FCC

In its comments on the FCC’s proposals on channel-sharing, spectrum “repacking” and improving VHF transmissions, CBS has taken a slightly less adversarial tone than the NAB, group owners representing hundreds of TV stations and state broadcast associations. And since it says it is not going to be selling its spectrum, or planning to share it with other stations, CBS put an emphasis on the FCC making sure those left behind are still in control of their own destiny.

State associations also oppose any plan without an enforceable guarantee that broadcasters will be held harmless in all respects.

FCC Commissioner Michael Copps is now in his 10th and final year as commissioner and he still isn’t happy with the state of media and the journalism it supports. If he and the rest of the FCC couldn’t fix things during the last decade, perhaps the problem all along hasn’t been consolidation or avarice as he argues. Maybe it’s been that what ails the media, and the way forward, are more complex than to be availing of the kind of nostrums Copps has been peddling.

Free Press filed a petition at the FCC from 150-plus Hawaiians asking it to act on a complaint against Raycom for its operation of three Honolulu TV stations under a shared services agreement. Free Press pointed out Tuesday that Media Council Hawaii had filed the complaint in October 2009 and no action has yet been taken.

Steve Waldman, the FCC’s point man of saving local jounalism, might actually do some good by calling for full First Amendment rights for broadcasters. He can start by condemning the fines that the FCC imposed a couple of weeks ago on New Jersey’s tiny WMGM and Fox O&O KMSP Minneapolis for running VNRs. The fines are an affront to the free speech rights of all broadcasters. Waldman should say so and call on Congress to get out of the business of regulating TV and radio content.

In a victory for the FCC’s ability to regulate the Internet, a D.C. court today dismissed Verizon’s appeal of the commission’s net neutrality rules.

Proving yet again that where there’s a will, there’s a way, the FCC has announced that it is proceeding with incentive auctions “promptly”. This is noteworthy, of course, because Congress still hasn’t gotten around to authorizing the sharing of auction proceeds — and the conventional wisdom has been that, without such authority, incentive auctions were a non-starter.

The FCC’s recent Notice of Proposed Rule Making exploring possible changes to the television retransmission consent rules has now been published in the Federal Register setting the date for comments as May 27, with reply comments due by June 27.

Federal regulators are seeking feedback on a petition from the wireless industry to kick broadcasters off of ch. 51. The CTIA—The Wireless Association and the Rural Cellular Association filed a petition with the FCC asking for an immediate license freeze on ch. 51. They also want the FCC to clear the channel as soon as possible of broadcasters who “reach voluntary agreements to relocate to an alternate channel,” according to the FCC’s related Public Notice.

A House Communications & Internet Subcommittee spokesperson said an April 12 hearing on spectrum issues will not be rescheduled again. It has a lot of competition for broadcaster and media attention since it is scheduled for the same day that thousands of broadcasters — and FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski and Commissioner Meredith Attwell Baker — will be in Las Vegas for NAB’s annual convention.

In a letter to the FCC chairman Julius Genachowski, Rep. Darrell Issa, who heads the House Oversight and Government Reform committee, says the FCC answers on the net neutrality rule process were not sufficient.

The FCC chairman is scheduled to appear before the Republican-led House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies on March 30. The FCC’s budget has been targeted by some House Republicans as a way to defund the commission’s new network neutrality rules and to zero out funding for its chief diversity officer position.

FCC chairman Julius Genachowski brought his call for moving swiftly to free up more wireless spectrum to the International CTIA show in Orlando, the wireless companies who have been pushing the FCC hard to make that happen.

The new requirement is aimed at advertising contracts that contain “no urban/no Spanish” dictates, by which advertisers and their agencies intentionally by-pass urban and Latino stations.

More than two-dozen station groups and owners representing more than 200 TV stations across the country have banded together to tell the FCC that its approach to freeing up spectrum is illegal, and in comments to the FCC said, essentially, they can’t comment fully on it because of the FCC’s piecemeal approach to the issue.

Broadcasters have told the FCC to do some more looking before it makes its wireless spectrum leap. In comments on the FCC’s spectrum proceeding, the National Association of Broadcasters outlined a five-point plan it said was the right way for the FCC to proceed.

Chairman of the House Communications Subcommittee and one-time radio broadcaster Greg Walden expesses doubt that the FCC plan for reclaiming broadcast spectrum is voluntary for broadcasters. He also joins broadcasters in calling for a spectrum inventory to determine whether taking back broadcast spectrum is truly necessary.

The FCC chairman addresses what he calls “misimpressions,” saying there is no spectrum hoarding by cable and wireless companies; that there is already a spectrum inventory; that spectrum subleasing by broadcasters won’t solve the broadband spectrum shortage; and emphasizd that any  spectrum repacking would be limited and stations would be fully reimbursed for any moves and “we would propose that stations not be forced to move from the UHF band to the VHF band; rather, any such moves would be purely voluntary.”

The FCC released a Public Notice announcing new provisions in its license renewal Form 303S — the form that radio and television stations will be using to file license renewal applications, starting with license renewals for radio stations in DC, Virginia and West Virginia in June. The changes include the addition of certifications concerning whether a station was off the air at any point during the license term for more than 30 days; whether principals of the licensee have interests in daily newspapers in the same area; and whether the station is in compliance with the RF radiation rules.

Contending that the FCC’s plan for reclaiming broadcast spectrum will not work, Capitol Broadcasting Jim Goodmon CEO proposed an alternative “overlay” plan under which broadcasters would handle distribution of video when wireless broadband providers can’t handle the traffic volume themselves.

The FCC plan to reclaim a big block of broadcast spectrum is the most critical issue facing broadcasters in the past three decades. So it’s perplexing that they chose this time to shut down MSTV, their longtime spectrum policy lobby, and to diss NAB’s top tech exec. Those moves raise the stakes in NAB’s hiring of a new EVP of technology. The right person keeps broadcasting in the game. The wrong person puts it on the same grim road as newspapers.

After reports that FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski is being considered to become secretary of Commerce, the FCC is making a show of denying the rumors, and emphasizing just how pleased Genachowski is in his current job.

While the just-announced FCC review of its retransmission consent rules doesn’t include commission intervention when talks fail, there are some things broadcasters need to be wary of. Most important is the proposal to eliminate the non-dupe rule. Without it, cable systems would be able to import an affiliate from a another market to replace one that it loses in a retrans dispute with impunity.

The commission will look at eliminating the network non-duplication and syndicated exclusivity and improving notice to consumers in advance of possible service disruption among other things.

Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), chairman of the Senate Communications Subcommittee, and Rep. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) introduced a bill that would authorize incentive auctions and require the FCC and NTIA to conduct a spectrum inventory. It would allow the FCC to determine how much to compensate broadcasters for giving up spectrum, but would also try to prevent speculation in those licenses.

It’s an uphill fight for broadcasters trying to stall or mitigate the FCC’s plan to reclaim a large hunk of broadcast spectrum and repurpose it for wireless broadband. The plan enjoys the backing of some of the biggest names in wireless, consumer electronics and the high-tech world, not to mention the White House and fiscal conservatives on the Hill.

The FCC has quietly dismissed indecency complaints against TV stations and more than 6,000 programs, which should clear the way for some of the 315 pending TV license renewals, most of which are being held up by the complaints, to be processed, said Robert McDowell, FCC commissioner.

The charge against the cable and satellite operators comes in a letter to key members of Congress. The NAB president also calls for a government investigation into “spectrum hoarding and/or spectrum speculation.”

The Obama administration is considering an overhaul of the nation’s television content ratings, potentially enabling the use of alternatives from religious, parental, and other groups that utilize more rigorous standards, according to government, industry and advocacy sources.

Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.) tells the commission he’s “grossly underwhelmed” by what he calls its “lip service and platitudes.”

With the FCC expected to discuss retransmission consent reform at its scheduled March 3 open meeting, DirecTV Chairman-CEO Mike White told analysts Wednesday he is hopeful change will come.

While it has taken nearly two years to get there, the FCC on Wednesday announced the release of its new broadcast ownership data in a format that can be searched and manipulated for media and public policy research. For broadcasters, however, the more interesting part of this Public Notice is what it says about broadcasters that failed to timely file their ownership reports.

House Republicans approved a spending-bill amendment Thursday night that would block the FCC from enacting its sweeping net neutrality regulations.

As far as the commission’s concerned, it’s apparently all systems go and full speed ahead with the effort to encourage TV broadcasters to relinquish their spectrum so that it can be used to further the National Broadband Plan. The latest evidence of this is the commission’s plan to offer webinars for stations to explain, it says, “the financial opportunities offered by voluntary incentive auctions” and answer questions, including ones on “the need to repack the remaining television channels following the auction.”

An experimental license for a new system for mobile DTV transmission was denied by the FCC. The license was sought by WatchTV, a Portland, Ore., low-power TV concern headed by Greg Herman, also president of SpectrumEvolution.org, a coalition advocating for the new hybrid DTV/broadband delivery system. 

After a series of FCC meetings where the only mention of broadcasters was in connection with taking TV spectrum for wireless broadband, the tentative agenda for the next FCC meeting, to be held on March 3, is full of broadcast issues — issues that could have broadcasters wishing that they were ignored once more.

As expected, the FCC put retransmission consent reform on the agenda for its March 3 open meeting but was short on the details about the item. In announcing the proceeding, the commission said it would open up a notice of proposed rulemaking “to streamline and clarify the commission’s rules.”