Amendments and settlement agreements for mutually exclusive FM translator applications from January’s Auction 100 are due Sept. 20, said the Media Bureau in a public notice in Friday’s Daily Digest.

A federal judge issued a $910,700 judgment against Newman Broadcasting over the company’s claiming new entrant bidding credits for which it wasn’t eligible, DOJ announced Thursday. The alleged violation concerned bids for radio frequencies. Between 2005 through 2007, Newman certified it was eligible for a 35 percent new entrant bidding credit though it was “in part controlled by an experienced radio station owner with other stations in the same market” and thus not, the department said. The court judgment resolves a 2016 lawsuit by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia in U.S. District Court in Washington arguing the company violated the False Claims Act. Newman didn’t comment.

The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals granted motions by Prometheus Radio Project and Media Mobilizing Project to consolidate their appeal (in Pacer) of the FCC incubator order (see 1809040065) with already-combined ongoing appeals of the agency's media ownership reconsideration order and the 2014 quadrennial ownership review order (see 1802070053). So said Friday's order (in Pacer).

The FCC proposal to restrict interference complaints about translators from full-power FM stations to a 54 dBu contour will vastly reduce full-power stations’ listenership and cause losses of service, said most replies in docket 18-119 Thursday. “There are a substantial number of documented listeners who would be jettisoned from protection against FM translator interference,” said Beasley Media, Cox, Entercom, Gradick Communications, iHeartCommunications, Neuhoff Communications, Withers Broadcasting and Radio One. They offered a compromise of extending the cutoff to 42 dBu, and that wouldn’t be a hard barrier but instead require interference complaints based on a higher threshold of evidence. The contour proposal was the primary focus of most commenters, though not all radio licensees opposed it. Aztec Capital Partners, the company behind one of the petitions that inspired the proceeding, compared opponents of the proposal to “cattle barons” claiming dominion over the entire open range. Opponents ask for “governmental protection to service areas they are not entitled to, with FCC regulatory processes preserving their grazing rights against newcomers and other users of spectrum,” Aztec said. Bloomberg Communications said the FCC plan would create certainty for investments in translators. Numerous commenters -- such as the New Jersey Broadcasters Association -- argued that the proposal threatens the primary status of full-power FM stations, and would clutter the band. “The situation is a classic example of trying to fit 2 pounds of product in a one pound bag,” said Press Communications. NAB didn’t weigh in on the contours but took issue with FCC proposals that would limit listener participation in the complaint process: “Allowing a translator licensee to try to correct interference problems is often a cost-effective way to eliminate complaints quickly and efficiently.” Low-power FM groups opposed the FCC’s proposal to set a six complaint minimum for interference complaints. Such a high number favors larger broadcasters, said REC Networks.

The FCC shouldn’t restrict broadcasters incubating new entrants from receiving ownership waivers in “comparable markets,” said an NAB letter posted Tuesday in docket 17-289 responding to a push by members of the Advisory Committee on Diversity and Digital Empowerment. ACDDE members including former Commissioner Henry Rivera and National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters President James Winston have been arguing that the incubator order’s definition of comparable markets is too broad and would undermine the incubator program. The order was approved in August, and challenged in court Tuesday (see 1809040065). “Limiting the exercise of a reward waiver to markets within five market sizes of the incubation market is unduly restrictive and would inhibit participation,” NAB said. “The incubator program already sets a very high bar for incubating broadcasters to receive waivers.” The ACDDE members’ argument that broadcasters would exploit the program only to secure waivers in large markets is an “unproven, somewhat cynical assumption,” NAB said.

An 11-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit rejected PMCM’s en banc appeal of the court’s June decision (see 1806210073) upholding FCC rulings that prevent the company's WJLP Middletown Township, New Jersey, from being broadcast on virtual channel 3, said an order (in Pacer) issued Wednesday. It noted "the absence of a request by any member of the court for a vote.” Judge Brett Kavanaugh, currently under consideration for appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court (see 1809050061), didn’t participate. PMCM didn't comment.

Another law firm filed a lawsuit seeking class-action status against Sinclair and former-merger partner Tribune accusing them of colluding over advertising rates, in a complaint filed Friday (in Pacer) in U.S. District Court in Maryland. A similar suit was filed last month by an Arkansas law firm (see 1807310054). As in the other case, MyPhillyLawyer bought ads from the companies sued on behalf of itself and other advertisers. Like the previous suit, this one refers to reports of DOJ investigating advertising collusion by the companies. Sinclair, Tribune and MyPhillyLawyer didn’t comment.

The Public Safety Bureau will do a voluntary test of the disaster information reporting system (DIRS) for broadcasters Sept. 13 and 14, said in a public notice in Tuesday's Daily Digest. “The purpose of this exercise is to help users become familiar with the system and ready to file DIRS reports when a real disaster strikes.” The exercise will simulate a disaster by asking broadcasters to file reports on both days. The bureau “encourages broadcasters that have not already registered in DIRS to do so now.” The simulation had been set for last month but was moved in response to the threat of then-Hurricane Lane, which eventually required DIRS activation (see 1808230044).

Prometheus Radio Project and Media Mobilizing Project filed a petition for review of the FCC’s incubator order in the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, according to court documents (in Pacer). The order and incubator program uses a definition of eligible entities that won’t increase ownership diversity and “fails to compile a record sufficient to consider its impact” on minority ownership, the petition said. The incubator order violates the Administrative Procedure Act, Communications Act and previous media ownership rulings of the 3rd Circuit, petitioners said. The anti-consolidation groups also filed a motion (in Pacer) seeking to have the appeal consolidated with their appeal of the FCC reconsideration order on media ownership rules. The 3rd Circuit requested -- and received -- information on the incubator program as part of that case, which is on hold. The agency didn’t comment.

Live college and professional football games are “the most frequently targeted” for blackouts during retransmission consent battles, said the American Television Alliance. “Blackouts in 2017 reached a record high of 213, breaking the previous calendar year record set in 2015 of 193.” There have been 83 blackouts this year, said the group of MVPDs and others seeking retransmission-consent rule changes." The irony of ATVA lamenting infrequent loss of broadcast sports programming is especially rich in light of Big Pay TV’s never-ending blackout of Los Angeles Dodger baseball games that’s lasted nearly five years," an NAB spokesperson said Friday. "Broadcasters have every incentive to keep our programming on pay TV platforms, as evidenced by the fact that 99 percent of all retransmission consent deals end without a disruption.”