The 2019 changes to kidvid rules “have had little to no impact on the availability of children’s programming that is accessible to children with disabilities,” said NAB in comments posted Friday in docket 18-202. As of Friday afternoon, NAB was the sole commenter responding to the Media Bureau’s call for feedback (see 2109070035). The rule changes allowed broadcasters to satisfy part of their kidvid obligations with multicast streams and short-form content. As part of that proceeding the Media Bureau was directed to seek comment after two years on possible effects on accessible programming. “Most, if not all, children’s programming aired on multicast streams also is closed captioned,” the filing said. “The programming aired on primary streams is closed captioned and audio described to the same extent it was before the 2019 revisions,” NAB said. “Accordingly, there is no need for further Commission action at this time,” NAB said.

The FCC Media and Consumer and Governmental Affairs bureaus dismissed a petition for reconsideration by KSQA as moot, said an order Wednesday on docket 20-158. The company sought reconsideration of the termination of a carriage proceeding it was involved in against DirecTV that the agency declared dormant. The underlying complaint “pertained to the 2015-17 election cycle for satellite carriage of television stations,” the order said. “This is no longer a live controversy.” KSQA argued it didn’t receive proper notice, but the order said that issue wasn’t relevant: “Even if that argument were meritorious, it would have no bearing on our independent determination that the underlying complaint was no longer a live controversy when the docket was terminated.”

The Committee for the Assessment of Foreign Participation in the U.S. Telecommunications Services Sector is doing an initial review of Univision’s request for a foreign-ownership declaratory ruling, said a DOJ letter posted in FCC docket 21-321 Monday. Univision wants FCC permission to be more than 25% foreign-owned, to allow investors SoftBank and Liberty Global to have voting interests above 5% (see 2107210046). The review is to assess whether granting the request “will pose a risk to the national security or law enforcement interests of the United States,” the letter said: The review period is 120 days, but that could be extended with a notification to the FCC.

The window for new noncommercial educational FM construction permits is Nov. 2-9, said an FCC Media Bureau reminder public notice Monday. The deadline will be “strictly enforced,” said the PN. Applications submitted too early or too late “will be dismissed by public notice without further consideration,” the PN said. Due to the filing window, the FCC won’t accept FM reserved band minor change applications and FM nonreserved band adjacent channels (channels 221-223) and intermediate frequency (IF) (channels 254-274) minor change applications after Monday, the PN said.

U.S. stations dropped by 87 in a year since September 2020, said an FCC broadcast count listed in Monday’s Daily Digest. As of last month, there were 33,402 stations, down from 33,489 that month last year. The biggest shifts appear to have come in radio, with full-power stations declining from 15,460 to 15,412 and low-power FMs from 2,143 to 2,081. The total number of full-power TV stations dipped two, to 1,756. LPTV rose from 1,860 to 1,891.

Broadcasters disagreed on loosening local ownership rules for radio and targeted MVPDs and public interest groups, in replies posted in docket 18-349 through Monday. Allen Media opposed United Church of Christ and Free Press calls for FCC studies of demographic data. “Absent concrete Commission action, not further study, the number of broadcast stations owned by racial minorities will remain disproportionately small,” Allen Media said. “The time for Commission action is now -- not another decade.” There’s “an urgent need” for the FCC “to improve its data collection by analyzing and publicly releasing data in a more timely fashion (closer to real time),” said the National Hispanic Media Coalition. The FCC “has no authority to skip the 2018 review and roll that quadrennial into the upcoming 2022 review” to provide more time for studies, NAB said. IHeartMedia said the FCC should try to do no harm to broadcasters, and eliminating AM subcaps and preserving FM caps would be in the public interest. “Deregulation of the existing ownership rule could very well cause further setbacks in AM radio,” said Salem Media. “Local radio simply cannot compete effectively in today’s market without the ability to expand locally to offer a broader array of formats and services,” said Alpha Media. Midsized radio firms including Connoisseur and Townsquare said jointly that relaxing the caps would aid diversity. “If an industry promises declining revenues as global giants suck revenue out of the market, new entrants (and their investors) will turn to other industries to invest their time and financial resources,” said the radio companies. Nexstar and Gray Television urged eliminating local TV ownership limits and the top four prohibition. “Repealing the Duopoly Rule -- or at least the Top 4 Restriction -- will free broadcasters to do what they do best,” said Gray. All four broadcast network affiliate associations agreed and urged the agency to retain the dual network rule. “It protects against an unfair and counterproductive tilt in favor of the national broadcast networks,” said those groups. The American Television Alliance urged closing “loopholes” -- such as using multicasting to control multiple top four feeds -- that let stations own duopolies. Gray called ATVA’s arguments “deeply misleading.”

The filing window for 2021 biennial broadcast ownership reports is open until Dec. 1, said an FCC Media Bureau reminder public notice. The bureau holds an online public information session on the process Tuesday at 2 p.m., Friday's PN said.

The FCC should have timed release of Form 323 broadcast ownership data to coincide with its call for refreshing the record of the 2018 quadrennial review, said the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights in replies posted in docket 18-349 Friday. The FCC “instead waited until the middle of the comment cycle to produce two-year-old data,” said the filing. “Given the current low numbers, the FCC must not take any action that will harm race and gender ownership diversity.” Radio ownership caps are a “hindrance” to agency goals and should be eliminated, said broadcaster Summit Media. “Market sub-caps do not promote localism or diversity in broadcast ownership.” If the FCC doesn’t eliminate ownership caps, at a minimum take up NAB’s proposal to reduce limits on FM stations and do away with AM caps, Summit said. Merge 2018's QR into 2022's and take the time to gather data, reiterated (see 2108270047) University of Minnesota assistant professor-media law Christopher Terry and Seattle University associate professor-communication Caitlin Ring Carlson. They offered up a new study of 1990 to 2010 radio content as evidence of declining diversity. Large radio combinations don’t lead to increased programming diversity, the filing said. “Black and women’s specialty programming both decreased.” Add two “Public Interest Commissioners,” said Sue Wilson, director of Media Action Center. Wilson urged the FCC to do empirical studies, and to tighten radio subcaps.

Comments are due Nov. 1, replies Nov. 15, on two Gray Television channel substitution requests, says Friday’s Federal Register. Filings are due in docket 21-126 for KNOE-TV Monroe, Louisiana, and its requested shift from Channel 8 to 24, and in docket 21-125 for WYMT-TV Hazard, Kentucky, and its request to switch from 12 to 20.

Comments are due Nov. 1, replies Nov. 15, on a request for a new channel allotment at Fort Bragg, California, from One Ministries, says Thursday’s Federal Register. One Ministries wants Channel *4, which would be the community’s first local noncommercial educational service, the FR said. It's docket 21-123.