Michael Berg

Attorney Michael Berg, TVNewsCheck‘s Legal Memo columnist, was on hand for the April 22 arguments at the Supreme Court in ABC v. Aereo and he offers his observations on the questions and answers and also details the various friend of the court briefs and other filings made shortly before the hearing. While predicting outcomes from oral arguments is a very risky game, Berg says: “In this case I sensed that the SC majority is unlikely to buy Aereo’s copyright argument that it is just an equipment provider and there is no public performance and therefore no copyright obligations for sale of access to the broadcast signals.”

In Fox Television Stations’ court battle with FilmOn in Washington, D.C., the court held that the Copyright Act forbids FilmOn from retransmitting Fox’s copyrighted programs over the Internet. And in New York, CBS Broadcasting had a big win against FilmOn, after a judge found its CEO to be in contempt of court. Now Aereo may attempt to distinguish its technology from FilmOn’s, as litigation proceeds.

As the FCC moves ahead with plans for its spectrum auction, many details of what happens after it’s completed remain to be sorted out, none more important than how to coordinate new frequencies for stations along the Canadian and Mexican borders. With comments due later this month and replies due in March, TV broadcasters, their viewers, communities and others need to provide the FCC with opinions, information and proposed solutions to potential problems.

Earlier primaries and Super PACs are changing the face of the 2012 elections. For TV stations, that means gearing up political sales policies and inventory planning; the opportunity for more revenue from the political season; and the need for earlier-than-usual attention to FCC, Federal Election Commission and state political ad requirements. In this first of two parts, the ramifications of the ever-shifting primary schedule are examined.