There are many reasons why even in markets with three or more full-power TV stations, top-four network programming might need to be broadcast on a low-power TV station or multicast channel, NAB said in an ex parte filing in FCC docket 18-349 Tuesday, responding to a filing last week from the American Television Alliance (see 2312070061). Many such markets “have independent, Spanish language or religious stations that are not interested in affiliating with any of the four largest broadcast networks,” NAB said. “Stations that have elected mandatory carriage cannot simply ‘pick up’ a ‘Big Four’ network affiliation,” and stations “cannot simply unravel their existing agreements with program suppliers,” it added. NAB also pushed back on ATVA submissions concerning DOJ's past stances against broadcast transactions involving top-four combinations. The FCC “is not simply DOJ’s younger sibling, destined to follow DOJ blindly over the cliff,” NAB said. “The FCC’s public interest analysis is broader than and distinct from DOJ’s statutory role.” The commission should “reject the self-interested, anti-competitive, and ultimately anti-consumer arguments being made by the pay-TV industry in these proceedings,” said NAB.

The FCC received 1,336 applications for new low-power FM station construction permits during the recent filing window, an FCC spokesperson said Monday. The window opened Dec. 6 and closed Friday. The last LPFM filing window, in 2013, drew 2,819 applications (see 1311250032). Interest in the LPFM window indicates there still is robust interest in radio, the FCC spokesperson said.

The FCC Public Safety Bureau granted Paramount Global’s request for a 30-day extension, until Jan. 10, of the agency’s requirement that emergency alert system participants update their equipment to be able to prioritize alerts delivered by common alerting protocol by Dec. 12, said an order in Friday’s Daily Digest. Paramount requested the extension for 29 stations that had been affected by vendor delays (see 2312120039). “Based on the circumstances described herein, we conclude there is good cause to provide” the extension, said the order.

The low-power FM filing window for new station construction permits closed at noon Friday, according to Media Bureau public notice in Friday’s Daily Digest. Applications submitted after the deadline will be dismissed. The PN also announced a temporary freeze on amendments to new LPFM station applications that went into effect Friday and lasts until Jan. 31. During the freeze, bureau staff will review the LPFM applications to identify mutually exclusive groups, the PN said. Future public notices on mutual exclusivity and settlement procedures will be issued after the freeze, the PN said.

The FCC Enforcement Bureau sent warnings of possible forfeitures of up to $2.3 million each to two owners of New York properties for allegedly hosting pirate radio stations, said enforcement bureau letters in Wednesday’s Daily Digest. The notices to property owners The Joseph Best and Sheila Y. Best Living Trust in Brooklyn and 271 Zacko, LLC in Scarsdale formally notify them of the illegal broadcasting identified by FCC field agents, demand proof that the broadcasts have ceased and request that the broadcasters be identified. “Persons or entities found to willfully and knowingly suffer” third parties “to engage in so-called 'pirate radio' broadcasting on their property can face significant financial penalties,” the letters said.

It's “long past time” the FCC “should have recognized the wide range of competitors local radio stations face for audiences and advertising revenues,” the NAB said in meetings last week with aides to Commissioners Brendan Carr and Nathan Simington, according to a pair of similar ex parte filings posted in docket 18-349 Friday. The agency urgently needs to reform “analog-era” ownership rules for local TV and radio, especially in small markets, NAB said in the filings. The trade group also said the FCC shouldn’t crack down on TV broadcasters using low-power TV stations and multicast channels to air top-four network programming (see 2312060065). “The FCC’s previous determinations that the local TV ownership rule should not be applied to streams of programming or LPTV stations remain valid today,” NAB said.

The FCC Media Bureau proposed a $13,000 forfeiture for an Entravision Class A TV station that constructed and began operating its post-repacking facilities without filing a timely license to cover the application and with an expired construction permit, said an order and notice of apparent liability in Thursday’s Daily Digest. The application wasn’t filed due to “an administrative oversight,” said the NAL. KTFV-CD McAllen, Texas, has operated without authorization on its post-auction channel since March 2020, the NAL said. “While the Licensee did notify the Commission upon recognizing its error, we believe the base forfeiture amount is reasonable given the lengthy period of time the Station engaged in unauthorized operation and the fact that Entravision, as the licensee of over 100 television and radio stations, should be well versed in the Commission’s rules,” the NAL said.

Broadcasters shouldn’t be able to use multicast channels or low-power TV stations as a "loophole" to get around limits on top-four duopolies in markets with four, five or six commercial stations, the American Television Alliance said in meetings with aides to FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and Commissioners Nathan Simington, Geoffrey Starks and Brendan Carr, according to an ex parte filing posted in docket 18-349 Thursday. The draft 2018 quadrennial review order would limit such combinations (see 2312060065). ATVA said it doesn’t oppose the practice in small markets, but broadcasters seek “to apply this exception to much larger markets, perhaps even including Boston,” the filings said. For large markets where multicasting or LPTV is truly needed to provide viewers with access to top-four programming, the FCC “already has a case-by-case process to address such situations,” ATVA said. “The real-world evidence seems to show no correlation between use of the loopholes and commitment to local news,” the filing said.

The FCC should make any approval of geo-targeted radio contingent on real-world interference testing, said NPR in a call with an aide to Commissioner Geoffrey Starks Friday, according to an ex parte filing posted in docket 20-401 Tuesday. NPR has previously raised interference concerns about the geo-targeted radio technology (see 2206070049), which would use numerous FM boosters to broadcast targeted content --such as ads -- in small areas within a market. Whether the agency permits the technology through a rule change or a waiver process, the FCC needs evidence that the technology “is not likely to cause noticeable interference in multiple commercially viable scenarios,” NPR said.

NAB has produced a working draft of best practices for broadcasters making text crawls and other visual information accessible in emergencies, the trade group said in a quarterly status report submitted to the FCC Media Bureau Friday in docket 12-107. Broadcast industry professionals are reviewing the draft, as will accessibility advocates, said NAB. The association “remains confident that, in most cases, emergency information conveyed by visual images is accessible because stations run accompanying text crawls that provide the same information, if not more, and can be converted to speech,” the filing said.