The full FCC unanimously denied an appeal from the Albuquerque Board of Education seeking the reversal of a 2023 Media Bureau decision denying the reinstatement of a canceled AM station and FM translator in Los Alamos, New Mexico, said an order Tuesday. Filings from the board were procedurally defective and the board lacks standing in the matter, the Media Bureau ruled, and the commissioners agreed. The licenses for the stations were voluntarily surrendered to the FCC by owner Gillian Sutton and canceled in May 2023, leaving the area with no local AM service. The board asked the agency to reinstate the licenses and assign them to the board on a temporary basis, but it did so in a petition filed two months late. The agency previously ruled third parties without attributable interest in a surrendered station lack standing to seek reinstatement. The item was set for Thursday's commissioners' open meeting, and a deletion notice was released Tuesday.

A draft order on collecting broadcaster and cable workforce diversity data using form 395-B is off the FCC’s circulation list. Removing an item is usually an indication that it was voted on and will be released soon. The item was circulated at the end of December and quickly received three votes -- likely from the agency’s Democrats -- but then was held up under the agency’s must-vote procedures, waiting for the remaining two votes. FCC Republicans Nathan Simington and Brendan Carr were expected to oppose the item. The draft order would reinstate form 395-B and require broadcasters to upload diversity data forms to online public files. It's accompanied by a Further NPRM that seeks comment on expanding the same rules to cable, FCC and industry officials told us (see 2401260075). The FCC declined to comment.

A coming joint venture streaming service from Disney, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery that includes the live signals of local ABC and Fox affiliates “could be a significant opportunity,” said Gray Television in a news release Wednesday (see 2402070006). "Local affiliated stations not only carry nationally televised sports but also provide local sports coverage, local news and weather, local jobs and extensive community service,” said Gray. “We believe that including ABC and Fox stations in a new virtual multichannel video programming service could offer benefits to viewers, their local communities, and local broadcasters.” In addition, local station affiliates could benefit if the joint venture “provides additional resources and scale” and expands “sports programming available on the ABC and Fox broadcast networks and the affiliates of those networks.” It continued, “Gray welcomes any venture that expands the reach of local broadcasting stations, which in turn supports the ability of local stations to maintain trusted local news operations that benefit everyone.”

FCC Administrative Law Judge Jane Halprin is considering broadening the scope of a hearing involving the fake sale of broadcast stations. The hearing now may include an examination of other companies, said an order Monday (see 2308110063). The initial hearing concerned Antonio Cesar Guel's sale of low-power radio and TV stations to his niece Jennifer Juarez. Guel admitted in filings that he remained in control of the stations and made false statements to the FCC, including hiding that he isn’t a U.S. citizen. He has called for summary judgment against himself in the case. In Monday’s order, Halprin denied that motion because Guel hasn’t properly responded to all the Enforcement Bureau’s allegations against him. Now she is ordering Guel to respond to an EB motion enlarging the case due to “troubling incongruities” and contradictory filings from Antonio Cesar Guel and his daughter Maria Guel before the FCC and the SEC. Other FCC licensees -- Mekaddesh Group Corporation and the Hispanic Family Christian Network -- operate from the same address as Antonio Guel’s Hispanic Christian Community Network. Members of his family run the companies, the EB said. In addition, SEC filings and other documents show a 2023 sale of Mekaddesh to a company called JPX Global that Antonio Guel partially owns and lists him as a part owner of Mekaddesh, the ALJ order said. Attorneys for Antonio Guel have told the FCC that the JPX transaction isn't completed, and that JPX will not control Mekaddesh, but JPX has listed Maria Guel as its CEO, and she has certified to the FCC that she has full control over Mekaddesh. “Mr. Guel has submitted an ownership report into the record of this proceeding as proof that Maria Guel is in control of Mekaddesh, yet that document makes no mention of JPX Global despite being filed with the Commission as recently as December 26, 2023,” wrote Halprin. Enlarging the case would likely delay it, Halprin acknowledged, but “the potential lack of candor demonstrated by Mr. Guel, Maria Guel, and others before the Presiding Judge” is “ripe for immediate consideration,” the order said. The Guels have until Feb. 13 to provide “a full and honest account of the history and status of the acquisition of Mekaddesh by JPX Global,” a description of Antonio Guel’s role in the companies, and explanations for the discrepancies in filings with the FCC and SEC, Monday’s order said. The Enforcement Bureau will get to respond by Feb. 20, and then Halprin will decide whether to enlarge the case, the order said.

A Maryland AM station that airs programming from Russia-sponsored news channel Radio Sputnik is violating FCC political file rules because the channel’s content is effectively paid political advertising, said a complaint Thursday from the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America. The complaint, which calls for a forfeiture of at least $10 million, is the UCCA’s latest salvo against WZHF Capitol Heights and owners Arthur and Yvonne Liu of Way Broadcasting -- the group has filed two petitions against the station’s license that have yet to draw an FCC response (see 2203230054). “There are well established FCC rules that require that Arthur and Yvonne Liu disclose in their political file all incidents of paid discussion of matters of national importance,” said Thursday’s complaint. “This they have not done in willful violation of the Communications Act and the FCC’s rules and policies.” WZHF leases all of its airtime to RM Broadcasting, which has the deal to air Radio Sputnik content. Documentation filed under the Foreign Agents Registration Act shows that Way Broadcasting receives $35,000 a month under that arrangement, and WZHF’s content routinely concerns President Joe Biden, former President Donald Trump, U.S. policy in Ukraine and Israel, and the 2024 Republican presidential primary, UCCA said. “The Enforcement Bureau should order Arthur and Yvonne Liu to provide at least two years of data on what exactly their station is broadcasting,” said the complaint. The Communications Act “requires that each incident of political advertising be disclosed and properly filed in WZHF’s public inspection file.” Way Broadcasting didn’t comment.

The FCC Media Bureau received 1,336 low-power FM construction permit applications during the December window, said a public notice in Thursday’s Daily Digest. 700 of those applications have so far been identified as singletons without conflicts with other applications and have been accepted for filing, the PN said. A subsequent PN will identify the mutually exclusive applications, and with its release parties can begin filing amendments and reaching settlement agreements, the PN said.

Gray Television will sell two TV stations in Wyoming and Nebraska to Marquee Broadcasting in exchange for Marquee’s FCC-issued construction permit to build a station in the Salt Lake City market, said a Gray news release Thursday. “Neither party will pay additional cash or consideration to fulfill the terms of this swap,” the release said. The Gray stations are in the Cheyenne-Scottsbluff and Casper designated market areas, the release said. The transaction is expected to close in Q2 “following receipt of regulatory and other approvals,” the release said.

FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel circulated a draft order and further notice that would allow FM broadcasters to air geotargeted radio “for a limited period of time during the broadcast hour,” according to a joint statement from Commissioners Brendan Carr and Geoffrey Starks endorsing the item. “If radio entrepreneurs want to test new business models and deploy new technologies, the FCC’s rules shouldn’t stand in the way,” said the statement, which thanks Rosenworcel for moving the proceeding to an order. The item stems from a 2020 NPRM that followed a petition from geotargeted radio company GeoBroadcast Solutions. The company’s ZoneCasting tech uses multiple synchronized FM boosters to transmit targeted signals that FM receivers pick up as being a single signal. The tech also requires a change to FCC rules barring boosters from originating content to operate. It's expected stations using the technology would mainly broadcast a single stream of content but briefly shift certain zones to geotargeted, specialized content multiple times daily: usually for localized commercials. GBS has said it could be used for localized weather and emergency alerts as well. NAB and large broadcasters such as iHeart have vigorously opposed the technology, saying it will reduce ad rates, interfere with other stations and affect the FM noise floor. In 2022, NAB filed ex parte letters (see 2209230070) with the FCC accusing GBS founder Chris Devine of “fraudulent and deceitful conduct.” NAB declined to comment Wednesday. Smaller broadcasters and groups such as the Multicultural Media Telecom and the Internet Association have largely supported the proposal, although the National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters in 2022 voted to discontinue its support. Last year, NABOB was acquired by the U.S. Black Chambers, which has since endorsed the GBS proposal (see 2311030068."Geotargeting technology is not just about modernization; it's about survival and growth," said NABOB President Jim Winston in a UBC release Wednesday. "It's a tool that can rejuvenate a declining sector while also propelling forward the FCC’s vision of promoting minority broadcasting." “Small and independent broadcasters have repeatedly told us that geo-targeting could be a gamechanger,” said Starks and Carr in the joint statement. "It is a great day for radio innovators and a possible salvation for so many facing new levels of competition, said MMTC President Robert Branson in an email. "Importantly, the new service is another way for radio broadcasters to truly serve their local market."

FCC action against Fox station WTXF Philadelphia's license would create a “perilous regulatory environment” and expose broadcasters to constant threats against their licenses, Fox said in a letter to the FCC Tuesday. The letter responded to recent filings from former Fox and Disney executive Preston Padden seeking to add to the FCC record filings from an ongoing defamation case against Fox by the Smartmatic voting machine company (see 2401250072). Padden is part of the Media and Democracy Project effort against WTXF’s license renewal. The Smartmatic case and a settlement Fox reached with Dominion voting machine company don’t involve allegations of conduct that violates the FCC’s character policy and neither case includes a final adjudication against Fox, the Fox letter said. The FCC “can and should deny MAD’s petition on the basis that no claim has been pled that is recognized by the Commission’s own precedent or the Communications Act.” A broadcast license renewal proceeding “is not a venue for adjudicating cable network content,” said Fox. The FCC character policy includes provisions where the agency can consider a licensee's egregious misconduct outside the broadcasting context, Padden wrote in an email. Fox countered that if broadcast licenses can be threatened “based solely on unadjudicated allegations made by a third party in an unrelated civil proceeding,” the FCC process could easily be abused “in attempts to silence disfavored speakers across the political spectrum.” Fox added: “Fortunately, MAD’s law is not the law of the Commission or Congress.” In additional comments filed Wednesday, Padden said: "Leaving aside the indisputable fact that Fox News Channel reports and stories ARE broadcast by the Fox Owned Television Stations including WTXF, I respectfully submit that the Murdochs and Fox are simply flat wrong in arguing that their actions in businesses other than the television stations are not relevant to evaluation of their Character for broadcast licensing purposes."

XGen Network filed with the FCC for two additional experimental licenses to transmit in 5G broadcast (see 2306120003), according to a release. The licenses are for HC2’s station WTXX-LD Springfield, Massachusetts, and EGOT Media’s WYJH-LD White Lake, New York, joining Milachi Media’s WWOO-LD Boston. “XGN's Proof of Concept deployments are meant to test the platform, bringing developments out of the lab to testing in the field,” said Xgen CEO Frank “SuperFrank” Copsidas in the release.