play format, is licensed to Red Zebra Broadcasting, controlled by Redskins owner Dan Snyder.

"Futurecast,” the technology that LG, Zenith Labs and GatesAir submitted to the Advanced TV Systems Committee as their proposal for the “guts” of the next-gen ATSC 3.0 broadcast system (CD April 9 p15), will be showcased in a demonstration in the wee hours of Oct. 22 in Madison, Wisconsin, at Quincy Broadcasting’s WKOW, Futurecast’s backers said Friday. WKOW will transmit Futurecast-modulated advanced TV signals to specially designed receivers, but Futurecast transmissions can’t be received by current DTV products, and the station will be able to transmit Futurecast only from 1 to 4 a.m. that day, they said. As one of the proposed ATSC 3.0 physical layer technologies, Futurecast’s “flexible parameters allow broadcasters to mix diverse services within a single RF channel with maximum efficiency,” the backers said. Next-gen broadcasting services enabled by Futurecast “range from deep indoor handheld reception to high-speed mobile reception to Ultra HDTV for the ultimate home entertainment experience, all within a single 6 MHz TV channel,” they said.