Monty Tayloe

A unanimous Supreme Court Thursday upheld on process grounds the previous FCC’s relaxation of several broadcast ownership rules (see 2101190070). This makes it unlikely that future challenges to quadrennial reviews will end up before the same panel of 3rd U.S Circuit Court of Appeals judges that has consistently ruled against QR orders for nearly two decades, experts noted in interviews. “The FCC’s decision to repeal or modify the three ownership rules was not arbitrary and capricious for purposes” of the Administrative Procedure Act, said the majority opinion by Justice Brett Kavanaugh. “We reverse the judgment of the" 3rd Circuit.

An FCC draft equal employment opportunity proposal seeks comment on reviving long-stalled collection of minority employment data from broadcasters, said agency and industry officials in interviews last week. It stems from proposals by Geoffrey Starks shortly after he became commissioner to refresh the record on collecting such data through Form 395-B. Such collection was part of a proceeding in 2004 that stalled over confidentiality issues, broadcast officials said. The draft Further NPRM now on circulation seeks comment to refresh that record and doesn’t contain specific proposals, FCC and industry officials said.

Panelists called for more federal dollars and resources to help minority and female entrepreneurs and for the FCC to address the digital divide to facilitate tech startups outside big tech hubs. “You cannot build a technology company with dial-up internet,” Andy Stoll, Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation senior program officer-entrepreneurship, said at an FCC Advisory Committee on Diversity and Digital Empowerment’s virtual event.

Urban One’s net revenue for Q4 was $113.5 million, 7.3% better than the same period in 2019, reported the company Thursday. Its "extremely strong" Q4 was "driven by record levels of political advertising and strong demand for our digital and cable TV advertising inventory,” said CEO Alfred Liggins. Urban One is “in a strong position to take advantage of the anticipated economic recovery post COVID-19," he said. The pandemic affected Urban One’s businesses “throughout 2020,” the release said. Urban One’s radio divisions were hit particularly hard by advertising reductions in areas considered COVID-19 hot spots, the release said. The outbreak also caused a planned cruise to be postponed and “impaired” ticket sales of special events. “We do not carry business interruption insurance to compensate us for losses that occurred in 2020 and such losses may continue to occur” because of the ongoing pandemic, the release said.

The FCC unanimously approved two Public Safety Bureau items on outage reporting and the emergency alert system Wednesday, as expected (see 2103120057). Though the final versions haven’t been released, industry officials told us they don’t expect either the NPRM on wireless emergency alerts (WEAs) and state emergency alert plans nor the order on outage reporting to have undergone significant changes from their drafts. The FCC “needs to fundamentally refresh its playbook for disaster preparedness and resiliency,” said acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel at Wednesday’s meeting of commissioners.

The FCC Media Bureau’s Video Division is “running a little behind schedule” in handling broadcast license renewals because of the pandemic, said Senior Attorney-Adviser David Roberts at an FCBA event Monday. “We are living in a COVID world” and working remotely, “so we ask you not to hold it against us,” he said. Those difficulties occasionally lead to a broadcaster's renewal not being completed by the day its license expires, he said. Stations seeking such renewals are themselves being slowed by the difficulties of the pandemic, he said. There’s “nothing magic about that day,” Roberts said. “It just means we’re working through your group.” The Video Division is “flooded” with “several significant work streams,” said Chief Barbara Kreisman, citing the license renewal season, repacking reimbursement, low-power TV stations converting to digital by this summer’s deadline, and a recent host of stations requesting channel changes. Takeovers are also “heating up,” Kreisman said. Disorganized online public files can cause a station renewal application to take longer, Roberts said. He said the agency’s shift to the license management system for the renewal process, from the consolidated database system, was a major change. “Getting used to LMS has been an adjustment,” he said. Video Division staff repeatedly said it's best for stations anticipating problems with their renewal applications -- political file violations, late filings, kidvid issues -- to be as clear as possible in their filings and contact the division to discuss the matter. “Reach out in advance,” Roberts said. “Be thoughtful on disclosures.”

An NPRM on emergency alerting and an order on sharing outage report information with state and local agencies are expected to be approved with few changes at the FCC commissioners' meeting Wednesday, likely unanimously, according to industry officials.

FM broadcasters offering geotargeted content have every incentive to reduce self-interference and are required by the FCC to do so, said GeoBroadcast Solutions in replies posted Friday in docket 20-401. REC Networks replied earlier (see 2103100057). GBS, the primary proponent of such proposed changes to booster rules, resisted arguments this would lead to radio advertising “redlining.” All other media can geotarget ads, and those were an ATSC 3.0 selling point, GBS said. “Yet there was no mention of redlining in the hundreds and hundreds of pages of comments filed in that proceeding by the broadcast industry and its trade association.” The Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council and the National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters called for a pilot program to test the technology in three markets. They "recommend that the pilot be designed to address all of the questions raised in the comment round of this proceeding, including the impact of the technology on local advertising markets." The FCC simply can't "ignore the concerns of the radio industry,” said the New York State Broadcasters Association, opposing the rule change. “Objectionable interference is certain under the Geo proposal,” said broadcast engineer Alan Kirschner of Nashville. Ad agency Media Negotiator, Urban One DJ and restaurant owner Sam Sylks and Roberts Broadcasting supported the option to geotarget as helpful to radio and local businesses. GBS said it has “no plans” for such targeting of emergency alert system messages, though the company and proponents of the tech have touted targeted alerts (see 2006040024).

Former FCC official Adonis Hoffman declined a nomination for Tegna’s board over professional conflicts of interest, as well as a 2014 incident at a hotel where Tegna CEO Dave Lougee mistook Hoffman, who is Black, for a valet, according to SEC filings and a statement submitted to Standard General. “The conflicts were primary” in refusing the nomination, and “the incident was a matter of principle,” Hoffman told us via email. “I have serious concerns whether Lougee and I could function as colleagues at TEGNA or afford each other the level of professional comity and respect required of a well-functioning board.” Lougee explained in a letter to Tegna employees, filed with the SEC: “As I was leaving the event and looking for my car, I ran into Mr. Hoffman and mistakenly thought he was a hotel valet. Mr. Hoffman was understandably offended and upset. I immediately apologized to him and felt terrible. I don’t condone racism of any kind, I take full responsibility for this mistake, and am truly sorry for the pain I caused Mr. Hoffman.” Hoffman said the conflicts stem from his having served as a strategic adviser to media and broadcasting companies, some of which are direct competitors to Tegna. “Based on TEGNA’s previous response to other well-qualified directors, I am under no illusion that Lougee would do whatever necessary to derail my election to the board,” Hoffman's statement said. Tegna’s board faced internal conflicts last year (see 2003310054). “Whether that would be based on the adversarial nature of the proxy process or Lougee’s demonstrated cultural insensitivity does not really matter,” he said. Tegna’s board hired an outside law firm to interview Lougee about the incident and did a human resources review of his file, it said in a letter sent to us by a spokesperson. “No information has come to our attention in connection with this review or otherwise suggesting Dave has ever been accused of any incident of a similar nature,” Tegna said. “Nevertheless, we care about even one such incident and view this as a reminder of the importance of continuing down the path of our strong commitment at TEGNA to issues of diversity.”

Public broadcasters aren’t struggling with funding during the pandemic like commercial stations are, several public media groups and individual stations said in interviews. Public TV stations mainly look to donations as their primary funding source, rather than commercial underwriting, and donations are up during the time of COVID-19, said every public media official we interviewed. This comes as more people stay home, consuming more news and entertainment there during the health crisis.