FCC

The FCC has been working with a third party to redo outgoing Chairman Julius Gena­chowski’s Wikipedia page, according to a senior official. Numerous entries were added that tout accomplishments such as his work with Mexico to prevent stolen cellphones from crossing the border. Other entries mentioned speeches in which the chairman asked cities to increase broadband Internet speeds. But the entries do not disclose that the FCC was working with a third party, contrary to Wikipedia’s practice. The world’s largest online encyclopedia restricts editorial entries that could be a conflict of interest.

The talk around D.C. is that Tom Wheeler, the former head of NCTA and CTIA, is the frontrunner to replace Julius Genachowski as FCC Chairman.  OK, sure, Wheeler headed trade groups representing two of broadcasting’s long-time nemeses, cable and wireless. But that could work in broadcasters’ favor since he’ll have to be careful not to show any favoritism toward his former employers. And having spent his entire career representing businesses, running businesses and investing in businesses, Wheeler undoubtedly will have a light regulatory touch in all matters. And that’s not something you can say about most Democrats.

The chairman said today that he will be leaving but didn’t specify when. Among the names floating around Washington to succeed him are Democrats Tom Wheeler, Karen Kornbluh, Larry Strickling and Catherine Sandoval. Also up for grabs is the Republican seat to be vacated by Robert McDowell. Sources say among those in the running for his position are Michael O’Rielly, Doug Schwartz, Ray Baum, Neil Fried and A.B. Cruz III.

Julius Genachowski is expected to announce Friday that he will be stepping down as FCC chairman after three-and-a-half years in the job. If so, the news will come two days after fellow commissioner Robert McDowell announced he was quitting and Genchowski told reporters that he had “no news” on rampant reports that he would be next.

The association’s comments to the FCC on proposed changes in how TV station coverage would be calculated are flawed and any changes should wait until after details on the proposed FCC incentive auction of spectrum are known.

While in the works for a while, Wednesday’s formal announcement by FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell that he will be leaving the commission leaves a hole in the FCC’s ranks that will be difficult to fill. In many regards, Commissioner McDowell was a throwback to an earlier time, both at the FCC and in Washington, in that his tenure was distinguished not just by his congenial nature, but by an abiding adherence to his regulatory principles, rather than to reaching a particular result.

Republican commissioner Robert McDowell, who has served since 2006, announced today that he is leaving the FCC. He said that he has no plans “other than to take my family on a much-needed vacation starting this weekend.”

Since joining the commission last May, Ajit Pai has has been scoring major points with broadcasters with a number of his positions, including his spirited defense of joint sales and shared services agreements that have allowed TV stations to operate two stations in small markets. Says NAB’s Dennis Wharton: “From Day 1 at the FCC, it was clear that Commissioner Pai is sincere, engaging and razor-sharp smart. He’s also unafraid to challenge false claims about broadcasting, as his support for JSAs and SSAs demonstrates.”

For the FCC’s spectrum auction to succeed, NAB’s Rick Kaplan says, the commission needs to make it “as easy as pie” by answering such basic questions for broadcasters that may wish to participate as: “Does the FCC want a volunteer in my market?; How much might I get paid?;  Where do I go to participate; and how exactly is it going to work? None of those questions have been answered, and the … clock … is ticking,” he says.

NAB says that the wireless industry group’s request that the FCC reallocate some BAS spectrum for mobile broadband will damage TV stations’ ability “to provide breaking coverage of devastating storms, tornadoes, hurricanes and wildfires.”

Sen. Jay Rockefeller, the chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee said that he intends to make one last attempt to give the FCC the legal authority to rein in violence in the media before retiring from the Senate in 2015.

In response to a request by the Coalition for Broadcast Investment, the FCC has invited comments on whether the commission should now be open to allowing non-citizens and foreign companies to hold more than a 25% equity interest in U.S. radio and television stations. The deadline for filing comments is April 15, with reply comments due by April 30.

The fun thing about an oversight hearing on the FCC is that there is always something for every constituent’s pet issue, even if it’s only for three minutes. Tuesday’s Senate Commerce committee hearing was no exception, dredging up the problem of blackouts caused when cable systems and TV stations can’t agree on carriage fees. Soon after the hearing concluded late Tuesday, advocates for retrans consent reform shoved a press release out the door applauding an exchange between Sen. Richard Blumenthal, who wanted something done about blackouts, and FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski.

Online theives have stolen “tens of thousands of dollars” from political media agencies after TV stations posted the agencies’ canceled checks in their online political files, according to attorneys Gregg Skall and Jim Kahl. “[B]ank account numbers, routing numbers and signatures are freely available online to the unscrupulous,” they say.

In comments to the FCC, NAB made it clear it didn’t like the way the commission was heading in its auction planning. “The overall approach … is unnecessarily complex, appears to ignore important engineering considerations and overlooks more basic and straightforward solutions.”

Despite the rhetoric in Washington, no one really knows what effect the $85 billion in automatic spending cuts will have on the economy, consumers and business in general. But it’s hard to believe that advertisers, media and telecommunications companies won’t notice some differences at the FCC and the Federal Trade Commission, agencies that have jurisdiction over their businesses. Post-sequestration, the best advice for companies that do business with the FCC and FTC is to have some patience. Reports are bound to take longer and decisions are bound to drag on.

FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai says that despite the temporary hold on the commission’s review of its ownership rules, the proposal to stop broadcasters from using joint sales agreements to operate two stations in small markets “is very much on the table.”

Low-power WFUN-LP Miami applied for, and was granted, Class A status way back in 2000, but its failure to comply with the obligations of a Class A licensee resulted in objections from third parties and reversion to LPTV status. After a petition to reconsider filed in 2005 failed to gain traction, licensee LocalOne Texas Ltd. has tried again.

Station owners in the state want the commission to deny General Communication Inc.’s Denali Media Holdings purchase of three stations, saying the deal “would result in the combination of ownership of television stations in two of the three television markets in Alaska with ownership of the largest, indeed in many cases the exclusive, provider of terrestrial cable and broadband service to much of Alaska’s population.”

Hoping to buy low and sell high in the FCC incentive auction, NRJ TV, OTA Broadcasting and Locus Point have bought 39 stations over the past two years, according to SNL Kagan.

The General Accountability Office on Thursday urged the FCC  to revise standards for disclosing TV product sponsorships whether for product placement, video news releases or political advertising. Pointing to one FCC guidance citing how broadcasters should treat the use of  “expensive kinescope prints” provided by sponsors in putting together a news story, the GAO said the current standards are stuck in a time warp.

Newspapers may not be the radioactive investments they were a few years ago, but they’re still not attracting droves of buyers. Still, regulators at the FCC  insist on limiting the pool of potential newspaper acquirers. The FCC does this through the so-called “cross-ownership” ban that prohibits the owner of a TV station from owning a newspaper in the same market. While the FCC is moving to loosen the ban, even the proposed revision will keep some major players from bidding for newspapers.

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski today gave his support to a request by the Minority Media and Telecommunications Council to delay the commission’s review of its ownership rules until MMTC can submit a study on possible impacts of changes. “In this heavily-litigated area where a strong record is particularly important, I believe this is a sensible approach to moving forward and resolving the issues raised in this proceeding,” Genachowski said.

There are limits to how much commercial time can be inserted into television programming aimed at children, and a Max Media’s WMEI Arecibo and WOST Mayaguez in Puerto Rico overshot them by less than a minute — an infraction they’ll pay for.

At an appellate hearing, several judges appear highly critical of a ruling last year that punished Comcast for discriminating against the Tennis Channel.

It appears that the commission may have taken the first steps — baby steps carefully cloaked from public view, perhaps, but steps nonetheless —toward addressing its hopeless backlog of broadcast complaints. In a series of super-low-key actions in recent weeks, the Media Bureau has quietly canceled a number of previously assessed forfeitures.

On June 30th, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski’s five-year term will expire, which has led to speculation that Genachowski might soon announce his departure. Although the FCC chair is not a cabinet-level position, D.C. chatter is already flying fast and furious about Genachowski’s replacement, with three people said to be on the short list: Tom Wheeler, Karen Kornbluh and Larry Strickling.

Nearly 50 years ago, Congress passed the federal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), giving all of us citizens access to the records of every executive branch agency. A decade later, in the wake of the Watergate scandal, Congress passed the Government in the Sunshine Act, again seeking to ensure the public’s right to know. The Sunshine Act gives us all access to the meetings of certain executive branch agencies, much as the FOIA give us access to those agencies’ written records. Maybe not for long, though, at least as far as the FCC is concerned.

The FCC should rule that virtual duopolies based on JSAs and SSAs are allowable only if the owners of the second stations are minorities or  women. This would act as a powerful incentive for broadcasters to seek out such partners and give them the experience to eventually venture out on their own.

The FCC wasted no time in advising broadcast stations and other EAS participants to take immediate steps to prevent unauthorized uses of the Emergency Alert System like the fake zombie attack alerts that went out over a few stations in Michigan and Montana yesterday. While federal and state authorities are investigating the source of those hoax alerts, which appear to have come from outside the U.S., the FCC has just released instructions for EAS Participants in hopes of heading off any more false alerts.

Because broadcasters have too many competitors, many are having a hard time earning a fair return. The common sense answer is for some stations to exit. Now, because of the compelling need for additional wireless broadband capacity, the FCC, in the incentive auction proceeding, is prepared to help ease some stations out the door.

Last week’s public notice from the FCC Office of Engineering and Technology (OET) proposing material changes to OET Bulletin No. 69, which is used to evaluate DTV coverage and interference, will introduce uncertainty into the incentive auction process and undermine its ultimate success, NAB told the commission.

FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai on a proposal to tighten up on the use of joint sales agreements and shared services agreements: “If the FCC effectively prohibits these agreements, fewer stations in small-town America will offer news programming, and they will invest less in newsgathering. And the economics suggest that there likely will be fewer television stations, period.”

What if you could buy a 50-inch television, mount it anywhere in your house, and receive dozens of channels on it for free and without any futzing around? What if most or all broadcast signals, in their native form, were easily receivable on tablets and smartphones?

FCC officials say they are clarifying its proposal permitting TV-newspaper mergers in the top-20 markets to make it clear that it will not encompass stations that are ranked among the top four in the ratings or sometimes dip into fifth place in the ratings. Such a change would dash any hopes Rupert Murdoch has of buying the Tribune Co.’s  Los Angeles Times. Murdoch owns Fox O&O KTTV in Los Angeles that sometimes finishes fourth and sometimes fifth behind Univision’s KMEX.

A bipartisan group of lawmakers in both the House and the Senate are reintroducing a bill to allow three or more FCC to meet in private, as long as no official agency action is taken. Under current law, something known as the “sunshine” rule prohibits more than two FCC commissioners from talking to each other outside of a public meeting.

The cable trade group says evidence demonstrates broadcasters’ anticompetitive conduct reduces competition in local markets.

Super Bowl MVP Joe Flacco fired a few bombs to win against the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday, but by dropping the F-bomb on national TV during the Baltimore Ravens’ post-game celebration, he opened CBS up to a complaint at the FCC. The Parents Television Council, which fights indecent speech on the airwaves, asked the commission to investigate CBS for its failure to bleep out the offensive word.

On Thursday afternoon, the FCC released a short Report and Order allowing a limited set of television stations to forego uploading a portion of their paper public inspection files to the FCC’s online system by the upcoming Monday, Feb. 4 deadline.

The FCC sought to cut the red tape it takes to roll out wireless gadgets and services by voting Thursday to streamline the process inventors go through for testing on the nation’s airwaves.The changes will help keep American industry on the cutting edge of technological innovation, according to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski.