Monty Tayloe

TV and radio stations are in better financial shape in 2021 than during the lows of the pandemic. But analysts, brokers and broadcasters don’t expect the outlets to soon return to the brisk business they were experiencing before the coronavirus crisis, they said in interviews.

Exempt noncommercial educational stations from new disclosure rules for foreign-sponsored content, Minnesota Public Radio and REC Networks asked in FCC replies in docket 20-299 by Monday night’s deadline (see 2012170075). The rules could require NCE stations to air such identification while broadcasting content bought by the broadcaster from the BBC, MPR said. "A standardized disclosure would be required whenever a foreign governmental entity furnishes program material to a station at nominal cost as an inducement to broadcast such material,” MPR said. “The NPRM does not define ‘nominal cost.’” NCEs aren’t allowed to sell content on their stations anyway, so additional ID isn’t necessary, REC said. That’s not the case for commercial stations, REC said. “We do feel though that for purchased airtime by a foreign government entity, that the specific disclosure that a program is originating from a ‘foreign government’ should be necessary." The FCC's proposals "would duplicate existing laws and rules and sweep in a much broader swath of content than the intended target of foreign propaganda,” said NAB: Rely on Foreign Agents Registration Act rules. If the FCC adopts new rules, they should be “narrowly tailored,” it asked. NCTA made similar points: “Avoid duplication with the disclosures already required” by FARA “and ensure that the rules are reasonable.”

NAB, E.W. Scripps and Tegna asked the FCC to clarify how FCC licensing rules affect TV stations multicasting during the ATSC 3.0 transition, in replies for Monday night’s deadline in docket 16-142. “The clarification and rule changes NAB seeks in this proceeding are ministerial in nature and intended only to ensure that the Commission has a consistent regulatory framework,” said NAB. Recognizing or codifying rules around broadcasters hosting programming streams for other stations is needed to clarify the arrangements don’t create attributable interests for ownership purposes, and that the stream’s originator is responsible for ensuring it complies with FCC considerations such as kidvid and emergency broadcast rules, Tegna said. The clarification would “provide regulatory certainty and efficiencies that would facilitate the deployment of ATSC 3.0 technologies,” said Scripps.

If the Supreme Court rules against the FCC in Prometheus IV or “punts” without making a clear decision, the agency will be left in a “morass” that could take another decade to address, said former Commissioner Mike O’Rielly on a Federalist Society virtual panel Monday: “If that’s what the Supreme Court comes up with, we’re stuck.” The FCC majority pinned its hopes on SCOTUS from the beginning, and the agency went into the litigation “looking past the 3rd Circuit,” he said: “I didn’t much care what the 3rd Circuit’s opinion was.”

Ex-FCC commissioners and other government officials are leaving office with control of private social media accounts that were used in part in an official capacity and that swelled with followers from their time in office. There's a lack of consistent rules and standard practice around how government officials use social media, and ethics watchdogs and academics say clearer policies are needed.

The Supreme Court narrowly focused on questions of administrative law rather than diversity, judicial deference or legal jurisdiction during Tuesday’s oral argument for FCC and NAB appeals of the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ Prometheus IV decision. Broadcast and public interest attorneys were split about what that might portend.

The FCC approved 3-2 rules for broadcaster distributed transmission systems -- also called single frequency networks -- said an order Tuesday. Commissioners Jessica Rosenworcel and Geoffrey Starks dissented in part from the order that's seen as important to the ATSC 3.0 transition over concerns that rules allowing broadcaster “spillover” will interfere with the use of TV white spaces for unlicensed devices. This “threatens to disrupt” a “careful balance” over the white spaces by “moving too quickly,” Starks said. The order replaces the current restriction on DTS signals spilling beyond a station’s service area beyond “a minimal amount” with a hard number dependent on the type of station. The new “bright-line rule” allows for more spillover and clarifies the requirement. That’s a change from the NPRM, which the order said “failed to account for the additive effect of multiple DTS transmissions and thus underestimated the potential interference impact of the proposal.” Starks and Rosenworcel had advocated for an expedited waiver process for broadcasters that sought to use DTS systems, an approach also pushed by Microsoft and New America's Open Technology Institute. “I would have preferred a more fine-tuned approach that would have allowed us to better gauge the effects of these systems on other services that use these airwaves,” said Rosenworcel. The agency is “confident” the order will result in less interference than the proposal. The order won't let stations expand their reach beyond current limits, said Chairman Ajit Pai, whose last full day was Tuesday. "Any DTS transmitters must stay within the broadcaster’s authorized or hypothetical maximum area and must be necessary to ensure better local transmission -- not intended to extend coverage beyond the authorized area." The order “will permit stations to reliably reach viewers that could not otherwise be served by a single transmitter architecture, which is so important in rural and remote areas, in terrains with gaps in coverage, and in urban settings, often in communities with traditionally underserved populations,” said America’s Public Television Stations General Counsel Lonna Thompson in an emailed statement. “We're pleased that the Commission adopted this change to the rules on Single Frequency Networks, since it will help broadcasters roll out NEXTGEN TV more quickly and more efficiently,” said broadcast consortium Pearl TV.

Chairman Ajit Pai’s final FCC commissioners' meeting Wednesday and its subsequent news conferences included condemnations of President Donald Trump by Republicans, speculation about future action on social media moderation, and presentations on staff work during Pai’s tenure. Pai said he had planned pre-election to leave the post after a single term, declining to comment on his plans or the second impeachment of President Donald Trump.

The Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol included about a dozen reported assaults and numerous threats against journalists. (See our news report here.) This could spur renewed interest in legislation to protect them, said journalism advocates in interviews this week.

E.W. Scripps completed its $2.65 billion deal to buy Ion Media from Black Diamond Capital Management, divesting 23 stations to the newly formed Inyo Broadcasting, it announced Thursday. The FCC approved Dec. 15 but announced the OK only in the brief listing of broadcast actions three days later (see 2101070039). No petitions to deny were filed, and no conditions were required, a Scripps spokesperson said. Scripps is holding on to 48 of the stations and plans to combine Ion’s content with its Katz networks and Newsy for a “full-scale national television networks business,” the release said. “Bringing our networks together with ION will create a formidable national television business focused on connecting with audiences and advertisers in the rapidly evolving media landscape,” said Scripps CEO Adam Symson. Inyo is headed by interim CEO John Chachas and Chief Operating Officer Louis Zachary, the managing principals of Methuselah Advisors, a media broker that worked with Scripps in the past and on this deal (see 2011050024). The FCC didn’t comment.