Nine Boston-area property owners were warned they could face hefty fines for pirate FM radio broadcast stations supposedly operating from their properties. The FCC on Friday posted a series of letters, dated Dec. 1, sent to property owners in Brockton, Dorchester, Elmwood, Mattapan and Randolph, Massachusetts. They warn of fines of $2.3 million and say property owners have 10 days to prove they're no longer permitting pirate radio broadcasting.

DOJ and the FCC have repeatedly found that the common ownership of two top-four stations in a market gives the owner anti-competitive leverage in retransmission consent negotiations, NCTA representatives told the offices of Commissioners Brendan Carr and Nathan Simington, it said Friday in docket 18-349. NCTA urged that the commission keep the top-four prohibition as part of the 2018 quadrennial review. It also urged extending the op-four prohibition to low-power stations and multicast streams -- a way broadcasters today circumvent the prohibition, it said.

Representatives of the ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox affiliates associations continued lobbying the FCC 10th floor for the ability of broadcasters in small markets to air more than one network-affiliated program schedule via a low-power TV station or multicast stream, according to a docket 18-349 filing Thursday, recapping a meeting with an aide to Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. Previously, the broadcast representatives made similar arguments with the offices of Commissioners Brendan Carr and Geoffrey Starks (see 2311270041).

The FCC Tuesday approved a request by NAB and low-power FM entity REC for a 90-day extension (see 2311150068), until March 11, the deadline for a change to broadcaster emergency alerting operations. The extension applies only to companies working with Sage Alerting Systems, which caused problems cited in the waiver request, an order from the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau said. The deadline for other broadcasters remains Dec. 12. NAB and REC complained Sage won't be able to release a required firmware update “necessary to make the Commission’s promulgated changes until shortly before the December compliance deadline,” the bureau said: “We are persuaded that Sage’s delay in delivering the necessary update is beyond the control of EAS Participants and will impede its customers’ ability to meet” the deadline. “We deny, however, the Extension Request to the extent it requests a waiver on behalf of all EAS Participants,” the bureau said.

Constraining broadcasters in small markets from airing more than one network-affiliated program schedule via a low-power TV station or multicast stream would chill investment and hamper growth, representatives of the ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox affiliates associations told aides to FCC Commissioners Brendan Carr and Geoffrey Starks, said docket 18-349 filings Monday. Using a multicast stream or LPTV station to deliver a second Big Four network in a small market isn't exploitation of a duopoly rule loophole "but instead reflects broadcast businesses that have been structured in keeping with the Commission’s current ownership rules in a way that best serves their local communities," the broadcasters said.

The FCC should move forward with authorizing power increases for most digital FM stations even though concerns remain about outlets on 107.9 MHz interfering with aircraft navigation, NAB and Xperi said in an ex parte letter (see 2309220071) posted in docket 22-405 Monday. “The FCC should move forward with regard to those digital FM stations operating on 99 of the 100 designated FM broadcast channels and table the matter only for digital radio stations that operate on 107.9 MHz,” said the filing. NAB and Xperi said testing of possible interference with aviation equipment could continue after the rule change allowing increased power. “This testing could take several months. It would not serve the public interest to delay the benefits of the Commission’s proposal for the vast majority of broadcasters,” the filing said. Digital FM stations operating on 107.9 MHz could be required to request experimental authorization from the FCC when seeking to increase power, the filing said. This “well-established process” would provide a mechanism for aviation stakeholders to get advance notice of a specific station’s proposed power increase and to address any concerns, the filing said.

ATSC 3.0’s physical layer is one of two technologies being evaluated to form the over-the-air transmission component of Brazil’s new "TV 3.0" broadcast standard, said the Advanced Television Systems Committee in a release Monday. Other elements of the ATSC 3.0 standard were already selected. The physical layer has been selected to advance from lab testing to field-testing, the release said. The final phase of the evaluation is set to conclude in 2024.

A draft 2018 quadrennial review order was circulated to the 10th floor, according to the FCC’s circulation web page (see 2309290056). The FCC is expected to announce its December open meeting agenda later this week, and the item’s circulation ahead of that suggests it will not be part of the session. The FCC typically doesn’t release draft versions of non-meeting items before they are voted, and the contents of the draft QR order aren’t yet clear. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit has given the agency until Dec. 27 to act on the 2018 QR, but attorneys told us the court is likely to view the item’s circulation as sufficient to meet the deadline. FCC officials have told us the item may not be voted by Dec. 27 (see 2311070072). FCC and industry officials have told us they expect a 2022 QR order to soon follow the 2018 version.

FCC licensing rules for ATSC 3.0 multicast streams are now in effect, the FCC Media Bureau said in a public notice Thursday. The Media Bureau “is ready to accept Next Gen TV license applications that involve simulcast multicast streams and/or non-simulcast 1.0 multicast streams,” according to the PN. The multicast rules for broadcasters hosting each other’s content as part of the 3.0 transition were approved in June as part of the agency’s order on ATSC 3.0 sunsets (see 2306230067). With the rule changes effective, the bureau will no longer process or extend grants of special temporary authority connected with 3.0 multicasts. Before the June order, the bureau used the STA process to permit broadcasters to host the programming of other broadcasters. Broadcasters airing multicast streams under STAs have a “grace period” until Dec. 18 to file a multicast license application, the PN said.

NAB and low-power FM entity REC Networks want the FCC to extend by 90 days, until March 11, the deadline for a change to broadcaster emergency alerting operations. “Simply put, it is already too late" for many emergency alert system participants to meet the current deadline, said NAB and REC in an ex parte filing posted Wednesday in docket 15-94. Broadcasters currently have until Dec. 12 to update their EAS systems to comply with an FCC requirement from September 2022 that they prioritize alerts delivered by the Internet-based common alerting protocol over analog alerts delivered via the broadcast-based daisy-chain (see 2209290017). Alerts delivered via CAP have fuller text and multiple language options, making them more accessible. Sage Alerting, a major EAS equipment manufacturer, announced earlier this month that it won’t be prepared to push out the needed update until shortly before the deadline. “We have made the FCC aware that the update has taken us longer to produce than we had anticipated, and that there will be insufficient time for many of our users to install the update by the December 12, 2023 deadline,” said the Sage website. Smaller broadcasters use contract engineers to implement this sort of update, and the limited supply of such engineers, Sage’s delay, and the impending holidays will prevent many broadcasters from meeting the deadline, NAB and REC said. “Granting this extension request will not reduce EAS functionality because EAS Participants will continue to be able to process EAS messages as they do today, without any disruption or impairment,” according to the filing.