Allowing TV stations to innovate and compete in the multichannel video programming distributor (MVPD) and wireless broadband market segments can be achieved through comprehensive, market-based regulatory reform, said a Center for Boundless Innovation in Technology report. The report was led by Fred Campbell, CBIT director and former FCC Wireless Bureau chief. Old regulations, like the free-television mandate, the prohibition on broadcasters offering cable channels and broadcast spectrum limitations, should be eliminated to allow TV networks and local affiliate stations to work together, it said (http://bit.ly/1paf7TF). Repealing only the regulations enabling TV stations to meet their public interest obligations would result in the forced abandonment or sale of TV stations at “fire-sale prices, thus destroying the legitimate, investment-backed expectations of TV stations through government action,” the report said. TV stations rightly fear they wouldn’t survive if policymakers adopted the MVPD proposal for video reform, it said. “Broadcasters thus argue that policymakers should maintain the status quo.” The ownership limits and localism policies applicable to TV stations “are antithetical to the criteria for success of ad-supported services in a free market,” it said. Deregulated TV stations would be well positioned to compete in the MVPD market segment, “either alone or in combination with other service providers,” it said. The wireless broadband capabilities of the broadcast TV band may be complementary to the video services offered by satellite TV operators, “who currently lack their own terrestrial broadband facilities,” it said.

WPXS Mount Vernon, Illinois, petitioned the FCC for a rulemaking on substituting VHF Channel 11 for Channel 21. The TV station wants to operate on Channel 11 to improve its service to the public, “without causing any interference to other stations or adversely affecting the plans for an incentive auction,” it said in its petition posted Tuesday (http://bit.ly/1mAjovp). It also requested a waiver of the freeze on the filing of petitions for digital channel substitutions, it said. The waiver will serve the public interest because WPXS will continue to provide service to the public and “the proposed channel change will free spectrum which can be used in a spectrum auction,” it said.

Public interest groups and broadcasters have been granted permission to intervene in the NAB and Prometheus Radio Project court challenges to the FCC’s policies on sharing arrangements and the quadrennial review (CD June 16 p16), said an order issued Monday in the U.S Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. The Benton Foundation, Common Cause, Media Alliance, Media Council Hawaii, the Minority Media and Telecommunications Council, Mission Broadcasting, the National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians-Communications Workers of America, the National Organization for Women Foundation, Nexstar Broadcasting and the Office of Communication of the United Church of Christ had motions to intervene granted, the order said.

The NFL’s blackout policy lifts attendance, generates negligible output effects and tempers clubs’ incentive to raise ticket prices, said the league in an ex parte filing posted Friday in docket 12-3 (http://bit.ly/Wnxifn). It said the economic analysis supports the conclusion that retention of the sports blackout rule is in the public interest. That there are few blackouts implies that the policy is working by stimulating demand, and “not that the policy is unnecessary,” it said. The research was done by Economists Inc., NFL said. The filing recounted a meeting with the researchers and staff from the FCC Media Bureau and Office of Strategic Planning.

The FCC Media Bureau fined Glendive Broadcasting and its KXGN-TV Glendive, Montana, station $15,000 for not filing children’s TV reports on time and failing to report the violations in a 2005 license renewal, said a bureau forfeiture order Friday (http://bit.ly/1pkYza4). It said the station failed to file 22 reports on time since 1998. Though Glendive said the bureau should reduce its fine because some of the violations occurred beyond the statute of limitations, the bureau disagreed and assessed the full fine. Centex Television, licensee of Class A KRHD-CD Bryan, Texas, faces a possible $1,000 fine for failing to publicize the location of its kids’ programming reports, said a notice of apparent liability (http://bit.ly/1mXOtOg). KRHD hadn’t publicized its reports since the beginning of 2013 due to an administrative error, the order said. The bureau also proposed a $6,000 fine for Killeen Christian Broadcasting, licensee of Class A KPLE Killeen, Texas, for failing to file kids’ TV reports on time and failing to file ownership reports, said an NAL (http://bit.ly/1pl7EQe). The proposed fine isn’t for $16,000, which in one instance the NAL says erroneously, said a Media Bureau spokeswoman.

Sinclair is starting a collegiate sports network, it said in a news release Thursday (http://bit.ly/1mlzUz3). The American Sports Network (ASN) will broadcast collegiate football, basketball, soccer, and other sports from more than 50 universities and colleges, starting with the opening of the 2014 college football season, it said. Sinclair has agreements with several NCAA Division I conferences, including the Patriot League and the Colonial Athletic Association, it said. “This programming should enhance the value of non-Big 4 stations,” said Wells Fargo analyst Marci Ryvicker in an email to investors. Adding sports content could increase the value of MyNetwork and CW affiliates, Ryvicker said. “Management expects that this new content will help drive retrans discussions (and rates) with” pay-TV companies, she said. ASN will be led by Doron Gorshein, chief operating officer of Sinclair Networks, who joined Sinclair in January, said the broadcaster.

The Campaign Legal Center, Common Cause and Sunlight Foundation filed complaints at the FCC against Allbritton station WJLA-TV Washington, D.C., and Gannett-owned KGW-TV Portland, Oregon, on allegations that the stations incorrectly identified front groups as the true sponsors of political advertisements, the filers said Thursday in a news release. One individual paid for the front groups, the groups said. The stations failed to disclose the true source of funding when airing paid political programming, the groups said in separate complaints against each station (http://bit.ly/1r79Y0c) (http://bit.ly/1mlDLw8). They urged the FCC to declare that the stations weren’t in compliance with the FCC rules or Communications Act, they said. The FCC should take other measures, like assessing forfeitures and issuing a public notice “reminding broadcast stations of their obligations,” they said.

Rep. Spencer Bachus, R-Ala., urged the FCC to grant Black Television News Channel a waiver of the ban on ads carried on direct broadcast satellite noncommercial set-aside channels. Bachus filed the letter, posted Thursday, in support of BTNC’s effort to partner with Florida A&M University, he said in the letter to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler (http://bit.ly/1yxoT6s). The commission would be serving the public interest mandate by approving this application, he said.

Buckeye Cablevision and Sinclair requested immediate dismissal of their complaints against one another over a retransmission consent dispute. The companies reached an agreement resolving the dispute, the companies said in a filing posted Wednesday in dockets 13-317 and 14-33 (http://bit.ly/1nP47fc). Buckeye agreed to pay a signing bonus to Sinclair station WNWO-TV Toledo in Ohio as part of the agreement (CD July 16 p22). The entities urged the FCC to terminate the dockets “with prejudice and take no further action with respect to these matters,” Buckeye and Sinclair said.

The FCC seeks comment on whether it should change the way it collects Form 317 data for the annual DTV ancillary/supplemental services report for DTV stations, said a notice Wednesday’s Federal Register (http://1.usa.gov/1oYwqal). It said the request for information is part of the FCC’s effort to reduce filing requirements under the Paperwork Reduction Act. The FCC sought comment on whether the information collection is necessary and ways to possibly “minimize the burden” for stations. Comments are due Sept. 15