Monty Tayloe

The FCC Wireline Bureau set the Lifeline minimum service standard for broadband at 4.5 GB monthly effective Dec. 1 (see 2011160051). Staff acted on delegated authority after an order circulated by Chairman Ajit Pai that would have done the same didn’t get enough commissioner votes (see 2011020065). The MSS is currently 3 GB.

The FCC Wireline Bureau set the Lifeline monthly minimum service standard for broadband at 4.5 GB on delegated authority, after a circulated order that would have done similar didn’t get enough commissioner votes, said an order released Monday. Without FCC action, the MSS would have increased from the current 3 GB to 11.75 Dec. 1, but with the order the 4.5 GB MSS will take effect on that date. The order partially grants a petition for a waiver from the National Lifeline Association, which sought to freeze the MSS at 3 GB.

Huge changes to broadcast ownership regulation aren’t expected under the next FCC, with the pending U.S. Supreme Court decision on Prometheus IV the likely driver for any changes that do happen, said associations, broadcasters and broadcast attorneys in interviews. “I’m not terribly concerned that things are going to change drastically under a Biden administration,” said Graham Media CEO Emily Barr, chair of NAB’s TV Board. FCC and NAB briefs in the case are due Monday.

The National Lifeline Association and Assist Wireless filed an emergency stay petition Monday asking the FCC to freeze the Lifeline minimum service standard at 3 GB within seven days. “It is a precursor to going to a federal court for such relief, if necessary,” emailed John Heitmann of Kelley Drye, who represents NaLA. Without the stay or the waiver NaLA previously sought, the MSS will automatically rise to 11.75 GB Dec. 1, triggering a “one-year death spiral” for the entire lifeline industry, the stay petition said. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai withdrew a proposal weeks ago (see 2011020065) that would have made the 2020 MSS 4.5 GB because it wouldn't receive sufficient votes.

A restored minority tax certificate would be a useful tool for minority and female would-be broadcast station owners, but the main barrier is lack of access to capital, agreed panelists at the FCC Advisory Committee on Diversity and Digital Empowerment’s virtual symposium Friday. “We have to look at how you create more access to investment capital and other instruments that will allow owners to have the resources to participate in this industry,” said Sara Lomax-Reese, CEO of AM station WURD Philadelphia.

TV broadcasters are making a comeback from the lows of the COVID-19 pandemic due to more political ad revenue than expected, but many are declining to provide guidance for 2021, according to earnings calls and investor releases this week from the CEOs of Gray Television, Meredith, Fox, Graham Media, Sinclair Broadcast and Nexstar.

E.W. Scripps’ $2.65 billion buy of Ion’s stations (see 2009240044) is seen likely to get FCC approval. It could hit some regulatory hiccups over the deal’s 26-station divestiture to a newly created company run by the leadership of frequent Scripps media broker Methuselah Advisors, broadcast officials said in recent interviews. Future FCC action on the UHF discount (see 2009250065) could also affect the newly created company, but the deal is expected to eventually be approved, possibly with adjustments, said media brokers, attorneys and broadcasters.

T-Mobile agreed to pay $200 million to settle an FCC Enforcement Bureau investigation of waste, fraud and abuse connected with Sprint receiving Lifeline subsidies for 885,000 subscribers who weren’t using the service, said an order and consent decree Wednesday (see 2011040016). T-Mobile bought Sprint earlier this year. The payment “is the largest fixed-amount settlement the Commission has ever secured to resolve an investigation,” said an FCC news release. “While we inherited this issue with our merger, we are glad that it is now resolved,” T-Mobile emailed.

The draft order circulated by FCC Chairman Ajit Pai on increasing the Lifeline minimum service standard to 4.5 GB a month has been removed from circulation, said a spokesperson Monday and per the Friday-updated list of circulates. The order was stalled with only two votes to approve (see 2010220056). An industry official said now that the order was withdrawn because Commissioner Mike O’Rielly was prepared to vote no. In combination with expected dissents from Commissioner Geoffrey Starks and Jessica Rosenworcel, that would have meant its defeat.

A proposal on changing FM booster rules to let radio stations geotarget content was circulated to the eighth floor, said FCC officials and a release from Commissioner Geoffrey Starks. The draft NPRM hews closely to an April petition from GeoBroadcast Solutions (see 2006040024) and doesn’t focus on an additional proposal from a group of broadcasters seeking to be allowed to originate content on FM translators, an FCC official told us. Starks has repeatedly praised the proposal and did so again Wednesday: “I am pleased to support this innovative proposal, which could offer a potential lifeline to small, women, and minority broadcasters that are struggling to retain their listening audiences and earn advertising revenue at a time when consumers have multiple options.”