The broadcaster spectrum consortium working on ATSC 3.0, virtual MVPD, automotive and wireless applications and other issues added its first affiliate member: Northwest Broadcasting. Nexstar, Sinclair and most recently Univision (see 1706010079) are part of the group promoting spectrum aggregation for TV stations to compete in wireless data transmission; the consortium now reaches about 90 percent of the U.S. "We invite other broadcasters to join us as we continue to advance the Next Generation Broadcast Standard," said Sinclair CEO Chris Ripley Wednesday. Northwest CEO Brian Brady said the consortium gives "broadcasters the ability to control their future rather than having it dictated by others."

The current retransmission consent regime gives broadcasters too much power over MVPDs for the FCC to take a hands-off stance in approving ATSC 3.0, Mediacom’s Joseph Young said in a long filing in docket 16-422, with extensive footnotes and references to the novel Catch 22. Broadcasters will exploit their position and “use retransmission consent as a club” to compel MVPDs and consumers to transition to ATSC 3.0 without FCC safeguards, Mediacom said. “It would be a mistake to give broadcasters conditionless permission to innovate around the ATSC standard unless subscribers were also given permission to pay only for the stations they want to buy,” the filing said. “Permission to implement ATSC 3.0 should be granted, but subject to carefully thought-out safeguards against the potential negative consequences for millions of Americans who have no practical choice but to buy whatever broadcasters put on the menu.”

CBS and Sinclair's multiyear affiliation agreement renewal for four Sinclair stations, includes the outlets' participation in CBS All Access and “a commitment to distribution of Sinclair’s CBS affiliates via the new YouTubeTV live television service in markets where the offering is available,” the companies said in a news release Monday. The deal covers KUTV Salt Lake City; KEYE-TV Austin; WSBT-TV South Bend, Indiana; and WGFL High Springs, Florida. The companies said they agreed to assign Tribune’s CBS affiliation agreements to Sinclair after Sinclair buys Tribune Media.

The FCC Incentive Auction Task Force and Media Bureau sent out a reminder public notice Wednesday of important upcoming repacking deadlines. Requests for waivers of the initial construction permit deadline for broadcasters are due Monday, and stations that don’t file for such a waiver must file their construction permit applications on July 12. Reimbursement form cost estimates are due that same day, the PN said.

LG Electronics was right to urge the FCC to incorporate into its rules both the A/322 and A/321 physical-layer documents within the ATSC 3.0 suite of standards (see 1705100003), Hatfield & Dawson Consulting Engineers told the commission in comments posted Wednesday in the next-generation broadcast standard rulemaking proceeding (docket 16-142). The engineers' "primary concern" in the ATSC 3.0 rulemaking "is with minimizing the potential for intersystem interference among users of the broadcast spectrum," they said. “While in general we support a minimum of regulation, fundamental technical standards must be a part of the regulation package,” said the engineers. “A/321, by itself, is insufficient to define the waveform and interference requirements” of ATSC 3.0, they said. “A possible solution would be to incorporate A/322 as a part of the Commission’s rules, applicable to television broadcast content, allowing flexibility for use of non-television content so long as the basic emission waveform criteria are met.” LG has called the A/322 document on physical-layer protocol "critical for ensuring that an ATSC 3.0 signal is reliably transmitted and received." A/321 on system discovery and signaling was the only ATSC 3.0 physical-layer document that ATSC had ratified when CTA, NAB and others filed their petition for rulemaking last April asking the FCC to allow broadcasters to begin using the new broadcast standard (see 1604130065). ATSC ratified A/322 in September and approved a 2017 amendment to the document just this Tuesday. Reply comments in the ATSC 3.0 rulemaking are due Thursday.

Applications for the upcoming FM translator window are complicated and could present challenges for broadcasters, said Wilkinson Barker broadcast attorney David Oxenford in a blog post Wednesday. The applications are due during a July 26-Aug. 2 filing window, and a freeze on technical changes to existing translators will be in effect for July 19 to Aug. 2, said a Media Bureau public notice. The translator applications are “auction applications which require certain auction-related disclosures to be acceptable,” Oxenford said, saying the applications may require an FCC training session. “I expect that some small AM stations that may be interested in filing in this window will come away baffled by the auction instructions,” he said. Rules for the applications include prohibited communications “forbidding applicants with applications that are mutually exclusive from talking about auction strategy or tactics,” Oxenford said. “While you can consider engineering solutions to resolve conflicts with your engineer, don’t convey the potential solution to other applicants except when the FCC tells you that you can do so.” Resolving mutually exclusive applications from the window will be difficult, the lawyer said. “Applicants can resolve conflicts only by filing settlements or technical amendments that comply with the minor change rules.”

The FCC Media Bureau granted Hero Licensco’s request to withdraw its application for a proposed sale of KBEH Oxnard, California, to Meruelo Television, said an order Tuesday. The deal was seen as a possible precedent setter, since it involved two stations that also were seeking approval of a channel sharing arrangement. The bureau also terminated the proceeding. The two broadcasters didn’t comment on the deal’s dissolution. Attorneys say the FCC is expected to look more favorably on such deals if they're submitted after the channel sharing arrangements are completed (see 1706010076).

The FCC should replace the main studio rule with a requirement that stations have a local person in the communities they serve, REC Networks commented in docket 17-106 responding to the FCC proposal to eliminate the rule. The requirement for a brick-and-mortar studio should be replaced with “a rule of universal local accountability,” said the low-power FM group. To promote such accountability, the FCC should “take challenges to license renewals more seriously and force the national owners to start becoming accountable to their community of license or step aside,” the filing said. “Where it comes to challenging renewals, it should not have to take the death of a listener for the Commission to finally wake up. The rubber-stamping of renewals must not happen in the next renewal cycle.” KDND(FM) Sacramento's renewal was challenged amid such circumstances (see 1705020065 and 1706060052). The main studio rule is “antiquated, outdated and is an unnecessary expense for many small market stations who are struggling to survive,” Blackbelt Broadcasting commented. Funding to maintain a main studio staff “could better be utilized for additional projects such as covering local sports, community events, and news (public forums, town hall meetings) where a main studio is unnecessary,” it said.

The FCC should hold a hearing before an administrative law judge on CBS fitness to hold a broadcast license, based on Stephen Colbert’s joke calling President Donald Trump a “cockholster,” said Edward Stolz in a filing on his opposition to Entercom’s proposed buy of CBS Radio. Stolz previously opposed the license renewal of an Entercom station in Sacramento. Though that transaction involves CBS spinning off CBS Radio and selling it to another broadcaster, Stolz said CBS isn’t fit to have broadcast licenses because Colbert’s show is obscene and “fake news.” Though CBS argued that Colbert's The Late Show is comedic commentary on current events rather than news (see 1705310058), Stolz disagreed. “There was at no moment in time, an ‘event’ supporting the speaker's contention that the President engaged in the alleged act or acts,” Stolz said. CBS also argued Colbert’s words were bleeped and his mouth blurred out when he used the word in question, but Stolz said it had still been broadcast over spectrum through the lapel mic on Colbert’s jacket. “Everything heard by the live audience, was simultaneously broadcast via UHF electromagnetic spectrum, (typically 470-698 mHz),” Stolz said.

Pocatello Channel 15 (Idaho) agreed to a $20,000 settlement with the FCC Media Bureau over children’s TV file violations and a late license renewal application, after KPIF Pocatello’s license was terminated and then reinstated, said a consent decree. When the license was reinstated in 2014 after being canceled in 2011, the bureau asked the channel to immediately file a license renewal form, but the station didn’t do so and continued operating despite repeated requests, the order said. The station also didn’t correctly file its required children’s reports, the order said. Under the consent decree, the station agreed to abide by a compliance plan to prevent further violations, along with the fine, the document said.