The FCC Incentive Auction Task Force scheduled a workshop on the reverse auction application process Nov. 17 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Commission Meeting Room, the IATF, Media and Wireless bureaus said in a public notice Wednesday. The workshop will include a review of the pre-auction process and guidance on submitting Form 177, “including an overview of ownership requirements, channel sharing agreements, and the red light rule,” the PN said. The window for filing Form 177 to apply to participate in the auction opens at noon Dec. 1 and closes at 6 p.m. Dec. 18. The workshop will also be streamed live at www.fcc.gov/live.

The FCC's unanimous decision approving an AM-only translator window in 2017 (see 1510220060) is a "truly life-saving measure for dozens of small minority owned broadcast companies," the Multicultural Media Internet and Telecom Council said in a Tuesday statement. “We especially applaud Commissioners [Ajit] Pai and [Mignon] Clyburn for their recent calls to the other commissioners to act quickly on this important item,” MMTC CEO Kim Keenan said.

International Broadcasting Corp. agreed to pay $61,500 in a settlement with the FCC over multiple ownership violations involving TV and radio stations in Puerto Rico, according to a consent decree released Monday. It said that IBC violated the ownership rules in the process of transferring two FM stations, three AM stations and three TV stations from IBC owner Pedro Roman Collazo to his heirs Angel Roman Lopez and Ruth Roman Lopez. Angel Lopez became Collazo’s legal guardian when Collazo was diagnosed with dementia in 2011, and was later appointed his heir by the court system when Collazo died in 2013. Lopez filed involuntary transfer of control petitions for the stations with the FCC, but they were stalled because the commission found that Lopez had a controlling interest in Aerco Broadcasting, which owns an FM and TV station in San Juan, Puerto Rico. IBC didn’t respond to commission requests for information about possible multiple ownership rule violations until 2015. Since the Lopezes have been in effective control of IBC’s stations since 2011, it appears that the ownership rules were violated, the consent decree said. The stations also violated some of the public file rules, it said.

Already busy with spectrum auction issues, broadcast groups are asking for a two-month extension on comment deadlines in a NPRM on possible changes to the "totality of circumstances" test for good-faith retransmission consent negotiations. "The requested extension would materially assist broadcasters in their auction preparation and in meeting the FCC's strict deadline for auction participation," ABC Television Affiliates Association, CBS Television Network Affiliates Association, FBC Television Affiliates Association, NAB and NBC Television Affiliates said in motion posted Friday in docket 15-216. "The Associations and our members ... will be unable to participate fully in this retransmission consent proceeding and provide a comprehensive record to the Commission under the current comment deadlines given the FCC's recently set overlapping deadlines for the approaching spectrum incentive auction," they said. Comments now are due Dec. 1 with responses due Dec. 31; the broadcasters said they would prefer Feb. 1 and March 2 deadlines.

The FCC's approach to translators “isn't perfect” but shows “significant progress,” Commissioner Ajit Pai said in a released statement on the AM revitalization order Friday. The order itself was released later Friday. Pai said the order, as expected (see 1510220060), includes two windows allowing AM stations to get translators. “First, we will open a window in which AM stations will have greater flexibility to move an FM translator purchased in the secondary market,” Pai said. “And then we will give those AM stations still without an FM translator a chance to apply for a new one.” The AM order also makes it easier for stations to improve their signal quality and gives them more flexibility for site location, Pai said. “I’m hopeful that this two-prong plan will accomplish our goal of distributing FM translators to as many AM stations as want them.”

TVs in other markets also don't correctly tune to the desired station when receiving a signal from a station transmitting with a major channel number program and system information protocol in the same area where a different station is transmitting on the same over-the-air channel, PMCM said in an ex parte filing posted Wednesday in FCC docket 14-150. The Media Bureau assigned PMCM's WJLP Middletown Township, New Jersey, to virtual channel 33, though PMCM is seeking to be assigned virtual channel 3.10. But many viewers trying to watch WJLP on channel 33 are instead receiving WCBS-TV New York, which broadcasts on that channel, PMCM said (see 1510010031). Testing by PMCM shows that if WJLP were on the channel PMCM wants, most TVs would allow viewers to choose which channel they tune to when entering the virtual channel number, rather than automatically selecting one or the other, PMCM has said. The tests mentioned in the latest ex parte filing show that this works in other markets as well, PMCM said.

There should be a displacement application window for licensees with unbuilt low-power TV construction permits, the LPTV Spectrum Rights Coalition said in a meeting last week with Incentive Auction Task Force Chief Gary Epstein, Media Bureau Chief Bill Lake and other Media Bureau staff, according to an ex parte filing posted Tuesday in docket 12-268. Displaced LPTV stations will have such a window, but those with unbuilt construction permits won't, the filing said. The coalition was told “all new digital construction permits would have to wait until after the formal displacement window and process,” the filing said. “And then when they did file, no process other than everyone filing at once in a first come first serve manner,” the filing said. There are 780 LPTV and 760 TV translator stations that haven't completed their conversion to digital, but will be eligible to participate in the displacement application window, the filing said. The coalition also updated Lake and Epstein on its proposed legislation for an LPTV spectrum auction (see 1510150066).

Some TVs don't correctly tune to the desired station when receiving a signal from a station transmitting with a major channel number program and system information protocol (PSIP) in the same area where a different station is transmitting on the same over-the-air channel, PMCM said in an ex parte filing posted Friday in docket 14-150. The Media Bureau assigned PMCM's station WJLP(TV) Middletown Township, New Jersey, to virtual Channel 33 after the station's several unsuccessful attempts to be assigned virtual Channel 3.10. But many viewers trying to watch WJLP on Channel 33 are instead receiving WCBS-TV New York, which broadcasts on that channel, PMCM has said (see 1510010031). Testing by PMCM shows that if WJLP were on the channel PMCM wants, most TVs would allow viewers to choose which channel they tune to when entering the virtual channel number, rather than automatically selecting one or the other, PMCM said.

Reducing skywave protection for Class A AM stations could drive listeners from that band, said iHeartCommunications in a Sept. 29 meeting with an aide to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, according to an ex parte filing posted in docket 13-249 Thursday. The draft order on AM revitalization includes a Further NPRM that seeks comment on reducing skywave protections, broadcast industry officials have told us. The AM stations that would be most affected by such a rule change are also the stations that listeners tune to the AM band to hear, iHeart said, comparing the Class A stations to “an anchor commercial tenant in a retail development.” Discouraging listeners from using the AM band is counter to the goal of the AM revitalization, iHeart said. The FCC needs a “full and balanced” record on the issue and should find out what reducing skywave protections for Class A's would do to the AM band, emergency alert system warnings and other AM stations, iHeart said.

Media General and Meredith reached an agreement that will allow Media General to exchange information with Nexstar about the latter’s offer to buy Media General, Media General said in a news release Wednesday. Media General had announced a proposed buy of Meredith, which was followed last month by Nexstar’s announcement of its desire to buy Media General (see 1510060016). The agreement will let Media General “further evaluate” Nexstar’s unsolicited proposal, the release said. Media General’s board continues to endorse the Meredith deal, the release said. "Since we made our proposal, many Media General shareholders have expressed their support for our proposed combination,” said Nexstar CEO Perry Sook in another release. The market has reacted favorably to the Nexstar proposal, Sook said.