The FCC lacks Communications Act Section 706 authority to pre-empt state laws that pose obstacles to municipal broadband projects, said groups including the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL). USTelecom flipped the debate, arguing that the agency should use the pre-emption authority it does have to remove local governments’ barriers to private investment.
Gray Television will transfer six TV stations to new minority and female owners through deals brokered by MMTC Media and Telecom Brokers, the brokerage arm of the Minority Media and Telecommunications Council, said the broadcaster in a news release Wednesday (http://bit.ly/1vStuhY). The stations had been operated under shared service agreements, all of which were unwound as part of the transfers, Gray Senior Vice President-Business Affairs Kevin Latek told us. “This proves that Sinclair didn’t have to turn in its licenses” for stations involved in sharing arrangements that were part of its deal to buy Allbritton’s TV stations, Georgetown Law Institute for Public Representation Senior Counselor Andrew Schwartzman told us. In working to sell the stations, MMTC was allowed to market them to “socially disadvantaged enterprises, such as businesses controlled by women, minorities, or innovative new entrants, or non-profit entities such as a school or religious institutions,” Gray said. The company said its KXJB-TV Fargo, North Dakota, will be transferred to Major Market Broadcasting, which airs programming from Diya TV, “America’s first South Asian broadcast television network.” KJCT-TV Grand Junction, Colorado, will be transferred to Jeff Chang and his wife Gabriela Gomez-Chang, and broadcast programming targeted toward the Hispanic population, said Gray. Female owned Legacy Broadcasting, a new company, will buy KHAS-TV Hastings, Nebraska, KAQY-TV Monroe, Louisiana, and North Dakota’s KNDX-TV Bismarck and KXND-TV Minot, said Gray. It’s “shown how a corporation can deploy its assets creatively for the great benefit of the industry and the public,” said MMTC President David Honig. FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said he applauds Gray and MMTC’s “commitment” to finding buyers that increase diversity of ownership and programming. “Such actions demonstrate how our rules can actively promote both competition and diversity, keep stations on the air, and serve the public interest,” Wheeler said in a statement (http://fcc.us/1vStX3R
Those wanting the FCC to deny Comcast’s planned buy of Time Warner Cable are likely to be disappointed when the agency likely approves it with conditions, cable operator and programmer officials told us Wednesday. Though several powerful commenters, including Dish Network, asked the FCC to deny the transaction, many others suggested possible conditions, said an industry official. Many other influential entities, such as large content companies and NAB, didn’t weigh in for or against the deal. “It’s very dangerous to come out against this deal because of the amount of influence Comcast will have if it’s approved,” said Georgetown Law Institute for Public Representation Senior Counselor Andrew Schwartzman, who filed comments opposing Comcast/TWC.
Those wanting the FCC to deny Comcast’s planned buy of Time Warner Cable are likely to be disappointed when the agency likely approves it with conditions, cable operator and programmer officials told us Wednesday. Though several powerful commenters, including Dish Network, asked the FCC to deny the transaction, many others suggested possible conditions, said an industry official. Many other influential entities, such as large content companies and NAB, didn’t weigh in for or against the deal. “It’s very dangerous to come out against this deal because of the amount of influence Comcast will have if it’s approved,” said Georgetown Law Institute for Public Representation Senior Counselor Andrew Schwartzman, who filed comments opposing Comcast/TWC.
FCC proceedings on petitions to pre-empt North Carolina and Tennessee laws on municipal broadband are likely to become a showdown about the extent of the commission’s authority under Communications Act Section 706 and the applicability of the Supreme Court’s 2004 decision in Nixon v. Missouri Municipal League, industry observers told us. The FCC is reviewing pre-emption petitions from Chattanooga, Tennessee, and Wilson, North Carolina. Matthew Berry, chief of staff to FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai, said in a speech Wednesday that the FCC’s authority to pre-empt state laws municipal broadband laws under Section 706 was weak and that the precedent the Supreme Court set in Nixon would likely doom pre-emption in court (CD Aug. 21 p10).
FCC proceedings on petitions to pre-empt North Carolina and Tennessee laws on municipal broadband are likely to become a showdown about the extent of the commission’s authority under Communications Act Section 706 and the applicability of the Supreme Court’s 2004 decision in Nixon v. Missouri Municipal League, industry observers told us. The FCC is reviewing pre-emption petitions from Chattanooga, Tennessee, and Wilson, North Carolina. Matthew Berry, chief of staff to FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai, said in a speech Wednesday that the FCC’s authority to pre-empt state laws municipal broadband laws under Section 706 was weak and that the precedent the Supreme Court set in Nixon would likely doom pre-emption in court (WID Aug. 21 p11).
The FCC’s 2014 Quadrennial Review of broadcast ownership rules is unlikely to lead to substantive change in the commission’s rules, several broadcast attorneys and industry observers told us. Comments on the quadrennial rulemaking were due last week, and though many commenters asked for rule changes, some didn’t seem to think such changes were likely. The review is mandated by Congress.
The FCC Media Bureau approved a temporary waiver of newspaper/broadcast cross-ownership (NBCO) rules and the license renewal application for Fox’s WWOR-TV Secaucus, New Jersey, over objections from public interest groups, said an order Friday (http://bit.ly/1uwy44J). The NBCO waiver is necessary to allow Fox to own both the station and the New York Post, the order said. In several petitions to deny and objections to the waiver and WWOR’s renewal, Free Press, United Church of Christ and Voice for New Jersey said WWOR had not fulfilled its obligation to serve northern New Jersey, the order said. Public interest groups had also accused Fox of misrepresenting how much northern New Jersey news and content the station was broadcasting (CD Feb 18/11 p6). The bureau concluded that any misrepresentations were “unintentional and harmless errors.” “Whether the station might have selected different stories to cover or presented its stories using different formats is not a part of our review,” said the order. “It is well-settled law that the Commission does not substitute its own editorial judgment for that of a licensee.” The bureau’s decision “whitewashed Fox’s abject failure to meet the needs of Northern New Jersey,” said Georgetown Law Institute for Public Representation Senior Counselor Andrew Schwartzman, who represented Voice for New Jersey in the matter. Fox’s NBCO waiver is temporary, pegged to the commission’s 2014 quadrennial review proceeding, the order said. Fox will have 90 days after the effective date of a 2014 quadrennial review order that either adopts a new NBCO rule or upholds the existing one to either come into compliance or request another waiver, the order said.
FCC Commissioner Mike O'Rielly Thursday said the FCC should publish the text of proposed orders before they get a vote by commissioners. Writing on the commission’s blog, O'Rielly said more transparency would lead to a fairer, more efficient rulemaking process. Currently, the FCC releases the texts of orders only after they're approved, in some cases months later. Industry officials said the proposal is likely to prove controversial.
Nexstar agreed to sell WEVV-TV (CBS) Evansville, Indiana, to a company run by and partly owned by an African American, as part of Department of Justice-required divestitures. Bayou City Broadcasting Evansville (BCBE) would pay $18.6 million for WEVV, and the FCC must approve the deal, said Nexstar in a news release. BCBE is a owned by affiliates of Alta Communications, Bayou City Broadcasting (BCB) and Sankaty Advisors, and BCB owner DuJuan McCoy will run BCBE. (See separate report below in this issue.) It’s “the second time in the last two months that Nexstar has structured an agreement that furthers the FCC’s goal of increasing minority television ownership diversity,” said Nexstar CEO Perry Sook Monday (http://bit.ly/1lwIVWS). Another recently disclosed Nexstar sale agreement is of three Fox affiliates to Marshall Broadcasting Group, a newly formed minority-owned firm, as Nexstar is buying Communications Corporation of America. Nexstar said it expects to complete all pending deals this year. Selling WEVV “brings the overall CCA transaction into compliance” with DOJ “requirements for approval and will release the pending transaction from hold pending divestiture,” said Nexstar. Marshall’s deal to buy the three Nexstar stations was seen as a template of sorts for other broadcasters to get M&A through an FCC perceived as hostile to such deals (CD June 11 p9). The National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters, which supported the recent station sale to Marshall, also backed the WVEE divestiture, while public interest lawyer Andrew Schwartzman had questions about it. The WVEE deal “is the first independent purchase of a television station by an African American owned company in several years,” said a news release from NABOB, which has BCB as a member. “Unlike several recent transactions in which African American owners have purchased stations connected with larger media companies through joint sales agreements (JSAs) and/or shared services agreements (SSAs), the Bayou transaction is a completely independent transaction.” There are no JSA or SSA pacts, said the association. Nexstar’s news release gives few details, emailed Schwartzman, senior counselor at Georgetown Law’s Institute for Public Representation. A Nexstar lawyer didn’t comment. “A number of questions are left unanswered,” Schwartzman told us.