Liberty Media, through its SiriusXM operations, bought a portion of iHeartRadio corporate debt large enough to fund most of any iHeart restructuring it might pursue, Liberty CEO Greg Maffei said Thursday in an earnings call. He said Liberty Media sees "potentially substantial synergies" with Sirius in the form of shared personalities and cross promotions. FBN Securities analyst Robert Routh wrote investors that Liberty and Sirius XM -- of which Liberty has majority control -- combined are apparently considering a total investment of $1.1 billion to $1.2 billion that would have them each owning about 20 percent.

The FCC Media Bureau denied a request by the Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council for an extension on comment deadlines for the incubator proceeding, said an order in Wednesday’s Daily Digest. MMTC sought the extension (see 1801180064) to give the FCC Advisory Committee on Diversity and Digital Empowerment time to approve and file comments in the proceeding. The deadline is March 9, and the full committee doesn’t meet until March 27. Chairman Ajit Pai in his talk at the committee’s first meeting cited the incubator as something for which he wanted committee input (see 1709250062). The MMTC request must be balanced against the need to act expeditiously on the incubator plan and the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals putting the legal challenge of the FCC’s quadrennial broadcast ownership review proceeding on hold in anticipation of the incubator proceeding, the order said. The committee’s work on the issue is “important” and its comments should be entered into the record “as soon as possible,” the order said.

The FCC Media Bureau will open a window March 14-28 for filing full FM translator new station construction permit applications for Auction 99 from 165 stations that were allowed to file partial forms -- called tech box proposals -- during the summer, said a public notice. The window is limited to such proposals that aren’t mutually exclusive with other proposals, Tuesday's PN said.

That Sinclair's list of stations to divest isn't final and is to be amended (see 1802210062) means the FCC and other parties lack the full and complete record needed to evaluate the transaction, said the Coalition to Save Local Media Monday. It urged the FCC shot clock be stopped until the broadcaster "proposed a credible plan" for complying with the ownership rules. Sinclair didn't comment.

Emmis agreed to sell its St. Louis-area stations KSHE(FM) Crestwood, Missouri, and KPNT(FM) Collinsville, Illinois, to Hubbard Radio for $45 million and KFTK(FM) Florissant, Missouri, and KNOU(FM) St. Louis to Entercom for $15 million, Emmis said Friday. It said the sales need FCC OK, are expected to close in the broadcaster's fiscal Q1 that a spokeswoman told us ends May 31, and local marketing agreements for the stations start Thursday. There had been agreements in principle for the transactions, the money from which will be used to repay term loans. Entercom sees its deal closing in calendar Q2 and Hubbard didn't comment.

FCC Commissioner Mike O'Rielly slammed the small Colorado town of Ward, which the Enforcement Bureau warned for running an FM station without a license (see 1802200048). "Pirate radio is not acceptable & not legal no matter where it is located," he tweeted Wednesday. "Very troubling that local government would facilitate in any capacity." Town officials didn't comment Thursday.

A Feb. 28 webinar on the FCC’s channel study data will include in-depth review of the data and a Q&A with Media Bureau and Office of Engineering and Technology staff, said a public notice from the bureau and Incentive Auction Task Force Wednesday. The data is intended to help low-power television and translators ”identify potential new channels in the repacked television bands in preparation for the Special Displacement Window,” the PN said. The webinar will be 1-2 p.m. EST and be available here.

ATSC 3.0 doesn’t raise novel questions about privacy and the FTC will have authority over any broadcaster violations of existing privacy rules under the new standard, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai told Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Mich., in a letter released Tuesday. “The FCC intends to closely monitor the transition to Next Gen TV,” Pai said. Some of the new standard’s interactive features could require viewers to provide some personal information analogous to that required for some smartphone apps, Pai said. “If a consumer decides to provide his or her personal data, the broadcaster will be responsible for securing the data in accordance with its stated privacy and data security policies and will be subject to possible enforcement action by the FTC.” Geographically targeted advertisements that don’t require collection of personal information from customers won’t need rules requiring they opt in or out, Pai said. “There is nothing in the record” suggesting 3.0-compatible TVs and devices will be susceptible to hacking or viruses, Pai said. Internet connectivity isn't a new feature for TV, he said. The 3.0 order, then still in draft form, “continues a troubling pattern of indifference at the FCC towards consumer privacy,” Dingell wrote Pai in November (see 1711080052).

A proposal to do away with a separate filing for mid-term equal employment opportunity reports “sends a bad message” the FCC is abandoning “public interest responsibilities,” said Common Cause in a call with an aide to Commissioner Mignon Clyburn, said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 18-23. The FCC has a “poor track record of improving broadcasters’ performance in hiring a diverse workforce,” it said. The EEO item is slated for Thursday’s commissioners’ meeting (see 1802160024).

The FCC Enforcement Bureau warned Ward, Colorado, for operating an FM without a license, said a notice of unlicensed operation in Tuesday’s Daily Digest. “The Agents confirmed by direction finding techniques that radio signals on frequency 90.5 MHz were emanating from a trailer parked next to the Town Hall.” Ward’s town population was listed at 150 in the 2010 census and the town’s own website describes it as home to “recluses or misfits,” who are “strong and quarrelsome, kind and opinionated, artistically gifted and emotionally ornery.” Ward didn't comment.