Teton Parent, a subsidiary of Apollo Global Management, is seeking FCC permission to be more than 25% foreign-owned in connection with Standard General’s proposed $8.6 billion buy of Tegna’s TV stations (see 2202220062), said a non-docketed petition Thursday for declaratory ruling. That deal involves stations being transferred to Apollo’s CMG Media, and would leave Apollo with a nonvoting interest in Standard General. The foreign ownership petition is necessary because 50% of the equity of Standard General is controlled through investment funds in the Cayman Islands and the British Virgin Islands. “100% of the voting control of each of these funds ultimately is held” by Standard General Managing Partner Soohyung Kim. Apollo’s nonvoting shares in Tegna will also mean that after the deal Tegna will be 49.16% foreign-owned, the petition said. Teton Parent wants the FCC to permit it to be up to 100% foreign-owned, the petition said. “Grant of this request will serve the public interest by facilitating TPC’s access to capital to complete a transaction that will result in the largest minority-owned and female-operated U.S. broadcast station group in history,” the petition said.

Petitions to deny noncommercial educational window tentative selectees are due 30 days after the order's March 9 publication (see 2203090054).

Final filings in the FCC hearing proceeding on the license of a Pennsylvania broadcaster convicted of attempting to have a woman raped are due Dec. 14, said an order Thursday in docket 21-401 (see 2112020025). Roger Wahl, the licensee of WQZS(FM) Meyersdale, Pennsylvania, is representing himself in the case. Administrative Law Judge Jane Halprin repeated in the order that parties in the case can’t unilaterally communicate with her and must submit documents via the FCC’s electronic comment filing system. “Failure to adhere to the Commission’s hearing regulations and procedures, including filing deadlines, could lead to dismissal of this proceeding with prejudice,” the order said. Also on Thursday, Wahl submitted some testimonials from listeners into the docket. One writer said that Wahl made decisions she doesn't condone, "but to punish both he and the public for a community service radio station ... is the wrong thing to do.” Wahl “has been a huge promoter of local athletics and I know from experience that student/athletes love when the radio crew shows up at the games,” said another letter.

It's “impossible” for the FCC to improve diversity in broadcasting without measuring it through equal employment opportunity data, said United Church of Christ Media Justice Ministry Policy Adviser Cheryl Leanza in an ex parte filing posted Thursday in docket 98-204. “Without data, neither broadcasters nor the FCC nor the public can know whether broadcasters and the Commission have achieved their goal of improving employment diversity.” Comcast and Disney, which own broadcast stations, already voluntarily release EEO data, and common carriers are required to publicly submit EEO data to the FCC, Leanza said. FCC release of employment data “would allow the court of public opinion to render its judgment," Leanza said. That is judgment that NAB "clearly seeks to avoid by suppressing its members’ employment data,” she said.

The FCC Media Bureau seeks comment in docket 22-112 on Gray Television’s request to shift WDTV Weston, West Virginia’s channel from 5 to 33, said a public notice Wednesday. Comments are due 30 days after the PN is published in the Federal Register, replies 45 days.

The FCC Media Bureau identified tentative selectees in 15 groups of mutually exclusive (MX) applications for noncommercial educational FM construction permits from the November NCE window, said a public notice Wednesday. The selectees include Etheree Group’s application to serve Key Colony Beach, Florida; Spokane Public Radio’s application to serve Kettle Falls, Washington; and Gallup Public Radio’s application to serve Zuni Pueblo, New Mexico. The bureau made its choices using an analysis based on which applicant would provide a first or second NCE radio station to at least 10% of the population in the proposed service area if the service area has at least 2,000 people, the PN said. If two applications in an MX group meet those criteria, the bureau analysis favors the applicant serving the most people, with some additional considerations, it said. Petitions to deny the applications of the selectees are due 30 days after the order is published in the Federal Register.

SMPTE opened its call for proposed papers for its Oct. 24-27 annual technical conference, newly rebranded as the SMPTE Media Technology Summit, said the society Tuesday. SMPTE’s first in-person conference since fall 2019 will return to the Loews Hollywood Hotel in Los Angeles after a brief run at the Westin Bonaventure. "There have been great advancements in technology during a time where we have had limited opportunity to discuss what we've been doing, so this opportunity to discuss cutting-edge research, insight, and technology will be welcomed by many,” said SMPTE Education Director Polly Hickling. Paper proposals are due April 30 on a range of “general topic areas,” including digital cinema, streaming, AI in content creation and broadcast advancements,” said the society.

Broadcasters need to lobby their lawmakers and explain the “devastating impact” a performance royalty would have on radio stations, said NAB President Curtis LeGeyt in a blog post Tuesday opposing the American Music Fairness Act (see 2202020070). A performance fee would hurt broadcasters’ ability to pay employees and invest in new equipment, LeGeyt said. “For small-market broadcasters, having to pay even a $500 performance royalty could mean cutting live coverage of high school basketball games,” the blog post said. Performance royalty advocates argued that every other medium has to pay royalties to performers, and radio broadcasters in most other countries pay performance royalties.

Low-power TV broadcaster Lowcountry 34 Media agreed to pay $250,000 penalty and relinquish nearly 100 low-power TV and translator stations over allegations it abused FCC licensing processes to relocate large numbers of stations from rural underserved areas to denser, more urban markets, said a consent decree Monday. Lowcountry erected temporary stations, operated them only a few days and filed multiple requests for minor modifications -- moves of 30 miles or less -- to inch those stations into bigger markets, said the consent decree. Between June and August, LPTV station W29EN-D Beaufort-Lady’s Island, South Carolina, moved more than 99 miles from original community of license Soperton, Georgia, via a series of eight minor modification applications, the consent decree said. Moving stations in this way violates the intent of the minor change rule and denies the public the opportunity to comment on major relocations, the agency said. Low-power broadcasters have said the lack of flexibility in FCC rules for LPTV stations to relocate leads to broadcasters attempting to move through “hops” [see 2112280050). Under the consent decree, Lowcountry will relinquish close to 100 stations to the FCC, and sell just over 30 more, retaining close to 80 stations. It must also create a compliance plan that includes employee training on compliance with communications laws and reporting to the FCC for three years. Lowcountry declined to comment.

Comments are due April 6 in docket 22-78 on Gray Television’s petition to change the channel of KSCW-DT Wichita, Kansas, from 12 to 28, said Monday’s Federal Register. Replies are due April 21.