Monty Tayloe

Broadcasters and legislators are waiting to see if the FCC will act on recent commitments to step up enforcement against pirate radio stations, according to interviews and an exchange of letters between Chairman Tom Wheeler and 33 House members. In Wheeler's letter to the legislators and in a June roundtable with broadcasters, the FCC identified some actions to turn up the heat on unlicensed broadcasters, but it's unclear if the agency will take the simple step that broadcasters want most, said New York Broadcasters Association President David Donovan.

The FCC should modify emergency information rules to keep school closing announcements and other less important information from pre-empting critical emergency information on audible news crawls transmitted over secondary audio streams, said broadcasters, cable associations and consumer organizations in comments posted to docket 12-107 Monday. The comments were filed in response to a Further NPRM seeking comment on emergency information accessibility. Nearly all commenters agreed that such crawls should prioritize emergency information over closings. But cable groups and consumer groups disagreed on requiring multichannel video programming distributors to provide simple mechanisms for accessing secondary audio information

The FCC has looked at the impact of the incentive auction on low-power TV, said Incentive Auction Task Force Vice Chairman Howard Symons on The Kojo Nnamdi Show on WAMU(FM) Washington Tuesday. Symons was responding to comments from LPTV Spectrum Rights Coalition Director Mike Gravino, who said on the show that the FCC should have studied the auction’s effects on LPTV stations before deciding to exclude them from the incentive auction. “Our starting point is the statute, what Congress told us to do,” Symons said.

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler hopes the draft protective order (see 1508040060)) on the release of video programming confidential information (VPCI) in Charter's proposed purchases of Bright House Networks and Time Warner Cable is “voted real fast,” he said in a news conference after Thursday's commission meeting. The shot clock for the deals can't start until the FCC has established the rules for VPCI, he said. Asked about when that clock would start, Wheeler said the media should ask “those who are voting on the protective order.” Commissioner Ajit Pai said in his own news conference after Wheeler's that the question of sharing VPCI should be separated from the transaction review and put out for public comment. His proposals along those lines to the chairman's office have received no response, Pai said. Commissioner Mike O'Rielly also said he disagrees with Wheeler's stance, and he hasn't voted on the protective order. FCC staffers weren't "sucking eggs" while waiting for the shot clock to start -- they're reviewing Charter information already submitted, Wheeler said.

FCC Auction 98 ended Thursday after 10 bidding days and 51 rounds, generating just over $4 million and selling 102 FM radio construction permits (CPs) out of 131 that were up for bid, the auctions website said. The amount of money generated and the level of participation were at the levels largely expected by the radio industry, several attorney experts said. Though the numbers for this auction were down from previous ones, that decline is consistent with the quality of the permits offered in auction 98, they said.

Wireless mics will be able to use new bands and share spectrum in the TV band, said a Wednesday FCC order issued with the support of four members and a partial dissent by Commissioner Mike O'Rielly. The order, which was deleted from Thursday's meeting agenda, allows all licensed users in the TV band to use the reserved 4 MHz in the duplex gap and allows wireless mics to operate in TV bands even within the contours of TV stations as long as the TV signals are at a low enough threshold, an FCC release said. The order also allows wireless mics to operate in portions of the 900 MHz band, the 6875-7125 MHz band and the 1435-1525 MHz band at specified times and places, coordinated with aeronautical mobile telemetry, the release said.

Sinclair sees $2 billion worth of “substantial opportunities” in relinquishing some of its licenses in the incentive auction, CEO David Amy said on an earnings call Wednesday. Amy has expressed interest in the incentive auction before (see 1506250060), though a Sinlclair executive subsequently said it wouldn't be actively participating (see 1507230064). The $2 billion number was arrived at using the median numbers for specific Sinclair stations provided in the Greenhill estimates of auction prices, Chief Financial Officer Christopher Ripley said. “The ultimate outcome will depend on the many auction variables which are unclear at this time,” Amy said. Ripley said Sinclair's view of the auction hasn't changed, but there's an industry view that the company won't participate. “So that's one of the reasons we put that statement in the earnings release here or call today, just to give some people a little bit more specifics around what the upside is for Sinclair,” Ripley said. The earnings could even be improved with channel sharing, Ripley said. Sinclair is in “active discussions” on channel sharing, he said.

With a Sept. 4 congressional deadline, the FCC Downloadable Security Technical Advisory Committee has focused on two proposals for technology neutral downloadable security, but remains far from unified, it was revealed at DSTAC's meeting Tuesday. DSTAC efforts coalesced around two rival plans: a pay TV-backed proposal that would use security based on HTML 5 and downloadable apps, and a “virtual head end” system based on link protection backed by members of the Consumer Video Choice Coalition, which includes Public Knowledge and TiVo. The DSTAC doesn't have to choose a winner between the two systems -- its final report will contain both proposals, Chairwoman Cheryl Tritt said. A final draft of the report outlining the proposals will be produced for a vote at the DSTAC's final meeting Aug. 28. The working group reports that will form the basis of the DSTAC's final product are available on the DSTAC homepage.

The Telecommunications Industry Association is increasing lobbying and outreach efforts as it adds major new members, said industry officials in interviews Monday. That lobbying and outreach is meant to keep ahead of industry convergence and “the IP revolution," CEO Scott Belcher said. AT&T and Comcast were announced as among new TIA members. Belcher pointed to the companies' membership as a sign that TIA’s new focus on being vocal is paying dividends.

The comment periods for the FCC’s proposal to preserve a vacant channel in the incentive auction for unlicensed use and wireless microphones were indefinitely suspended, the Media Bureau said in an order Wednesday. The delay followed requests for a three-week extension by both NAB and the LPTV Spectrum Rights Coalition. Instead of three weeks, the Media Bureau order announced a “brief suspension” of undefined length, intended to allow the parties to file comments after the FCC enacts the upcoming Auction Procedures public notice, which could include plans to repack TV stations in the duplex gap. “The Commission’s decision on final auction procedures may impact the availability of television channels for use by such devices in certain areas,” the order said. The delay also will allow the FCC to determine new comment deadlines, the order said.