The FCC Media Bureau is seeking comment on the Radio Broadcasters Coalition's petition for a class waiver of the sponsorship identification requirements, the bureau said in a public notice posted Friday in docket 15-52. The coalition filed a petition Nov. 26 seeking a waiver of the requirement that broadcasters air sponsorship identification announcements at the time sponsored material is broadcast, the bureau said. The coalition requested radio broadcasters that air music or sports programming be allowed to provide information about sponsored material through less frequent on-air announcements with enhanced online disclosures, it said. This waiver would extend to music and sports programming on radio stations that have websites, but not to sponsored content within news, informational or political programming. The waiver will give broadcasters of music and sports programming more flexibility to provide this information in a consumer-friendly and modern way that uses the Internet, the coalition said. Comments are due April 13, replies May 12.

Yahoo expanded its relationship with Disney/ABC Television Group, and Disney/ABC content will be featured on Yahoo, the Internet company said in a news release Thursday. Clips from Disney/ABC will be available on Yahoo Screen and Yahoo TV, it said. The daily Yahoo Your Day series with Yahoo editors will launch on Good Morning America March 16, it said. Yahoo News and ABC News will also collaborate further on major news events, including the 2016 presidential election, Yahoo said. ABC News will distribute content from Yahoo Global News Anchor Katie Couric, it said.

The FCC Media Bureau extended the reply comment filing deadline for a proceeding on defining multichannel video programming distributor to April 1, the bureau said in an order Wednesday in docket 14-261. The bureau approved NCTA's motion for an extension of time to respond, it said. NCTA requested a 30-day extension, but the bureau said it found two weeks to be sufficient.

Shareholders of E.W. Scripps and Journal Communications approved the companies’ previously announced plans to combine their broadcast divisions while separately spinning off and joining their newspaper arms, Journal said in a news release Wednesday. The combined broadcast operations will take on the Scripps name, while the print company will be called Journal Media Group. The new Scripps company will have approximately 4,000 employees, and the Scripps family shareholders will continue to have voting control, the release said. Journal Media Group will be based in Milwaukee with 3,600 employees, and combine Scripps' newspapers and digital products with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and Journal’s other publications and digital offerings, the release said. The transactions are expected to close early in Q2, Journal said.

The FCC should “establish a path to Class A status” for low-power TV stations that survive the post-incentive auction repacking and “have demonstrated a commitment to serving their communities,” Gray Television said in an ex parte filing in docket 03-185 Wednesday. “Those LPTV stations that do secure a channel and that demonstrate a commitment to serving their local communities should be given the opportunity to apply for Class A status and secure a permanent channel in the post-auction environment.”

The FCC Media Bureau Audio Division tentatively selected Canton Seventh-day Adventist (CSDA) Church to be awarded a construction permit for a new noncommercial educational (NCE) FM station on Channel 254A at Asbury, Iowa, the bureau said. Aquinas, CSDA, Family and Grace filed mutually exclusive applications for an NCE FM facility on this channel in the August through September 2014 filing window for existing, vacant FM allotments on channels 221 through 300, reserved for NCE use, the bureau said. The filers were required to demonstrate that their proposal would provide a first or second NCE service to at least 10 percent of the population in the proposed station’s service area, including at least 2,000 people, it said. Aquinas, Family and Grace failed to make the required population showing to satisfy the reservation criteria, the bureau said. CSDA showed it would provide first and second NCE service to 11.2 percent of the total population in its contour, it said.

All three ATSC 3.0 audio system proponents delivered detailed system proposals on time by the Monday deadline, marking the formal beginning of the review, ATSC said Tuesday. The three proponents are Dolby Labs, DTS and the MPEG-H audio consortium of Fraunhofer, Qualcomm and Technicolor. Their systems will be tested "discretely and in their entirety" this summer "as comprehensive, end-to-end systems" for use as the audio layer for the ATSC 3.0 signal, with the goal to complete a candidate standard for ATSC 3.0's audio component this fall, ATSC said.Though DTS has yet to formally introduce its DTS:X object-based surround technology, the ATSC released the most comprehensive summary of the technology disclosed so far. "DTS:X is the next-generation object-based codec technology from DTS," said the summary submitted to and released by ATSC. "This release is the successor to DTS-HD and marks another milestone in DTS's long line of industry-leading sound innovations. DTS:X delivers the ultimate in flexibility, immersion and interactivity to listeners of all forms of entertainment. The DTS:X solution for ATSC 3.0 is an end-to-end broadcast chain that includes support for key elements including both audio channels and objects, advanced loudness and dynamics management, device and environmental playback processing, and is integrated with DTS's Headphone:X technology." DTS:X will be delivered "with the industry support and certification that has made DTS the trusted partner for industry professionals all over the world," the summary said. "Manufacturers representing nearly 90 percent of the home AV receiver and surround processor market, as well as several integrated circuit providers, have agreed to launch products supporting DTS:X in 2015. DTS is also working with a wide range of infrastructure partners to ensure broadcasters have choices when building a complete system." Much more has been disclosed about the Dolby and MPEG-H technologies, though the ATSC-released summary of Dolby's proposal offered the first confirmation that the Dolby AC-4 codec is at the heart of its ATSC 3.0 audio proposal (see 1501210023). "Rooted in generations of broadcast audio experience, Dolby AC-4 provides the content and device industries a strong foundation to collaboratively build leading-edge audio experiences that meet the needs of consumers of varied interests and abilities," Dolby's summary said.

The FCC's Incentive Auction Task Force is holding information sessions in several cities around the country between February through June to offer broadcasters more information about the TV incentive auction and repacking process, the commission said in a public notice Monday. It will hold information sessions in Cincinnati on March 30, Columbus on March 31, Cleveland on April 1, Louisville on April 6, Indianapolis on April 7 and Las Vegas on April 13 to 14, during the NAB Show. Future visits will be announced in public notices, it said. A tentative list of cities can be found in an FCC blog post.

The FCC should ensure that Charter Communications’ customers are able to purchase and attach their own modems, Zoom Telephonics said in an ex parte notice posted Monday in docket 14-57. Charter restricted subscribers from attaching customer-owned modems for more than two years with “unclear and in some cases overreaching” rules for certification of cable modems, Zoom said. One modem, without Wi-Fi capability, passed Charter’s new certification process, it said. Zoom and other manufacturers should be able to supply modems to Charter customers, it said. Charter also doesn’t state the monthly charge for cable modems that it supplies to customers, Zoom said. The commission should make Charter state its unsubsidized price for leasing cable modems, it said. Charter didn't have an immediate comment.

The FCC should reject Comcast's planned buy of Time Warner Cable because it threatens competition and goes against antitrust and communications laws, said the Stop Mega Comcast Coalition in an ex parte notice filed at the FCC in docket 14-57 Friday and not posted at our deadline. Comcast takes advantage of the device market by depriving customers of access to competing services, including blocking access to authenticated HBO content on Sony PlayStation devices via the HBO Go application, it said. The coalition said Amazon Fire TV launched the HBO Go app in December, which still remains unavailable for Comcast customers because of ongoing negotiations between the companies. It also said Comcast customers with Roku boxes were denied access to HBO Go and Showtime apps until December. Comcast’s X1 Platform would be the default streaming system for many broadband subscribers if the deal is approved, which would give Comcast/TWC “extraordinary power” over content available to consumers and force competing devices to follow its terms to enter the market, the coalition said. Comcast didn't abide by its commitments under the NBCUniversal deal, so the Comcast/TWC should be rejected, the coalition wrote in a blog post Friday. Comcast didn’t comment. Stop Mega Comcast Coalition members include Dish Network, ITTA, the LPTV Spectrum Rights Coalition, National Consumer Law Center, NTCA and Public Knowledge.