The FCC Media Bureau denied a reconsideration petition filed by OCC Acquisitions that opposed a channel substitution of Channel 237B for Channel 271B at Charlotte Amalie, Virgin Islands. The bureau substituted alternate Channel 237B for Channel 271B at Charlotte Amalie as suggested by Las Mas Z Radio Corp., the bureau said in a memorandum opinion and order released Friday (http://bit.ly/1onEEK0). OCC argued that the FCC should disregard Las Mas’s expression of interest for Channel 237B “because it is a sham,” the bureau said. The bureau rejects as unsupported speculation OCC’s attack on the bona fides of Las Mas’ expression of interest, it said. Las Mas’ motive in its expression of interest is irrelevant because “the staff has the flexibility to use alternate channels to resolve conflicts and could have proposed it as a solution,” it said.

Sinclair Broadcast will close its deal to buy Allbritton’s TV stations on Aug. 1, Sinclair said in a news release Friday (http://bit.ly/1rEwIVN). A Media Bureau order approving the $962 million deal was released Thursday (CD July 25 p1). Sinclair will acquire KATV Little Rock, Arkansas, KTUL Tulsa, WJLA Washington, WSET-TV Lynchburg, Virginia, and WJLA’s D.C. area cable news channel Newschannel 8.

A “saving grace” of the Sinclair/Allbritton deal is the elimination of the sharing arrangements between the stations involved, said United Church of Christ Policy Adviser Cheryl Leanza in an email Thursday. “Sidecar agreements that transfer the vast majority of the value of a station to the larger company do little to further the goals of media diversity and competition,” Leanza said. It would have been better for Sinclair to transfer the licenses of the stations involved rather than shutter them, Leanza said. However, “at least the sidecar deals which replicate consolidation through loopholes to the FCC’s rules were eliminated,” said the email. The commission should “go further” and address all sharing deals “as rapidly as possible,” she said.

Gray Television will buy two ABC affiliates from SJL Holdings for $128 million, Gray said in a news release Thursday (http://bit.ly/1x85syy). WJRT-TV Flint, Michigan, and WTVG-TV Toledo “could contribute nicely to political revenue this year as WJRT-TV is the highest ranked TV station in its market, while WTVG-TV is a close second in its market,” said Wells Fargo analyst Marci Ryvicker in an email to investors. “These stations are positioned to capture hot Senatorial, Gubernatorial, and House races in Michigan and hot Gubernatorial and House races in Ohio,” Ryvicker said. Though Gray said the deal is subject to regulatory approval, Ryvicker said it’s unlikely Gray will need a waiver to close the deal. The purchase is expected to close in either Q3 or Q4 of 2014, Ryvicker said.

Black Television News Channel and Florida A&M University urged the FCC to grant BTNC a waiver of the ban on ads carried on direct broadcast satellite noncommercial set-aside channels. Doing so would have a positive impact on the partnership between BTNC and FAMU, BTNC said in an ex parte filing posted Thursday in docket 14-77 (http://bit.ly/1oipshd). The partnership would result in 40 internships and mentoring programs in news and media, significant capital improvements to the existing broadcast training facility, and “a steady outlet for news serving an underserved audience,” BTNC said. The entities also reiterated the FCC’s obligations under the Communications Act “to promote a diversity of media voices,” it said. The filing pertains to meetings with Commissioners Mignon Clyburn and Mike O'Rielly and staff from the offices of Commissioners Jessica Rosenworcel and Ajit Pai.

The FCC Media Bureau denied a petition for reconsideration by Texas radio stations that wanted a “daisy chain” of FM allotments involving 11 Texas communities. Rawhide Radio, Clear Channel and Clear Channel Texas requested a counterproposal that was denied due to the FCC’s minimum distance separation rule, the bureau said in an order (http://bit.ly/1rektNu) released Thursday. The parties suggested an engineering solution by modifying the reference coordinates for their Channel 297A substitution at Llano, Texas, but the bureau didn’t accept the modification because it was late, the bureau said.

An FCC $15,000 fine to Glendive Broadcasting Group for failing to file its Children’s Television reports on time seems to violate part of the Communications Act, a broadcast attorney said. The FCC ordered Glendive to pay the fine concerning its TV station KXGN Glendive, Mont. (CD July 21 p15). The law requires the commission to issue a notice of apparent liability (NAL) citing the precise rules supposedly violated before it can impose a forfeiture, said Fletcher Heald attorney Peter Tannenwald Wednesday in a blog post (http://bit.ly/WDrTAO). In the forfeiture order, the FCC added another claimed violation that wasn’t mentioned in the NAL, he said. That violation involves Glendive’s failure to provide all information called for in FCC applications, he said. The statute doesn’t appear to authorize the commission to toss in extra supposed violations that weren’t mentioned in the NAL, he said. The FCC uses that violation to sidestep the five-year statute of limitations, which says lawsuits to enforce penalties must be started within five years of the date the claim first accrued, Tannenwald said. Glendive asked for a reduction due to many of the supposed violations having occurred more than five years ago, he said. The FCC stated that the statute of limitations doesn’t apply (http://bit.ly/1rC0EmT). Tannenwald doesn’t represent Glendive. The Media Bureau had no further comment.

The FCC Media and Public Safety bureaus seek comment on an application and waiver request from WLNY Riverhead, New York, to “flashcut” its low-power TV station WLIG Plainview, also in New York, from analog Channel 17 to digital Channel 17. WLNY would like a waiver for land mobile station protection insofar as the FCC rule on land mobile assignments applies to the Channel 16 land mobile services in New York City, the bureaus said in a public notice posted Wednesday (http://bit.ly/1ocdw0y). The rule says an LPTV station or translator application won’t be accepted if it specifies a channel that is one channel above or below one of the land mobile assignments “and its field strength at the land mobile protected contour exceeds 76 dBu,” they said. WLIG is located within the land mobile protected contour, they said. The bureaus seek comment on the impact of the request on the land mobile service on adjacent Channel 16 in the New York metropolitan area, the bureaus said, with comments due Aug. 15, replies Aug. 29.

The FCC should release the algorithms and software used in its analysis of how much aggregate interference stations are likely to receive after the post-incentive auction repacking, said consulting engineering firm Cohen Dippell in reply comments posted online Wednesday in docket 12-268 (http://bit.ly/1nVkoL0). Cohen Dippel said the amount of time allotted for comments was not sufficient given the amount of data involved. “For this firm, this has been a major factor in not being able to advise many of its clients,” said the filing.

Public television leaders repeated their support for a 0.5 percent per station interference standard for stations that are reassigned in the broadcast incentive auction repacking process as long as the aggregate additional interference received from all stations is capped at 1 percent. A 1 percent aggregate cap is necessary because findings by the FCC Incentive Auction Task Force conclude that some stations could experience new aggregate interference well over 1 percent, said the Association of Public Television Stations, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and PBS in comments posted Tuesday in docket 12-268 (http://bit.ly/1kaK6jQ). The analysis doesn’t account for the potential interference with service to cable or satellite receive facilities, “to which stations must deliver a good quality signal, and which service may be impinged by the repacking and does not appear to be considered at all in these studies,” they said. Any amount of new interference frustrates the public TV mission to provide universal service, but applying a 1 percent interference cap would prevent the significant service loss that otherwise would occur without such a cap, they said.