Regulation

Katie O’Connell Marsh, the first CEO of Gaumont International Television, is suing the company — now called Gaumont Television USA — claiming that it deprived her of “millions of dollars in bargained-for contingent compensation” from TV series she developed.

It says petitioners Prometheus Radio Project and Media Mobilizing Project failed to show “a clear and indisputable abuse of discretion or error of law, a lack of an alternate avenue for adequate relief, and a likelihood of irreparable injury.”

With anticipation that the Department of Justice will eventually give approval to Sinclair Broadcast Group’s acquisition of Tribune Media, what’s being watched now is just what stations the combined broadcasting giant will be forced to sell to secure a government green light. Recent filings with the FCC suggest that it will seek waivers to own more than one Top-4 station in a market.

Among other commission moves to lighten regulation on broadcasters, a suggestion by Commissioner Michael O’Rielly to study whether the E/I rules are still necessary is being seen by some as a trial balloon. Broadcasters would welcome such a move and have offered specific suggestions. Above, Litton Entertainment’s Jack Hanna’s Wild Countdown has been an E/I staple since 2011.

The FCC’s Media Bureau has sided with DirecTV after Hawaiian MyNetworkTV affiliate KFVE complained that the satellite operator didn’t negotiate with it in good faith. MCG Capital and Raycom Media jointly own HITV, which operates KFVE. The station has been off AT&T-owned DirecTV since Oct. 19, 2017, amid stalled retrans talks. DirecTV has argued that there is little demand for the station, and it has refused to pay fees to carry KFVE.

The FCC said yesterday that it will be inspecting approximately 60 of the more than 900 TV stations changing channels as a result of the incentive auction and the repacking of the TV spectrum that took place after that auction. The FCC notice says that it is hiring contract employees who will conduct these inspections on a randomly selected set of stations to assess the equipment that they have on hand and will be replacing when moving to their new channel.

Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.), a member of the House Intelligence and Judiciary committees, on Monday introduced the Journalist Protection Act to make a federal crime of certain attacks on those reporting the news.

Journalists are not immune to misunderstandings of the First Amendment, despite their self-evident interests in the functionality and well-being of a free press (and, indeed, their long and important efforts to protect speech and press freedoms). Jonathan Peters asked a dozen media law professors and attorneys what they consider common misunderstandings that journalists have about the First Amendment and media law. Eleven shared their thoughts.

Last month, we posted some updated guidelines about engaging in or accepting advertising or promotions that directly or indirectly allude to the Super Bowl without a license from the NFL. Now, that is behind us (for another year), it is just in time to think about these issues in the context of the Winter Olympics.

FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn and Sen. Richard Blumenthal argue that seven years after merging with NBCUniversal, the cable giant could still undermine competition.

The FCC reached a Consent Decree with a noncommercial radio licensee that acknowledged having run underwriting announcements that “promoted the products, services or businesses of its financial contributors.” Cesar Chavez Foundation agreed to pay a penalty of $115,000, which the commission said was the highest penalty ever imposed on a noncommercial broadcaster for violations of the underwriting rules.

CBS and Sony Pictures Television are facing a $30 million breach-of-contract lawsuit for allegedly failing to pay agreed-upon profits from the hit 1990s series Walker, Texas Ranger to its star Chuck Norris.

We are already a full month into the New Year, and the regulatory issues for broadcasters keep on coming. February brings the usual requirements for annual EEO Public File Reports, which should be placed into the public inspection files. February will may also signal some big changes in broadcast ownership, as the FCC’s revised ownership rules, unless their effect is put on hold by the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, as requested by some public interest groups. Comments on unresolved issues in the conversion of television stations to the new ATSC 3.0 standard are also due this month, on Feb. 20

The suit alleges that Fox schemed with private equity giant Apollo Global Management to strip the assets of American Idol producer Core Media to the detriment of lenders.

Former congressman Tom DeLay: “I appreciate the conservative perspective of Sinclair, and support its First Amendment right to espouse its views. We should tread carefully when regulations could limit speech. But the spectrum Sinclair utilizes to broadcast is limited and this transaction would set a terrible precedent by opening the door for ABC, CBS and NBC to also buy many more TV stations. At that point, nothing can stop liberal Northeast corporate executives from telling homes in the heartland what to think.”

The deregulatory changes the FCC recently adopted to its media ownership rules are due to take effect on Feb. 7. Prometheus Radio Project and Media Mobilizing Project, however, have filed an appeal of those rule changes in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and, as expected, have now asked the court to delay the FCC’s implementation of those changes.

The move is designed to let the agency formally integrate economics and analytics into its policymaking.

The proposal, part of the commission’s Modernization of Media Regulation Initiative, says the FCC should eliminate the paper filing requirement for some documents, relying instead on the FCC’s existing public file rules.

The FCC says the person who sent the false alert mistook a drill for a real warning about a missile threat and there was no sign-off from a supervisor. That was compounded by the fact that the state has no standardized system for correcting such a mistake.

OLD LYME, Conn. (AP) — A TV personality who has appeared on home remodeling reality shows has been accused of molesting a 10-year-old girl. Christopher Dionne, of Old Lyme, Connecticut, […]

A reported White House proposal to nationalize a 5G network currently being developed by the private sector drew opposition Monday from telecom regulators (including all five FCC commissioners) and industry groups.

FCC Commissioner Michael O’Rielly: “[T]he commission needs to reconsider the ineffective and burdensome requirements currently imposed on our nation’s broadcasters to air a certain amount of educational and informational children’s programming on a weekly basis, colloquially referred to as Kid Vid.”

Facebook said today it was publishing its privacy principles for the first time and rolling out educational videos to help users control who has access to their information, as it prepares for the start of a tough new EU data protection law.

During a Q&A after his speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, President Donald Trump took some shots at his favorite target — the press — and received a frosty reception from the audience.

Broadband companies that want to do business with state agencies in New York will have to abide by some key net neutrality rules, under an order signed Wednesday by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo.