A draft order at the FCC on the incentive auction’s impact on low-power TV and translators would contain rules allowing LPTV stations to channel share with translators, delaying the deadline for LPTV to transition to digital, and allowing displaced LPTV stations to take advantage of FCC auction software to find new channels, agency officials told us. The item would also eliminate the analog tuner requirement for TVs and set up a new digital-to-digital translator service, an FCC official told us.
The definition of a cable system isn’t technology-neutral, said Rosemary Collyer, U.S. District judge for the District of Columbia, in an opinion saying streaming TV service FilmOn X isn't eligible for a compulsory license.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit consolidated challenges against the incentive auction from low-power TV industry companies into a single case, said an order released Monday. The order, a response to an unopposed motion from the FCC, combines challenges from Beach TV properties, Free Access & Broadcast (FAB) Telemedia, Mako Communications and Word of God Ministries into a single case with a mostly combined briefing schedule. LPTV industry officials not connected to the case told us they see the matter as one of the only chances to change the incentive auction’s effects on LPTV, though other broadcast officials said the auction may be too far along. LPTV stations aren’t part of the auction because the auction legislation doesn’t allow them to be, and LPTV should seek a solution from Congress, said former Expanding Opportunities for Broadcasters Coalition Executive Director Preston Padden. The FCC didn't comment Tuesday.
An upcoming FCC draft order on the incentive auction's impact on low-power TV and translators isn't seen as doing enough, said LPTV attorneys in interviews and LPTV investor Free Access Broadcast (FAB) and Telemedia in an ex parte filing. Chairman Tom Wheeler said the draft rules will “help enable LPTV and TV translator stations remain on the air,” in a recent letter to Congress (see 1511170066). The Advanced Television Broadcasting Alliance (ATBA) put up a website asking the public to sign a petition telling the FCC not to reserve any broadcast spectrum for wireless use. “Do you know that the FCC wants to take your TV Channels away?” said the headline above the petition.
The FCC will pay out reverse auction proceeds in a way that will allow channel sharing stations to get a favorable tax status from the IRS, the Wireless Bureau said in a public notice clarifying the commission's position Wednesday. The commission will follow the winning bidders' instructions in paying out the money, which allows the funds to be sent to qualified intermediaries or trusts instead of the bidders themselves. That's one of the requirements for channel sharing stations to claim that the auction money paid to channel sharing hosts represents a “like-kind exchange” and thus is eligible for deferred taxes.“The flexibility to instruct that payments be disbursed to a third party will facilitate channel sharing and thereby promote voluntary broadcaster participation in the reverse auction,” said the PN. The FCC said it received many inquiries about the policy (see 1511130041).
A U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit case involving several challenges to the FCC's 2014 quadrennial review rulemaking and the rule increasing attribution of joint sales agreements (JSAs) was moved to the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, just a little over a week before oral argument in the case was to be heard in D.C. The venue change was requested months ago by Prometheus Radio Project and a coalition of public interest groups (see 1510140063), and is seen as being favorable to their case, several broadcast attorneys told us. The FCC, Prometheus' opponent in the case, also supported the move (see 1506190060), while NAB, which is challenging different aspects of the quadrennial review order, wanted the case to stay in D.C.
An item on accessibility for user interfaces released Friday (see 1511200071) includes a Further NPRM that some industry officials told us is an indication the FCC will pursue a rulemaking requiring multichannel video programming distributors and set-top box makers to make it possible for users to “readily access” settings that control the size, color and placement of closed captions. “We believe that public interest considerations weigh in favor of adopting” such rules, said the FNPRM.
If legislators don’t provide funding for the FCC to upgrade its IT systems, it could affect the commission’s ability to do its job, Chairman Tom Wheeler said at a news conference after Thursday’s meeting. He responded to a question about an oversight hearing (see 1511170060). If the commission’s “baseline” systems “are hindered, all activities that rely on those services are hindered,” he said. Wheeler referred to the commission’s Network Outage Report System, which monitors broadband networks and their interruptions. “We need to have the capability to track what is happening," he said. Wheeler said he also hopes that legislators don’t reduce the size of the FCC.
The FCC is “trying to be helpful” to broadcasters seeking deferred taxes on their takings from the reverse auction or from channel sharing agreements, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler told us during a news conference Thursday. Several broadcasters have approached the FCC over the issue recently (see 1511130041). Wheeler said efforts to have incentive auction proceeds taxed favorably began with a letter from the commission to the IRS early in the auction process. Wheeler was asked Thursday if he was open to delaying the incentive auction, and he replied that the auction is 131 days away -- referencing the planned March 29 start date. Commissioners Ajit Pai and Mike O’Rielly said the FCC should be willing to delay the auction if required for the process or the auction software to run smoothly. “The ultimate timing is up to the chairman,” Pai said.
The FCC approved a draft item on accessibility for user interfaces Wednesday and deleted it from the commission’s meeting agenda Thursday. No commissioners dissented from the item, an FCC official told us. The text of the order, which is expected to concern gestures and voice-controlled closed captions and accessibility information requirements for pay-TV carriers (see 1511160058), is expected to be issued this week, FCC officials told us. Some experts had expected the final item to incorporate a compromise between industry and advocates.