The FCC should modernize Class D FM station rules and remove “stray” language about intermediate frequencies from proposed technical FM rules, said REC Networks in replies posted Monday in docket 21-263. Current rules for Class Ds don’t affect Media Bureau practices and should be clarified, REC said. Language in the proposal about intermediate frequency protection was likely included in the NPRM inadvertently, REC says (see 2109070065). The only other replies in the docket were from engineering firm Cohen Dippell. The FCC should eliminate the maximum power limit for AM transmitters, Cohen Dippell said.

Tests of FM radio geo-targeting technology show it doesn’t affect emergency alert system performance and that the “transition zones” between targeted areas can avoid affecting listeners, said Covington & Burling in a letter and report posted Monday in FCC docket 20-401. Roberson and Associates did the study on behalf of GeoBroadcast Solutions, which seeks a change to rules on FM boosters. Summer tests at Universal Media Access' KSJO(FM) San Jose showed the system works with analog and HD radio systems, the law firm said. “Listeners in FM transition zones experienced no material change.” Commissioner Geoffrey Starks endorses GBS efforts; NAB and iHeart Media oppose them (see 2108260034).

It's “premature” to set a date for a trial to determine damages in the Locast case, said an attorney for the streaming service’s operator, the Sports Fan Coalition, in a letter (docket 19-cv-07136, in Pacer) Friday. Both sides previously agreed to negotiate statutory damages before such a trial, and defendants have 30 days to decide on appealing the court’s decision against Locast (see 2109160047), the lawyer wrote Judge Louis Stanton of U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. “Defendants are currently analyzing their legal options and intend to engage with Plaintiffs in that negotiation, and regarding a potential overall resolution.” Don’t begin planning a damages trial unless no agreement or appeal is decided on by Oct.15, Locast asked.

The FCC Media Bureau granted KTUL Licensee’s petition to switch KTUL Tulsa from Channel 10 to Channel 14, over the objections of the Land Mobile Communications Council, said an order in listed in Thursday’s Daily Digest. LMCC argued the switch could interfere with public safety communications, but the bureau said those arguments are “unavailing.” In prior orders the agency declined to bar broadcasters from Channel 14 over land mobile interference concerns, the order said. “If LMCC believes there is another in-core UHF channel available for the Licensee’s use at its current site, it should have made a counterproposal with the requisite engineering,” the order said. The bureau is also seeking comment on a request by One Ministries for the allotment of noncommercial education Channel *4 to Fort Bragg, California, said an NPRM listed in Thursday's Daily Digest. Comment due dates in docket 21-123 will be determined after Federal Register publication.

Maryland's attorney general said the Tax Injunction Act bars federal challenge of the state's digital ad tax. In a Monday filing (in Pacer) at U.S. District Court in Greenbelt, Maryland, AG Brian Frosh (D) urged dismissing the case and industry’s motion for summary judgment. The 1948 tax law says federal district courts “shall not enjoin, suspend or restrain the assessment, levy or collection of any tax under State law where a plain, speedy, and efficient remedy may be had in the courts of such State.” At issue here is a tax and “federal courts have permitted a suit challenging a tax passthrough prohibition only where plaintiffs did not challenge the tax itself,” wrote the AG. The exception for lacking an efficient remedy doesn’t apply, it said.

The FCC should stay its foreign-sponsored content order until the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit resolves the legal challenge (see 2108130074) from NAB, the Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council and the National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters, said those groups in a stay petition in FCC docket 20-299 Friday. Broadcast network affiliate groups have also sought a clarification of the order at the FCC (see 2107190053). Broadcasters will suffer “irreparable harm” from the order’s requirements that stations must determine whether entities leasing time on-air are agents of foreign governments, the petitions said. The order will require broadcasters “to spend tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of dollars to hire and train employees” plus “engage counsel to review their lease agreements,” the stay petition said. A stay falls within the public interest because sponsorship identification rules already exist and the possible negative effects outweigh the benefits, the broadcasters argued. “The vast majority” of broadcast lease agreements “have no possible connection to foreign governmental entities,” the stay request said. The agency didn’t comment Monday.

The window for broadcasters to file 2021 biennial ownership reports on FCC Form 323 or 323-E opens Oct. 1, with reports due by Dec. 1, the Media Bureau said in a public notice Friday.

Oct. 8 is the deadline for remaining repacked station invoices to be submitted to the TV Broadcaster Relocation Fund for entities repacked in the first five phases of the post-broadcast incentive, the FCC Media Bureau and Incentive Auction Task Force said in a docket 16-306 notice listed Wednesday's Daily Digest.

Employees at Meredith's KVVU-TV Henderson, Nevada, misspoke when they said they couldn't accept Mr. Antenna advertisements because of a policy against taking ads promoting cord cutting, and Mr. Antenna's "wild speculation" that Gray Television urged such a policy is baseless, Gray said in an FCC docket 21-234 response Wednesday. The antenna installer seeks conditions on Gray buying Meredith TV (see 2108300066). Gray said it never had a policy restricting stations from accepting ads encouraging over-the-air reception and hasn't tried to influence the local commercials aired on Meredith stations. Mr. Antenna outside counsel didn't comment.

FCC-proposed broadcast radio technical updates (see 2107070062) have industry support except for axing rules on interference to nearby stations, NAB said in docket 21-263 comments posted Wednesday. NAB warned that changes in the required separation distances at the Canadian border will cause FM stations currently in compliance to become “short-spaced” from Canadian stations and potentially non-compliant with proposed rules. It urged "grandfathered short-spacing" U.S. stations operating at the effective date of the new rules to guarantee that no facility modifications will be ordered due to the change. Broadcast engineering consultancy Cohen, Dippell also backed proposed rule changes.