CEA is committed to “working with the Commission to ensure a successful incentive auction,” the trade association told officials from the FCC’s Incentive Auction Task Force, Office of Engineering and Technology and Wireless Bureau in a meeting last week, according to an ex parte letter released Tuesday (http://bit.ly/1geUNKV). CEA also “expressed support” for the pilot channel-sharing program being conducted in Los Angeles, the filing said.

Broadcasters must take care to get the right permissions before obtaining content from the Internet and using it on their own websites, a broadcast attorney said. “Just by posting a picture, video or other content on the Internet does not mean that it is free for anyone to appropriate and use,” said David Oxenford of Wilkinson Barker. “In recent months, we have seen many lawsuits filed against broadcasters, including against some of the biggest broadcasters in the country, over improper use of photographs found on the Internet,” he said in a blog post (http://bit.ly/1c6S8no). While it’s true that some websites allow materials to be shared by the site or within it, “exploiting that material outside of the confines allowed by the site on which the material is posted, or in circumstances not contemplated by the terms of use of the site on which the material is used, can lead to issues,” he said. This is especially true when the content is reused in a commercial setting, “like the website of a business like that run by a radio or TV station,” he said. Linking to the content needs to be done carefully, he said. “If you remove the need to go to the site to which you are linking, you are asking for trouble.”

Cox Radio agreed to buy the construction permits for FM translator stations W246CY Bradenton, Fla., and W273CP New Port Richey, Fla., from Circuitwerkes, said a news release from broker Media Services Group. The purchase price of the permits is $187,950.

The Association of Public Television Stations urged the FCC Media Bureau to rescind the proposed $20,000 fine on Maryland Public Television. The bureau alleged that MPT failed to comply with elements of the FCC’s equal employment opportunity (EEO) rules and it provided incorrect factual information to the FCC on MPT’s EEO program, APTS said in a filing (http://bit.ly/1ghvk5U). MPT has shown “that it takes its EEO obligations very seriously, and that it has for decades implemented an effective EEO program that includes a diverse complement of recruiting sources and outreach efforts,” APTS said.

CBS, Time Warner, Viacom and other media companies urged the FCC to reject a proposal from Comcast that involves a “burden-shifting” enforcement model for compliance with the TV closed captioning rules. Comcast hasn’t adequately explained “why the commission should depart from its longstanding policy of enforcing the television closed captioning rules” against multichannel video programming distributors, the companies said in a filing in docket 05-231 (http://bit.ly/1hgMeEH). To the extent that a video programming provider’s failure to provide compliant captions in its programming is the basis for a consumer complaint, the VPP “is contractually liable to the MVPD by virtue of closed captioning obligations that are imposed on the VPP pursuant to the carriage agreement between the MVPD and VPP,” the filing said. It would be “arbitrary” and “capricious” for the FCC to reverse course “and suddenly directly subject program suppliers to television closed caption obligations, especially where the facts and circumstances underlying a policy have not changed, without a showing based on good reasons,” it said.

It’s clear that the FCC is cracking down on violations of all of its rules on programming matters, a broadcast attorney said. Recent cases on sponsorship violation enforcement include the $44,000 fine issued to Cumulus Media (CD Feb 13 p7). “These cases make it clear that, if a programming rule is violated, you can expect little mercy from the FCC,” said David Oxenford of Wilkinson Barker. Regarding the forfeiture order against Cumulus, the commission rejected any reduction in the proposed fine based on the fact that it was an inadvertent employee error, he said in a blog post (http://bit.ly/1or1ob6). The FCC faulted the licensee “for not turning itself in to the FCC, and found that the corrective actions did not mitigate the fact that the violations occurred, and thus gave no reason to reduce the amount of the fine,” he said. “So be very careful to observe all the FCC’s programming rules."

Applicants for AM broadcast construction permits in Auction 84 can review, verify or update their short-form applications from Feb. 19 to March 4, the FCC said in a Federal Register notice. The closed auction will take place May 6 (CD Jan 29 p14).

The FCC Media Bureau said Thunder Bay Broadcasting and Lake Superior Community Broadcasting are apparently liable for failing to timely file children’s TV reports for their stations. Thunder Bay is apparently liable for a $20,000 fine for its station WBKB-TV, Alpena, Mich., the bureau said in a notice of apparent liability (http://bit.ly/1fhjzs1). Thunder Bay failed to file its reports in a timely manner for multiple quarters, it said. Lake Superior is apparently liable for a $6,000 fine for the reports of WBKP-TV, Calumet, Mich., and WBUP-TV, Ishpeming, Mich., the bureau said (http://bit.ly/1eQHAew).

The FCC Media Bureau proposed a $13,000 fine for Liberty Communications' Class-A Alton, Ill., station for failing to file timely children’s TV reports and quarterly issues/programs lists, said a notice of apparent liability released Monday (http://bit.ly/1cqbCzU). Liberty didn’t file issues/programs lists for 26 quarters and didn’t file kids’ TV reports on time for 17 quarters, the NAL said. Liberty can avoid paying the fine if it agrees to revert the Class A to a low-power TV station, the NAL said. The bureau has drawn criticism from LPTV backers for making such offers in other instances of missing kids’ reports, and in some cases the licensees accepted the downgrade (CD March 21/12 p3). The bureau also proposed a $6,000 fine for Capital Communications for its station WOI-DT Ames, Iowa, said an NAL released Monday (http://bit.ly/1gq09mW). The proposed violation is for failing to file timely children’s TV reports for four quarters and failing to include that information on a license renewal application. The bureau proposed a $3,000 fine for the Eternal Family Network, licensee of Class A TV station KEFN St. Louis, also for a lack of timely filed children’s TV reports, another NAL said (http://bit.ly/1h8ip9i). The bureau issued an admonishment to KPLR Inc., licensee of KLPR-TV St. Louis, for violating children’s TV rules against host-selling (http://bit.ly/1jtdOyx). The violation occurred when characters from a kids show were also featured in a cereal commercial that aired during the show’s broadcast on CW. Several other CW affiliate stations have been similarly admonished over the same incident, which occurred in 2006 (CD Feb 5 p16). The admonishments are issued individually as each involved station comes up for license renewal, a Media Bureau spokeswoman said.

The FCC fined Cumulus Media $44,000 for failing to air required sponsorship identification announcements for its WLS(AM) Chicago. The full commission denied the holder’s request to reduce the forfeiture amount to $4,000, said a forfeiture order (http://bit.ly/1ddC8kh), as the FCC “appropriately applied criteria to determine forfeiture.” The commission “considered the nature, circumstances and gravity of the violations in noting that the announcements in question were formatted and presented as news,” it said. “The commission has long held that a downward adjustment is not justified where violators claim their actions or omissions were due to inadvertent employee errors.” Based in Atlanta, Cumulus had no comment.