The European Broadcasting Union was one of three entities to recently join the UHD Alliance, the alliance told the FTC and Attorney General Loretta Lynch in Sept. 28 written notifications, said a notice in Wednesday’s Federal Register by DOJ’s Antitrust Division. Part of the alliance's stated mission is to broaden its compliance and logo programs in high dynamic range and other performance attributes to include broadcasters (see 1509130002). Others joining the alliance were Analogix Semiconductor and Pixelworks, the notice said. The notifications were required to extend antitrust protections to UHD Alliance members under the 1993 National Cooperative Research and Production Act, it said.

Online and digital local advertising will exceed local print media advertising for the first time in 2018, said a BIA/Kelsey news release. “A range of factors will drive local ad revenues higher in 2017 and through the end of the next year,” said BIA/Kelsey Chief Economist Mark Fratrik. He credited “an improving U.S. economy, increased spending by national brands in local media channels, extraordinary growth in mobile and social advertising, and the continued expansion and selection of online/digital advertising platforms.” The forecast projects local ad revenue to rise 2.4 percent to $148.8 billion in 2017.

WJW-TV, Tribune Media's local Fox affiliate in Cleveland, planned Wednesday to run the first live ATSC 3.0 broadcast of a major professional sporting event, beaming Game 2 of the World Series between the Cleveland Indians and Chicago Cubs from Cleveland's Progressive Field, said NAB and several technology partners in the experiment, including LG Electronics and GatesAir, in a Wednesday announcement. WJW has played host to ATSC 3.0 field trials in Cleveland since last year (see 1507130007). LG had two prototype receivers in Cleveland to receive the ATSC 3.0 World Series broadcast as a simulcast of the Fox network HD feed, spokesman John Taylor told us Wednesday. LG planned to have a 65-inch OLED TV at Progressive Field and a 55-inch set at WJW headquarters to showcase the ATSC 3.0 broadcast, he said. Both TVs have real ATSC 3.0 reception chips built into the sets, he said. LG in the field trials used the Futurecast modulation system to demo over-the-air reception last year to stationary TV receivers and terrestrial antennas mounted inside a conference room at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum on Cleveland's lakefront. The World Series broadcast is a "defining moment" for the future of television, said ATSC Chairman Richard Friedel in a statement. Friedel is executive vice president-general manager, Fox Networks Engineering and Operations.

The FCC Office of Engineering and Technology requested copies of One Media reports on single frequency network tests in Washington and Baltimore using ATSC 3.0, said an ex parte filing posted in docket 16-142 Monday from One Media Executive Vice President-Legal Affairs Jerald Fritz. The tests are intended to “establish signal strength in an environment where content is transmitted over the same channel in the same geographical area,” the filing said. Initial testing showed clean signals were received without interference, One Media said. The tests are the first phase of “multiple planned measurement tests,” said the joint venture of Coherent Logix and Sinclair.

Responses from E.W. Scripps and WCPO-TV Cincinnati to complaints by transparency groups (see 1609300059) about the station's online political file affirm WCPO's “flagrant non-compliance” with the Communications Act and FCC rules, said the Benton Foundation, Campaign Legal Center, Common Cause and Sunlight Foundation, in a reply Thursday. The FCC should act before the Nov. 8 election to require WCPO to correct its online political advertising files, the groups said. They asked the agency to "promptly take other measures, including assessing forfeitures and issuing a Public Notice reminding broadcast stations of their obligations, to ensure that all Commission licensees get the message that the Commission will no longer tolerate pervasive non-compliance during this important election season, or ever.” Scripps' argument that the groups should have approached the station about the problem before the FCC is incorrect, the groups said. “It is WCPO’s responsibility to comply with the rules without prompting and, in any event, it is not the job of the public to identify violations and enforce noncompliance,” the groups said. “This is the Commission’s job.” Scripps didn't comment Friday.

Presidential campaign advertising spending could be “a nice lift” for broadcasters and streaming service Pandora, Macquarie analysts Amy Yong, Rachel Arrowood and Alessandra Gonzalez emailed investors. Pandora has political ad sales teams in New York and Washington, D.C., in addition to local sales teams, the analysts said Thursday. Those offices are expected to lead to more political spending on Pandora, they said. “Management expects to benefit significantly from local house and senate races on top of the Presidential election.” Cumulus is also well-positioned for incremental revenue in a presidential year, with 76 stations in swing states, the analysts said. Earlier this week, another analyst said late spending by the campaign of Donald Trump may help some TV station owners (see 1610190022), after some of their shares fell on concerns about Trump's relatively low spending (see 1609210075).

Public TV station KVIE Sacramento kicked off a month-long experiment in datacasting Thursday by using it to deliver simulated emergency earthquake warnings during the Great California Shakeout earthquake preparedness drill, said a news release from America’s Public Television Stations. Datacasting is “the process of delivering internet protocol (IP) data over a traditional digital public broadcast television signal, including instantaneous alerts, combined with evacuation maps and even live video,” APTS said. The test is being monitored by the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services, the FCC and the Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate, the release said. The next phase of the datacasting test “will measure the speed and coverage of alerts digitally encoded into KVIE’s high power television transmission,” said KVIE Director of Technology Mike Cappi. “Warnings used to be a matter of seconds or minutes, but when there are natural disasters like earthquakes, saving a fraction of a second in delivering a warning can make a huge difference,” Cappi said. “This work is part of public broadcasting’s larger public service mission, including the APTS strategic partnership with DHS, to promote the use of public safety datacasting as an effective component to alert and protect the American people,” said APTS CEO Patrick Butler.

CBS, Disney, E.W. Scripps, Nexstar and Tegna are “best positioned” to take advantage of the last burst of candidate political advertising spending 20 days before Election Day, Wells Fargo analyst Marci Ryvicker emailed investors Wednesday. The positioning is based on where each company has stations, she said. Indiana, Minnesota and Texas have become “hot” swing states, Ryvicker said, while Michigan and Wisconsin have “cooled” by more strongly leaning toward Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Last month, shares of some TV station owners fell on concern that GOP presidential contender Donald Trump wasn't spending much money on ads (see 1609210075).

Entercom will buy four radio stations from Beasley Broadcast Group for $24 million, the acquirer said in a news release Tuesday. The deal is connected with Beasley/Greater Media, and will allow that transaction to comply with FCC ownership restrictions, the release said. Entercom said it will buy WFNZ(AM), WLNK(FM), WBT/AM-FM, all in Charlotte, North Carolina. Though the deal isn't expected to close until the end of the year or in early 2017, Entercom will begin operating the stations early through time brokerage agreements, it said. It gives Entercom a total of 128 stations in 28 markets, Wells Fargo analyst Marci Ryvicker emailed investors. The transaction is "a nice tuck-in with synergy potential,” Ryvicker said. Entercom stock rose 10 percent in Tuesday trading to $14.30.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s focus on political spending disclosures could have implications for broadcasters if Democratic Party presidential nominee Hillary Clinton is elected, Cowen and Co. analyst Paul Gallant emailed investors. Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat, has supported making FCC sponsorship identification rules more rigorous, and Friday attacked the SEC over not pursuing companies on political spending, Gallant said. “If Hillary Clinton becomes president, we would expect Warren to insist that the next FCC chair require local TV stations to disclose the true identity of political ad purchasers." That's “potentially a long-term concern for broadcasters,” he said. Warren indicated she wants to change policy by influencing presidential appointments to executive agencies, Gallant said. “We suspect Sen. Warren will press the next FCC chair to commit to disclosure of funders of political ads,” Gallant said. “She could threaten to block an FCC chair nominee who fails to commit to requiring greater disclosure.” That could have a “potential dampening effect” on campaign spending on political ads, Gallant said. Warren's office didn't comment.