The Parents TV Council took its effort to reform the TV content ratings system to the TV Parental Guidelines Monitoring Board. PTC in a news release Thursday said it talked with Monitoring Board Chairman/MPAA President Chris Dodd and in a subsequent letter to him sought public hearings on the TV Content Ratings System's operation and on evaluating ways of improving it. PTC also said it asked Dodd to reply by June 17. MPAA didn't comment. The PTC also wrote the FCC asking for overhaul of the board that oversees the ratings system, though that move is seen as unlikely (see 1605200067).
The FCC shouldn't subject broadcasters to ownership limitations while allowing pay-TV mega-mergers like Suddenlink/Cablevision and Charter/TWC, NAB said in an ex parte filing posted online Monday in docket 14-50. “Particularly in light of the still increasing consolidation in the pay TV industry, the Commission must fulfill its statutory mandate in the pending quadrennial reviews and repeal or modify the asymmetric broadcast ownership restrictions,” NAB said. Economic analysis of the video programming and advertising markets show “the unprecedented level of competition facing TV stations for both viewers and advertisers and the consequent declines in broadcasters’ competitive position,” NAB said. The ownership rules “severely constrain” broadcasters from competing with ever-larger pay-TV companies, NAB said. The FCC is “obligated” to “repeal or significantly relax its local ownership restrictions,” said the filing.
Final briefs in the newer of Free Access and Broadcast Telemedia's court challenges of the incentive auction rules are due Sept. 29, said an order from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. A decision on FAB Telemedia's other legal challenge is still pending, after oral argument in May (see 1605050052).
Nexstar will divest two stations to Gray Television for $270 million as part of Nexstar's deal to buy Media General, Nexstar said in a news release Friday. The “planned divestiture” of WBAY-TV Green Bay, Wisconsin, and KWQC-TV Davenport, Iowa, “reflects Nexstar’s stated intention to divest certain television stations in order to comply with the FCC local and national television ownership rules and to obtain FCC and Department of Justice approval of the proposed Nexstar/Media General transaction,” the release said. Both stations are “#1 in their market in terms of ratings and revenue and their mid-to-small market size perfectly fits [Gray's] profile,” said Wells Fargo analyst Marci Ryvicker in an email to investors.
NAB will hold a groundbreaking ceremony for its new HQ June 20, said an email. The event will be streamed online and attended by District of Columbia Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D) and NAB CEO Gordon Smith. NAB's new HQ will be at South Capitol and M Sts., S.E., in Washington’s Capital Riverfront neighborhood and is projected to cost close to $36 million (see 1504070056). NAB is expected to move to the new building in 2018.
The FCC should work on its quadrennial review media ownership proposal with the Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council, MMTC said in a letter to Chairman Tom Wheeler Tuesday in docket 15-50. The FCC promised the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that it would have a proposal in circulation in only four weeks, so “it would be advantageous for the Commission’s staff to go through the proposals with MMTC with an eye toward satisfying the court's expectations,” the letter said. The FCC has “declined to engage” with MMTC after previous court losses on ownership rules, the letter said. MMTC proposed a detailed schedule of meetings with Media Bureau and the Office of the General Counsel staff throughout June to work out final proposals, culminating in a June 24 meeting between Wheeler and MMTC President Kim Keenan before Wheeler circulates the proposal June 30.
Expanding access to over-the-air radio for smartphones would increase the effectiveness of wireless emergency alerts, NAB told the FCC Public Safety Bureau in a meeting last week, said an ex parte filing Wednesday in docket 15-91. “Most WEA messages include text directing consumers to 'Check Local Media' for more information and instructions,” NAB said. “Simplifying the connection between WEA messages and the FM radio already available in many smartphones would be a logical extension of this current practice.” While a mobile device is tuned to radio, it's also minimizing battery drain and not burdening local cell networks, NAB said.
The FCC Enforcement Bureau issued three forfeiture orders against as many New Jersey pirate radio operators Thursday. Ivan Angeles of Passaic and Alejandro Ramirez of Paterson were fined $15,000 each, and Jose Luis Hernandez of Passaic was fined $10,000, the forfeiture orders said. All three were fined for disregarding repeated warnings, the orders said.
Nexstar will divest five TV stations in four markets as part of its proposed buy of Media General. “Nexstar anticipates announcing additional station divestitures shortly,” it said in a Friday news release. The divestitures will eliminate overlapping markets and bring the deal under the 39 percent ownership cap, Nexstar said. They involve WCWJ Jacksonville and WSLS-TV Roanoke being sold to woman-owned Graham Media, KREG-TV Glenwood Springs, Colorado, being sold to Marquee Broadcasting, and KADN-TV Lafayette, Louisiana, and LPTV station KLAF-LD Lafayette being sold to minority-owned Bayou City Broadcasting, the release said. The sales will increase “opportunities for minority television station owners to play a greater role in the U.S. broadcasting industry,” Nexstar said.
Low-power TV and translator stations that want to take advantage of their post-auction displacement window must be operating on the date the FCC Media Bureau issues a channel reassignment public notice informing incentive auction-participating broadcasters of their new channels, the bureau said in a PN Thursday. Since the channel reassignment PN will come out after the auction is finished, the bureau doesn't know the exact date LPTV and translator stations will need to be operating on. "We cannot predict with certainty the date of the conclusion of the now active auction or the release of the Channel Reassignment Public Notice,” the bureau said. “We anticipate release of this clarification provides sufficient time for permittees that have already commenced, but not yet completed construction, or that have made equipment investments but not yet commenced construction, to complete their construction and license their authorized facilities in order to qualify for the limited displacement window for operating stations.” A station is “operating” if it “has licensed its authorized construction permit facilities or has an application for a license to cover on file with the Commission on that date,” the bureau said.