Monty Tayloe

About 500 radio station owners will formally band together this week to create scale and sell national ads as the Independent Broadcasters Association, said Adams Radio Group CEO Ron Stone in an interview Friday. The group's members own a combined 2700 stations, he said. The group is Stone’s brainchild, and is intended to help smaller radio stations compete with larger entities such as iHeartRadio and Cumulus. “The concept is to serve independent radio stations in ways we are NOT being served by existing organizations and provide independent operators with ways to drive revenue and achieve cost benefits from scale that cannot be achieved alone,” Adams said on the IBA’s website. The group is focused on competition rather than lobbying, and isn’t intended to duplicate NAB, Stone said. Members will include Adams, Cromwell Group and Dick Broadcasting, Stone said.

Broadcast news stations and journalism watchdog groups told us this month that incidents between reporters and police remain a concern throughout the U.S. during protests against racial inequality. That's despite assurances from government officials (see 2006080051) as well as an outpouring of support for the news media doing their jobs.

Groups from the broadcast, MVPD, direct broadcast satellite and submarine cable industry disagreed how the FCC should calculate FY 2020 regulatory fees, in replies posted in docket 20-105 Tuesday. Don’t treat all satellite companies the same on fees, said Astranis and Myriota. “Large 'one-size-fits-all' satellite regulatory fees will limit the expansion of satellite-based Internet access to the most underserved areas of the United States,” said Astranis. Build a contingency in to prepare for agency changes to fees for non-U.S. satellite operators being knocked down in court, said Kineis. “Reject arguments that incorrectly assert that non-U.S.-licensed systems somehow derive materially less benefit from access to the U.S. market than U.S. licensees,” said SpaceX. “It is long past time for the Commission to complete its phase-in of the DBS regulatory fee,” filed America’s Communications Association and NCTA. The proposed unified seven-tier fee schedule would lead to “unreasonably large fee increases,” said AT&T. “Maintain the existing separate [international bearer circuit] fee categories.” Cut "the fees proposed for submarine cables across all tiers,” said CenturyLink. Submarine cable operators are “mistaken” that FCC use of capacity to allocate tiers is improper, CenturyLink added. The Submarine Cable Coalition disagreed, asking the agency to "reassess its methodology for apportioning regulatory fees to submarine cable providers.” Reject broadcaster proposals to assess regulatory fees based on FCC policy objectives such as propagating 5G, suggested CTIA. NAB called the FCC’s regulatory proposal “an abject failure” for not providing a rationale for fee increases, and for raising fees on radio broadcasters during the pandemic. “The Commission’s approach violates the law by not properly explaining the basis for the increases nor tying them to any discernible increase in the work performed on behalf of broadcasters,” NAB said.

The pandemic is intensifying media trends toward digital advertising, streaming video and direct-to-consumer offerings, said Wells Fargo analyst Davis Hebert Tuesday during The Media Institute’s teleconferenced “virtual luncheon,” the group’s COVID-19 replacement for its speaker series. There has been “steady leakage” from traditional media to digital for the past three-five years, Hebert said. The pandemic and stay-at home orders enhanced that, he said.

Monday's Supreme Court decision on whether the president can fire the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau director doesn’t have much bearing on the FCC, said attorneys and academics in interviews. Seila Law v. CFPB hinged on whether provisions protecting the CFPB director from removal were legal. The court struck down those rules in a 5-4 decision. Chief Justice John Roberts said protections against removal for agencies headed by multimember commissions or boards from both parties -- such as the FCC or FTC -- are distinct from protections for those headed by a single individual, such as the CFPB. That means the ruling is unlikely to have much application for the FCC or FTC, said University of Minnesota School of Journalism assistant professor-media law Christopher Terry and Andrew Schwartzman, Benton Institute for Broadband & Society senior counselor.

Bullish projections of TV advertising revenue for 2020 show a 4% decline for 2020, while bearish predictions go as low as an 18% decline, said S&P Global analyst Seth Shafer in a teleconferenced presentation for the 2020 Kagan Media Summit Thursday. This was the second half of the summit, the first half was last week (see 2006180053). The current downturn has much more uncertainty than previous recessions because no one can be sure about a second wave of COVID-19 or when businesses will reopen, said NBC Spot On Senior Vice President-Business Development Shawn Makhijani on another panel.

The International Bureau dismissed an application on Chinese language programming broadcast from a Mexican station because it didn’t include a company the FCC said Monday is a key participant in the enterprise and also tied to the Chinese government. “The broadcast programming subject to this application is supplied, created, and produced in a studio used, owned, and maintained by Phoenix Radio,” said a release. It alleged the Chinese government partially controls Phoenix Radio.

NAB Leadership Foundation President Michelle Duke will become NAB chief diversity officer, the association announced Thursday. Duke will be in charge of internal efforts to “further equity and inclusion at all levels of the organization” and the trade group’s external work to promote industry diversity. Duke will keep her job with the NABLF. “It’s a full plate,” she said in an interview. “One role is no more important than the other.” Duke is the first CDO for NAB, and had other roles within the association that concentrated on improving diversity. She joined in 2005 as director-diversity and development. Duke said she's in preliminary stages of planning what issues she will focus on as CDO, and is interested in “diversity conversations at the board level” and working with NABLF’s Diversity and Inclusion Council, plus creating a similar body for NAB. Experts say organizations must do much to diversify their cultures (see 2006160038).

TV stations are starting to see a gradual improvement in advertising, but the future remains uncertain, said broadcast executives and S&P Global Market Intelligence analyst Robin Flynn during a teleconferenced 2020 Kagan Media Summit Thursday. The second day of the COVID-19 version of the summit is set for June 25.

The FCC issued the order wrapping up dangling aspects of ATSC 3.0 rules, as expected (see 2006050054). Stations with fewer than three potential simulcasting partners would be eligible to receive simulcast waivers, if they commit to taking reasonable efforts to provide ATSC 1.0 service during the transition. That could be by providing consumers with converters, but the order said the agency would consider other ideas. Waiver applications that include providing free converters to consumers will be looked upon “favorably,” the order said. The order doesn’t grant a blanket waiver to noncommercial educational or low-power TV stations, as some commenters sought. The order also doesn’t allow broadcasters to use vacant channels for the transition, and rejects reconsideration petitions of the 3.0 order from the American Television Alliance and NCTA. “If warranted by market conditions in the future, we may revisit the need for permitting broadcasters to use vacant channels as transition channels,” the order said. Commissioners Jessica Rosenworcel and Geoffrey Starks dissented in part, raising concerns about the costs passed on to consumers and the order’s lack of requirements that 3.0 patents be licensed on a reasonable and nondiscriminatory basis. That’s inconsistent with past policy, and in this case, “a single broadcaster holds the essential ATSC 3.0 patents and thus can set pricing and terms for any other broadcaster seeking to transition,” said Starks. Sinclair and affiliates are said to hold several 3.0 patents. “By failing to follow history here, FCC is conferring special status on those who hold key patents without requiring fair terms in exchange,” Rosenworcel said. Commissioner Mike O’Rielly voted to approve but said broadcasters should be able to self-certify they can’t find sharing partners. O’Rielly and both Democrats said they agreed with the decision to keep transitioning broadcasters off vacant channels. “This is clearly a premature matter that can be examined later, if absolutely necessary,” he said. The order said stations’ significantly viewed status doesn’t change while their 1.0 channel is being hosted by another broadcaster.