Monty Tayloe

Broadcasters aren’t back to their pre-pandemic financial states, but they see improvements on the horizon, said Cumulus, Sinclair, Nexstar and Graham Holdings in quarterly reports and calls this week. CEO Perry Sook said Nexstar has enough certainty about its outlook to reinstate guidance for upcoming quarters, conceding that broadcasters aren't out of the woods. “We don’t anticipate being back above 2019 levels” in advertising revenue in the next year, Sook said. Nexstar will be “still retracing our steps” and recovering in 2022, he said.

Public TV received its largest government investment in 2020, and America’s Public Television Stations will press for “at least” $50 million increases in each of the next two budget cycles. That's the “most dramatic increase in history.” So said President Patrick Butler Monday at APTS’ virtual summit.

In his first speech since joining the FCC, Commissioner Nathan Simington told the Free State Foundation via teleconference that he opposes Communications Act Title II net neutrality regulation, indicated he still supports government action to curb non-ISP “gatekeepers,” and seemed optimistic about his ability to influence agency policy while in the minority. "Even commission decisions that don’t command a consensus are formed organically by conversations within the FCC,” Simington said. “The vast majority of decisions are bipartisan.”

The Advisory Committee on Diversity and Digital Empowerment will recommend the FCC support a bill on minority tax certificates, advocate for more interagency cooperation to assist libraries in providing digital services and make accessible information for newcomers to broadcasting, according to reports from the ACDDE’s working groups at the current iteration’s second-to-last virtual meeting Thursday. The committee’s charter expires in July, and the last meeting, where final recommendations will be voted on, is June 24.

Radio broadcasters are at odds with one another and with NAB over whether the FCC should change FM booster rules to allow geotargeted radio broadcasts, in comments posted through Wednesday in docket 20-401. The NPRM “could open new doors for the marketing practices of small businesses,” said Emmis Communications. Dozens of smaller broadcasters submitted nearly identical comments supporting the proposal (see 2101270069), but NAB asked the FCC to hold off.

Beasley Broadcast Q4 net revenue fell about 5% to $68.5 million from Q4 2019. That “primarily reflects a year-over-year decrease in commercial advertising revenue due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, partially offset by growth in digital, esports and political revenue,” the radio station owner reported Wednesday. “Esports allowed us to make lemonade out of lemons last year,” CEO Caroline Beasley told investors. Operating income was $19.6 million vs. $11.2 million, the result of lower operating and corporate expenses, lower impairment losses and a land sale, the release said. The Q4 “results reflect the ongoing recovery of our business,” said the CEO in a release. The company has continued to generate month-over-month revenue growth if political ads are excluded from the calculation, she said. Caroline Beasley expects revenue from events to “hopefully” begin returning at the end of 2021 and continue into 2022. She said the company is focused on digital and attracting new advertisers in the coming year.

Acting FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel commemorated the 25th anniversary of the Telecom Act with a Twitter chat about the law's impact and an online video featuring legislators and former commissioners. In the video, Rosenworcel credited the act with paving the way for the modern use of the internet and said it should guide how to modify communications policy, “because access to modern communications for everyone everywhere has never been more important for full participation in American life.” “It’s a fine old act,” sang former Commissioner Rachelle Chong on the video as she performed a song she composed for the occasion. “We have to move with urgency” to restore net neutrality, combat consolidation and focus on inclusion and equity, said Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass. “We need to debate and discuss bipartisan reforms,” said Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Mich., supporting universal broadband. Former Commissioner Susan Ness said the FCC has become more divided since the act passed. In a separate video for the Hudson Institute, former Commissioners Mike O’Rielly and Harold Furchtgott-Roth -- both ex-congressional staffers who worked on the measure -- said they were surprised how portions of it are interpreted. Furchtgott-Roth believed at the time of the act’s passing that media ownership rules would be gone within two years: “I think that was the intention of Congress at the time.” O’Rielly decried the use of the preamble as a justification for FCC policies. Furchtgott-Roth said he drafted the preamble, which says the act exists “to promote competition and reduce regulation in order to secure lower prices and higher quality services.” The preamble wasn’t meant to be substantive, the former commissioner said: “It was supposed to be completely worthless.” In a Twitter chat with Rep. Jahana Hayes, D-Conn., Rosenworcel said the timing of the '96 law "was no coincidence." Consumers "enjoyed waves of new products and services, and U.S. innovators set the pace globally for the emerging internet economy," she tweeted. A key program established under the law was E-rate, but many students still lack internet access and visit in parking lots to do homework, Rosenworcel said. It's an issue close to the heart for Hayes, 2016's Teacher of the Year. "Millions of kids across this country … can not do their homework or participate in class" during the pandemic because they can't get online, Hayes tweeted. The commission sought comments last week on whether to allow E-rate funds for remote learning (see 2102010064).

Broadcasters shouldn’t be allowed to black out major events or own multiple top-four stations in a market, said the American Television Alliance in an FCC filing Friday in docket 15-216 blasting Apollo Global Management and Cox Media Group for blocking AT&T customers just before the Super Bowl over retransmission consent negotiations. “Apollo Global has chosen to use the moment in which it can inflict maximum harm on viewers in order to extract maximum fees well into the future,” ATVA said. The blackout affects Seattle; Dayton; Yuma, Arizona; Greenwood, Mississippi; and Eureka, California. Rep. Jared Huffman, D-Calif., sent Cox a letter Thursday over the blackout affecting his constituents. Switching to another MVPD or a streaming service isn’t an option for all his constituents, Huffman said. Many “live in rural areas with limited access to broadband and other distributors,” he said. Many of those in his district had switched to AT&T from Suddenlink over a previous blackout, Huffman said. He will add provisions requiring that interim carriage be provided during retrans negotiations to a bill aimed at repealing the UHF discount. Friday, AT&T said retrans blackouts “fly in the face” of NAB assurances that broadcasters wouldn’t have service interruptions during the pandemic. “While NAB successfully lobbied Congress for stimulus relief for local broadcasters, to ‘serve their communities during this critical time,’ CMG has now turned their back on those very communities,” the update said. “It’s time that Congress and the FCC take a fresh look at this broken retransmission consent system that encourages blackouts and skyrocketing rate increases at consumers’ expense.” If "the companies don’t fix this problem, the FCC should act," said Public Knowledge Legal Director John Bergmayer. The FCC "has the statutory authority to order interim carriage during program carriage disputes," Bergmayer said. "Timing blackouts to coincide with marquee events like the Super Bowl should be considered unlawful under the ‘good faith’ standard that governs retransmission consent negotiations." NAB declined to comment, and Cox Media Group didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Jessica Rosenworcel’s first meeting as acting FCC chairwoman was a video call with public interest groups Wednesday, according to interviews and a filing posted Monday in docket 20-445. Free Press, Public Knowledge, the National Hispanic Media Coalition, Benton Institute for Broadband & Society, Electronic Frontier Foundation and 22 other groups laid out preferred policies.

Gray Television will buy Quincy Media for $925 million, the acquirer announced. Quincy owns stations in 16 markets in the Midwest, and the proposed deal would lead to Gray acquiring 11 and divesting others “to facilitate prompt regulatory approvals,” Monday's release said. The divestitures are in markets where Gray already owns a full-power TV station, said Gray Chief Legal and Development Officer Kevin Latek in an email. Gray will hold onto Quincy’s stations in Fort Wayne, Indiana; Peoria, Illinois; Duluth, Minnesota, and others. Markets where stations will be divested include Tucson; Madison, Wisconsin; and Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The deal will still involve an overlap in South Bend, Indiana, where Gray owns a full-power station and Quincy owns WSJV Elkhart, Indiana, and radio station WGEM Quincy, Illinois. That will require a waiver, Latek said. The TV station isn’t a top-four affiliate and shouldn’t raise antitrust concerns, Latek said. Broadcast industry don’t expect the deal to hit regulatory snags. Quincy didn't comment.