The FCC Media Bureau seeks comment on a TiVo petition asking for clarification or waiver of the audiovisual output requirement for set-top boxes provided by cable operators. Initial comments are due Feb. 14, with replies due Feb. 28, the bureau said in a public notice (http://bit.ly/1b6vLdF). TiVo also requested clarification on whether the rule is still in effect in the wake of the D.C. Circuit’s EchoStar decision (CD Jan 7 p10).

There’s a labor cost to users to make software and settings changes to emergency alert system devices, said EAS equipment firm Sage Alerting Systems. The FCC should strive “to give sufficient warning of required changes, and bundle them together, so users can schedule updates to EAS equipment in a cost effective manner,” Sage said in an ex parte filing in docket 04-296 (http://bit.ly/1d7FEHZ). If the national periodic test (NPT) code is kept as a normal EAS alert, the Federal Emergency Management Agency can use it to verify transport of messages through various parts of the system, it said. Making the NPT work just like an emergency action notification (EAN) with special handling and no time limit would require a software update for all Sage devices and all EAS devices, Sage said. “The FCC and FEMA should work together [to] define the use case before changes are made to the [NPT] specification.” The filing recounted a teleconference with Sage President Harold Price and Public Safety Bureau staff. Monroe Electronics urged the commission to establish a requirement for EAS equipment to recognize, process and validate all header codes for EAS alerts, “even where the event code is EAN,” said the EAS equipment provider in an ex parte filing (http://bit.ly/LfcEIA). Monroe supports using a new national location code of “000000,” it said. It said that if the rules were modified to specify that the NPT must also support unlimited audio, “a significant software update would need to be developed and provided by the manufacturer, and then installed by many thousands of users at their own volition.” The filing pertains to a conference call with bureau staff. Separately Wednesday, the FCC said that Turner Broadcasting is apparently liable for a $200,000 fine for airing false EAS tones. (See story above in this issue.)

There are no technology constraints preventing cable and satellite companies from adding more capacity to carry TV channels, said a study commissioned by several broadcaster trade associations, according to an NAB release Wednesday (http://bit.ly/1d00Oes). NAB, the National Religious Broadcasters and the National Black Religious Broadcasters commissioned the study, the release said. “The study counters pay-TV providers’ claims that continuing to provide broadcast television channels that elect must-carry status restricts their ability to add other programming options,” said NAB. Performed by telecommunications engineer Steve Crowley, the study said video compression technology “doubles about every 10 years,” and advances in system architecture, newer satellites and other technologies allow cable and satellite companies to increase their program capacity. “Any suggestions of technology-based capacity constraints that allegedly limit cable and satellite companies’ ability to continue offering existing and new TV program channels lack credibility,” the study said. NCTA did not comment.

Newly created Northstar Media bought 30 TV stations from Una Vez Mas, Northstar said in a news release Monday (http://bit.ly/1ePjYmQ). The deal makes Northstar, which is subsidiary to a company whose managing members are also the managing members of corporate lender Northlight Financial, “the largest U.S. affiliate group” of AIC’s Azteca America TV network, Northstar said. The stations in the deal provide Spanish language programming in California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Louisiana, Georgia, Maryland and Florida, and include full-power stations in the San Francisco, Dallas and Houston markets, the company said. Azteca America network programming will be shown on Northstar’s TV stations for “a substantial part of the broadcast days,” Northstar said. AIC was also involved in the UVM transaction, as all of UVM’s “remaining non-broadcast operations” were bought by AIC subsidiary Stations Group, it said. Stations Group will provide services to the Northstar-owned stations through a sharing agreement, Northstar said. The FCC approved the transaction, which didn’t require any waivers of the commission’s ownership rules, said broadcast attorney Jack Goodman, who represents Northstar.

CEA hailed the Supreme Court’s decision to hear the broadcasters’ case against Aereo (CD Jan 13 p5), President Gary Shapiro said in a statement Monday. CEA hopes the court “will rule for Aereo, innovation and consumers,” Shapiro said. Broadcasters’ contention that watching free over-the-air TV via a remote service like Aereo “is somehow infringing ignores the law, precedent and their obligation to provide free over-the-air broadcasting,” Shapiro said. A ruling against Aereo would “undercut” the court’s Cablevision decision, “which has unleashed a wave of investment and innovation in the cloud computing industry,” he said: “Such a decision would lock in legacy technologies, and prevent viewers from taking advantage of mobile and other products that we already take for granted.” Shapiro thinks it’s “notable” that the Aereo case comes before the Supreme Court “as we celebrate” the court’s “landmark” Betamax decision, he said. In that Sony case, the court ruled to protect “consumer rights and innovation, as we urge them to do in Aereo,” he said. “Aereo is just the latest in a line of innovations that broadcasters claimed would kill their industry. Instead, cable TV, the Betamax and the DVR gave the broadcasters new revenue streams and new audiences.” Some TV networks have threatened to halt over-the-air broadcasting if the court rules in Aereo’s favor, Shapiro said. “If these networks do not believe that broadcasting is a viable business, we encourage them to relinquish their spectrum for wireless Internet and other productive uses. New technologies arrive, human progress moves forward, and society benefits. No industry has the right to have its existing model preserved unchanged forever. If the broadcasters wish to be a successful digital-age industry, they must embrace innovation, not litigation."

A broadcaster seeking to move from Channel 51, the one slot on the TV dial where there’s no FCC freeze on allowing full-power stations to move, reaffirmed its interest in making the change that was backed by a carrier earlier last week (CD Jan 9 p14). Moving KSBI Oklahoma City to Channel 23 is part of a voluntary agreement with that carrier, U.S. Cellular, said the station’s owner Family Broadcasting in a filing in docket 13-302 (http://bit.ly/1gYw0wg). “Operation on Channel 23 will eliminate potential interference to and from wireless operations in the Lower 700 MHz A Block."

The FCC Media Bureau seeks comment on LeSEA Broadcasting of South Bend’s petition for substitution of its previously allotted Channel 48. In 2010, the FCC substituted Channel 46 of LeSEA’s WHME-TV South Bend, Ind., for Channel 48 at the broadcaster’s request, the bureau said in an NPRM (http://bit.ly/1lZhzIA). LeSEA also requests a waiver of the FCC’s freeze on the filing of petitions for rulemaking by TV stations seeking a channel substitution, the NPRM said. The bureau proposed to substitute Channel 48 for Channel 46 with DTV power of 300 kilowatts and 295-meter height above average terrain, it said. Comments will be due 30 days after the notice is published in the Federal Register, it said. Meanwhile, another broadcaster seeking to move channel slots reiterated its interest in doing so, for channels where there’s no FCC freeze on such changes. (See separate report below in this issue.)

The FCC Media Bureau said Pacifica is apparently liable for a $1,000 fine regarding its KPFK(FM) Los Angeles. The bureau alleged that Pacifica didn’t retain all required documentation in the station’s public inspection file, it said in a notice of apparent liability (http://bit.ly/KPWjKd). The station’s license renewal will be granted upon the conclusion of the forfeiture proceeding, the bureau said.

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler’s comments made at the CES on retransmission consent intervention were “overlooked” and are a “positive” for broadcasters, a Guggenheim Partners analyst said. Wheeler’s comments on retrans “certainly indicated he was unlikely to support FCC intervention in signal blackouts,” analyst Paul Gallant said in a research note. “This is what broadcasters have been hoping for.” If the commission does stand down on retrans, “then the ball is solely in Congress’ court,” he said. “But, given that Republicans control the House and broadcasters tend to have rising influence in an election year, we continue to believe the odds are against Congress passing retrans legislation in 2014.”

A carrier backed a broadcaster’s request to move from Channel 51, the one spot on the TV dial where the FCC is accepting such requests from full-power stations. U.S. Cellular said Family Broadcasting Group should be allowed to move KSBI Oklahoma City to Channel 23, a change that’s the subject of a Media Bureau NPRM saying the move warrants consideration (http://bit.ly/1dgGnMY). The plan is in conjunction with a “voluntary industry settlement that will facilitate the offering of quality wireless broadband by a USCC affiliate,” said U.S. Cellular in a comment Tuesday in docket 13-302 (http://bit.ly/1erlM5c). “Family has demonstrated that the proposed change falls squarely within an express exception to the Commission’s ‘freeze’ on channel reallocations and assignment."