Washington Beat

At a colossally large conference with much of the action and activity in the Central Hall – where the tech players are, as opposed to the North Hall with a lighter flow of attendees checking out radio and TV tech firms’ exhibit booths – FCC Chairman Ajit Pai began his address by talking about radio and ending with a reference to Vin Scully, and how his ability to step out of the way at the best time is a perfect allegory for how the Commission should regulate broadcasters.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, seen Monday afternoon walking through the lobby of the Wynn Hotel, earlier in the day announced that he intends to establish a Federal Advisory Committee on Diversity and Digital Empowerment. While the lone Democrat on the Commission and the head of the MMTC are pleased, one former FCC Chairman is very disappointed.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai has taken the push for diversity and digital empowerment to a new level. Today, Pai revealed his intent to establish a new federal advisory committee focused expressly on the topic.

If you are thinking about selling your station and want to make sure that you receive top dollar, Erwin Krasnow, the co-chair of the Communications Group of D.C. law form Garvey Schubert Barer, and Doug Ferber, a respected media financial consultant have some recommendations for you to consider before placing your property on the market.

If there was one event that could bring together FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, the top leaders of the broadcast television industry and an endless array of exhibitors eager to grow their media tech sales, the 2017 NAB Show now officially underway in Southern Nevada is the definitive draw.

The Incentive Auction Task Force and Media Bureau have finalized the assignment of Regional Coordinators to support broadcast television stations moving to new channel assignments in the post-incentive auction transition period.

Mark Jamison, a visiting Fellow with the American Enterprise Institute’s Center for Internet, Communication, and Technology who serves as Director and Gunter Professor of the Public Utility Research Center at the University of Florida, has been vocal about his desire to reform the FCC. In this Media Information Bureau column, Jamison hopes Chairman Ajit Pai and his colleagues "continue to fight back and return the agency to its former solid analytical footing" — and away from "regulation by drama."

Entercom Communications on Wednesday (4/19) received a request for additional information and documentary material, often referred to as a “second request,” from the Department of Justice in regard to its Reverse Morris Trust-fueled tax-free merger with CBS Radio.

The FCC on Thursday received a petition for rulemaking from the NAB regarding the potential interference caused by FM translators to full-power radio stations. Specifically, the NAB proposed certain rule and policy changes designed to provide translator licensees greater flexibility to resolve any interference issues, and to facilitate "the efficient disposition of interference complaints against translators."

The FCC unanimously approved its April Open Meeting Consent Agenda on Thursday. Up for consideration were an item involving a now-defunct low power TV station and a CP for an FM in Washington State.

Much fun -- including FCC Chairman Ajit Pai singing the chorus to a Rick Astley classic -- was seen at the start of a meeting that involved the Commission's relaxation of third-party fundraising restrictions for noncommercial radio and TV stations. The Commission also made a party-line 2-1 ruling that made optional a previously mandatory requirement that compelled the officers and board members of noncommercial educational stations to report personal information. We've got the details.

Mignon Clyburn's impassioned argument against the reversal of a Wheeler Commission decision to dump the discount fell on the deaf ears of FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and Republican FCC Commissioner Michael O'Rielly, with its reinstatement approved just after Noon in a party-line 2-1 vote.

A Petition for Rulemaking that seeks the initiation of a proceeding that would repeal the radio an TV Main Studio Rule was filed on Thursday with the Commission.

Two key leaders of the House of Representatives have engaged in a last-minute — and likely futile — fight to get the FCC's key Republican leadership to stop its push to restore the UHF discount used to calculate compliance with the national television audience reach cap.

The former FCC Media Bureau Chief and veteran communications lawyer has joined one of the nation's most prominent communications law firms. He will provide counsel to clients on a variety of telecommunications and media issues.