Sinclair Broadcast is evaluating amendments to its application to buy Tribune involving divestitures and “Top-4 showings,” the broadcaster said in a meeting Thursday with Chairman Ajit Pai’s Chief of Staff Matthew Berry, according to an ex parte filing in docket 17-179. In recent media ownership rule changes, the FCC said it will allow two top-four stations to be commonly owned in the same market on a case-by-case basis. DOJ review of the deal may affect divestiture choices, the filing said.
Channel Master plans the CES debut of its SMARTenna+, which it describes as the world’s first over-the-air smart, processor-enabled indoor TV antenna available to consumers. It uses “active-steering” technology from components manufacturer Ethertronics, and has built-in amplification and noise-filtering, so it automatically can find the “optimal antenna settings for the available channels, with the option for fine-tuning via a push-button control,” said Channel Master. That combination of features increases viewer “convenience and flexibility while maximizing the number of channels received across all VHF and UHF channels,” it said. The SMARTenna+ has a built-in tuner, which scans the available channels on the “initial plug-in of the antenna,” said Joe Bingochea, executive vice president-product development. It can receive from seven different positions, he said. “It will scan all those seven different positions, and will determine which one of those positions can receive the most channels.” The scan takes about two minutes, he said. Improved Channel Master algorithms reduced the scan time by more than 75 percent, he said.
The FCC NPRM on changes to the broadcast national ownership cap “underscores the uncertainty” about whether the agency has statutory authority to modify the cap (see 1712140054), said Prometheus Radio Project and Media Mobilizing Project in a filing (in Pacer) in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit Thursday as part of a legal challenge of the order eliminating the UHF discount. The NPRM shows “a majority of the currently sitting Commissioners believe that the Commission cannot modify the national ownership cap,” the groups said. Statements from Commissioners Mike O’Rielly, Mignon Clyburn and Jessica Rosenworcel show the FCC doesn’t “deserve Chevron deference for a position that does not have the support of a majority of the Commission,” the filing said.
The FCC order on reconsideration relaxing media ownership rules takes effect Feb. 7, the Federal Register will say Monday. Legal challenges are widely expected to follow the 3-2 order’s publication (see 1711160054). It eliminates and relaxes rules barring broadcast duopolies and cross-ownership. Comments on a related proposal to create an incubator for new entrants into the broadcast industry are due March 9, Monday's FR also will say.
The full FCC dismissed a second appeal of a decision denying Florida Community Radio a construction permit for a noncommercial educational radio station in Otter Creek, Florida, said an order Thursday. The application for review was denied for raising points that hadn’t been raised in the original proceeding. FCR’s original 2010 application was dismissed in favor of a mutually exclusive application filed by Citrus County Association for Retarded Citizens.
The FCC Enforcement Bureau issued warnings to six allegedly unlicensed broadcasters, according to notices of unlicensed operation in Wednesday’s Daily Digest. The warnings were issued against alleged pirate radio operations in Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut and New Jersey.
LG is the first TV maker to complete “initial field tests” of the Verance Aspect audio watermark for ATSC 3.0, said Verance in a Wednesday announcement. The tests were conducted using the current 1.0 standard in collaboration with Fox and NBC in the Phoenix market, Verance said. That's where broadcast consortium Pearl TV announced plans mid-November for a 3.0 “model market” involving 10 TV stations to “help foster industry consensus and drive ecosystem development” (see 1711140053).
Sinclair may not meet character qualifications to be a licensee and its proposed buy of Tribune should be designated for a hearing before an administrative law judge, said Herndon-Reston Indivisible in a Dec.18 meeting with Office of General Counsel staff, according to a Dec. 27 ex parte filing in docket 17-179, noted in Wednesday's Daily Digest. The recent $13 million notice of apparent liability and a 2016 $9.5 million consent decree (see 1712210042) constitute “a pattern of lawlessness,” the filing said. Such a hearing is supported by prior FCC precedent, HRI said. Sinclair/Tribune is “unprecedented” and “inimical to the public interest,“ HRI said. Sinclair didn't comment.
The FCC should allow stations in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands that requested permission to transition early to their new post-incentive auction channels (see 1712010052) to do so, said antenna manufacturer Electronics Research Inc. (ERI) in a letter posted Wednesday in docket 16-306. Allowing the stations to transition in “phase zero” of the repacking rather than their assigned Phase 3 would be “a very reasonable course” that would “save the individual stations the considerable expense of reconstructing their pre-auction facilities, which would be used for only a very brief period,” and minimize re-scanning for consumers, ERI said. It's prepared for the increase in demand the early transition would cause, and it won’t affect the company’s ability to meet other repacking demands.
The full FCC should vacate approval of Entercom’s buy of CBS Radio and investigate CBS’ fitness to be an FCC licensee, said Edward Stolz in a reply to Entercom’s response to his appeal of the Entercom purchase, which the FCC Media Bureau approved in November (see 1711090067). CBS isn’t fit to be a licensee because it airs “fake news” said Stolz’s filing, citing studies about negative coverage of the administration of President Donald Trump and Trump’s own tweets about fake news. Stolz also faulted the FCC for allowing Entercom to turn in the license of KDND Sacramento to cut short a hearing on the station’s license renewal. KDND’s license was designated for hearing because of a 2007 contest that led to the death of a listener. Stolz has filed numerous petitions and appeals against the Entercom/CBS Radio deal. All previous ones have been rejected.