Some eighth-floor Democrats may be open to a compromise on media ownership that would change or eliminate newspaper cross-ownership rules, and discussion of changing the draft media ownership order to reflect that means it's unlikely the order will be released Wednesday on its must-vote deadline, former FCC officials told us. The deadline was triggered by the item having received votes from all three Democratic commissioners two weeks ago, but lifting newspaper cross-ownership would be a change from the version of the item that was voted, and Chairman Tom Wheeler is expected to extend the deadline, the officials said. Rolling back newspaper/cross-ownership could pave the way for a partial approval of the media ownership order by all five commissioners, which Wheeler's office would prefer, the former FCC officials told us. An FCC spokesperson declined comment.
Public interest groups support the FCC plan to leave media ownership rules largely intact but are “disappointed” in the FCC's failure to study broadcast ownership diversity, said a joint filing Monday by groups including the American Civil Liberties Union, Free Press, Common Cause, the National Hispanic Media Coalition, Asian Americans Advancing Justice and the United Church of Christ Communications Office (UCC). The public interest advocates and NAB are battling via ex parte filings over proposed changes to the newspaper/broadcast ownership rule, though a majority of commissioners already voted on the draft quadrennial review order and the final order is expected to be released by next week (see 1607140069). “Eliminating the newspaper broadcast rule will aid neither small broadcasters or newspapers, nor such outlets owned by women and people of color,” said the public interest groups' filing. “Retaining a rule that deters investment by broadcasters in the struggling print newspaper industry certainly cannot serve the public interest,” NAB said in a filing Tuesday.
Broadcasters and cable associations support an FCC plan to reduce their obligations to make their facilities open to the public, but the National Hispanic Media Coalition said the FCC proposal would eliminate a “vital resource” for the public interest. The FCC NPRM proposed eliminating requirements that broadcasters keep a publicly accessible file of correspondence in their station and that cable providers keep on file the physical address of their transmission facilities. “The correspondence folder is often the most informative folder in a station’s entire public file,” NHMC said of the broadcast side of the FCC plan. “The requirement is outdated,” NAB said. “Stations receive feedback from the public in myriad ways; many of which are online, already available to the public, and not captured in the paper inspection file.” Comments were filed in docket 16-161 Friday.
The FCC asked some follow-up questions of proponents of the pay-TV backed set-top-box proposal, pay-TV officials and an agency official told us. The questions are part of a recent spate of meetings and calls with stakeholders about the proposal, the officials said. Proponents of the pay-TV plan are expected to provide answers to the questions before the end of this week, officials said. The list of questions included queries about whether the licensing agreement for pay-TV apps would allow programmer apps to be included in the universal search function on an equal basis, and whether the pay-TV apps involved would be able to be used on different devices and operating systems. Microsoft visited the FCC and met with Chief Technologist Scott Jordan and Media Bureau staff July 18 on set-top matters connected with licensing agreements, said an ex parte filing. Some of the language in the FCC Unlock the Box set-top plan would interfere with Microsoft's Play Ready content licensing system, said the filing posted Thursday in docket 16-42. Earlier questions from the FCC on the pay-TV plan had led officials on both sides of the issue to say the alternative, the Ditch the Box plan, had momentum (see 1607110042).
The FCC draft media ownership order contains a grandfathering policy on joint sales agreements that's more in line with statements from Congress on the issue and is less restrictive to broadcasters than the previous version of the rules, FCC officials said in interviews. Under the draft (see 1606270083) JSAs wouldn't have to be unwound until 2025, and companies wouldn't be required to dissolve existing JSAs to get transactions approved that take place before that deadline, they said. The draft order also will allow some dissolved JSAs to be reinstated, FCC officials said. In a fact sheet released by the FCC on the media ownership rules, it said the new JSA grandfathering policy would be “consistent with Congress’s guidance.”
Nexstar's planned $4.6 billion buy of Media General is on hold until the completion of the TV incentive auction, industry lawyers said in interviews Tuesday. With the auction likely proceeding to at least a second stage, it’s likely Nexstar will push the FCC to approve a waiver request (see 1606130052) that would allow the deal to be approved before the end of the auction, broadcast attorneys said. It's unclear whether the FCC would be amenable to such a request, these attorneys said. Nexstar and the agency declined to comment.
A nationwide test of the emergency alert system planned for Sept. 28 is expected to show that problems revealed by the 2011 test have been addressed, said broadcast, EAS and Federal Emergency Management Agency officials in interviews Monday. The FCC Public Safety Bureau and FEMA announced the test in a public notice Monday. Planning for it has been going on for years, officials told us.
The FCC list of entities qualified to bid in the forward portion of the incentive auction contains all the companies expected to provide major bidding muscle but omits two expected new entrants, Sinclair and Social Capital Rama Spectrum Holdings, according to a Friday public notice (see 1607110052). With AT&T, Comcast, Dish Network, T-Mobile and Verizon in the list of 62 qualified bidders, the companies that didn't qualify aren't expected to have much of an effect on the auction, a broadcast attorney told us. Social Capital, a boutique investment firm owned by Chamath Palihapitiya, signaled an interest in buying spectrum, as did Sinclair, but because of the amount of money involved, their lack of participation isn't expected to be a major factor in the auction's success, an attorney who follows the auction told us. Bidders who aren't on the qualified list can't participate in the forward auction or any of its subsequent stages, an FCC spokesman told us. Becoming a qualified bidder required a timely submitted upfront payment, and those on the unqualified list likely chose not to make that payment, attorneys told us. The forward auction bidding system will be available to bidders starting Tuesday, and a clock phase practice auction will be July 25-July 29. A mock forward auction will be Aug.11-Aug. 12, the PN said. The real forward auction will begin Aug. 16 with a single round. “We will set the pace of the auction based upon monitoring of the bidding and assessment of the auction’s progress,” the PN said.
Broadcasters may be opposed to a proposed rule change that would extend to broadcasters rules encouraging diversity in procurement by cable companies, lawyers for both industries told us Friday. The proposal is backed by the Multicultural Media Internet and Telecom Council, and was the focus of dueling news releases from the FCC and MMTC last week (see 1607130068). MMTC General Counsel David Honig said a proposal to extend the rule to broadcasters is part of the draft media ownership order.
Minority-owned TV stations and minority programming will be devastated by the incentive auction, said speakers at Brownout, a panel at the Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council's Access to Capital and Telecom Policy Conference Thursday. Women and minorities will own less than 1 percent of full-power TV stations after the incentive auction, and the low-power stations that carry most minority-focused programming will be nearly wiped out, predicted Ravi Kapur, CEO of network Diya TV, which targets Indian viewers. “It’s stunning that this is happening in plain sight, in front of a very diverse FCC,” he said. “This is a failure on many fronts,” said Hogan Lovells broadcast attorney Ari Fitzgerald.