Of the many licensees of low-power television stations that have been actively trading properties of late, Lowcountry 34 Media has been more of the prominent ones.
The company led by Jeff Winemiller has most recently snapped up unbuilt LPTVs right before a construction deadline, donated a LPTV to an Indiana public television broadcaster, and spun off an Arkansas property to Weigel Broadcasting.
Now, Winemiller is writing a check to the U.S. Treasury. Why? He’s given the approval to a Consent Decree with the FCC to resolve a matter in which Lowcountry 34 was charged with abusing the Commission’s licensing process.
To be clear, Winemiller’s Consent Decree absolves Lowcountry 34 Media of any transgressions. That said, the Order released Monday (3/7) by new Media Bureau Chief Holly Saurer led the recently formed LPTV Broadcasters Association to issue an “alert” to its members that the FCC “is getting serious about the limits on ‘hops.’”
The matter focuses on whether or not Lowcountry 34 Media “engaged in an abuse of process through its filing of serial minor modification applications to construct and license temporary facilities” with the intent of relocating some of the LPTV and TV translator stations more than 30 miles and without contour overlap.
That’s a transgression, as the Media Bureau notes this circumvents the FCC’s major modification process.
Winemiller admits liability. As such, Lowcountry 34 Media will pay a $250,000 civil penalty while implementing “a comprehensive compliance plan.”
There’s more — Lowcountry 34 Media is agreeing to voluntary relinquish the licenses and authorizations of a significantly large group of properties. Listed as “Appendix B” in the Order, it totals six pages.
In short, Winemiller is relinquishing the licenses of 95 low-power TV facilities, inclusive of unbuilt facilities. They include properties in Boise, Idaho, the beta test market for Evoca; Minneapolis-St. Paul; Columbia, Mo.; Bakersfield; and Wilmington, N.C.
To view the entire Order, please click here.
“After reviewing the terms of the Consent Decree, we find that the public interest will be
served by adopting the Consent Decree and terminating the Bureau’s referenced investigation,” Saurer said.
Stations that Lowcountry 34 is selling to qualified third-party buyers pending FCC approval will proceed as planned.
UNAUTHORIZED HOPSCOTCH
As of today, Lowcountry holds 80 LPTV licenses and 128 new, unbuilt LPTV construction permits. In September 2021, under the leadership of Michelle Carey, the Bureau launched an investigation into the operational status of the stations and the licensee’s construction and licensing practices.
While Lowcountry 34 contends that each licensed station was constructed in accordance with the parameters set forth in the station’s underlying construction permit, it now admits that “for a number of stations for which a license to cover was filed,” it installed temporary
transmission equipment that was ultimately removed.
As such, the stations were not constructed to provide a permanent television service to the public. While in some cases temporary equipment was installed because of Lowcountry’s “alleged difficulty” obtaining equipment as a result of supply chain issues caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, in the case of at least 30 stations, the use of temporary equipment was employed “in order to facilitate a series of repeated moves with the ultimate goal of moving the stations to locations substantial distances, in some cases over 100 miles, from the location specified in the station’s initial construction permit,” Saurer said in the Order.
Saurer spelled out Lowcountry 34’s scheme in detail.
First, she said, Lowcountry would file an application for minor modification to relocate the station within 30 miles of its licensed site. Upon grant of the minor modification application, Lowcountry would construct temporary facilities, with “no objective of providing permanent service at the new location.”
After filing a license to cover application for that temporary location and receiving a grant, Lowcountry would apply for Special Temporary Authority to be silent. Lowcountry would simultaneously remove the equipment from the site and file for a new minor modification to again relocate the station up to 30 miles away.
Lowcountry would then repeat this process until the facility was moved to its desired location.
This practice had the ultimate effect of relocating stations, many of which were applied for during the 2009 Rural LPTV Filing Window, to more densely populated areas.
“Given the facts, these moves should have been filed as major modifications,” Saurer said. “Lowcountry’s actions and filings amounted to an abuse of the Commission’s licensing processes and potential violation of section 74.787 of the Rules.”
Meanwhile, due to delays resulting from the Media Bureau investigation coupled with supply chain delays experienced by Lowcountry 34 in obtaining the necessary equipment to complete construction of its facilities, the Bureau granted a waiver of the Commission’s tolling rule and agreed to toll the construction permit expiration dates for a group of stations (shown in Appendix E in the full order) for a period of four months from the decree’s effective date.
Lastly, Lowcountry 34 has agreed to “promptly commence” operations of all licensed and silent stations within one year of going silent. To the extent Lowcountry has failed to file a request for silent authority with the Commission, it must do so within five business days of the decree’s effective date.
A compliance plan detailed in the Order has also been initiated by Winemiller.
