Though NAB and “fellow” ATSC 3.0 petitioners (see 1604130065) “consistently made plain” they aren’t seeking a tuner mandate for fixed or mobile devices, “six different parties representing wireless interests have felt compelled to publicly oppose such a mandate,” said an NAB letter posted Monday in FCC docket 16-142. “It is curious that some key players in the wireless industry display such great fear over the potential of increased competition for mobile video delivery,” said NAB, referring to letters filed in the past two weeks by Ethertronics, Ericsson, Motorola Mobility, Nokia, Qualcomm and T-Mobile. All opposed 3.0 reception in smartphones as impractical and said a mandate requiring it would be a bad idea (see 1709200016). “Why else would this list of companies fear a ghost?” asked NAB. “If anything, the Commission should recognize that this advocacy demonstrates the potential of Next Gen TV to create real competition in the marketplace. Indeed, it may be one of the strongest arguments for moving forward to approve the use of Next Gen TV as quickly as possible.”

NAB isn't asking the FCC to alter the 39-month repacking timeline, but wants Commissioner Brendan Carr to “ensure” broadcasters aren’t penalized for missing deadlines “due to circumstances beyond their control,” CEO Gordon Smith said in a meeting Tuesday, recounted a filing posted Friday in docket 12-268. “Ironically, T-Mobile’s constant concern about maintaining the current 39-month timeframe demonstrates that T-Mobile has little or no confidence that the deadline will be met,” it said. NAB also said the FCC should look closely at how T-Mobile’s possible merger with Sprint "may impact how the Commission approaches repacking" (see 1709220056). The meeting also touched on Microsoft’s proposals for reserving channels for white space use in the TV band, the filing said. “It makes no sense to inject a new complexity -- especially for an unproven and thus far failed technology” into the already complicated repacking and ATSC 3.0 transition processes, the group said. It urged the FCC to take up the petitions for reconsideration of the 2010 and 2014 quadrennial ownership reviews: “The prior review was a ‘review’ in name only; it did not take seriously the Commission’s job to determine whether the existing broadcast ownership rules are in the public interest.”

The FCC should deny PMCM’s emergency motion to stay two commission decisions rejecting its appeals of Media Bureau orders (see 1709150049) blocking its WJLP Middletown Township, New Jersey, from using channel 3, said an opposition from Meredith, Ion and CBS posted Friday in docket 14-150. Though a footnote in the joint opposition says the emergency motion was delivered to the broadcasters Wednesday, the motion doesn’t appear to be in the FCC Electronic Comment Filing System. PMCM gave opponents a deadline of noon Friday to respond to the motion, the footnote said. “PMCM’s contention that a stay is mandated because the implementation of the Commission Decisions will result in irreparable harm to PMCM is sheer sophistry,” the bigger broadcasters said. It's “a rehash of the very same arguments that have been rejected repeatedly by the Commission and the court of appeals,” they said. “PMCM is wrong about Commission precedent, wrong about the PSIP [Program and System Information Protocol] Standard, wrong about the Commission’s authority to assign WJLP virtual channel 33, and wrong about the Spectrum Act.” The FCC decisions would cause PMCM irreparable harm and misinterpret the agency's own rules and Congressional intent, PMCM said in the emergency motion. PMCM will seek relief in court if the FCC doesn’t act, the motion said. PMCM has a “quite high” likelihood of a successful appeal, the motion said, because the FCC decision rests on “an obvious misreading of statutory language.” A repeated theme of PMCM’s dealings with the FCC on the issue has been the FCC’s “refusal to apply the plain meaning of statutory and regulatory language,” PMCM said.

NAB’s language for a possible ATSC 3.0 simulcasting requirement would “permit widespread service loss,” said the American Cable Association, AT&T, Charter Communications, Dish Network and Verizon in a meeting for the American Television Alliance with Chief Michelle Carey and others in the Media Bureau Tuesday, said a filing posted Friday in docket 16-142. Though ATVA said it’s pleased broadcasters now seem willing to accept a simulcasting requirement (see 1709110032), the pay-TV ally said there’s no evidence to back an NAB proposal that the requirement sunset in three years, and the agency should require the simulcasts to be “the same” instead of “substantially similar” as NAB proposed. ATVA said NAB-proposed exceptions to the sameness requirement, such as for locally targeted commercials, were largely reasonable. The FCC should also block broadcasters from simulcasting only the least popular content, ATVA said. “If a station transmits a FOX affiliate and a home shopping channel on ATSC 3.0, nobody will be happy if the station simulcasts only the home shopping channel on ATSC 1.0.” The FCC should require simulcast broadcasts be of a certain quality level, that broadcasters give notice of the transition to viewers and MVPDs, and require that the simulcast broadcasts reach a specific percentage of the station’s coverage area, ATVA said. It’s pleased NAB proposed broadcasters rely on A/321 and A/322 and opposed an NAB proposal to allow low-power TV stations to flash cut. “We are cautiously optimistic to see what appears to be an emerging consensus on issues related to simulcasting,” ATVA said.

CBS subscribed to Nielsen’s National Out-of-Home Reporting service and will receive out-of home viewing data for all programming, live plus seven days, the companies said in a news release Thursday. The service gives networks the ability to count an audience that was previously unmeasured. Out-of-home viewership is measured using portable people meters, and combined with TV panels represents 65 percent of U.S. TV households, they said.

A broadcaster with an on-air employee running for office may need to provide equal opportunities to opponents under FCC rules, blogged Wilkinson Barker broadcast attorney David Oxenford. “Stations need to take precautions to avoid the potential for owing significant amounts of free time to competing candidates, where those candidates can present any political message -- if they request it within 7 days of the personality’s appearance.” If a station's meteorologist were running for office but still doing the weather report, an opposing candidate could demand equal time, Oxenford said. Stations could hope the opposition doesn’t make an equal time request, limit the employee’s air time, obtain waivers from the opponents, or allow the candidate to continue to broadcast “in exchange for a negotiated amount of air time for the opponents,” Oxenford said Wednesday.

Lack of qualified tower crews will start delaying projects and affecting subsequent phases by the end of Phase 2 of the repacking, American Tower Corp. told FCC Incentive Auction Task Force Chair Jean Kiddoo and IATF staff Tuesday, recounted a filing in docket 16-306. ATC said the tower company and broadcasters made progress in repack efforts, but stations are “limited by the number of qualified broadcast tower crews.” The presentation pointed to a lack of qualified RF engineers as limiting the ability of broadcasters to meet the 39-month repack timeline. The large number of complex projects in Phase 2 “presents a major challenge to ATC and those affected repack stations,” the company said. ATSC 3.0 won’t impact the schedule, it said, and a “majority” of repacked broadcasters are “adding vertical polarization to their new channel antennas in anticipation of conversion" to 3.0. ATC said it and broadcasters are “waiting on the release of reimbursement funding approvals to fully engage material vendors and construction crews.”

CBS and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers reached an early contract renewal agreement covering 3,500 technicians, the broadcaster said in a news release Wednesday. The IBEW represents CBS workers in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Washington, St. Louis, San Francisco, Dallas, Miami and Atlanta, the announcement said. The contract was ratified by the affected workforce and will be effective Feb. 1 and goes through April 30, 2021, it said. The current contract was scheduled to end Jan. 31 and the new deal includes pay increases, increased benefit contributions and “a path forward for new media,” said the company.

The second filing window for full-power and Class A stations to seek alternate channels and expanded facilities will open Oct. 3 and close Nov. 2, the FCC Incentive Auction Task Force said in a public notice in docket 16-306 Wednesday. The first filing window closed Friday. During the second, stations can amend or modify their initial construction permit application, the PN said. Such requests have to protect applications from the first window or from the initial channel reassignments, it said. “Additional costs incurred in constructing alternate channels or expanded facilities are not reimbursable under the TV Broadcaster Relocation Fund and must be paid by the station.”

The NTIA is repealing rules for the Public Telecommunications Facilities Program (PTFP), it said in Wednesday's Federal Register. The PTFP grant program helped nonprofit organizations and local governments build public TV and radio stations, but no funds have been available for PTFP grants since FY 2011, it said. “The regulations are unnecessary and obsolete.” The repeal was effective Wednesday.