Sinclair Broadcast created a political action committee, according to the Federal Election Commission (http://1.usa.gov/1ivMfPn). The committee will focus on media ownership and other issues important to Sinclair, according to Senior Vice President Strategy and Policy Rebecca Hanson, who’s listed as the PAC’s treasurer. The statement of organization for the committee was filed with the FEC on Monday, according to the website.

Public TV stations and noncommercial stations should be “held harmless” in the post-incentive auction repacking, said PBS, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and Association of Public Television Stations in joint reply comments ((http://bit.ly/RrJwk9)filed in response to the Widelity report (http://bit.ly/1piNbdY) Tuesday. Public television stations’ “procurement processes, unique organizational structures, public oversight, and applicable grant restrictions may significantly increase the time such stations will need to complete the transition,” said the joint filing. The repacking is also likely to be substantially more expensive and take more time than estimated by the FCC and the report, the joint filing said. “The estimated costs do not account for the basic economic principle that prices increase when there is greater demand for equipment and services and scarce supply,” said the filing. “There simply are too many bottlenecks and unknowns outside of broadcasters’ control to conclude that stations will not experience much longer transition times than the Report estimates.")

The FCC dismissed the application for review (AFR) from Mariana Broadcasting that urged the commission to review the Media Bureau’s decision allowing New Jersey Public Broadcasting Authority to cancel its license for FM translator W276BX, Pompton Lakes, New Jersey. Mariana lacked standing to file the AFR, the FCC said in a memorandum opinion and order (http://fcc.us/1jFBCy4). On the AFR file date, Nov. 1, 2010, Mariana “had neither an agreement with NJPBA to rebroadcast its AM signal over the translator at issue or acquire the translator license,” the commission said. The bureau’s cancellation of the license wasn’t causing any injury to Mariana “because it had no reasonable expectation to use the facility with its AM station,” it said. Commissioner Ajit Pai said he would like to vote to grant the AFR to Mariana. Mariana presented a compelling case “for why it would be in the public interest for WGHT(AM), a daytime-only station, to have an FM translator,” he said in a statement referring to Mariana’s station (http://bit.ly/1fSi4aq). “Going forward, I hope that the Commission soon will open an FM translator window for AM stations” so WGHT and other stations will have an opportunity to improve local service, he said.

The FCC “has done almost nothing positive or proactive” to attract broadcasters to the incentive auction, said Preston Padden, executive director of the Expanding Opportunities for Broadcasters Coalition, in informal comments filed in docket 12-268 Thursday. “We can think of no more sure path to a failed auction,” said Padden. To maximize broadcaster participation, the FCC should disavow any plan to relate the value of a station in the auction to its coverage area or ratings, Padden said. The FCC is buying spectrum rather than broadcast stations, said the filing. “The only factor relevant to the FCC’s valuation of a broadcast license, therefore, is the value of not having to repack that station,” Padden said. There’s no correlation between a station’s population served and the value of not having to repack it, Padden said. The commission could also increase broadcaster participation by keeping any bidding restrictions on AT&T and Verizon from having too much effect, the filing said. Such restrictions shouldn’t kick in until a very high threshold has been reached, and should allow the companies to buy at least 20 MHz of spectrum in any given geographic area, Padden said. “If the FCC prevents Verizon and AT&T from obtaining at least 20 MHz each, it could severely restrict auction revenues, dampening broadcaster interest.” The commission should also provide broadcasters with “a detailed roadmap” of the auction process to allow them to make business decisions, and share any available pricing information with broadcasters, Padden said. “In the absence of pricing guidance from the Commission, innovative channel sharing agreements are on hold and interested broadcasters are developing alternatives to auction participation -- launching new networks and entering into lucrative new programming arrangements,” said the filing.

The Advanced Television Broadcasting Alliance (ATBA) said the FCC doesn’t have the authority to dismantle the low-power TV and translator industries for the broadcast spectrum incentive auctions. ATBA’s membership includes LPTV broadcasters, owners and translator operators, it said in an ex parte filing in docket 12-268 (http://bit.ly/1hxYknM). The commission doesn’t have the authority “to achieve the same result by conducting the auction without consideration of the impact on these vital local services,” it said. ATBA asked for a full rulemaking proceeding on LPTV issues. If the auction is to rely on repacking “feasibility checks” between bidding rounds, commission staff “should be required to assess the net impact on LPTV and translator facilities,” it said. It also called for preservation of diversity and localism, full transparency in the repacking process and other factors.

The FCC should perform a cost-benefit analysis on including low-power TV stations in the reverse auction, said company Free Access & Broadcast Telemedia in an ex parte filing Wednesday (http://bit.ly/1qf9siz). “Allowing LPTV into the auction is the seamless way to clear the maximum amount of spectrum expeditiously,” and will lessen the burden on the FCC to relocate stations after the incentive auction, the filing said. “After repacking full service and Class A TV stations, there is a looming shortage of relocation opportunities expected for LPTV in the 600 MHz band,” said the ex parte. The FCC should include such an analysis in its upcoming incentive auction report & order, or at least in the LPTV NPRM proposed for issue after the report and order, the filing said. Including LPTV in the auction would minimize “the harmful unfunded private mandate thrust upon thousands of legitimate, bona fide licensees,” said Free Access. It said the FCC should “consider the most free-market and inclusionary approach to treating all broadcast licensees equitably by allowing LPTV and translators in the auction."

The FCC should preserve the current retransmission consent regime, said CBS President Les Moonves in a meeting with FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler Friday, according to an ex parte filing (http://bit.ly/1jBu7bp). Retrans revenue is “critical” to CBS’s ability to produce programming, Moonves said. He also asked the FCC not to eliminate the sports blackout and network non-duplication/syndicated exclusivity rules, the filing said. The rules help broadcasting remain “a vibrant platform” for sports and preserve localism, Moonves said. He also told Wheeler that if the FCC eliminates the UHF discount, it should also raise the national ownership cap, and that some broadcasters need joint sales agreements to remain economically viable, the filing said.

The FCC should consider the incentive auction’s effect on low-power TV stations and translators at every stage of the auction process, said the LPTV group Advanced Television Broadcasting Alliance in an ex parte filing Monday (http://bit.ly/1fN2wEV). Though the Media Bureau has said it will recommend that an NPRM on the auction’s effects on LPTV be released after the auction report and order, that’s not soon enough, said ATBA. “If the FCC resolves all other auction issues before considering the treatment of LPTV and translators, some of the best options may have already been foreclosed,” said the filing. “The FCC does not have authority from Congress to simply dismantle the LPTV and translator industries or to achieve the same result by conducting the auction without consideration of the impact on these vital local services.” The FCC should be “an honest broker” in the incentive auction and allow the market to determine how much spectrum is needed rather than pressing broadcasters to participate, said ATBA. The commission shouldn’t care “how much spectrum is relinquished and re-sold, or even whether the auction closes at all in the reverse and forward auctions,” said ATBA. The FCC’s “clearly stated preference for repurposing as much spectrum as possible” is troubling because the FCC will be running the auction, ATBA said. The group also opposes the band plan proposed by the FCC because it emphasizes spectrum repurposing, the filing says. The commission should also allow flexible use for displaced LPTV and translator licensees, and issue a “time-out” on LPTV construction obligations until a reasonable period of time after the auction and repacking, the filing said. “No one could rationally dispute the futility of undertaking any LPTV construction when the FCC has taken the position that any or all facilities could be displaced at some time in the future,” said ATBA.

The FCC Media Bureau dismissed Guaranty Broadcasting Company’s petition for reconsideration of the commission’s grant of Alex Media’s application for a new FM station at Belle Rose, Louisiana. Guaranty hasn’t met the burden of showing either a material error in the FCC’s original order, or raising additional facts, “not known or existing at the time of the petitioner’s last opportunity to present such matters,” the bureau said in a letter to attorneys for Alex Media (http://fcc.us/1fNkXsU). The petition merely repeats arguments raised in Guaranty’s informal objection, it said.

ONE Media, created by Sinclair and Coherent Logix, will build a “Next Generation Broadcast Platform” that offers wireless access to “premium video content” without a data cap, said ONE Media in a news release Tuesday (http://bit.ly/1hvpfjT). The platform will “harmonize television broadcasting with LTE-based mobile infrastructure” and will be used on TVs in the home, over Wi-Fi on mobile devices, or over mobile broadband, said ONE Media. The “Open Network Enabled broadcast/broadband converged Media platform” will extend 3GPP LTE standards “to accommodate existing high power/tall tower broadcast infrastructure” and “eliminate the technical limitations of a conventional mobile TV standard to penetrate mobile devices,” it said. The platform can be built and demonstrated within 12 months, said ONE Media CEO Tommy Eng. The platform is intended to “align the business interests of various parties” to facilitate the Advanced Television Systems Committee 3.0 standardization process,” said ONE Media. “The challenge of meeting broadcaster needs through the current ‘Next Generation’ (ATSC 3.0) activity within the ATSC organization is difficult due to there being little business alignment between broadcast consumer electronics (CE), and other wireless industries,” it said. “A standards development organization is not a suitable forum in which to align business interests."