Regulation

With its 3-2 vote yesterday to permit use of ATSC 3.0 on a voluntary basis, the FCC endows broadcasters who adopt the standard unprecedented freedom to determine what businesses they want to be in; what new services they want to provide; and how to go about implementing them. The FCC’s hands-off approach also leaves broadcasters to cope with more uncertainty and risk than they are used to.

AT&T says it hired media lawyer Daniel Petrocelli, whose clients have included President Donald Trump, to defend its acquisition of media and entertainment company Time Warner if the government sues to block the deal.

Broadcasters are free to move to the next-gen television transmission standard that has been in development for more than seven years. They view it as a potential game changer that is designed to enable them to enhance their broadcast abilities to mobile devices and allow them to tap into new business opportunities.

Silver Point Capital sells the license and must-carry rights of the San Francisco indie to Stryker Media 2 as well as a channel sharing agreement.

The agency moves to relax several rules, including eliminating the newspaper-TV station ban, and will now allow a company to own more than one Top 4 station in a market. Critics say the actions will reduce ownership diversity and benefit Sinclair Broadcast Group. JSA also are OK’d.

FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel calls herself an “impatient optimist.” Even in the minority, the Democrat aims to ensure that efforts to deregulate don’t harm consumers.

Broadcaster and model Leeann Tweeden said Thursday that Al Franken “forcibly kissed” and groped her during a USO tour in 2006, two years before the Minnesota Democrat’s election to the U.S. Senate. “You knew exactly what you were doing,” Tweeden wrote in a blog post for KABC-AM Los Angeles, for which she works as a morning news anchor. Tweeden’s blog post included an image of Franken looking into a camera, his hands either over or on Tweeden’s chest as she slept.

NEW YORK (AP) — A judge tightened bail conditions on a South American soccer official charged in the FIFA bribery scandal after prosecutors surprised the courtroom by accusing the defendant […]

Legal woes for Weinstein Co. mounted Wednesday when the company was hit with a class-action lawsuit on behalf of dozens of women accusing co-founder Harvey Weinstein of sexual assault, battery and lewd conduct.

The FCC next month is planning a vote to kill Obama-era rules demanding fair treatment of web traffic and may decide to vacate the regulations altogether, according to people familiar with the plans. The move would reignite a years-long debate that has seen Republicans and broadband providers seeking to eliminate the rules, while Democrats and technology companies support them.

The FCC on Wednesday released an order waiving, at least for this year, the requirement that full-power, Class A and low-power TVs file what has traditionally been known as a Form 317 report by Dec. 1.

21st Century Fox denied a government witness’s allegation that its sports division paid bribes to win television rights for international soccer tournaments.

AT&T is bracing for an antitrust lawsuit from the Justice Department that would attempt to block its pending acquisition of Time Warner, CNN’s parent company, on the grounds that it would harm consumers. But the DOJ is having trouble finding allies among state attorneys general.

Andy Henry, who was dismissed from the procedural in 2008 but went on to work on major films like The Amazing Spider-Man and Elysium, has been placed on a leave of absence from his current employer.

Senators led by Cantwell and Udall say there’s a troubling timeline and call for Pai to recuse himself from Sinclair-related business until the matter is fully investigated.

Broadcasters tell the FCC that in light of the devastation from Hurricanes Irma and Maria, “there is good cause to accelerate transition of the stations to post-auction channel assignments in order to avoid wasteful duplicative construction and to enable stations to utilize approved TV Broadcaster Relocation Fund reimbursements to subsidize restoration of broadcast television service to the people of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.”

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri’s attorney general announced Monday that his office is investigating Google for potential violations of the state’s consumer-protection and antitrust laws. Republican Attorney General Josh […]

The RTDNA Voice of the First Amendment Task Force is expressing extreme concern about Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ refusal — again — to say his Department of Justice will not target journalists who protect the identities of their confidential sources.

With the FCC poised to approve the use of the new broadcast standard tomorrow, One Media EVP Jerry Fritz takes on the critics of the standard and the “horror stories” they tell about its impact on consumers and MVPDs.

Alejandro Burzaco, former CEO of a marketing firm based in Argentina, testified that Fox and other broadcasters were involved in a scheme to pay bribes — concealed using offshore side entities and sham contracts — that secured rights for the Copa America and other FIFA events.

The FCC has approved the $1.12 billion purchase of Alaska’s GCI by John Malone’s Liberty Interactive. The FCC clearance removes the last major regulatory hurdle for the deal, which the Justice Department already signed off on in June.

Anticipating FCC authorization of the ATSC 3.0 broadcast standard on Thursday, the consortium of leading station groups is planning to set up experimental 3.0 station next spring to explore service enhancement and business opportunities. The project will also include creatng a “lighthouse” station to continue regular digital service to existing sets. Joining Pearl (Cox Media, E.W. Scripps, Graham, Hearst, Meredith, Nexstar, Raycom and Tegna) in the effort will be Fox, NBCUniversal and Univision.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions, testifying today at a House Judiciary Committee oversight hearing, pushed back on recent reports suggesting the politicization of the government’s review of the AT&T and Time Warner merger. Last week, it was widely reported that the Department of Justice asked AT&T to divest Turner as a condition of winning approval, possibly owing to Donald Trump’s distaste for CNN.

In addition to the license and other assets of former LPTV WEBR New York, OTA is also donating $12,500 to WNET.

A letter sent by the board of the Greater Raleigh (N.C.) Merchants Association to its members questions the ethics and motives of WRAL — the former sponsor of GRMA’s Raleigh Christmas Parade — and called on the TV station to “do the right thing, do the ethical thing, do the responsible thing” and not broadcast this year’s parade.