The FCC Media Bureau issued a protective order for confidential information that will be submitted as part of its review of Sinclair buying Tribune, said a public notice in docket 17-179 Friday. The order includes provisions for “highly confidential” information, which can be viewed only by outside counsel and consultants, as opposed to in-house employees of companies weighing in on the deal. Public Knowledge, Dish Network and the American Cable Association asked the FCC to require Sinclair and Tribune to submit confidential contract and retransmission consent information that likely would fall under the “highly confidential” strictures (see 1707130068).

The FCC Media and Wireless bureaus created an online tutorial for AM broadcasters filing applications for FM translators, said a public notice released Thursday. The tutorial is on the website for the translator window, which the agency calls Auction 99. The PN also clarified that the auction is open to eligible AM licensees and “the proposed assignee of such an AM station.” Stations that filed in the previous FM translator application windows aren’t eligible, the PN said. The window opens July 26.

The FCC should provide more time for parties to comment and request additional information on Sinclair buying Tribune, said Public Knowledge, Dish Network and the American Cable Association in a joint motion posted Wednesday in docket 17-179. The motion seeks detailed information about companies’ retransmission consent contracts, recently acquired stations, and the deal’s public interest benefits. The proposed release of contract terms during FCC consideration of the since-scuttled Comcast/ Time Warner Cable led to a court case, but the motion said a protective order designating such documents “highly confidential” would address secrecy concerns. “Applicants’ retransmission consent agreements are necessary to the analysis of whether the proposed transaction creates or enhances the Applicants’ market power or facilities its exercise in the retransmission consent market,” the motion said. “Even the Applicants appear to acknowledge” that the deal “raises substantial legal and policy issues,” said the motion, referring to Sinclair filings that concede that some aspects of the deal may not be in compliance with media ownership rules. “The applications provide insufficient information for the Commission to validate, let alone quantify, the claimed public interest benefits,” the motion said. The entities also want the comment period for the deal extended to 30 days after such confidential documents are produced.

Construction permit applications for the incentive auction repacking were due Wednesday, and the 36-month repacking officially started Thursday, blogged Incentive Auction Task Force Chief Jean Kiddoo and Deputy Chief Hillary DeNigro: With construction permits in, the IATF will “calculate an initial allocation of up to $1 billion” from the $1.75 billion reimbursement fund, and parcel it out to broadcasters to fund the repacking. The plan is for repacked stations and MVPDs to receive 80 percent of their estimated cost up front, and noncommercial stations to receive 90 percent, the IATF said. “The overall allocation will be announced in a public notice and each filing entity will be able to see the dollar amount of its individual allocation(s) in the CORES [commission registration system] Incentive Auction Financial Module,” the two officials said. With the initial application window closed, two more windows will follow, for stations seeking alternate channels or expanded facilities, and then a special window for low-power TV and translators that are displaced early -- the “phase zero” stations -- they said.

The FCC should limit broadcaster use of temporary channels during the ATSC 3.0 transition to ensure there’s room for low-power TV stations and translators displaced by the incentive auction, said the LPTV Spectrum Rights Coalition in a meeting last month with Media Bureau and Office of Engineering and Technology staff, according to an ex parte filing posted Monday in docket 16-142.

The $1.75 billion repacking reimbursement fund should cover broadcasters' costs, including headroom -- “reserved excess transmission capacity” -- in their post-incentive auction facilities, Sinclair said in meetings with aides to Commissioner Mike O’Rielly and Chairman Ajit Pai last week, recounted an ex parte filing posted Monday in docket 16-306. Broadcasters “commonly” build headroom into their designs, “to ensure performance reliability and longevity and the ability to maximize in the future,” Sinclair said. But the FCC has “informally signaled” it won't treat inclusion of headroom as an “essential and reimbursable” part of broadcasters creating “comparable” facilities to what they had before the incentive auction, the owner of TV stations said. The current FCC approach “risks leaving stations with facilities inferior to what they have today,” the company said, saying "the FCC may be taking this approach to artificially reduce the cost of the repack.” Despite speculation the reimbursement fund will be insufficient to cover the repack, the agency shouldn’t start limiting what can be reimbursed, but should instead approve all “reasonable” costs “without regard to potential limitations of the fund” and then work with Congress and broadcasters “to supplement any Fund shortfalls in the future," Sinclair said.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency, National Weather Service and other large originators of emergency alerts joined the advisory committee for the Advanced Warning and Response Network (AWARN) Alliance, said an alliance news release Monday. The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children and APCO also joined the council advising the alliance, which focuses on public safety applications for ATSC 3.0. The AWARN Alliance and advisory committee members plan “to convene working groups” in the second half of 2017, and a beta version of AWARN alerts will be available for TV stations that broadcast in ATSC 3.0 in 2018, the release said.

The FCC shouldn’t push reconsideration of its policy on deals involving radio stations in “embedded markets,” to a later quadrennial review, said Connoisseur Media in a letter to Chairman Ajit Pai Wednesday. An embedded market is a suburban radio market identified by Nielsen as a separate radio market for the purposes of reporting ratings. Radio stations in embedded markets also are considered part of parent markets, which cover an entire metropolitan area. Under the current rules, the FCC measures whether a deal is within ownership rules using both markets, which could cause prospective deals to run afoul of media ownership rules. Connoisseur filed a petition for reconsideration (see 1703100060) of the policy that's still pending, the letter said. The proposal is unopposed and “Connoisseur cannot understand why the Commission would further defer its consideration,” the letter said. The FCC “must act” Connoisseur said. “Any delay will just further entrench the competitive imbalance that exists in these markets.”

Liberty Interactive, which already owns about 38 percent of HSN shares, agreed to buy the remaining 62 percent of the company in an all-stock transaction valued at $2.1 billion, the companies said in a Thursday news release. The deal, which has an enterprise value of $2.6 billion, is expected to close in Q4 2017. HSN will become a subsidiary of Liberty Interactive, which also owns TV shopping channel QVC. The transaction requires approvals by the FCC, a Hart-Scott-Rodino antitrust review and a majority vote of HSN shareholders, said Liberty Interactive. The acquisition would enhance development of e-commerce, mobile and over-the-top platforms and optimize programming among other benefits, the company added.

Petitions to deny Sinclair’s proposed merger with Tribune are due Aug. 7, said the FCC Media Bureau in a public notice Thursday. Oppositions are due Aug. 22, and replies Aug. 29, the PN said. The deal would put the combination 6.5 percent over the national ownership cap, the PN said. Sinclair and Tribune said they intend to “take actions as necessary” to comply with the FCC ownership rules, and if divestitures are needed, applications will be filed when buyers are located, the PN said.