Broadcasters should act now on data privacy concerns about ATSC 3.0, before the tech gets too far along, FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks told public TV officials at the America’s Public Television Stations Public Media Summit Tuesday. Since 3.0 will allow broadcasters to collect data on their viewers in ways they haven’t been able to do previously, broadcasters should ensure they will be “good actors” with private data, he said. Unlike MVPDs, broadcasters don’t have a contractual relationship with their viewers, which complicates privacy concerns since viewers don't have an opportunity to opt in or out of data collection, he said. Starks said he’s concerned about the possible sale of viewer data, such as real-time location information. APTS CEO Patrick Butler said in an interview Tuesday that public TV stations support protecting consumer privacy in 2.0 and have no plans to sell consumer data. Starks said industry and the FCC should work together on the issue, but he stopped short of endorsing NAB’s call for an FCC ATSC 3.0 task force (see 2302160056). “Figuring out the right mechanism to make sure that [ATSC 3.0] gets going is something that I'm working on,” Starks said in response to a question about the task force proposal.

The continued inclusion of AM radios in electric cars “deserves urgent attention,” from DOT and the FCC, said FCC Commissioner Nathan Simington in a release endorsing a letter sent by several former Federal Emergency Management Agency leaders to the Department of Transportation. “I underscore and affirm their concerns in the strongest possible terms,” he said. “The success of the National Public Warning System hinges on the use of AM radio,” and it will no longer function if EV makers stop including such radios in new vehicles due to interference concerns, said the letter from multiple former FEMA heads, including Craig Fugate, Michael Brown and Pete Gaynor. The interference is “resolvable” and DOT Secretary Pete Buttigieg should secure assurances from automakers that they will “put public safety before profits,” the letter said. “The public safety community and the American public rely on AM radio,” said Simington. “Auto manufacturers now, and increasingly in the future, will rely on spectrum.” The FCC should strike a balance between “the velocity of innovations” and “the stability of institutions,” he said.

NAB laid out a provisional timeline and membership Thursday for its proposed FCC ATSC 3.0 task force. The proposed task force would, in the short term, focus on expediting 3.0 applications and clarifying multicast hosting rules, but in a six- to 12-month time frame it would work on modifying coverage standards and MVPD notice requirements to streamline the application process, NAB said in a letter to the FCC posted in docket 16-142. The timeline pegs to a nine- to 12-month time frame encouraging the sale of devices to convert non-3.0 compatible machines -- an issue often stressed by FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel -- and identifying metrics for ending the 3.0 transition. NAB’s proposals for task force staffing include “consumer advocates from the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau,” FCC staff familiar with rolling out new tech such as 5G, Public Safety Bureau staff to work on alerting, and staff from the International Bureau and Office of Economics and Analytics. “The Commission should make this transition the top priority -- rather than merely one issue among many -- for a dedicated team of FCC staff,” the letter said. The FCC said it's still weighing NAB's proposal (see 2302100062).

The NAB Show April 15-19 in Las Vegas will have over 1,000 companies exhibiting their products, said a news release Wednesday. “Exhibitors are expected to occupy more than 575,000 net square feet of exhibits space,” said NAB. The 2019 show, NAB’s last before the COVID-19 pandemic and the cancellation of in-person 2020 and 2021 installments, drew 1,600+ exhibitors. NAB said last year that 2022’s show drew around 900 exhibiting companies. "Companies, large and small, are turning out en masse to exhibit at NAB Show, including more than a few that skipped last year's show," said Chris Brown, NAB executive vice president-managing director, Global Connections and Events. Exhibiting companies for 2023 include Adobe Systems, Canon, AT&T, Microsoft, and Sony.

Gray Television and Marquee Broadcasting agreed to a station swap that will lead to Gray owning a full-power television station in every market in Georgia, where Gray is based, said a news release Wednesday. Under the deal, Gray will sell KNIN Caldwell, Idaho, its Fox affiliate in the Boise market, to Marquee, which will sell to Gray WPGA Perry, Georgia, its MeTV affiliate in the Macon market. EW Scripps operates KNIN under a shared services agreement. The deals are expected to close in Q2, Gray said. The swap will have little effect on the company’s reach under the national ownership cap and isn’t expected to face regulatory hurdles, Gray told us. “We have no presence in Macon, and Marquee has no presence in Boise,” said Chief Legal and Development Officer Kevin Latek. “It’s a good deal for both parties.”

The full FCC rejected an application for review appealing a Media Bureau decision denying review of a bureau ruling that International Aerospace Solution’s licenses for an AM station and FM translator in South Lake Tahoe, California, expired automatically for failure to broadcast, said an order Tuesday. The item had been on the agenda for Thursday’s meeting as an unnamed adjudicatory matter, the agency told us. A deletion notice for the item was also released Tuesday. International Aerospace Solutions argued the Media Bureau improperly rejected its arguments that its owner had been unable to execute tasks connected with the station due to suffering from Parkinson’s disease and that the company was negatively affected by the loss of site and by the COVID-19 pandemic. Those were new arguments that couldn’t be raised in an appeal, the bureau said, and the FCC affirmed. “While IAS presents its principal’s disability as a matter beyond its control, the Bureau properly stated that the Commission expects licensees to delegate any matters they are unable to carry out themselves,” the order said. “A licensee’s choice of whether to delegate station management functions is a matter within its control.”

Rep. Paul Tonko, D-N.Y., filed the Betting on Our Future Act Thursday in hopes of banning most advertising of sports gambling entities as a partial counter to the Supreme Court’s 2018 strikedown of a federal ban on online sports betting. Tonko’s legislation would bar sports betting advertising “on any medium of electronic communication subject to the jurisdiction of” the FCC. “In the years since the Supreme Court legalized sports betting, these unfettered advertisements have run rampant, with betting companies shelling out billions to ensure they reach every screen across America,” Tonko said. “These ads pose a particularly dangerous threat to adolescents and young adults unaware of the risks involved in gambling, and to individuals prone to addiction.” Congress “must take the necessary steps to reel in an industry with the power to inflict real, widespread harm on the American people,” he said. The New York State Broadcasters Association swiftly came out against the bill. “We oppose legislation that bans both mobile sports and casino sportsbook advertising in the” U.S., said NYSBA President David Donovan in a statement. Advertising “has stimulated local economies in areas lacking job opportunities. Advertising revenue from these ads helps broadcast stations meet the needs of their communities by financing local news and public affairs programs.” A “ban on sports wagering advertising prevents all responsible adults from receiving information about a legal product in New York, raising significant constitutional issues,” he said: “There are more effective options available to address issues concerning problem gambling and protecting children.”

Comments are due April 10, replies April 25, in docket 22-227 on the FCC’s NPRM on updating or eliminating rules that reference analog television or the pre-incentive auction TV band (see 2209290017), said a public notice Thursday.

The FCC should refresh the record on treating streaming services as MVPDs, NAB President Curtis LeGeyt told Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel in a meeting last week, said an ex parte filing posted Wednesday in docket 14-261. The top five virtual MVPDs now have as many subscribers as Charter, and none of them existed when the FCC’s proceeding began in 2014, NAB said. The FCC “would greatly benefit from learning more from all stakeholders about how this important market has evolved,” the filing said. “When the proceeding began, vMVPDs were in their infancy,” but the agency now has access to more information on their effect on the video marketplace, NAB said.

The FCC Media Bureau granted a minor modification permit for Call Communications Group’s noncommercial educational station WMFL(FM) Florida City, Florida, over an informal objection from the Bascomb Memorial Broadcasting Foundation, said a letter Wednesday. Call sought to increase WMFL’s power, relocate its transmitter and change the station’s community of license to Palmetto Bay, Florida. Bascomb argued the changes would cause prohibited contour overlap with Bascomb’s station WDNA(FM) Miami. A long-standing waiver, called a Raleigh waiver, already allowed WMFL to overlap with WDNA, but Bascomb said it didn’t cover the changes in circumstances allowed by the minor modification permit. The Media Bureau disagreed. Raleigh waivers are granted with the acknowledgment stations may need to make future changes to their facilities, the letter said. “Because the express terms of the WDNA Waiver allow future modifications to the existing overlap area caused by WMFL and received by WDNA, we deny the Objection and grant the Application.”