Newspapers are no longer the primary route for information in the digital age, and modifying the local public notice rule requirement that broadcasters publish certain information there for the purpose of providing notice to allow the public to participate in the licensing process "is not simply unproductive, but also an unnecessary waste of time and money," Nexstar said in a docket 17-264 filing posted Friday. It also said the FCC should limit the ancillary services filing requirement to broadcasters providing those services. NAB in a separate filing said it supports agency proposals to eliminate the ancillary service reporting requirement for digital TV stations that haven't received feeable revenue from ancillary and supplementary services during the relevant reporting period. It also said it backs eliminating the requirement broadcast licensees provide public notice of various license applications or axing "outdated" newspaper notice requirements in favor of online notices.

Comments on the ATSC 3.0 Further NPRM are due Feb. 20, the FCC Media Bureau said in a public notice Thursday. Replies are due March 20. The FNPRM seeks comment on possible exceptions and waivers to the new standard’s simulcasting requirement, on broadcasters using vacant channels in the broadcast band during the transition, and tentatively concludes that simulcasting shouldn’t affect a station’s significantly viewed status. The actual ATSC 3.0 order hasn’t yet been published in the Federal Register, and the agency will issue a PN when it is, the bureau said.

“NAB is extremely disappointed" with the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling (see 1712190052) for BMI and against DOJ to let performing rights organizations fractionally license some but not all of their music catalogs to broadcasters and other copyright users, the association said. "If sustained, this decision could disrupt the music licensing marketplace and impede the delivery of music."

The FCC Enforcement Bureau issued seven warnings to alleged pirate radio operators last week, according to notices of unlicensed operation in Wednesday’s Daily Digest. The accused pirates were in New Jersey, Massachusetts, and New Orleans, the notices said. The bureau issued a notice of violation to FM translator licensee Westface Ventures in Austin, for operating in an unauthorized location and at a higher than allowed power level.

SAG-AFTRA reached a $500,000 settlement with the Spanish Broadcasting System over workers terminated for union activity, SAG-AFTRA announced Tuesday. The National Labor Relations Board had issued a complaint against SBS after “finding merit to a myriad of serious unfair labor practice charges filed by the union against the media company for discharging employees in retaliation for their union activity and engaging in egregious bad faith surface bargaining during first contract negotiations,” the union said. All eight affected employees will receive full back pay, interest and expenses through Jan. 14, under the deal, and have the choice to be reinstated or receive “significant front pay,” the release said: It requires SBS to “engage in good faith bargaining with the goal of obtaining a collective bargaining agreement.” SBS didn't comment.

Nexstar may benefit from the political advertising and Olympics seasons and expected heightened mergers and acquisitions activity, Noble Capital Markets analyst Michael Kupinski emailed investors Wednesday. Nexstar “is expected to be a key consolidator,” Kupinski said. Its recent buy of digital media ad company Liquid will increase ability “to participate in the video advertising arena,” he said. TV broadcasters are more valuable in the “heightened M&A environment” expected due to relaxed ownership rules, Kupinski said.

A company with two FM stations wants the FCC Media Bureau to let a Mexican-owned company increase its stake from 25 percent to 100 percent, said a public notice Wednesday. The stations have been “in danger of failing” and the sale would help keep them on-air, said Grupo Multimedia's petition for declaratory ruling. Comments are due Jan. 19, replies Feb. 5. DOJ, DOD and the Department of Homeland Security asked the commission to delay acting on another foreign-ownership petition from Anco Media and Zoo Communications (see 1712190056). “The Agencies currently are reviewing this matter for national security, law enforcement, and public safety issues and cannot complete that review by January 18, 2018,” they wrote the FCC.

The FCC Media Bureau will no longer accept applications for minor changes for low-power TV and translator stations, said a public notice Wednesday. “This action will help to provide a stable database for eligible LPTV/translator stations to identify and apply for available channels in an upcoming displacement window.” Sixty days before the upcoming LPTV displacement window, the bureau needs to issue a PN listing locations and channels that aren’t going to be available during the window because of interference, and gathering that data is the reason for the freeze, the bureau said. It will continue to process pending applications, and consider requests for waiver of the freeze case-by-case, the PN said. The freeze is effective immediately, and the PN said it doesn’t require notice and comment because it's “procedural in nature.” The bureau won't delay the freeze to wait for Federal Register publication, the PN said. “Such a delay would be impractical, unnecessary, and contrary to the public interest because it would undercut the purposes of the freeze.” An announcement on lifting the freeze will follow the displacement window, the notice said.

Trilithic joined the Advanced Warning and Response Network Alliance, AWARN said Tuesday. “Trilithic has deep experience with alerting technology using the Common Alerting Protocol across diverse platforms,” said Executive Director John Lawson. The alliance also includes NAB, CTA and LG. “In 2018, we will work to develop a standards-based, end-to-end beta solution for advanced alerting,” Lawson said.

MediaTek is the first SoC supplier to finish “evaluation tests” of Verance’s Aspect audio watermarking for ATSC 3.0, the companies announced. At CES, they'll do “joint demonstrations” of MediaTek's DTV platforms integrated with the Aspect watermark, they said Tuesday. The FCC's Nov. 16 vote authorizing 3.0's voluntary deployment (see 1711160060) “paves the way for taking broadcasting to the next level,” they said. Verance is developing “go-to-market” partnerships for Aspect with consumer electronics companies and chipmakers, they said. ATSC’s "S33" specialist group on management and protocols picked Verance’s audio watermarking technology for 3.0 nearly three years ago (see 1504030030). It’s in the A/334 document on “audio watermark emission,” which ATSC approved as a final 3.0 standard in September 2016.