CBS lacks basic character qualifications and shouldn’t have been allowed to sell CBS Radio, said Edward Stolz in his latest appeal on Entercom’s buy of CBS Radio, which the FCC Media Bureau approved last month (see 1711090067). Stolz's numerous previous appeals of decisions on the deal have been rejected, and his latest application for review resurrects a previously rejected argument (see 1709110047). CBS engaged in what President Donald Trump “called ‘fake news,’" in 2017, and therefore violated the FCC’s character requirements to own a broadcast license, Stolz’s latest application said. Because of that character issue, the deal shouldn’t have been approved and Entercom’s licenses should have been designated for hearing, Stolz said. His previous appeals were rejected for a lack of standing. CBS didn’t comment.

Groups opposing media takeovers will petition for review of the reconsideration order of FCC media ownership rules (see 1711160054) shortly after it's published in the Federal Register, said Georgetown University’s Institute for Public Representation on behalf of Prometheus Radio Project and Media Mobilizing Project in a Monday filing (in Pacer) in the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The filing, part of the appeal case against the FCC 2014 and 2010 quadrennial review order, responded to a commission request to hold the case in abeyance until after the period for appealing the recent order passed. “This request is premature,” the groups said. The groups said they intend to appeal the recon order and to ask the court to consolidate that appeal with this one. The 3rd Circuit should delay addressing the FCC’s abeyance motion until it rules on that consolidation request, the public interest groups said. The agency didn’t comment.

A notice of apparent liability against Cumulus over equal employment opportunity violations shows the FCC is still enforcing EEO rules (see 1712110056) despite relaxing requirements on job announcements, blogged Wilkinson Barker attorney David Oxenford. “The FCC is continuing to scrutinize EEO, even in this deregulatory era, so stations need to comply with the obligations that remain on the books.” Cumulus could take issue with FCC delay pursuing the matter, Oxenford said. “These reports were for the 2009-2011 period, and most of the FCC responses were filed in 2012. Why the proposed fine took 5 years to be issued is not clear.” Cumulus declined to comment.

The FCC should eliminate rules requiring filing of equal employment opportunity mid-term reports and lists and reports on children’s programming rules, said NAB in a meeting last week with Media Bureau Chief Michelle Carey and staff from the bureau and Office of General Counsel, according to an ex parte filing in docket 17-105. Compliance with FCC paperwork and filing requirements has “little to do with the actual programming offered by local stations,” said NAB. The FCC should replace children’s TV filing requirements with an annual compliance report, which would reduce the burden on broadcasters “without impeding the work of Commission staff or affecting service to the public,” the filing said.

The FCC Media Bureau proposed a $20,000 forfeiture for Cumulus over equal employment opportunity violations at its South Carolina radio stations revealed through an audit, said a notice of apparent liability issued Monday. Cumulus failed to comply with the “recruitment, self-assessment, record-keeping, reporting, and public file requirements” of the EEO rules, the NAL said. The bureau is proposing a higher fine because the company has a history of EEO violations, the NAL said. The stations are WDAI(FM) Pawleys Island, WSYN(FM) Surfside Beach, WSEA(FM) Atlantic Beach and Conway's WLFF(FM) and WHSC(AM).Cumulus didn't comment.

Nexstar will buy video advertising infrastructure company LKQD Technologies for “approximately $90 million cash,” Nexstar announced Thursday. LKQD’s video advertising platform has “the largest reach in the US to viewers across digital devices,” about 115 million U.S. online video viewers over desktops, “mobile-web, mobile-app and connected TVs,” Nexstar said, letting the TV station owner's ad clients target customers. The deal is expected to close late in 2017 or Q1 2018.

FCC elimination of the main studio rule takes effect Jan. 8, according to a document to be in Friday's Federal Register. The order does away with the requirement stations keep a staffed main studio in their community of license. It was OK'd 3-2 at October's commissioners' meeting (see 1710240062).

Local TV will have the second-largest share of national local advertising revenue​ in 2018, said BIA/Kelsey in a news release on its forecast. Direct mail will be the largest share at 25 percent of the projected $151 billion market, but local TV will have 14 percent, or $20.8 billion, with mobile No. 3 at $19 billion. "The strong economy and the expectation of highly-competitive statewide political races next year reinforce our outlook that local advertising revenue will show strong growth in 2018 ... higher than we've seen for five years," said Mark Fratrik, chief economist. Local TV will continue to be the biggest component of the local video ad market, the firm said. “Revenue growth within the total local video advertising segment will come from local mobile video (growing to more than $1 billion) and local online video (increasing to more than $2 billion).” For the mobile ad market, geofencing, click-to-call and click-to-map and such will grow, with the category expanding more than 6 points to 19.2 percent by 2022, BIA said.

Correction: The effective date of an order letting Gray Television substitute Channel 7 for 5 for KYES-TV Anchorage would be Thursday, the planned day of publication of an FCC Federal Register correction (see 1711160016).

The Department of Homeland Security’s Science and Technology Directorate joined an advisory committee for the Advanced Warning and Response Network, the AWARN Alliance said Wednesday. AWARN said the Federal Emergency Management Agency, National Center of Missing and Exploited Children, National Weather Service and APCO remain on the committee. DHS will “leverage its social science and other expertise to help us design the most effective warning messages,” said alliance Executive Director John Lawson. The group will begin developing “an end-to-end AWARN technical solution” with input from the panel in 2018; a beta version is planned for 2019, it said.