The FCC Media Bureau sent letters to 11 stations Monday requiring they respond to complaints against them alleging political file violations. The Campaign Legal Center and Sunlight Foundation filed the complaints against stations owned by Gannett, Scripps and others (CD May 2 p6). “We take political file complaints seriously and anticipate resolving these quickly,” said Chairman Tom Wheeler in a news release Monday (http://bit.ly/1mOK8yz). “I hope this serves as a reminder to all stations of their obligation to maintain political files in accordance with statutory provisions and our Rules.” The bureau concluded that further information is necessary to resolve this matter, it wrote the 11 stations. The licensee “must indicate whether the referenced documents comply in all other respects with the Commission’s statutes and rules and, if not, explain why” by May 27,it said. Stations might consider “developing internal systems to minimize omissions of required data from political advertising documentation,” said Fletcher Heald attorney Howard Weiss in a blog post (http://bit.ly/1iGyEVz). The possibility of such complaints should provide a strong incentive for all TV stations “to take steps to tighten up that end of their operation to the extent possible,” he said.

The FCC’s denial of two complaints against Milwaukee radio stations WISN (AM) and WTMJ (AM) is the final death throes of the fairness doctrine offshoot “Zapple doctrine,” said Wilkinson Barker broadcast attorney David Oxenford in a blog post Friday (http://bit.ly/1m7stPD). The Zapple doctrine required that stations giving airtime to supporters of one political candidate had to provide similar time to supporters of the opposition. Media Action Center had filed complaints against WISN (http://bit.ly/1j4neR8) and WTMJ (http://bit.ly/Rxm4lp) for violating the Zapple doctrine and the First Amendment by not giving Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s opponents the same airtime given to the Republican’s supporters. In orders released Thursday, the Media Bureau rejected both arguments. “The Commission cannot exercise any power of censorship over broadcast stations with respect to content based programming decisions,” said the bureau of the First Amendment argument. The bureau also has no basis to enforce Zapple, the orders said. Since August 2011, the fairness doctrine has been defunct and rules springing from it are “obsolete,” the order said. “Given the fact that the Zapple Doctrine was based on an interpretation of the fairness doctrine, which has no current legal effect, we conclude that the Zapple Doctrine similarly has no current legal effect,” the orders said. So “stations don’t have to worry about on-air statements made by an opinionated talk show host giving rise to equal opportunities to those who favor the candidate opposed by the host,” Oxenford said.

The FCC should ensure that translators are protected during the post-incentive auction repacking process, said NAB in an ex parte filing Friday (http://bit.ly/1jIOMKI). Not doing so would reduce the coverage area of full-power stations, violating the spectrum act’s directive that the commission “make all reasonable efforts” to preserve broadcaster coverage area in the auction, NAB said. “Failure to consider translators would be contrary to the plain text of the Spectrum Act and fifty years of Congressional and Commission policy,” NAB said. “This result would be arbitrary, capricious, and contrary to law."

The LPTV Spectrum Rights Coalition cited three potential areas of appeal on the broadcast spectrum incentive auction. If the FCC chooses not to include low-power TV in the auction, it should be obligated to provide a substantial economic analysis of the impacts on LPTV licensees left out of the auction, “the economic impacts of LPTV in the auction, and the impact on the auction and repacking on the LPTV industry,” the coalition said in an ex parte filing posted Friday in docket 12-268 (http://bit.ly/1mJL6Ys). LPTV broadcasters also can appeal if the guard bands between the new TV core and new mobile broadband services don’t stay within the intent of the Spectrum Act, and are sized based on “a political accommodation for the unlicensed advocates’ desire for a specific level or service,” it said. Another cause for appeal is erosion or incursion into the LPTV spectrum usage rights, it said. The filing pertains to a meeting with staff from the FCC Office of General Counsel.

The FCC dismissed the application for review (AFR) from Mariana Broadcasting that urged the commission to review the Media Bureau’s decision allowing New Jersey Public Broadcasting Authority to cancel its license for FM translator W276BX, Pompton Lakes, New Jersey. Mariana lacked standing to file the AFR, the FCC said in a memorandum opinion and order (http://fcc.us/1jFBCy4). On the AFR file date, Nov. 1, 2010, Mariana “had neither an agreement with NJPBA to rebroadcast its AM signal over the translator at issue or acquire the translator license,” the commission said. The bureau’s cancellation of the license wasn’t causing any injury to Mariana “because it had no reasonable expectation to use the facility with its AM station,” it said. Commissioner Ajit Pai said he would like to vote to grant the AFR to Mariana. Mariana presented a compelling case “for why it would be in the public interest for WGHT(AM), a daytime-only station, to have an FM translator,” he said in a statement referring to Mariana’s station (http://bit.ly/1fSi4aq). “Going forward, I hope that the Commission soon will open an FM translator window for AM stations” so WGHT and other stations will have an opportunity to improve local service, he said.

Sinclair Broadcast created a political action committee, according to the Federal Election Commission (http://1.usa.gov/1ivMfPn). The committee will focus on media ownership and other issues important to Sinclair, according to Senior Vice President Strategy and Policy Rebecca Hanson, who’s listed as the PAC’s treasurer. The statement of organization for the committee was filed with the FEC on Monday, according to the website.

Public TV stations and noncommercial stations should be “held harmless” in the post-incentive auction repacking, said PBS, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and Association of Public Television Stations in joint reply comments ((http://bit.ly/RrJwk9)filed in response to the Widelity report (http://bit.ly/1piNbdY) Tuesday. Public television stations’ “procurement processes, unique organizational structures, public oversight, and applicable grant restrictions may significantly increase the time such stations will need to complete the transition,” said the joint filing. The repacking is also likely to be substantially more expensive and take more time than estimated by the FCC and the report, the joint filing said. “The estimated costs do not account for the basic economic principle that prices increase when there is greater demand for equipment and services and scarce supply,” said the filing. “There simply are too many bottlenecks and unknowns outside of broadcasters’ control to conclude that stations will not experience much longer transition times than the Report estimates.")

The FCC “has done almost nothing positive or proactive” to attract broadcasters to the incentive auction, said Preston Padden, executive director of the Expanding Opportunities for Broadcasters Coalition, in informal comments filed in docket 12-268 Thursday. “We can think of no more sure path to a failed auction,” said Padden. To maximize broadcaster participation, the FCC should disavow any plan to relate the value of a station in the auction to its coverage area or ratings, Padden said. The FCC is buying spectrum rather than broadcast stations, said the filing. “The only factor relevant to the FCC’s valuation of a broadcast license, therefore, is the value of not having to repack that station,” Padden said. There’s no correlation between a station’s population served and the value of not having to repack it, Padden said. The commission could also increase broadcaster participation by keeping any bidding restrictions on AT&T and Verizon from having too much effect, the filing said. Such restrictions shouldn’t kick in until a very high threshold has been reached, and should allow the companies to buy at least 20 MHz of spectrum in any given geographic area, Padden said. “If the FCC prevents Verizon and AT&T from obtaining at least 20 MHz each, it could severely restrict auction revenues, dampening broadcaster interest.” The commission should also provide broadcasters with “a detailed roadmap” of the auction process to allow them to make business decisions, and share any available pricing information with broadcasters, Padden said. “In the absence of pricing guidance from the Commission, innovative channel sharing agreements are on hold and interested broadcasters are developing alternatives to auction participation -- launching new networks and entering into lucrative new programming arrangements,” said the filing.

The FCC should perform a cost-benefit analysis on including low-power TV stations in the reverse auction, said company Free Access & Broadcast Telemedia in an ex parte filing Wednesday (http://bit.ly/1qf9siz). “Allowing LPTV into the auction is the seamless way to clear the maximum amount of spectrum expeditiously,” and will lessen the burden on the FCC to relocate stations after the incentive auction, the filing said. “After repacking full service and Class A TV stations, there is a looming shortage of relocation opportunities expected for LPTV in the 600 MHz band,” said the ex parte. The FCC should include such an analysis in its upcoming incentive auction report & order, or at least in the LPTV NPRM proposed for issue after the report and order, the filing said. Including LPTV in the auction would minimize “the harmful unfunded private mandate thrust upon thousands of legitimate, bona fide licensees,” said Free Access. It said the FCC should “consider the most free-market and inclusionary approach to treating all broadcast licensees equitably by allowing LPTV and translators in the auction."

The FCC should preserve the current retransmission consent regime, said CBS President Les Moonves in a meeting with FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler Friday, according to an ex parte filing (http://bit.ly/1jBu7bp). Retrans revenue is “critical” to CBS’s ability to produce programming, Moonves said. He also asked the FCC not to eliminate the sports blackout and network non-duplication/syndicated exclusivity rules, the filing said. The rules help broadcasting remain “a vibrant platform” for sports and preserve localism, Moonves said. He also told Wheeler that if the FCC eliminates the UHF discount, it should also raise the national ownership cap, and that some broadcasters need joint sales agreements to remain economically viable, the filing said.