Standard/Tegna deal opponents said the transaction can lead to collusion on retransmission consent negotiations and said Standard, Tegna and investor Apollo Global Management haven’t been transparent with the FCC. “We find ourselves hard pressed to explain Apollo/Cox’s choice to invest in a competitor that does not involve collusion,” said the American Television Alliance in reply comments in docket 22-162 by Monday’s deadline. A collection of public advocacy groups and Communications Workers of America sectors jointly said the deal should be designated for hearing. “The uncertainty of the sources of funding in this case and the convoluted ownership structure” need to be explored in a hearing, they said. The FCC also should act on a May motion that sought to compel more disclosures from the companies, said the joint filing from Common Cause, the United Church of Christ Media Justice Ministry and others. They also denied claims the deal is good for diversity. The deal is uniquely designed to raise retransmission consent prices and merits FCC attention, said Altice. “Cox appears to have sold a single Boston station to Standard General so that Standard General, in turn, can use the station to buy 97 TEGNA stations with lower retransmission consent prices,” Altice said. “It is hard to imagine that an MVPD bargained for the possibility that Cox might essentially sell a station to a third-party so that the third party might acquire additional stations at Cox’s retransmission consent prices.” NCTA and ATVA asked the FCC to impose conditions to prevent joint negotiation or information sharing among the deal participants. “The proposed transaction creates a web of interlocking interests among the companies -- Standard General/TEGNA and CMG/Apollo -- thus raising concerns about information-sharing and coordination,” said NCTA. One commenter supported the deal. The transaction will create “enhanced opportunities to partner with Standard General and new TEGNA to better serve the Hispanic community in the United States, a community that has historically been underserved,” said Estrella Media.

Dueling letters from a former FCC commissioner and a sitting House member were the latest salvos in the ongoing lobbying battle over geotargeted radio Monday in docket 20-401. NAB, which opposes geotargeted radio, emailed reporters a copy of a letter to FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel from Rep. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla. Mullin expressed concern about the effect geotargeting could have on signal quality -- the technology the FCC is reviewing uses multiple boosters to target specific areas of a station’s market. “Poor radio service on one or several stations harms the entire industry, and could affect emergency alerting, Mullin said. Geotargeting proponent GeoBroadcast Solutions distributed a letter from former FCC Commissioner Harold Furchtgott-Roth. “Allowing these new technologies to compete in the marketplace on a voluntary basis would be consistent with the Commission’s objective to remove competitive barriers to entry,” wrote Furchtgott-Roth and Kirk Arner, both fellows at the Hudson Institute's Center for the Economics of the Internet.

The Committee for the Assessment of Foreign Participation in the U.S. Telecommunications Services Sector is reviewing Spanish Broadcasting System’s foreign-ownership request, said a DOJ letter posted in docket 22-161 Friday (see 2202110060). “The Commission will be notified when the Chair has determined that responses to the Committee’s initial request for information are complete and the 120-day initial review period can begin,” the letter said.

The IBC2022 show picked Omdia as its “exclusive research partner,” said the analytics company Thursday. The designation will give International Broadcasting Convention audiences access to Omdia’s upcoming report on how the trends in free ad-supported streaming TV services, ad-supported VOD and connected TV advertising "are changing the TV and video landscape," it said. Innovations in AVOD, FAST, CTV advertising and hybrid subscription models “will make advertising the fastest-growing premium TV and video segment over the next five years," with global revenue increasing by more than 20% to exceed $320 billion in 2027, said Rob Gallagher, vice president of Omdia’s media and entertainment practice. Omdia analysts will present findings from the report as part of the IBC2022 conference program, said the company. IBC2022, its organizers’ first in-person show since 2019, runs Sept. 9-12 in Amsterdam.

The full FCC has denied a petition for reconsideration from a broadcaster challenging the allotment of an unbuilt FM station, said an order in Thursday’s Daily Digest. This was the second challenge by Premier Broadcasters of the agency’s 2017 ruling that Threshold Communications could relocate its allotment from Clatskanie, Oregon, to Napavine, Washington. Premier had argued that Clatskanie had a greater need for a radio service and that Napavine wasn’t the optimal choice under the FCC’s urbanized area service presumption, but the commissioners ruled that Premier didn’t present sufficient evidence for that argument. “To afford Premier additional bites at the evidentiary apple would further delay the provision of new radio service at Napavine, contrary to the express Congressional intent.”

Most smaller broadcasters won’t be able to afford GeoBroadcast Solutions’ geotargeted radio tech, said Alpha Media CEO Bob Proffitt in a letter to the FCC filed in docket 20-401. “The substantial investment necessary to deploy ZoneCasting will be out of reach for most broadcasters, and simply out of the question for small and mid-sized broadcasters.” GBS tested an early version of its Zonecast system at an Alpha station, the letter said. Upfront costs to purchase the boosters and other equipment ran over $50,000, and annual recurring costs were close to $60,000. “As of 2021, the average annual revenue for radio stations in markets 210 to 253 was $347,000.00” Proffitt said. GBS supporters have told us the company plans to offer the tech to broadcasters without upfront capital expenses by offering a revenue split once the systems are up. “We have creative vendor financing solutions for station owners like Alpha Media,” said a GBS spokesperson. “Moreover, geotargeting is purely voluntary, meaning Alpha Media doesn't have to deploy the technology if it doesn't want to.” Being able to geotarget ads will mean more revenue for radio broadcasters, said a pair of filings from broadcast analyst firm BIA Advisory Services and its CEO Thomas Buono. GBS is a client of BIA, the filings said. “Many broadcasters, both large and small, would want to have this capability or at least the opportunity to choose for themselves whether to deploy this technology,” said Buono. “Local radio stations and groups commonly sell geotargeted advertising in their digital offers and have done so for years,” said the BIA filing. “Complementing these geotargeted services in their over-the-air services would enhance local radio’s competitiveness,” it said. “We conclude that the NAB’s position that offering geotargeted advertising does not improve competitiveness in today’s local advertising marketplace is not substantiated by facts.”

Low-power FM broadcaster Marion Education Exchange has been unable to secure an attorney and is pleading with FCC Administrative Law Judge Jane Halprin not to take away its license, according to a letter posted Wednesday in docket 22-76. “I don't think that is the purpose of the FCC” wrote Shawn Craft, a WWGH Marion, Ohio, manager. “I don't think you want to hurt us, or hurt the community. I think the FCC wants to help communities.” The MEE hearing proceeding stems from allegations that the broadcaster has repeatedly failed to respond to FCC inquiries and gave the agency false information about the make-up of its board. MEE came into possession of the station as part of a settlement over violations of Ohio charity laws by its previous owner, Marion Midget Football. Halprin has admonished MEE for not responding to several court requests, which MEE has said it didn’t receive. Prospective attorneys have told MEE the case would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, the letter said. “I really hope you don't take the license because I know you can find out without hundreds of thousands of dollars that we are not out to hurt or lie to anyone, and never have been.” Halprin previously ruled that without an attorney, MEE’s proceeding would be dismissed and the station would lose its license (see 2206240060).

Comments are due Aug.29, replies Sept. 26, on the FCC’s NPRM on changing language in its rules referring to a now-defunct Nielsen publication, said a Federal Register notice for Thursday. Under current rules, broadcasters and MVPDs use Nielsen’s Station Index Directory to determine designated market areas, but Nielsen no longer publishes the directory, which it replaced with a monthly Local TV Station Information Report.

The FCC should ensure that regulatory fees “more meaningfully reflect the benefits provided to fee payors,” said NAB in calls Tuesday with aides to Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and Commissioner Brendan Carr, according to an ex parte filing posted in docket 22-223 Wednesday. The agency should exempt broadcasters from paying for work on aspects of the USF, the filing said. The FCC “has acknowledged that broadcasters do not benefit from the Commission’s Universal Service Fund (USF) activities,” NAB said.

DOJ and the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S should block the Standard/Tegna deal over foreign ownership concerns, said the Communications Workers of America's NewsGuild sector in a letter to President Joe Biden Monday. It is the second letter NewsGuild has written to Biden about the deal (see 2206020073). “The FCC should reject this overreach and the Treasury and State Departments should reject any deal that contains a single penny of investment from foreign adversaries,” said NewsGuild President Jon Schleuss in the letter, which faults Apollo Global Management for seeking a foreign ownership declaratory ruling related to the transaction (see 2203110066). Such requests aren’t uncommon; the FCC granted one for Univision in January (see 2201210062) and one for iHeart Media (see 2112220052) in December. "Standard General, a hedge fund, claims that it is increasing broadcast ownership diversity by historic levels because its sole voting shareholder is Asian-American," said the letter. "However, ownership by large hedge funds with majority financing from anonymous foreign and U.S. institutional investors is not the same as ownership by a historically underrepresented person of color acquiring a broadcast license." The letter also said Standard hasn’t been transparent about the deal’s financing and called the deal “the culmination of a multi-year hostile takeover effort of a local broadcast news company.” “Will your administration stand with journalists and American families or stand with anonymous foreign investors and Wall Street funds?” the letter asks. Standard declined to comment.