Monty Tayloe

The nationwide tests of the wireless emergency alert and broadcast emergency alert system appeared to go relatively smoothly Wednesday, according to early reports and interviews with public safety officials. Though Federal Emergency Management Agency and FCC officials and the agencies’ press materials said Tuesday that both tests were taking place at 2:20 p.m. EDT, the WEA appeared to go out at 2:18 EDT, which was the time listed on the August FCC public notice announcing the tests.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit show cause order Thursday giving the FCC 90 days to complete its 2018 quadrennial review was characterized Friday by NAB as a “big win” in an email to members. But broadcast and public interest attorneys said the agency was likely already on a path to approve the QR in that timeline.

The aviation industry raised concerns about an NAB-supported FCC proposal to allow increased power for digital FM, in comments posted in docket 22-405 for Thursday’s deadline. Interference from FM digital broadcasting at the upper end of the 88-108 MHz band” could disrupt the operations of navigation and landing systems and “present a significant safety hazard," said the Air Line Pilots Association, International in comments echoed by the General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA), the Aerospace Industries Association and others. GAMA is in talks with NAB about the matter, filings said. Though comments in the docket show wide support for the FCC proposals from broadcasters, NPR, Cumulus and REC Networks also raised concerns about interference and notifications.

The FCC voted Thursday to streamline satellite applications, provide spectrum for commercial space launches, limit robocaller access to phone numbers, and target a robocalling enterprise with a $116 million forfeiture. Commissioner-designate Anna Gomez didn’t attend the agency's open meeting, which is expected to be the last one with FCC’s current 2-2 makeup. FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel declined to say what the agency’s path might be once she has a Democratic majority, “We had four members of the agency here today” and there will be “five in the not-too-distant future, so I would recommend you stay tuned,” Rosenworcel said during a news conference. The agency also approved an order updating the 5G Fund for Rural America (see 2309210035).

Nexstar and DirecTV signed a deal on retransmission rights for 176 Nexstar stations, ending a 76-day blackout for those stations but leaving behind an open FCC complaint, an ongoing antirust court battle and a continuing blackout for 27 other stations owned by Mission Broadcasting and White Knight Broadcasting but operated by Nexstar through shared service agreements. DirecTV and Nexstar announced “a comprehensive new multi-year distribution agreement” in a joint release Monday, a day after announcing the return of Nexstar’s programming to DirecTV, DirecTV Stream and U-Verse. Terms of the agreements weren't disclosed.

The FCC has approved a draft order on updating broadcast television rules to reflect the digital transition and post-incentive auction repacking 4-0, according to FCC officials. The item had been set for the September open meeting, but was approved early. FCC Commissioner-designate Anna Gomez didn't vote on the item, FCC officials told us. The agency didn't comment on whether Gomez has been sworn in or taken office. The final order is said to be largely unchanged from the draft version announced earlier this month, and docket 22-227 shows that the item hasn’t drawn any lobbying activity since it was unveiled. The rule changes in the order “are mostly non-substantive and do not materially change the regulatory obligations of full power and Class A stations,” said Wilkinson Barker broadcast attorney David Oxenford in a blog post.

Low-power broadcasters WWOO-LD Boston and XGen Network demonstrated an alternative to ATSC 3.0 in a livestream Wednesday by using 5G broadcast technology to send a television signal to a cellphone, airing a news broadcast and an emergency alert. WWOO is the only station broadcasting 5G in the U.S., and does so under an FCC experimental license. Though the tech is far behind ATSC 3.0 in implementation, it has been accepted by international cellular standards-making body 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) and is expected to be receivable in next-generation mobile devices without additional hardware -- unlike 3.0, say 5G broadcast advocates. 3.0 “is a much more robust program right now,” but “we can get into cellphones,” said XGen CEO Frank Copsidas, who also heads the LPTV Broadcasters Association.

Lawyers for DOJ and 48 states, in opening statements Tuesday in the government's antitrust bench trial against Google in U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia, argued that the tech company exercised monopoly power through ad sales tools and through deals requiring its search engine to be the default on Android phones and in some browsers. “Monopoly maintenance starts with defaults,” said Kenneth Dintzer, DOJ senior trial counsel.

An executive branch push to reclassify marijuana under less restrictive drug schedule rules is seen by broadcasters as a positive step toward allowing them to carry advertisements for cannabis and cannabis products, but the move likely wouldn’t eliminate the legal concerns about carrying ads for recreational marijuana use, attorneys told us.

Susan Patrick, co-owner of broadcast brokerage Patrick Communications and radio broadcaster Legend Communications, pleaded guilty to a felony charge of filing a false tax return and trying to conceal $9.5 million in earnings from the IRS in returns for the 2012, 2013 and 2014 tax years, said criminal filings (docket 1:23-cr-00254) Aug. 31 in U.S. District Court for Maryland in Baltimore and publicized in a DOJ release.