Washington Beat

By way of a Public Notice distributed on Thursday, the FCC's Incentive Auction Task Force and the Media and Wireless Telecommunications Bureaus have identified each station subject to a winning reverse auction bid in the broadcast television spectrum incentive auction for which an incentive payment is ready to be paid.

The House E&C Committee has finally rescheduled its oversight hearing on the FCC — scrubbed in March as it conflicted with the Senate Commerce Committee's oversight hearing. Now, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and Commissioners Mignon Clyburn and Michael O'Rielly are set to head to the Rayburn HOB on Tuesday morning for what will likely be a nearly three-hour inquiry.

Paging Flo & Eddie: A quintet of Congressional leaders are on your side. With the NAB-backed Local Radio Freedom Act now boasting 206 co-sponsors in the House and 23 in the Senate and little, if any, interest in H.R. 1914 (The PROMOTE Act of 2017) or the better-known "Fair Play Fair Pay Act" (H.R. 1836), a California Republican in the House of Representatives is now taking aim at pre-1972 copyrights.

The efforts of California Rep. Darrell Issa and Rep. Marsha Blackburn to bring new performance rights fees to radio stations appear to be as successful as those in the Senate designed to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. 

The owner of a Class A radio station in rural Seward, Alaska has been issued a Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture in the amount of $66,000 for what the FCC says are "numerous apparent violations" of its rules — including actions that undermine the effectiveness of the Emergency Alert System.

In addition to the nominations of Jessica Rosenworcel and Brendan Carr to serve as Commissioners on the FCC, Chairman Ajit Pai awaits a confirmation by the U.S. Senate. That's because President Trump has nominated Pai to serve another term at the Commission, which supersedes his ascension to the chairmanship. While noting that over the past several years "you have come to know me and where I stand," he shared several perspectives from outside the Beltway, and noted that the stories of many "stay with me." In short, " they fuel my passion to help deliver digital opportunity to all Americans and advance the public interest."

After nearly three hours of queries from members of the powerful Senate Committee on Commerce, Science & Transportation, the expected confirmation of two new FCC Commissioners is closer to arrival.

In prepared testimony delivered Wednesday to the Senate Commerce, Science & Transportation Committee, former Democratic Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel stated her case as to why the word "former" should be deleted, and why she should return to the FCC. In doing so, Rosenworcel reflected on her months away from the Commission by saying that, while trite but true, a little distance provides perspective. "In my time away, one thing has become abundantly clear," she says. "The future belongs to the connected."

The following column, in the opinion of Radio+Television Business Report featured columnist Ken Benner, is "absolute must reading for every broadcast licensee from which you can learn all you don't want to know about in a 10-minute perusal." He adds that his "FCC FY 2018 Budget In Brief" report "clearly documents" what he's been ranting about over the past 10 years, much to the chagrin of his adversaries.

William J. Potts, a longtime Washington communications attorney who led a firm acquired by Garvey Schubert Barer in 2000, passed away at his home in Glen Echo, Md., on Monday, July 10, after a short illness. He was 87.

Since stepping down as FCC Chairman on Inauguration Day in January, Tom Wheeler has been relatively mum on what's transpiring at his ol' stomping grounds since becoming a senior fellow at Washington, D.C. think tank The Aspen Institute. Wheeler broke his silence on what the Commission is plotting following his exit in a big way last week, by way of a "Techtank" column appearing at the Brookings Institution's website.

Looking for insight on radio’s regulatory and economic future? Make plans to be in Austin, Tex., on Sept. 6 for the 2017 Radio Show, produced by the NAB and the RAB. Leading financial forecasters and radio group executives will provide insight on where radio stations are from a "dollars to D.C." perspective in a session led by Scott Flick, a partner at the Pillsbury law firm.

The FCC's Incentive Auction Task Force this morning calculated the aggregate amount of the estimated costs of reimbursement-eligible TV stations and MVPDs faced with new post-incentive auction channel assignments. The figure is upward of $2.1 billion.

Being late for school can send you to detention. A school being late with the FCC? That's a financial penalty, and a college in South Carolina just got a Notice of Apparent Liability for failing to meet an important due date.

Four Members of the House of Representatives and one Senator have joined as co-sponsors of a bipartisan resolution that opposes "any new performance fee, tax, royalty, or other charge" on local broadcast radio stations.