WASHINGTON—Several labor unions and public interest groups have filed a petition with the Federal Communications Commission urging the regulator to deny the Nexstar-Tegna merger because it would violate station ownership caps and would not be in the public interest.

“Though Nexstar and Tegna seek a waiver of this limit, the commission is prohibited by law from waiving, altering, or eliminating this National Cap,” the petitioners wrote, adding that as the FCC “is legally barred from granting applicants’ request to waive the National Multiple Ownership rule, the Commission should immediately deny those waiver requests and deny the application in full."

The petition to deny the transfer of broadcast licenses from Tegna to Nexstar was filed by Free Press, the National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians—Communications Workers of America (NABET-CWA), The NewsGuild—Communications Workers of America (TNG-CWA), the United Church of Christ Media Justice Ministry and Public Knowledge.

The Dec. 31 joint filing adds to a growing list of opponents to the deal. Others who have filed petitions opposing it now include EchoStar, Newsmax, Circle City Broadcasting, DirecTV and the American TV Alliance (ATVA).

Last November, Nexstar filed for FCC approval to acquire Tegna’s broadcast licenses. If approved, the multibillion-dollar deal would combine the nation’s first- and fourth-largest largest television-station groups. It would have 265 full-power television stations in 44 states and Washington, D.C.

The Nexstar filing argued that the deal “is absolutely critical to preserve the ability of the local television stations owned by Nexstar and Tegna to continue as viable, reliable sources of trusted, locally focused news and information.”

In its filing, EchoStar argued that the FCC does not have the authority to waive the 39% ownership cap and that the creation of a gigantic station group controlling “265 stations in 132, or 80%, of the country’s 210 Designated Market Areas…sharply contravenes [public]...interest. It would result in higher prices for multichannel video programming distributors and therefore for consumers.”

Circle City 's filing noted: “CCB is licensee of full-power television stations WISH-TV and WNDY-TV, both in the Indianapolis market, and is the applicant in a pending application for consent to acquire the license of television station WRTV, also in the Indianapolis market. CCB’s interests and those of viewers in the market, as well as the interests of advertisers and MVPDs, would be adversely affected by the grant of these applications.”

Circle City also stressed that the deal would not be in the public interest because it hurt other local outlets and reduce local news. “The proposed combination would give Nexstar a near-monopoly over local television advertising revenue, retransmission consent revenue, program acquisition, and local news production in the Indianapolis market,” the CCB filing concluded. “It would, in all likelihood, force CCB to reduce or eliminate its own local news operations, if not shut down entirely.”

Pearl TV, the consortium of TV stations advancing NextGen TV, took aim at cable operators in a meeting with FCC Commissioner Nathan Simington.

That is according to an FCC document on the meeting.

Pearl was pitching a National Association of Broadcasters petition to clarify the application of the FCC's ATSC 3.0 (NextGen TV) rules to multicast streams. Those are the extra channels broadcasters got in the switch to digital.

"The proceeding is a narrow, technical one, that clarifies broadcasters can partner with each other to enable hosting of multicast streams (as only primary streams are addressed in the current ATSC 3.0 rules), and that multicast streams can be transmitted in either ATSC 1.0 or ATSC 3.0, without a simulcast requirement," Pearl TV said. "Comments and reply comments are in, and they show remarkable consensus that the FCC should adopt the core principles of the proposed rule. The Commission should disregard self-serving comments that clearly do not seek to benefit the public, such as the limitations on the number of multicast streams that ATVA and NCTA are asking the Commission to impose or to turn this proceeding into a relitigation of the debate on retransmission consent."

Back in November 2021, the FCC tentatively concluded that NextGen TV broadcasters -- ones with signals in the ATSC 3.0 standard -- should be granted a sublicense of sorts to allow them to contract with another “host” station or stations to carry their simulcast multicast streams, whether that is in ATSC 3.0 or the current 1.0 format.

The FCC is allowing stations to partner on distribution arrangements so that broadcasters can continue to deliver a primary TV station signal stream in ATSC 1.0 given that ATSC 3.0 is not backward compatible with current sets.

The National Association of Broadcasters, in that petition for declaratory rulemaking, wanted the FCC to declare "that various multi-station arrangements for hosting and originating multicast streams in ATSC 1.0 and 3.0 are OK."

But cable operators represented by NCTA-the Internet & Television Association, want the FCC to limit the number of multicast streams a station can host for another station.

In addition, the American Television Association (ATVA), which comprises cable and satellite operators and others, says the FCC should explicitly prohibit non-simulcast multicasting to become de facto affiliation swaps that "either created new local duopolies, automatically raised retransmission consent prices, or both." Currently FCC rules do not prevent two top-four network affiliated station signals being delivered by one station owner if they are multicast fees."

ATVA told the FCC that "just as the nonsimulcast multicast regime should [not] become a new tool to evade the local media ownership rules generally, it should not become a tool to evade the affiliate-swap rule more specifically." ■

WASHINGTON—Last year TV broadcasters set a record for the number of blackouts recorded in a single year, taking down cable and satellite TV signals 213 times, according to the American TV Alliance. By way of comparison, there were eight TV blackouts nationwide in 2010, the alliance said.

“Broadcaster blackouts roared back in 2017 after the FCC suspended its investigation of abusive broadcast industry tactics,” said ATVA spokesman Trent Duffy in a press release issued today. “Broadcasters have weaponized TV blackouts, deliberately targeting live sports and other must-see TV to inflict maximum pain on innocent consumers.”

Broadcasters often black out channels when retransmission negotiations reach an impasse. The alliance predicts this tactic will continue until Congress and the FCC get involved “to protect consumers,” said Duffy. ATVA has asked the FCC to ban broadcasters from blacking out marquee programming as leverage during retransmission negotiations

The American TV Alliance, which calls itself “a voice for the TV viewer,” counts among its partners the American Cable Association, the NTCA – Rural Broadband Association, DISH Network, Charter Communications and Verizon, according to the group’s website.

Tens of millions of pay-TV viewers were denied access to local news, weather and live sporting events in 2017, the alliance said.

“Broadcasters pocketed $9.3 billion in 2017 from pay TV customers for ‘free’ TV,” the alliance said in its press release, quoting figures from SNL Kagan. Some of the events broadcasters blacked out last year included the Super Bowl, awards shows, college football bowl games, the NFL Playoffs, March Madness and other programming, it said.

The alliance singled out CBS, which it said denied millions of DISH Network customer in 18 markets across 26 states access to the 2017 Thanksgiving Day Parade, holiday specials and NFL football. Further, CBS earned an additional $1 billion from retrans last year and is on track to collet $2.5 billion more by 2020, it said. Overall, TV broadcasters are projected to earn an additional $12.8 billion by 2023.

According to the ATVA, by year the number of blackouts totals: 213 in 2017; 104 in 2016; 193 in 2015; 94 in 2014; 119 in 2013; 90 in 2012; 42 in 2011 and eight in 2010.

In a response to ATVA’s press release, NAB’s Executive Vice President of Communications Dennis Wharton released the following statement:

“ATVA should look in the mirror to determine who's really responsible for retrans disruptions: ATVA's own members—the largest pay-TV companies in the business—cynically force impasses in hopes that Washington will inject itself into free market negotiations. Despite pay TV posturing, 99 percent of all retrans deals are completed successfully, and we look forward to continue partnerships with pay TV operators for our valued, most-watched broadcast programming.”