Monty Tayloe

An NPRM and notice of inquiry on accessibility in emergency alert system messages are likely to be unanimously approved as-is, said FCC and industry officials in interviews. Alerting industry officials said the agency’s proposals need fine-tuning, but strong industry pushback isn’t expected. Accessible alerts are “certainly a laudable goal,” said Sage Alerting President Harold Price. Comments on the item would go to docket 15-94.

Consumer advocates didn’t see eye to eye with MVPD and broadcast industry officials over whether the FCC has the authority to expand closed captioning requirements to online video, at the agency’s virtual Video Programming Accessibility Forum Thursday. The FCC doesn’t have “plain and clear authority” for stricter rules under the Twenty-First Century Video Accessibility Act, said NAB Associate General Counsel Larry Walke. The agency has “broad technology-neutral authority” under the 1996 Telecommunications Act to separate captioning requirements from the distribution method of a video, said Blake Reid, director of the University of Colorado’s Samuelson-Glushko Technology Law & Policy Clinic and attorney for Telecommunications for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (TDI): “It’s a civil rights issue.”

Numerous House Commerce Committee members repeated calls for bipartisan action to revise Communications Decency Act Section 230 during a Wednesday Communications Subcommittee hearing, but remain far apart on the details. The proposals “aren’t identical,” but the process could lead to “bipartisan work,” said committee Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J. “Republicans and Democrats don’t agree on this issue,” said Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas.

Incumbent public safety users of the 4.9 GHz band don’t agree with wireless advocates about expanding the band to unlicensed use or coordinating spectrum sharing, said comments filed by Monday’s deadline in docket 07-100. Allowing unlicensed use would ensure the most use “from the broadest set of stakeholders,” said the New America Foundation’s Open Technology Institute. Sharing the band should be handled carefully because public safety can't go anywhere else, public safety groups said. “What alternative spectrum has been made available?” asked the National Public Safety Telecommunications Council. “To NPSTC’s knowledge, none has been identified.”

The FCC’s last open meeting of 2021 will include votes on making emergency alert systems messages more accessible, changes to competitive bidding regulations for E-rate, and revisions to spectrum sharing rules for low-orbit satellite systems, Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel blogged. The virtual meeting is Dec. 14 at 10:30 a.m.

Broadcasters want the FCC to distinguish between “next-generation EAS” (emergency alert system) and enhanced alerting through ATSC 3.0, said replies posted Friday in docket 15-94. “Conflating the two platforms threatens to encourage the migration of the rules and requirements that govern EAS (which have accrued from the 1950’s to this proceeding) to ATSC 3.0 emergency messaging,” said the Advanced Warning and Response Network Alliance and ATSC. The 3.0 “optional, value-added urgent news information service” is called “Advanced Emergency Information” and is a valuable supplement for EAS alerts but isn’t the same thing, NAB said. “Refrain from regulating such an optional ATSC 3.0 content service because it is unrelated to the vital service provided by the EAS system and doing so could hinder innovation.” AWARN and ATSC urged the FCC not to impose alerting regulations on streaming media. NAB reiterated (see 2110200065) that an FCC proposal for persistent EAS alerts isn’t feasible.

The FCC unanimously approved an NPRM Monday seeking comment on allowing use of computer models to show FM directional antenna patterns for applications. The item had been set for Thursday’s commissioners’ meeting, and wasn’t expected to be controversial -- no outside parties submitted filings to docket 21-422. The final version appeared little changed from the draft. Allowing broadcasters to use computer simulations instead of the full-size and scale models currently required will save money, broadcast engineers told us. “The requirements can be quite expensive,” said du Treil Lundin President Bob du Treil. “We tentatively conclude that requiring" FM and low-power FM "applicants to provide physical measurements as the only means to verify directional antenna patterns is outdated,” the NPRM said. It stems from a June petition by Dielectric, Jampro Antennas, Shively Labs, Radio Frequency Systems and the Educational Media Foundation. Petitioners argued that computer models are cheaper and may have improved accuracy over the model method. AM and TV antennas already can use computer modeling to demonstrate their patterns for applications, and the current rule puts FM applicants “on an unequal footing with their AM and DTV counterparts,” the NPRM said. A deletion notice Tuesday removed the item from the meeting agenda.

The FCC and National Treasury Employees Union agreed on reentry plans, per a signed memorandum of understanding (MOU) and an agency email obtained by Communications Daily. The NTEU confirmed that the sides completed collective bargaining over the multiphase reentry plan Friday. They agreed to further evaluate “the post-pandemic workplace environment” after the start of the reentry plan’s final phase, according to the MOU provided to staff Monday.

The FCC approved Gray Television’s $2.7 billion purchase of 17 TV stations from Meredith, said a letter from the Media Bureau's Video Division posted Friday. “The Transaction serves the public interest, convenience, and necessity.” Approval was expected and Gray executives recently said it would come soon (see 2111050063). The deal involves one overlapping market that Gray addressed by divesting WJRT-TV Flint, Michigan, to Allen Media (see 2107150003), and drew no formal objections. The transaction will make Gray the No. 2 U.S. broadcaster by revenue, and give it an audience reach of 25% of households, well under the 39% cap. Two informal objections, including a late-filed one from a Las Vegas-area broadcast antenna installer who said Meredith had a policy against carrying ads that encourage cord cutting, were rejected. “We cannot conclude, as Mr. Antenna suggests, that such a policy exists, or ever existed, at Gray or Meredith,” staff said: The deal would create public interest benefits for viewers because of Gray’s Washington bureau and the advantages of greater scale. Once the sale is consummated, Meredith will separate into two companies, one consisting of the broadcast properties and owned by Gray, and the other -- Meredith’s print, content and digital businesses -- will become a subsidiary of Dotdash Media (see 2111100051). The deal is expected to close Dec.1, Meredith has said.

Broadcasters and their attorneys don’t expect the FCC to complete the 2018 quadrennial review before 2022, and said a substantive order is unlikely even if something is voted on before year’s end.