Washington Beat

As the FCC moves toward a decision in "GN Docket No.16-142," which authorizes the permissive use of the much-heralded "Next Generation" broadcast television standard (ATSC 3.0), one big MVPD has asked the Commission to start applying its "light-touch regulation" Chairman Ajit Pai and Commissioner Michael O'Rielly have been advocating since January.

The Commission today, at its October Open Meeting, agreed to issue a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that proposes to update two of its rules in an effort that the Republican majority believes will reduce regulatory burdens for broadcasters. In short, the proposal would save the trees by eliminating a lot of paperwork.

A longtime South Carolina politician who made a name for himself as the owner of a marketing firm specializing in statewide real estate auctions has just become the newest member of the powerful House Energy and Commerce Committee—the overseer of all FCC activities in the lower body of Congress. He's a big supporter of U.S.-Mexico border enforcement and "energy independence" that includes offshore oil and natural gas exploration, and the use of Yucca Mountain in Nevada for nuclear waste storage.

Don't think for a minute that Democratic FCC Commissioners Jessica Rosenworcel and Mignon Clyburn had the backing of multicultural broadcasting companies with respect to the soon-to-die Main Studio Rule enacted in 1939. The Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council (MMTC) on Tuesday immediately responded to the Commission's 3-2 party-line vote to kill the rule by offering its congratulations.

Here's a news story that broadcast media executives eager to drive dollars back from digital media should read with keen interest: The Ranking Member of the powerful House Energy and Commerce Committee has asked the heads of the three largest digital and social media companies to hold a meeting to discuss content management and advertising policies on their respective platforms.

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.