If the FCC has to activate broadcasters' online public files not yet activated despite March's deadline to do so, there could be consequences during license renewals in 2019, blogged Wilkinson Barker broadcast attorney David Oxenford Tuesday. The Media Bureau said it will turn on unused public files Nov.15 (see 1811050028). “With license renewals for radio starting in June 2019, a review of the online public file will likely be part of the FCC’s review of the renewal application,” Oxenford said. Incomplete or unactivated files “will likely lead to FCC fines,” he said. The agency can find noncompliant broadcasters “from the comfort of their own computer, any time of any day,” Oxenford said.

The FCC Media Bureau will activate the online public inspection file accounts of all radio broadcasters who haven’t yet activated their own accounts on Nov. 15, said a public notice Monday. All radio broadcasters were required to have their public inspection files in the FCC database by March 1. “The Media Bureau also reminds licensees of the obligation to immediately place all required documents in the online public file,” the PN said.

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff and his wife Lynne completed their $190 million cash buy from Meredith of Time, Meredith announced Thursday. "Meredith will provide short-term business continuity services and has entered into a multi-year agreement with the Benioffs to provide services such as consumer marketing, subscription fulfillment, paper purchasing and printing." The broadcaster still plans (see 1809170034) to use the money to pay down debt.

CBS is standing by its forecast of signing 8 million paid subscribers combined for its CBS All Access and Showtime over-the-top direct-to-consumer services in 2019, “a full year ahead of our original schedule,” said President-Acting CEO Joe Ianniello on a Thursday Q3 earnings call. The forecast doesn’t include direct-to-consumer subs CBS is just beginning to sign on internationally, including for its Australian service, 10 All Access, launching this quarter, he said. “We will continue to expand into new territories in 2019, and we’re confident that digital distribution on a global scale will be very lucrative.” The “world of OTT has opened up so many options with what we can do with data analytics and really unlock and target our marketing,” said Chief Financial Officer Christina Spade. “As we get further educated and learn more about our consumer” through the CBS All Access and Showtime OTT offerings, “the scale of the business is huge,” she said. CBSN, the network’s 24/7 ad-supported news service, is averaging more than a million daily streams, said Ianniello. The average age of the CBSN viewer is 38, “decades younger than the average broadcast and cable news viewer,” he said. Later in Q4, "local versions" of CBSN will debut, “featuring content from our owned and operated stations across the country,” starting with New York, with Los Angeles and other markets to be added in early 2019, he said.

The FCC Enforcement Bureau ordered a $25,000 penalty against Paterson, New Jersey, pirate radio operator Winston Tulloch, said a forfeiture order Wednesday. An unauthorized radio station was found operating out of properties connected with Tulloch several times going back to 2015, said a notice of apparent liability in April (see 1804250059). The station also repeatedly gave Tulloch’s personal phone number on air as a contact for potential advertisers, the NAL said. “Mr. Tulloch has not filed a response to the NAL,” the order said. Tulloch couldn't be reached for comment.

Reducing interference protections for Class A AM stations (see 1810090058) “would result in a significant loss of established listenership,” Entercom told FCC Media Bureau Audio Division Chief Albert Shuldiner last week, said a filing in docket 13-249 posted Monday. Many Class A AMs are primary entry-point stations that trigger emergency alerts, the station owner said. “Limiting interference protection for these stations could have a significant public safety impact.”

Anti-consolidation and diversity groups, broadcasters and the FCC proposed a briefing schedule (in Pacer) for consolidated legal challenges of the agency's incubator program and media ownership order on reconsideration. Groups opposing the FCC position such as the Prometheus Radio Project and National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters would collectively file three briefs by Dec. 21. The FCC would file a respondent’s brief by Feb. 14, and broadcast industry intervenors such as Connoisseur Media, NAB and Nexstar would file intervenor briefs due that day. Petitioners' reply briefs would be due March 8, final briefs March 29.

Low-power TV and translator stations that filed mutually exclusive displacement window applications have until Jan. 10 to reach settlements or resolutions (see 1805040057), said a Wireless and Media bureaus FCC public notice in Tuesday’s Daily Digest. “Thereafter, the Wireless Telecommunications and Media Bureaus will announce an auction date and propose auction procedures for the remaining mutually exclusive applications.”

The FCC should include broadcasting and ATSC 3.0 in consideration of actions to accelerate deployment of 5G-related services, said One Media President Mark Aitken and Executive Vice President-Legal Affairs Jerald Fritz in a meeting Thursday with Commissioner Mike O’Rielly. “The ATSC 3.0 standard was designed to be part of the 5G ecosystem,” said A filing posted Tuesday in docket 16-142. ATSC 3.0 “will permit broadcasters to provide efficient services needed as part of a robust 5G distribution chain,” said the Sinclair affiliates.

NAB and low-power broadcast group HC2 endorsed the National Translator Association’s “fast track” proposal, in replies on repacking reimbursement posted Monday in docket 18-214. NTA’s fast-track option would cap reimbursable repacking expenses for users at $31,000 and eliminate the requirement for upfront estimates, which could help reduce costs, HC2 said. This proposal could “help streamline filing requirements for small entities that lack dedicated staff ... [and] contain costs by encouraging parties to file for fast track reimbursement capped at a reasonable level,” NAB said. The plan is intended to ease the reimbursement process for translators and LPTV stations with fewer resources and staff, NTA said. NAB also sparred with T-Mobile over whether stations that accepted repacking aid from T-Mobile should be eligible for reimbursement funds. Not reimbursing the stations “would simply punish third parties like T-Mobile for their efforts to accelerate the relocation of LPTV stations and strongly discourage any other third parties from coming forward in the future,” T-Mobile said. NAB characterized reimbursing the stations as indirectly reimbursing T-Mobile, and said “Congress appropriated additional funding to protect broadcasters, viewers and listeners -- not to provide ancillary benefits to other entities.” NTA opposed a proposal from Microsoft to reimburse LPTV stations for full-mask filters to preserve white spaces. “There is no justification for a station adopting a particular filter beyond its own needs, and receiving government reimbursement,” NTA said. “If Microsoft wants this to be done, it should establish its own reimbursement fund.”