The FCC ordered amateur radio operator Brian Ragan to pay $13,600 for operating a radio transmitter on 104.9 MHz in the San Francisco area without a license. He acknowledged he violated the Communications Act but asked for a lower fine because he had no malicious intent, the Enforcement Bureau said (http://bit.ly/1geMEIZ). Ragan had refused to allow FCC agents to inspect his station. “Under the applicable statute, the Commission need not demonstrate an intent to violate a rule to make a finding that a licensee engaged in willful misconduct,” the bureau said. “The proposed penalty is consistent with those assessed against other operators who engaged in unlicensed operations and failed to allow inspection by FCC agents. As a licensed amateur radio operator, Mr. Ragan is expected to comply with the Rules."

The full FCC should review the sharing agreements involved in the Tribune/Local transaction, said Free Press in reply comments on its application for review of the deal (http://bit.ly/1kD0JmP). In approving the transaction, the Media Bureau failed to consider the deal’s cumulative effects on the public interest, Free Press said, citing a recent Department of Justice filing on sharing agreements as additional evidence. The Justice filing “focuses, case-by-case, on the function of SSAs over their form -- asking whether their collective effect harms the public interest rather than whether specific contract provisions independently satisfy the attribution standards,” Free Press said. “Failing to account for such effects would otherwise create opportunities to circumvent the Commission’s rules and their underlying goals."

Nielsen’s fourth quarter 2013 cross platform report highlights the dangers of self-reported behaviors in viewing content on mobile phones, TVB said in a press release (http://bit.ly/1e6Wh8j). “It’s clear that consumers do not accurately assess the time they spend with media.” Nielsen changed its methodology for measuring and reporting mobile video based on consumers’ actual behavior as monitored by device meters,” TVB said. Previously, Nielsen relied on claimed behaviors in consumer surveys, TVB said. “The differences are striking not only in comparison to TV, which, based on metered data, reached 155 hours and 32 minutes of Monthly Time Spent, but in the degree of overstatement that consumers report versus actual device monitoring.” This disparity “calls into question many recent studies that have proclaimed the demise of traditional media based on self-reported approximations of time spent with digital devices,” it said.

Chambers Communications sold ABC Oregon affiliates KEZI, Eugene; KDRV, Medford; and KDKF, Klamath Falls; to Heartland Media. The $29 million acquisition expands Heartland’s holdings to four stations, including NBC affiliate WKTV, Utica, N.Y., Heartland said in a press release.

The FCC Media Bureau issued four notices of apparent liability totaling $46,000 against Icicle Broadcasting, for violations of the commission’s public file rule at four Washington state radio stations, according to documents released Wednesday. KOHO-FM Leavenworth (http://bit.ly/1njoqzj), KZAL(FM) Manson, KOZI(AM) Chelan (http://bit.ly/1qciWIY) and KOZI-FM Chelan were missing reports from their public inspection files for various quarters between 2006 and 2012, the NALs said. The violations were “extensive,” meriting upward adjustments on the stations’ proposed fines, the NALs said. The bureau proposed a fine of $10,000 for KOHO and $12,000 each for the other three stations. KOZI(AM), KOZI-FM and KZAL will also have their license renewal applications granted for four years instead of eight, the NALs said.

A SESAC motion for summary judgment was denied in the antitrust case brought by broadcasters against the organization formerly called the Society of European Stage Authors and Composers, according to court documents. The performing rights organization represents composers and music publishers. U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer in New York ruled that broadcasters had presented enough evidence for a jury to find that antitrust laws had been violated, though he did reject “plaintiffs’ theories” of a “conspiracy” to inflate license fees “so broad as to embrace all SESAC affiliates,” said the court order. Television Music License Committee is funding the case against SESAC brought by Hoak Media, Meredith and Scripps. TMLC represents “the local television industry in negotiations with ASCAP and BMI,” the other U.S. performing rights organizations, said the release. The broadcasters filed the case in 2009. No trial date has been set, TMLC said. “The court cut through SESAC’s legalistic arguments and found that a jury could find that SESAC’s licensing strategy since 2008 has been to illegally inflate blanket license fees paid by television stations,” said TMLC.

Univision will carry Bounce TV as a multicast channel starting next year on its stations in five major markets: New York, Los Angeles, Dallas, Orlando and Phoenix, Univision said in a press release (http://bit.ly/1q7prwK). The agreement builds on the existing distribution deals in San Francisco, Boston, Miami, Denver, Sacramento, Raleigh, N.C., and Tampa, Fla., Univision said. “Bounce TV has now completed multi-year renewals with all their affiliates."

CBS began dynamic ad insertion capabilities for its on-demand programming. The ads will be delivered through Canoe, an advertising technology company, CBS said in a news release Tuesday (http://bit.ly/1fESXXw). The capability “enables CBS to offer advertisers increased audience reach and the flexibility to easily change advertisements at any time within its on-demand programming,” it said. Dynamic ad insertion allows advertisers more opportunities “to reach key demographics as time shifting through VOD, as well as streaming and DVR, continues to grow,” it said. The addition of the tech is expected to further expand the network’s ability to monetize beyond the “live +3 and live +7 day windows,” it said.

Joint sales agreements and shared services agreements between Nexstar and Mission Broadcasting have created economies of scale and cost savings “which have enabled Mission’s stations to air an additional 170 hours per week of locally produced news,” Nexstar said in an ex parte filing in docket 10-71 (http://bit.ly/1q2qX34). Some Mission stations wouldn’t broadcast news absent the JSA and SSA relationships, it said. The many hours of broadcasting local sports programming wouldn’t be possible with these relationships, it said. The companies asked the FCC to defer any action relative to JSAs “until a decision on the Comcast/Time Warner [Cable] merger has been reached and its impact fully assessed,” they said. The filing recounted a meeting with Mission and Nexstar executives and FCC staff from all the commissioners’ offices and Media Bureau staff. Attributing JSAs will make it harder for LIN’s WJCL Savannah, Ga., to continue working with WGTS Hardeeville, S.C., wrote WJCL General Manager Les Vann to Commissioner Mignon Clyburn. The letter is part of an ex parte filing (http://bit.ly/1fFwEef). “Proposals regarding shared services agreements could go further and could cause even more harm,” wrote Vann. The FCC seems poised to consider an order that would make it harder for TV stations to enter into JSAs (CD Feb 25 p1).

The FCC shouldn’t make broadcaster sharing arrangements attributable, said state broadcasting associations from Colorado, Missouri, Kansas, New Jersey and South Carolina in meetings with commissioners Ajit Pai and Jessica Rosenworcel and their staffs last week, according to numerous ex parte filings. “Given the competition faced from other forms of media, there is often insufficient revenue to support the local programming each station seeks to provide,” said the Missouri Broadcasting Association. “The efficiencies afforded by JSAs and sharing arrangements make that local public service possible.” Rather than having a “bright line rule” making such arrangements attributable, the FCC should “look at ownership holistically, and not just one or two individual pieces of regulation,” said the South Carolina Broadcasting Association. The state broadcasting associations also weighed in on the FCC’s stalled draft Critical Information Needs studies. The Wisconsin Broadcasting Association commended Pai’s “leadership role” in highlighting “the very serious constitutional Freedom of the Press and Freedom of Speech issues raised by the study,” said the WBA filing. Several broadcasting associations said they would file a letter asking the commission to “eliminate the study in its entirety.” The broadcasters also expressed support for the commission’s AM revitalization efforts, including a proposed window for new FM translators reserved for the rebroadcast of AM stations, and the elimination of the ratchet rule.