Repacking broadcasters into a smaller portion of the UHF band “will present unprecedented logistical challenges and require careful coordination,” NAB said in a meeting with Incentive Auction Task Force Chairman Gary Epstein, Media Bureau Chief Bill Lake and FCC staff, said an ex parte filing posted in docket 12-268 Thursday. The NAB officials discussed the IATF's proposed repacking plan (see 1610040076), and “asked questions concerning the assumptions the staff used to perform the analysis described in the Public Notice, the outputs of the analysis, and the operation of the Phase Assignment Tool and the Phase Scheduling Tool,” it said. NAB also noted the limit on temporary interference, the IATF's tentative conclusion that temporary channels won't be used, and coordination across the borders.

It is “essential” for TV licensees to have correct contact information on file with the FCC, said the Media Bureau and the Incentive Auction Task Force in a public notice Thursday. “We anticipate communicating directly with stations about channel reassignments (repacking) resulting from the ongoing broadcast television spectrum incentive auction.” The need for contact information applies to stations that participated in the incentive auction and those that didn’t, the PN said. “If a station was selected by a licensee on a Form 177 application for the incentive auction, the Commission will use the contact information currently contained in the Form 177 to communicate with the licensee about that station and any channel reassignment for it, regardless of subsequent events affecting that station’s participation in the auction.” Otherwise, the FCC will use the contact information in the licensing and management system, the PN said. Also Thursday, the FCC said the incentive auction stage 2 forward auction will soon start (see 1610130038).

Emmis will sell the assets of magazine Texas Monthly to an affiliate of equity firm Genesis Park for $25 million, said the seller in a Thursday news release. Emmis has owned the magazine since 1998. “This transaction allows us not only to de-lever our balance sheet, but puts TM in the capable hands of one of Texas’ great families, the Hobbys,” said CEO Jeff Smulyan. Paul Hobby is a founding partner of Genesis Park, the release said. Wednesday, Emmis said it's selling Terre Haute, Indiana, area stations WTHI(FM), WWVR(FM), WFNB(FM) and WFNF/AM-FM to Midwest Communications and to DLC Media for a total of $5.2 million, according to a news release. Emmis will sell the assets of WTHI and the intellectual property of WWVR to Midwest for $4.3 million, and the assets of WFNF, WFNB and WWVR to DLC for $900,000, the release said. Midwest will divest one of its stations, WDKE(FM), to DLC to stay within FCC ownership rules in the Terre Haute market, where there would otherwise be an overlap, said Emmis.

The FCC Media Bureau is seeking comment on updates to the catalog of reimbursable expenses that broadcasters and pay-TV carriers will use to apply for repayment of costs from the post-incentive auction repacking, it said in a public notice Thursday. The proposed changes include increases in baseline for some expenses, the addition of new categories of expenses, and removal of some categories, the PN said. The bureau is also seeking comment on the methodology to update the catalog’s costs as prices in the market shift. “To ensure that the baseline costs remain current throughout the reimbursement period, it will be necessary to periodically adjust them to reflect the natural changes in the economy that affect pricing due to technological advancements,” the PN said. The bureau is tentatively proposing to update the costs once a year based on the Producer Price Indexes calculated by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Comments are due Nov. 14, replies Nov. 29. The incentive auction is heading into stage 2 for the forward portion (see 1610130038).

The Democratic National Committee placed an order for political ads supporting Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign on 40 National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters radio stations during October, NABOB said in a news release. The order was placed for the DNC by Burrell Communications, "the African American Advertising Agency for the Hillary Clinton Campaign," NABOB said. "Spotset Network is placing the NABOB Network for the DNC," the release said. NABOB has said its member stations should receive a larger share of federal broadcast advertising (see 1603230048).

With South Korea having adopted the ATSC 3.0 broadcast TV standard earlier this year, the U.S. needs "to get moving, too," FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai told the Kansas Association of Broadcasters Convention Monday, hoping for an ATSC 3.0 NPRM to be issued before year's end. In remarks posted, Pai said the FCC's goal should be adoption of rules authorizing ATSC 3.0 use in the first half of 2017. "This shouldn't be controversial; all we are talking about is giving broadcasters the option of using ATSC 3.0," Pai said. "No one would be required to do so." On radio issues, the Media Bureau has received 957 FM translator applications from AM radio stations, and granted 854, Pai said. He said he plans to press for two other application windows for AM broadcasters applying to the FCC for new FM translators to open "as soon as possible in 2017." Some have raised concerns about possible interference (see 1609230067). Pai said the agency "should take action" early next year on some AM revitalization issues that enjoy broad consensus, such as relaxing the main studio rule. Pai also said he hopes the FCC will lift the public file requirement on broadcasters by year's end. And he criticized the agency's retention of the newspaper-broadcast cross-ownership rule: "It was all about politics. And I fear that at the rate we are going, the ... cross-ownership rule will outlive newspapers themselves, absent judicial intervention."

DTS acquired broadcast radio technology company Arctic Palm Technology, it said in a Thursday announcement. DTS cited Arctic Palm’s experience in broadcast studio operations and services, and knowledge in broadcast metadata and platform integration. More than 2,700 stations have licensed Arctic Palm software, including those associated with NPR, Entercom, Townsquare, Saga, Cumulus, Bell Media, CBC and Corus, DTS said. Ontario-based Arctic Palm developed solutions to support HD Radio Advanced Services and is a partner in the Public Radio Satellite Services (PRSS) MetaPub initiative designed to enhance national and local public radio broadcasts with a real-time flow of metadata from PRSS producers. “As the automotive industry works to enrich the digital dash, broadcast radio around the world will need to enhance its service offerings with platforms such as Arctic Palm,” said DTS CEO Jon Kirchner.

Correction: NAB asked the FCC to take action on the Nexstar/Media General application and approve Nexstar's waiver request but took no position on whether the deal should be approved (see 1610050050).

A division of the Department of Homeland Security signed a memorandum of agreement with America's Public Television Stations to make datacasting available nationwide, DHS and APTS said in news releases. The MOA is between APTS and DHS' Science and Technology Directorate's First Responders Group, and the datacasting technology lets public safety officials transmit data over broadcast signals, the releases said. “Even in an emergency situation, where other wireless services often fail due to network congestion, datacasting still provides a reliable platform for quickly sending and receiving large files,” DHS said Wednesday. "America's Public Television Stations are honored to have established a formal partnership with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Science and Technology Directorate to promote the deployment of public safety datacasting as an effective component in the protection of the American people,” APTS CEO Patrick Butler said Thursday.

During Hurricane Matthew, broadcasters should keep some things in mind, an industry lawyer blogged. Pillsbury Winthrop's Scott Flick reminded broadcasters that FCC rules require them to make emergency information delivered audibly available as text, and vice-versa. "In past disasters, the FCC has proposed fines of up to $24,000 ($8,000 per ‘incident’) to TV stations that effectively said 'run for shelter' but didn’t air a crawl or other graphic at that time conveying the same information,” he wrote: Rules also require TV stations to “aurally present on a secondary audio stream (SAS) any emergency information that is provided visually in non-newscast programming.” Getting emergency information to the hearing impaired is “a worthy goal,” Flick said. “But it isn’t hard to understand the frustration of a station employee that hasn’t slept in 24 hours trying to get emergency information out to viewers as quickly as possible, but needing to pause to ensure the appropriate graphics and SAS information is prepared and aired in order to avoid an FCC fine.” Also Wednesday, the agency said it will stay open during the hurricane (see 1610050062). State telecom commissions also are preparing (see 1610060029).