The FCC Media Bureau granted Hemisphere Media’s request for a remedial declaratory ruling authorizing a change in the company’s foreign ownership after the fact, said an order in docket 18-134 in Tuesday’s Daily Digest. The bureau in 2017 approved Hemisphere's request to be up to 49.9 percent foreign owned, to allow it to be owned by a trust controlled by Mexican nationals. Hemisphere applied for the new declaratory ruling after a change in membership of the trust (see 1805040037). “The requested modification is minor, administrative, and does not result in a material change in control,” the bureau said.

Requirements that broadcasters provide public notice of license applications are “superfluous and simply do not result in public comment,” said NAB meeting with aides to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai Thursday, recounted a filing posted Monday in docket 17-264 (see 1808170047). The FCC should allow broadcasters to fulfill the requirements with on-air announcements that refer the public to websites, NAB said. “The record in this proceeding cannot support retention of the print newspaper requirement with regard to any stations or applications,” NAB said. “Stations that cannot generate on-air notices should either be permitted to place notices online or be exempt from the requirement.”

The European Broadcasting Union is teaming with NAB Pilot to “co-fund” development of a voice-controlled “hybrid radio” prototype combining over-the-air reception with internet connectivity, said EBU Friday. They are demonstrating the prototype at the International Broadcasting Convention in Amsterdam, it said. The prototype shows how Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant can be used “to make smart decisions about the best way to listen to a radio station,” it said. Voice commands can determine whether to use over-the-air or streaming to tune the station “based on broadcaster parameters and the available hardware in the device,” it said. EBU and Pilot plan to “release the proof of concept code on a royalty-free basis to manufacturers for use in production implementations of voice assistant devices,” it said.

NAB raised “risks” of an FCC proposal for a graduated reimbursement schedule for radio stations affected by the repacking, in a phone call with the Media Bureau Tuesday, recounted a filing Thursday in docket 18-214. “We discussed the Commission’s discretion to determine how to allocate funding Congress recently made available to the Commission for Fiscal Year 2019.” The association has taken the position that legislation authorizing the additional repacking allows the agency to use FY 2019 funds to compensate FM stations (see 1807260020), while the recent reimbursement NPRM proposes limiting payments to funds from FY 2018 (see 1808020034).

Allowing Class A FM stations to upgrade to a new C4 class (see 1809110051) would increase diversity in broadcast ownership, the Multicultural Media Telecom and Internet Council commented, posted Thursday in FCC docket 18-184. Upgrading would let existing minority owners have more access to capital, MMTC said. “Doubling the stations’ power would add considerably to the stations’ asset values, thereby facilitating the licensees’ ability to attract investors, qualify for loans, and ultimately to be sold at competitive prices.” There are 29 minority-owned stations that would be able to upgrade, the group said. “Class A stations often have served as portals for entry by minority broadcasters.”

Concerns by the American Cable Association, Dish Network and NCTA about Gray buying Raycom are “irrelevant,” the broadcasters responded, posted in FCC docket 18-230 Wednesday. “Only three parties filed comments on the applications, and none filed petitions to deny” (see 1808270038). The MVPD commenters argued the combination will have too much leverage in retransmission-consent negotiations, the response said. MVPDs “have raised this speculative claim repeatedly in response to television station transactions over the past several years, and the Commission has rightly rejected this argument every time,” Gray and Raycom said. The combination won’t have an incentive to cause more viewer blackouts, and the two top-four combinations the MVPDs objected to are existing and long-standing, the companies said. “The transaction complies with all of the Commission’s structural ownership rules and proposes divestitures where necessary to avoid prohibited station combinations.” The broadcasters sought approval “without delay.”

BBC R&D is eyeing “new innovations” to eliminate latency between an internet-delivered livestream and broadcast TV. Fans watching World Cup livestreams this summer on the BBC iPlayer experienced lags of 30 seconds, “with some complaining of hearing neighbours cheering goals that they hadn’t seen happen yet,” it said Wednesday. Latency is prevalent with “vast majority of live video delivered over the internet” because it takes longer to send video over the net reliably, the public broadcaster said. Low-latency techniques on display at the International Broadcasting Convention in Amsterdam “work by either reducing the duration of each segment” of video, or by creating the segments “progressively as a series of chunks that can be passed through the chain immediately as they become available,” said BBC. “In the future, live streaming viewers watching over the internet will be able to see the action at the same time as they would see it if they were watching on TV.” Rolling out the technology commercially “will take time, and it needs coordination with the whole industry," BBC R&D said.

A new C4 FM class would lead to further congestion of the FM band, said Beasley Media. And NAB and Alpha Media reiterated that in replies posted in docket 18-184 Tuesday. The proposals in the FCC’s Notice of Inquiry are “ill-conceived notions that would further clutter the radio dial and hamstring FM stations from improving their facilities in the future,” said Alpha Media. More than 100 small and independent broadcasters wrote with the opposite view, said the originator of the C4 proposal, SSR Communications. iHeartMedia doesn't object to the C4 class, but like other broadcasters it objected to the NOI’s proposal to allow the FCC to involuntarily reduce interference protection for FM stations that aren’t performing at their allowed level. “Such action would contribute to a higher ‘noise floor’ overall, remove desired-station service from existing listeners, and limit much needed transmitter-siting flexibility, all for the potential benefit of a limited class of individual stations,” iHeart said. “Both proposals should be dismissed because they will reduce the technical integrity of the FM band at a time when broadcasters already face interference that hinders service and their ability to compete,” NAB said. The association’s position hasn’t been supported by any evidence, SSR said.

Moving educational and informative programming to a multicast stream as proposed in the kidvid NPRM (see 1807120050) would “destroy” the production of new E/I programming because multicast viewership “drops over 90 percent from a station’s main channel,” said E/I programmer Litton in meetings Thursday with Commissioners Jessica Rosenworcel, Mike O’Rielly and Brendan Carr, recounted filings posted Monday in docket 17-105. The drop in viewership would also mean a drop in advertising, Litton said. “All that will be left of E/I programming in a multicast world will be reruns of already produced programming,” Litton said. “The STEM programming offered to teens and their parents will be frozen in time.” Litton also sent FCC members and Chairman Ajit Pai a letter from the Armed Forces Network commending the company for providing free E/I programming to AFN. “It would be unimaginable to think that one day this genre of television programming might not be available due to a change in F.C.C. broadcast regulations,” the letter said. Broadcasters need more flexibility in kidvid rules, countered Meredith in meetings with Pai and the Media Bureau Wednesday, said a filing posted Monday. The broadcaster highlighted its support for removing or limiting the ‘regularly scheduled’ KidVid programming requirement, lengthening the daily window for KidVid, flexible multicast options, and paperwork reduction.”

The FCC Public Safety Bureau canceled the planned broadcaster test of the Disaster Information Reporting System due to Hurricane Florence’s projected arrival on the East Coast, a Monday public notice said. The test had been set for this Thursday and Friday but it’s “likely” that DIRS will need to be activated for the storm, the PN said. The test was previously rescheduled because of Hurricane Lane (see 1809040062). The bureau will schedule a DIRS test for broadcasters “after the hurricane season is over,” the PN said. If DIRS is activated for Hurricane Florence, a separate notice will be issued, the bureau said.