Washington Beat

Just in time for Halloween, a "zombie" has surfaced in Washington. And, the Commission is comfortable enough with this creature living on an island off the coast of Los Angeles that it's treating it unlike Godzilla. That's because the FCC has given its approval to the first-ever transaction involving a channel-sharing agreement, a so-called "zombie" station resulting from the Commission's incentive auction, before the channel-sharing has even commenced.

The Media Bureau is temporarily lifting a freeze imposed on the filing and processing of full power and Class A station applications—a move that it says "will help ensure the utility of an upcoming application filing window for secondary stations displaced by the incentive auction repacking process."

Doug Ferber of DEFcom Advisors LLC and Erwin Krasnow of Garvey Schubert Barer have created a special podcast series exclusively for RBR+TVBR members based on a series of articles centered on the topic “Broadcast Deal Myths Debunked.” In this seventh podcast installment, Ferber and Krasnow discuss the one part of any transaction that goes beyond intellectual property, possession of a broadcast license, or equipment acquisition — real estate. This is one of Ferber's favorite topics. Why?

That's a question tackled today by David Oxenford, a partner at M Street law firm Wilkinson Barker Knauer. In this column, Oxenford notes, "Under FCC precedent, all legally qualified candidates (including those running for state and local offices) must be provided lowest unit rates, equal opportunities to purchase advertising time matching purchases by their opponents and, when they do buy time, the no censorship rules apply to their ads. For Federal candidates, they also have a right of reasonable access." But, is a write-in candidate a “legally qualified candidate?”

In a 4-1 vote that saw FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn as the lone dissenter, the Commission has affirmed the dismissal of an application for a Class A license by the owner of a low-power TV station in San Diego. 

Two Democratic members of the U.S. Senate and a powerful Republican Senator united to introduce legislation today that's designed to "bring needed transparency and accountability to online political ads." In short, the Honest Ads Act would make public who bought an online political ad—and bring to digital media the same rules as seen for political ads airing on radio and television. Similar legislation set for introduction in the House of Representatives would do the same.

The deputy solicitor general for West Virginia's Attorney General has been selected as the Commission's top legal advisor. The move comes as acting General Counsel Nick Degani transitions back to his role as senior counsel in the Office of Chairman Ajit Pai.

The House Energy & Commerce Committee's Subcommittee on Communications and Technology, chaired by Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), will hold its second FCC Oversight hearing of the current Congress next Wednesday. This will be the first Oversight Hearing for the full Commission, however, and it will begin at 2pm Eastern in the Rayburn House Office Building.

A community self-described as one comprised “of more than 90,000 technology professionals and consumers committed to advancing innovation, growing our nation’s IT economy, and enhancing the fabric of our nation through technology” has once again urged the FCC to preserve no less than three TV white spaces channels in every market in the nation that can be used to carry “innovative broadband technology.”

Today marks a very special occasion for the Recording Academy. It’s District Advocate Day, which sees the activation of group members across the country to meet with their local member of Congress "to discuss important updates to music legislation." Translation: Lobbying is being done to gain support for presently moribund House bills that would impose more royalty fees on radio stations across the U.S.

"Ol' Dad" Ken Benner, a featured RBR+TVBR Media Information Bureau columnist based in Tucson, remains determined to find ways to keep your radio station's balance sheet free of payments to the U.S. Treasury, or to the FCC in response to a Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture. In his latest offering, Benner takes his magnifying glass and focuses on the Commission's instructions for license renewal form 303-S. You may wish to do the same, considering what he's uncovered.

Nearly one year ago, a buccaneer in the Heart of Dixie was slapped with a steep fine for operating an FM station without a license. The FCC's Enforcement Bureau has finally reviewed, and adjudicated, on the response to its NAL from the individual found to have been operating an unlicensed radio station in Guntersville, Ala. The message to this radio pirate? Surrender the booty.

The FCC has notched a victory against two multicultural advocacy groups in a District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals that upholds the Commission's belief that it is not required to mandate multilingual emergency alerts for all broadcast media stations. 

The Incentive Auction Task Force and the Media Bureau on Monday (10/16) affirmed the initial allocation of $1 billion in the TV Broadcaster Relocation Fund. The funds are the first designed to reimburse eligible full power and Class A broadcasters and multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs) for expenses related to the construction of station facilities on reassigned channels.

Nearly 60 Members of Congress have formally asked FCC Chairman Ajit Pai to stick to the current timeline for repacking TV stations, following the recently concluded broadcast spectrum incentive auction. The letter, which shows bipartisan support, urges Pai "to ensure" the 600 MHz spectrum that was made available by the FCC's broadcast incentive auction is cleared no later than July 3, 2020.