The Committee for the Assessment of Foreign Participation in the U.S. Telecommunications Services Sector is reviewing Spanish Broadcasting System’s foreign-ownership request, said a DOJ letter posted in docket 22-161 Friday (see 2202110060). “The Commission will be notified when the Chair has determined that responses to the Committee’s initial request for information are complete and the 120-day initial review period can begin,” the letter said.

Most smaller broadcasters won’t be able to afford GeoBroadcast Solutions’ geotargeted radio tech, said Alpha Media CEO Bob Proffitt in a letter to the FCC filed in docket 20-401. “The substantial investment necessary to deploy ZoneCasting will be out of reach for most broadcasters, and simply out of the question for small and mid-sized broadcasters.” GBS tested an early version of its Zonecast system at an Alpha station, the letter said. Upfront costs to purchase the boosters and other equipment ran over $50,000, and annual recurring costs were close to $60,000. “As of 2021, the average annual revenue for radio stations in markets 210 to 253 was $347,000.00” Proffitt said. GBS supporters have told us the company plans to offer the tech to broadcasters without upfront capital expenses by offering a revenue split once the systems are up. “We have creative vendor financing solutions for station owners like Alpha Media,” said a GBS spokesperson. “Moreover, geotargeting is purely voluntary, meaning Alpha Media doesn't have to deploy the technology if it doesn't want to.” Being able to geotarget ads will mean more revenue for radio broadcasters, said a pair of filings from broadcast analyst firm BIA Advisory Services and its CEO Thomas Buono. GBS is a client of BIA, the filings said. “Many broadcasters, both large and small, would want to have this capability or at least the opportunity to choose for themselves whether to deploy this technology,” said Buono. “Local radio stations and groups commonly sell geotargeted advertising in their digital offers and have done so for years,” said the BIA filing. “Complementing these geotargeted services in their over-the-air services would enhance local radio’s competitiveness,” it said. “We conclude that the NAB’s position that offering geotargeted advertising does not improve competitiveness in today’s local advertising marketplace is not substantiated by facts.”

The full FCC has denied a petition for reconsideration from a broadcaster challenging the allotment of an unbuilt FM station, said an order in Thursday’s Daily Digest. This was the second challenge by Premier Broadcasters of the agency’s 2017 ruling that Threshold Communications could relocate its allotment from Clatskanie, Oregon, to Napavine, Washington. Premier had argued that Clatskanie had a greater need for a radio service and that Napavine wasn’t the optimal choice under the FCC’s urbanized area service presumption, but the commissioners ruled that Premier didn’t present sufficient evidence for that argument. “To afford Premier additional bites at the evidentiary apple would further delay the provision of new radio service at Napavine, contrary to the express Congressional intent.”

The IBC2022 show picked Omdia as its “exclusive research partner,” said the analytics company Thursday. The designation will give International Broadcasting Convention audiences access to Omdia’s upcoming report on how the trends in free ad-supported streaming TV services, ad-supported VOD and connected TV advertising "are changing the TV and video landscape," it said. Innovations in AVOD, FAST, CTV advertising and hybrid subscription models “will make advertising the fastest-growing premium TV and video segment over the next five years," with global revenue increasing by more than 20% to exceed $320 billion in 2027, said Rob Gallagher, vice president of Omdia’s media and entertainment practice. Omdia analysts will present findings from the report as part of the IBC2022 conference program, said the company. IBC2022, its organizers’ first in-person show since 2019, runs Sept. 9-12 in Amsterdam.

The FCC should ensure that regulatory fees “more meaningfully reflect the benefits provided to fee payors,” said NAB in calls Tuesday with aides to Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and Commissioner Brendan Carr, according to an ex parte filing posted in docket 22-223 Wednesday. The agency should exempt broadcasters from paying for work on aspects of the USF, the filing said. The FCC “has acknowledged that broadcasters do not benefit from the Commission’s Universal Service Fund (USF) activities,” NAB said.

Low-power FM broadcaster Marion Education Exchange has been unable to secure an attorney and is pleading with FCC Administrative Law Judge Jane Halprin not to take away its license, according to a letter posted Wednesday in docket 22-76. “I don't think that is the purpose of the FCC” wrote Shawn Craft, a WWGH Marion, Ohio, manager. “I don't think you want to hurt us, or hurt the community. I think the FCC wants to help communities.” The MEE hearing proceeding stems from allegations that the broadcaster has repeatedly failed to respond to FCC inquiries and gave the agency false information about the make-up of its board. MEE came into possession of the station as part of a settlement over violations of Ohio charity laws by its previous owner, Marion Midget Football. Halprin has admonished MEE for not responding to several court requests, which MEE has said it didn’t receive. Prospective attorneys have told MEE the case would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, the letter said. “I really hope you don't take the license because I know you can find out without hundreds of thousands of dollars that we are not out to hurt or lie to anyone, and never have been.” Halprin previously ruled that without an attorney, MEE’s proceeding would be dismissed and the station would lose its license (see 2206240060).

Comments are due Aug.29, replies Sept. 26, on the FCC’s NPRM on changing language in its rules referring to a now-defunct Nielsen publication, said a Federal Register notice for Thursday. Under current rules, broadcasters and MVPDs use Nielsen’s Station Index Directory to determine designated market areas, but Nielsen no longer publishes the directory, which it replaced with a monthly Local TV Station Information Report.

A low-power TV broadcaster could face a $6,500 forfeiture for failing to file a timely license to cover and engaging in an unauthorized operation, said a notice of apparent liability and order listed in Tuesday’s FCC Daily Digest. Partially due to a filing mistake by licensee Ngensolutions, KRRI-LP Reno for five years broadcast without authorization from what the FCC had listed as a digital companion channel, the Media Bureau said. “NGL explained its confusion about having mistakenly filed for a digital companion channel in 2011 thinking it was filing for a flash cut construction permit,” the NAL said. “It is well settled precedent that ignorance of a rule or law does not excuse a violation.”

DOJ and the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S should block the Standard/Tegna deal over foreign ownership concerns, said the Communications Workers of America's NewsGuild sector in a letter to President Joe Biden Monday. It is the second letter NewsGuild has written to Biden about the deal (see 2206020073). “The FCC should reject this overreach and the Treasury and State Departments should reject any deal that contains a single penny of investment from foreign adversaries,” said NewsGuild President Jon Schleuss in the letter, which faults Apollo Global Management for seeking a foreign ownership declaratory ruling related to the transaction (see 2203110066). Such requests aren’t uncommon; the FCC granted one for Univision in January (see 2201210062) and one for iHeart Media (see 2112220052) in December. "Standard General, a hedge fund, claims that it is increasing broadcast ownership diversity by historic levels because its sole voting shareholder is Asian-American," said the letter. "However, ownership by large hedge funds with majority financing from anonymous foreign and U.S. institutional investors is not the same as ownership by a historically underrepresented person of color acquiring a broadcast license." The letter also said Standard hasn’t been transparent about the deal’s financing and called the deal “the culmination of a multi-year hostile takeover effort of a local broadcast news company.” “Will your administration stand with journalists and American families or stand with anonymous foreign investors and Wall Street funds?” the letter asks. Standard declined to comment.

Data from NPR Labs shows GeoBroadcast Solutions’ ZoneCasting geotargeted radio tech “will cause so much disruption to radio reception that approximately 90% of listeners would almost immediately change the channel or turn off the radio,” said NAB in an ex parte filing posted in docket 20-401 Wednesday. GBS omitted that data in its submissions to the FCC, NAB said. “GBS’s omission in a proceeding designed in part to assess ZoneCasting’s efficacy is glaring," NAB said. "Fortunately for the FCC and the American public, NPR retained the data itself, and produced it for Commission review.” GBS’ testing of the technology has been inadequate, NAB said: “Given the importance of objective, reliable testing across a range of FCC proceedings, the FCC would be setting an alarming new precedent if it deems such insubstantial testing acceptable.” GBS sent a letter to NAB CEO Curtis LeGeyt earlier this week to demonstrate industry support for the technology (see 2207200056). "We have been completely transparent with the FCC staff and Commissioners by addressing each and every concern that has been raised, through respected, highly credible and reputable industry experts in the fields of engineering and broadcasting, including the current chair of the FCC’s Technical Advisory Council," said a GBS spokesperson.