An Arab, Alabama, radio station and its owner are liable for three claims of willful copyright infringement, based on their unauthorized public performance of musical compositions from the BMI repertoire, BMI and four music publishers alleged in their complaint Thursday (docket 1:24-cv-00847) in U.S. District Court for Northern Alabama. All the claims for copyright infringement joined in the lawsuit “are governed by the same legal rules and involve similar facts,” the complaint against Fun Media, operator of WAFN-FM, and its owner, Michael St. John, said. BMI has reached out to the defendants more than 80 times since March 2021 to educate them about their obligations under the Copyright Act and “the necessity of purchasing a license for the public performance of musical compositions” in the BMI repertoire, the complaint said. Included in the correspondence were cease and desist letters, providing WAFN-FM and St. John with formal notice that they must “immediately cease” all use of BMI-licensed music, it said.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D. C. Circuit should overturn the FCC’s implementation of the 2023 Low Power Protection Act because it favors full-power stations, unlawfully uses data from Nielsen, and limits the number of Class A stations, according to a final brief and final reply brief from Radio Communication Corp. Tuesday. The FCC’s Class A license allocation system is “designed to protect NAB’s Clients” -- the brief defines NAB’s Clients as full-power stations -- and turns “the LPPA’s LPTV protection purpose on its head.” The FCC has said that its LPPA order followed the plain direction of the LPPA's text: The agency “correctly interpreted the statutory requirement that an eligible station ‘operate in a Designated Market Area with not more than 95,000 television households’ to mean that an eligible station must be located within a Designated Market Area that has no more than 95,000 television households,” the FCC has said. RCC has argued that the term “operates” refers to a station’s community of license rather than its Nielsen-designated market area. “There is no way for the general public, or this Court, to know how Nielsen created and maintains DMAs or even ascertain what the boundaries of Class A licensing markets are without first subscribing to Nielsen’s service in exchange for payment,” RCC said. “We do not know, and cannot verify, whether parties paid money to Nielsen to have the DMAs drawn after Congress began working on the LPPA legislation, nor whether Nielsen has altered DMAs since the LPPA was adopted, or might alter the DMAs in the future based upon its own decision-making or because a broadcaster pays for the change.” The case isn't scheduled for oral argument. Instead, a D.C. Circuit merits panel will decide it on briefs alone.

The FCC should grant the renewal of Fox station WTXF Philadelphia’s license “without further delay,” Fox said in a letter posted Tuesday (docket 23-292) (see 2406130060). The renewal process stalled in June 2023, when the Media and Democracy Project filed a petition against it over Fox’s dissemination of misinformation about the 2020 election. “With each month that passes and each filing entered into this docket, it becomes even more evident that the record in this proceeding is complete,” Fox said. “MAD has not introduced any additional points that could salvage its petition” in the 10 months since the FCC opened a docket on the matter, Fox argued. The FCC “should weigh the evidence in the record, apply the law fairly, and grant Fox 29 Philadelphia’s license renewal application,” the petitioner added.

The FCC Media Bureau is seeking comment on channel substitutions for King Broadcasting Company and Gray Television Licensee, NPRMs in Monday's Federal Register said. Comments are due July 24 in docket No. 24–152 for King’s request to switch the channel for KTVB Boise from 7 to 23, and in docket No. 24–153 for WRDW–TV Augusta, Georgia, to change from 27 to 12, the NPRMs said.

Petitions asking the FCC to reconsider authorizing radio geotargeting are “procedurally defective” and request changes that would affect all FM boosters, Geobroadcast Solutions (GBS) said in an opposition filing posted Friday (docket 20-401). REC Network’s recon petition asks the agency to prevent boosters from exceeding the signal strength of other nearby radio stations, while the Press Communications petition asks the agency to ban program-originating boosters in “embedded metros” -- radio markets located within the boundaries of a larger market. Neither petition “shows a material error or omission” in the original order and so the FCC should reject them, GBS said. REC’s request would create a technical standard that would apply to all FM boosters and is outside the bounds of the geotargeted radio proceeding, GBS said. “To the extent that REC wishes the Commission to adopt a new rule to protect [low-power] FM stations from all FM boosters, a petition for reconsideration is clearly not the proper vehicle,” GBS said. The FCC “carefully considered and addressed concerns pertaining to stations in embedded markets in the Order,” and the Press petition doesn’t introduce new facts, GBS said. “The Commission should continue pressing forward with program-originating boosters and dismiss the petitions,” GBS said.

The National Religious Broadcasters (NRB) added 15 members, it said in a release Thursday. “Each new member brings unique experience and expertise that benefits our coalition of Christian communicators,” NRB president and CEO Troy Miller said. New members include American Evangelical Bible College and Seminary, Lighthouse Arab World and Love & Truth Network.

Mission Broadcasting says WADL Mount Clemens, Michigan, owner Kevin Adell won't release the deposit Mission made in connection with its failed purchase of WADL (see 2405230052). “Adell’s failure to execute joint written instructions directing the Escrow Agent to release the Deposit made in connection with the Purchase Agreement to Mission” constitutes “an unjustifiable and bad faith breach of the Purchase Agreement,” a June 13 letter from Mission’s attorneys at Wiley to Adell said. Breaching the deal could open Kevin Adell and Adell Broadcasting CFO Ralph Lameti to litigation, the Mission letter said. “While we understand there may be disappointment over the deal not closing, that does not give you license to willfully prevent Mission from receiving the benefit of the bargain it struck with Adell,” Mission said. “Such actions are inconsistent with any legitimate business activities ... undertaken in good faith and appear to be motivated by malicious and bad faith purposes to injure Mission.” Adell didn’t comment, but a reply to Wiley June 14 briefly accuses Mission's letter of containing “inaccuracies.” In addition, it said Wiley also represents Adell Broadcasting. Communications Daily obtained the letters. Wiley “sent an invoice yesterday for law work it performed for Adell Broadcasting,” Adell’s letter said. “As such, Wiley has a conflict with respect to this matter.” Adell requested Wiley refrain from further involvement in the matter and that Mission seek new counsel. Mission and Nexstar, which was also involved in the WADL deal, declined comment. Wiley attorney Stephen Obermeier, who authored Mission's June 13 letter, also didn't comment.

The FCC Media Bureau approved a deal for Gray Television to sell two TV stations in Wyoming and Nebraska to Marquee Broadcasting in exchange for Marquee’s FCC-issued construction permit to build a station in Salt Lake City, an order in Thursday’s Daily Digest said. Because the swap includes transferring a Gray station that carries top-four affiliate channels -- KGWN-TV Cheyenne, Wyoming -- the deal falls under the agency’s new 2018 quadrennial order, which requires transactions involving multiple top-four programming streams to be considered on a case-by-case basis. The agency approved the deal because there doesn’t appear to be a commercially viable alternative home for KGWN’s CBS and NBC network affiliations, the order said. “Permitting Marquee to acquire KGWN with its two top-four network affiliations intact” is "in the public interest and would ensure the preservation of local news service and network-affiliated program distribution in the local market,” the order said.

The FCC Media Bureau is seeking comment on a petition to create a more powerful Class-A FM station class known as A-10, a public notice said Thursday. The petition, from Commander Communication, asks the agency to allow existing Class A FM stations to upgrade to the higher power class where they wouldn’t interfere with other co-channel stations. Commander CEO Carl Haynes told us his proposal would follow the existing interference rules and allow many FM stations to be more economically viable and extend reach. “Implementing these proposals will enable stations to better serve the public with a more reliable signal for news and emergency weather notifications,” the petition said. A previous FM power increase proposal, creating a C4 class of FM station, has been stalled at the FCC since 2016. Comments on the A10 petition are due in docket 24-183 on July 22, replies Aug. 21.

Five broadcasters filed for 21 new FM boosters to use for geotargeted radio, said GeoBroadcast Solutions in reply comments filed Monday (docket 20-401). GBS didn’t name the broadcasters but said the boosters are in geographically diverse markets, including Seattle; Jackson, Mississippi; and Fort Duchesne, Utah. “Our understanding is that more broadcasters will file soon,” GBS said. It told the FCC that interference safeguards for content-originating boosters that NAB and REC Networks proposed are “unnecessary or attempt to reopen technical issues already resolved in the Report and Order.” GBS also said the FCC doesn’t need to require geotargeted radio broadcasters to provide special notifications to the Federal Emergency Management Agency or other emergency alert participants. FCC rules requiring reporting to the emergency test reporting and state emergency alert systems already make that information available to FEMA and other EAS participants, GBS said. REC Networks said it remained skeptical about geotargeted radio technology and warned that it will hurt the radio industry. Content-originating FM boosters are “merely a way for GBS to take advantage of small minority broadcasters through their ‘zero up front’ method of financing the project” taking “minority station revenues off the top,” REC said. “Our bigger concern is to address the fact that FM Boosters provide absolutely no co-channel protection to incumbent facilities.” Minority-owned Roberts Radio told the FCC that the technology will create revenue for similar companies, but said the agency should eliminate EAS equipment requirements for FM boosters and allow more geotargeted content per hour. Increasing the three-minute-limit per hour to six would “double the effect of this opportunity, and still represent less than half the advertising time available on most commercial FM stations,” Roberts said. FM boosters used in geotargeted radio don’t need their own EAS equipment because they can repeat the signal from their main station, Roberts said. “Requiring program originating booster operators to install EAS equipment will impose significant and wholly unnecessary financial and technical burdens on the broadcasters that employ them.”