The FCC should deny radio station transfers of control associated with broadcaster Audacy’s bankruptcy reorganization because the company has asked for a temporary waiver of the agency's foreign ownership requirements, the Media Research Center, a "media watchdog," said in a petition filed Monday. MRC's website describes it as leading "the conservative movement in combatting the left’s efforts to manipulate the electoral process, silence opposing voices online, and undermine American values." The petition highlights the involvement of billionaire George Soros's involvement in Audacy. The Soros-associated Fund for Policy Reform would have an attributable ownership interest in Audacy after the bankruptcy. In addition, MCR said Soros Fund Management took steps to become Audacy’s largest shareholder. Widely seen as funding progressive causes and politicians, Soros is a frequent target of right-wing ire. “The Communications Act does not contain a special Soros shortcut,” said MRC’s petition. “And the FCC should not countenance this request for one.” Audacy’s application says the reorganized company will exceed the FCC’s 25 percent foreign ownership limit. It seeks a waiver allowing it to either use a “special warrant” stock issuance process to avoid exceeding the threshold or petition for a declaratory ruling permitting foreign ownership over the limit after it emerges from bankruptcy. “The Soros filings fail to demonstrate that in this case any interest in the reasonably efficient emergence from bankruptcy cannot be accommodated while also assessing the foreign ownership interests at the same time,” MCR said. Though MCR says the waiver of foreign ownership requirements would be “special treatment,” the FCC has granted similar waivers to other large broadcasters emerging from bankruptcy, such as Alpha Media (see 2309280073) and iHeartRadio (see 2103290057). Broadcast attorneys told us they aren’t aware of a request from any broadcaster to be foreign-owned over 25% that the FCC has denied since the process was streamlined in 2016. But, said MCR, “The Soros group’s interest in expediency does not give the FCC a basis for ignoring the legally required process." Audacy and the Fund for Policy Reform didn’t comment.

NAB President and CEO Curtis LeGeyt agreed to a contract extension until 2029, said an NAB news release Tuesday. LeGeyt has headed NAB since January 2022, taking over from former U.S. Sen. Gordon Smith, who held the post for 12 years. The terms of the deal weren't released. “NAB and its members are thrilled to have Curtis LeGeyt leading our advocacy efforts in Washington and delighted about his contract extension,” said Nexstar CEO and NAB Joint Board Chair Perry Sook in the release. “I am grateful for the faith placed in me by the NAB Board of Directors and our members, and I am committed to an innovation agenda that allows local TV and radio to thrive well into the future for the betterment of our communities," said LeGeyt. Prior to taking the lead role, LeGeyt was executive vice president-government relations at the trade group for nearly a decade, and a former chief counsel to Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.

Scripps will end its CW affiliation in the seven Scripps markets that carry CW programming, a Scripps spokesperson told us Friday. The markets are Detroit; Miami; Norfolk, Virginia; Tucson, Arizona; Corpus Christi, Texas; Lafayette, Louisiana; and San Luis Obispo, California. The move will be effective Sept. 1, and opens the door to "bring[ing] Scripps’ excellent local and national programming ... to even more audiences across the country," she said. "We are still in the process of determining exactly what the new programming will look like in each affected market." CW majority owner Nexstar emailed that it doesn't intend to renew its affiliation agreement with the Scripps-owned stations and that the CW affiliations in Norfolk and Lafayette will move to Nexstar-owned stations Sept. 1. A Nexstar spokesperson emailed that it has interest from other station groups in the five remaining markets. "We are prepared for this transition and confident that The CW will continue to reach 100% of US television households without interruption," he said.

Comments are due May 16, replies June 17, regarding issues related to geotargeted content origination on FM booster stations, the FCC Media Bureau said Tuesday in docket 20-401. The commissioners unanimously approved a geotargeted radio content order earlier this month (see 2404020078 and the accompanying Further NPRM asks questions regarding a number of processing, licensing and service items.

FCC Commissioner Nathan Simington on Monday condemned the agency’s extension of the top-four prohibition in the 2018 quadrennial review order. Instead of “dusting off” older regulations and “breathing new life into them through interpretive maximalism," the FCC should keep them locked in “a curio cabinet,” Simington said in remarks at NAB Show 2024. The rule change makes existing broadcast assets less marketable and hurts independent operators, he said. The FCC's attack on broadcast assets is particularly egregious at a time when “the literal Chinese Communist Party is pulling more eyeballs then broadcasters are,” said Simington, apparently referring to TikTok. Simington also criticized recent enforcement actions against broadcasters, which he said involved disproportionate penalties for violations that were inadvertent or insignificant. Unlike off-shore robocallers that repeatedly violate FCC rules and rarely pay fines, broadcasters seek to follow the rules and reliably pay their penalties, Simington said. He said he looks forward to the day when the FCC is “less adversarial” to broadcasters and ceases treating them like “problem children.”

Broadcasters should use AI to improve news broadcasts and free up newsroom staff from processing tasks to focus on journalism, said AI company Futuri CEO Daniel Anstandig in a keynote presentation at the NAB Show 2024 in Las Vegas featuring an AI-powered humanoid robot interjecting occasional quips. A Futuri study shows that audiences believe AI could improve news reporting as long as broadcasters clearly disclose when it's being used. Calling AI a “media revolution,” Anstandig urged broadcasters to be the first to “step up to the ledge and jump off.” Broadcasting “will rise and fall based on the people in this room,” he said. Anstandig discussed using AI voices to handle routine sponsorship reads or to serve as late-night DJs, and said that audiences are largely unable to distinguish AI audio from real voices. Futuri’s audience survey found that AI video avatars were “not ready for prime time,” but AI could also be used to help newsrooms decide what topics to cover, do sales research and take over routine tasks to allow more resources to be devoted to reporting. Asked by NAB CEO Curtis LeGeyt about AI leading to employees being replaced, Anstandig said that “job rotation” is normal in industry, arguing that the invention of the calculator didn’t wipe out the profession of mathematician but instead led to the discipline of data science. “New jobs will be created,” he said. In a Q&A session preceding the AI segment, LeGeyt said that the resource constraints imposed on broadcasters by regulation and competition with tech companies disadvantage local journalism. “The practical reality of Washington’s inaction on these issues is that every day a local reporter’s ability” to tell local stories “is undermined,” he said. LeGeyt pledged onstage that NAB would serve as a “convener” to push greater awareness and action on the U.S. opioid crisis and called on broadcasters to “step up” to preserve American faith in electoral processes. “We would have different prognostications on what November looks like, but we all need to trust that what happens is the outcome that was warranted,” he said. LeGeyt said November’s presidential election is “the most consequential of our lifetimes.”

The FCC should enforce public interest requirements on broadcasters if it wants to encourage local programming, said Common Frequency and Pacifica Network in a joint reply to comments filed in docket 24-14 on an agency NPRM on prioritizing application processing for broadcast stations that offer local content (see 2403120071). The FCC’s proposal is likely insufficient to encourage local programming on its own and the agency hasn’t denied a license renewal on public interest grounds in 30 years, the joint filing said. “Is there even a definition regarding a station ‘not operating in the public interest’ nowadays?” said Common Frequency and Pacifica. “Respondents believe this question needs to be answered as a precursor to even approaching the subject matter of the NPRM.” NAB and NPR reiterated that the FCC’s proposal would be ineffective. “As to public radio, the incentive offered in the NPRM is weak,” NPR said. The “lack of connection” between the goal of promoting local journalism and prioritizing review of “a very small subset” of applications shows “the expanding disconnect” between the FCC’s actions and the forces motivating broadcasters, NAB said. The three hours per week of local programming requirement proposed in the NPRM is a “very low bar,” but incentivizing any local content is positive, said MusicFirst Coalition and the Future of Music Coalition in a joint filing. The groups “would be thrilled to see a local DJ spinning records for a few hours per week at any station that would otherwise fail to air” local programming, the filing said.

The FCC Enforcement Bureau warned property owners in Beacon, New York, and San Francisco of possible forfeitures over pirate radio stations allegedly emanating from their buildings, according to letters in Wednesday’s Daily Digest. Property owners The Cesar Ascarrunz Living Trust in San Francisco and Donald and Theresa Bell in Beacon could see forfeitures of up to $2.3 million, the letters said. The property owners have 10 business days to respond and must submit proof that broadcasts have ceased, the letters said.

Shelby Broadcast must pay a $16,500 forfeiture for operating a translator station outside the parameters of its FCC authorization and not disclosing it, according to an order in Wednesday's Daily Digest. The forfeiture concerns translator W252BE Tarrant, Alabama, which for years after a cable was severed in 2015 Shelby allegedly operated at a different height and power level than authorized, according to the original notice of apparent liability (see 2401170066). Though the penalty represents a significant percentage of the station’s gross income, the Media Bureau declined to reduce the forfeiture amount because the station is slated to be sold for $184,000. “Further, due to Licensee’s history of noncompliance, including unauthorized operations, and the extended duration of the violations, we find no basis to reduce or cancel the proposed forfeiture,” the order said.

The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals granted the unopposed motion of the American Television Alliance of low-power stations to intervene as of right in defense of the FCC’s Dec. 26 quadrennial review order against the four consolidated petitions challenging the order for allegedly violating Section 202(h) of the Telecommunications Act (see 2404080002), said a signed clerk’s order Wednesday. The consolidated petitions pending in the 8th Circuit are from Zimmer Radio (docket 24-1380), Beasley Media Group (docket 24-1480), NAB (docket 24-1493) and Nexstar Media Group (docket 24-1516).