WASHINGTON—Ben Arden, formerly a special counsel in the FCC’s Media Bureau, has joined the National Association of Broadcasters as senior vice president and deputy general counsel.

Arden will lead NAB’s policy and legal advocacy before the Federal Communications Commission, the group said, advocating broadcasters’ priorities on such issues as media ownership, competition policy and the evolving media marketplace. He’ll report to Rick Kaplan, NAB’s chief legal officer and executive VP of legal and regulatory affairs.

“Ben brings an exceptional depth of experience in communications law and policy, along with a proven ability to navigate complex regulatory challenges,” NAB President and CEO Curtis LeGeyt said. “His leadership and expertise will be invaluable as we continue advocating for policies that ensure local television and radio stations can compete and thrive.”

As FCC Media Bureau special counsel, Arden advised Carr’s office and FCC senior leaders on a wide range of issues, including media ownership, transaction reviews, foreign ownership, retransmission consent and emerging technologies, NAB said.

Arden was with the FCC for 15 years and held multiple leadership roles. Prior to the Media Bureau post, he served as chief of staff and legal adviser to then-commissioner Carr, playing a role in shaping communications policy and coordinating with congressional officers and industry stakeholders, NAB said.

Prior to the FCC, Arden was an associate attorney at law firm Williams Mullen, representing communications clients before Congress, the FCC and other federal agencies, NAB said. He earned his law degree from Indiana University’s Maurer School of Law and a bachelor’s degree in psychology and political science from Arizona State University.

WASHINGTON—An administrative law judge with the Federal Communications Commission has upheld a decision by the Media Bureau to have the Standard General-Tegna merger sent for judicial review before the commission votes on the matter. Last month, the Bureau issued a hearing designation order to send the matter to an FCC judge after it said it could not conclude whether Standard General’s $8.6 billion takeover (backed by hedge fund Apollo Global Management) was in the public interest. 

Over the past 12 months, since the merger was proposed, Standard General has vigorously argued that the merger would be in the public interest by making a combined broadcast group more competitive and allow it to invest in more resources for local news. Opponents, including Common Cause and unions, have said the merger would lead to more consolidation, resulting in job cuts and reduced focus on local issues. 

Standard General and Tegna had told the judge, Jane Halprin, that the hearing designation order exceeded the FCC’s authority and had instead wanted the merger to be put to a full FCC vote.

A Standard General spokesperson told TheDesk.net that they disagreed with the decision but would continue to push for approval. 

“We remain committed to seeking all available avenues to both vindicate our rights, and promote the public interest which is best served through a full commission vote to approve this transaction which any three commissioners can request,” the spokesperson said. “We urge the FCC to act swiftly, since — in this matter — a decision delayed is a decision denied.”

WASHINGTON—Standard General, Tegna and Cox Media are petitioning the FCC to grant a full commission review of the Media Bureau’s recent decision to designate a judicial review of Standard General’s merger with Tegna and Cox Media, warning that further delays to the controversial transaction could jeopardize the deal. 

In a filing with the commission on Friday, Standard General said the Media Bureau’s decision to send the issue to an administrative judge (or Hearing Designated Order, aka “HDO”) could not be completed in time before the deal expires in May.  

“Given the public interest benefits of the Transactions, the record in this proceeding and the fact that the Applications are consistent with all Commission rules and precedent, the Media Bureau has before it what it needs to make a public interest determination and to grant the Applications,” the companies said in their filing. “But it has chosen instead to depart sharply from the Commission’s rules, policies, and precedent. 

"At the eleventh hour, the Media Bureau has designated for hearing matters that are legally irrelevant to the Commission’s review of broadcast transactions and beyond the scope of the Media Bureau’s authority—presumably knowing that a hearing (and subsequent “next steps”18 by the Bureau) cannot be completed in the less than three months before the deal (and financing) expires.

“Time is of the essence,” the petition continued. “As set forth in the documents filed with the Media Bureau and as has been publicly announced, the “Final Extension Date” of the Standard General-TEGNA merger agreement is May 22, 2023. That deadline will come and go long before a full evidentiary hearing could be completed. The Applicants have no ability to extend that deadline. If the FCC fails to grant the Applications before that date, the financing obligations of more than a dozen lenders helping to fund the transactions will expire as well. The Media Bureau’s decision to issue the HDO is therefore not just tantamount to denying the transactions at issue in this proceeding without having to reach a decision on the merits, it is absolutely a denial without due process." 

Standard General repeated its assertions that it has alleviated opponent’s concerns over how the deal could impact station operations, saying that it “does not intend to reduce station-level staffing, and it has backed that up with a commitment not to conduct any journalism or newsroom staff reductions at the TEGNA stations for at least two years following the consummation of the Transactions. This issue too has been fully resolved.”

The filing questions the authority of having an administrative judge review the transaction, noting that “the Media Bureau’s deviation from established Commission practices clearly warrants the Commission’s intervention and correction.”

The petitioners note that the HDO could potentially violate separation of powers since the administrative law judge (ALJ) in the hearing would be immune from termination by the president. 

“As a result, there is a controlling question of law as to whether an FCC ALJ is even permitted to make rulings in this matter as required by the Media Bureau’s HDO,” the petitioners said. “This question requires certification for immediate review. The Commission should have the opportunity to decide whether it wants to avoid a constitutional challenge to its ALJ before this matter proceeds further.

It also noted that the transaction, which has been pending for more than a year, has been notably opposed by two prominent groups, Common Cause/UCC and NewsGuild but discounts the volume of support it has received. 

“While characterizing these opponents as ‘numerous,’ the Media Bureau’s HDO failed to acknowledge, let alone give any weight to, the comments of the approximately 40 interested parties that filed in support of the public interest benefits of the Transactions," the petitioners said.

WASHINGTON, D.C.—The Federal Communications Commission has announced two appointments to the Media Bureau’s leadership staff. 

Lori Maarbjerg joins the Front Office as deputy bureau chief, and Evan Morris assumes his new role as associate bureau chief.

“The Media Bureau is fortunate that Lori and Evan will be part of the Front Office leadership,” said Media Bureau chief Holly Saurer.  “Their expertise, dedication to public service, and unfailingly good judgment will be vital to the Bureau.” 

Lori Maarbjerg brings extensive media experience to her position as deputy bureau chief.  Lori is currently the chief of staff in the Commission’s Office of Legislative Affairs (OLA), where she serves as the primary liaison with Capitol Hill offices on media issues, as well as other Congressional-related matters.  Prior to her current position, Lori was a senior attorney advisor in OLA, where she joined the Commission in 2002.  Lori has also served as an FCC detailee to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, Subcommittee on Communications and Technology, U.S. House of Representatives.  

Before joining the Commission, Lori was a former Legislative counsel and assistant general counsel for the National Association of Broadcasters.  She holds a broadcast journalism degree from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and a law degree from the California Western School of Law in San Diego, CA.

Evan Morris has served as a legal advisor to the Media Bureau Chief since 2019.  He joined the Commission in 2013 as an attorney advisor in the Media Bureau’s Video Division.  

Prior to public service, Evan worked in Government Affairs at Harris Corporation (now L3Harris), primarily advocating for the Broadcast Division (now GatesAir), and in Legislative Affairs for Cablevision Systems Corporation (now Altice U.S.A).  He received dual bachelor’s degrees, summa cum laude, from Syracuse University with a degree in political science from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, and one in television, radio and film from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications.  He holds a law degree from The Catholic University of America, Columbus School of Law.

WASHINGTON—LPTV Channel 6 stations aren’t the monsters that NPR argued they were and should be allowed to remain operating on analog radio signals, says the Preserve Community Programming Coalition (PCPC) in a filing to the FCC.

The FCC Media Bureau had previously requested comments on whether analog LPTV stations should be able to continue to program an analog radio service on 87.7 FM after the final digital television conversion deadline, currently set for July 2021. NPR filed comments in which it said that these Franken FMs, as it referred to LPTV Channel 6 stations, caused “harmful interference to public radio stations operating in the immediately adjacent FM band.”

Now PCPC, a group of FM Channel 6 broadcasters, has submitted a filing of its own refuting NPR’s arguments, saying that “although many of these stations have been broadcasting analog audio carriers on 87.7 FM for more than a decade, the record does not include a single instance of actual, unresolved interference resulting from such operations. Furthermore, there is no dispute that the FCC can easily modify its rules to ensure that these existing services can continue after the digital transition.”

PCPC notes in its filing that NPR, a programmer, and the low power FM advocacy groups REC Networks and Common Frequency have been LPTV Channel 6 stations’ strongest opposition. It says only one full power FM licensee (California State University Long Beach Research Foundation and Educational Media Foundation) has commented, in which it says any concerns about interference to adjacent FM stations are unfounded or can be mitigated.

NPR also argued that the services provided by these LPTV stations don’t serve the public interest because the programming—sports, contemporary, religious and foreign-language broadcasts—are offered by other FM stations. 

“This is the equivalent of arguing that NPR-member station WNYC does not serve the public interest because it is one of five stations with news/talk format serving the New York area,” PCPC said. “Just as NPR-member stations provide unique programming and services to serve their communities in ways that other stations with similar formats do not, so too do analog channel 6 TV stations providing aural programming on 87.7 FM.”

PCPC believes that the FCC should authorize currently operating analog LPTV Channel 6 stations to continue transmissions at 87.7 MHz without interruption after the digital transition deadline passes.

The full filing can be found online. 

WASHINGTON—The FCC's Media Bureau is seeking comment on whether analog LPTV stations should be able to continue to program an analog radio service after the deadline to switch to digital.

While full power stations were required to go all digital in 2009, the FCC allowed LPTVs to continue to broadcast in analog until 12 months after the completion of the post-incentive auction repack, currently on track to meet its July 3, 2020, deadline, which means LPTVs would have to make the digital switch by July 3, 2021.

Some analog LPTVs (operating on ch. 6) use their spectrum to program an ancillary audio service available on the FM dial (87.76 MHz) and want to continue to be able to continue to deliver that analog signal after the mandatory transition to digital.

The commission has sought comment on the issue before, but citing the approaching deadline and "recent developments," said this week it wanted to refresh the record.

The FCC wants to know if its supplementary service rules mean that the ancillary analog service is OK even after the deadline, whether, in that case, the FCC could limit the number of such services—say, applying only to existing services—whether such rights could be transferred, or whether, alternatively, an analog service is not consistent with the designation of digital as being for the provision of "advanced television services."

Finally, if an analog audio service is consistent with that digital mandate, can the FCC subject it to the fee of 5% revenue currently levied on ancillary services.

The FCC is providing commenters 45 days to weigh in, with 30 days for initial comments and another 15 for replies.

This story was originally published on TVT's sister publication B&C.

WASHINGTON—The FCC Media Bureau announced the opening of a filing window to resolve the state of new rural digital LPTV stations left in a limbo created by the TV spectrum incentive auction and repack.

Qualifying new, rural LPTV stations have between now and Jan. 31, 2020, at 11:59 p.m. EDT to amend pending applications to specify a new channel between 2 and 36.

These stations originally filed to be licensed as new rural digital LPTV or translator stations after the Media Bureau began accepting applications for this service in 2009. However, the FCC froze those applications as the agency moved forward with the incentive auction and spectrum repack.

According to a Media Bureau public notice, “it is appropriate to give these applicants an opportunity to amend their applications to specify a new digital in core channel” now that the auction is completed.

To qualify to amend an application, applicants must have a pending application for a new digital LPTV/translator station displaced by the incentive auction and repack.

The bureau has set up three criteria to be considered “displaced,” one of which must be met to be eligible. They include:

• being subject to a displacement by a full-power or Class A TV station on the repacked TV band resulting from the incentive auction;
• having proposed a frequency repurposed for new, flexible use by a 600 MHz band wireless licensee; or
• having proposed a frequency that will be used as part of the 600 MHz guard band.

Besides amending applications to specify a new in core channel, applicants have the option to modify technical specifications submitted as part of the original application as long as the changes don’t include a relocation of a transmitter site more than 48 kilometers (29.825 miles) from the reference coordinates originally submitted, the bureau said.

Further, transmitting antenna site coordinates must be more than 121 kilometers (75 miles) from the reference coordinates of DMA 1-100 markets. (The north latitude and west longitude of each of these markets is provided in Appendix A of the notice.)

The bureau will treat the application amendments of qualifying stations, filed in compliance with the restrictions outlined in the notice, as “minor” amendments. The agency will not charge a fee to file an application amendment, the bureau said.

The Media Bureau also laid out procedures for how mutually exclusive applications will be resolved in the notice.

For more information on the repack, visit TV Technology's repack silo.

WASHINGTON—The FCC has given its approval for Terrier Media, a newly formed company owned by Apollo Global Management, to acquire TV and radio stations from both Cox Enterprises and Northwest (NBI Holdings) with the understanding that the deal will be modified to adhere to new newspaper-broadcast ownership rules that came about following recent court proceedings.

The deal would see Terrier Media acquire all of the TV stations licensed to Northwest license subsidiaries for $384 million, as well as broadcast TV and radio stations owned by Cox for $3.1 billion.

When the U.S. Court of Appeals Third Circuit passed down its ruling in the Prometheus IV case dealing with vacated FCC broadcast ownership deregulation efforts, issues arose with the deal. According to the FCC, the parties amended the structure of the transactions to address any concerns that stemmed from the ruling.

However, the changes to the deal are not in place when it would now become official on Nov. 27, but the FCC has issued a 30-day window to allow all parties to become compliant.

“We recognize that the Television applicants may be in violation of certain broadcast multiple and cross-ownership rules following consummation as a result of the Prometheus IV decision,” the FCC’s Media Bureau wrote in its official decision. “However, we believe the unique circumstances of this case, specifically the Television Applicants’ specific commitments in the October 2019 Amendment and the timing of the Third Circuit’s decision, justify a brief 30-day period from consummation to come into compliance with these revised rules.”

Among the ways that the deal is expected to meet the new rules is for Northwest to surrender a license for one of its stations in Syracuse and Yuma not acquired by Terrier Media while also transferring all of the programming to the acquired station in each market. For Cox, Terrier says that it will change the publication frequency of three Cox newspapers in Ohio to three times a week.

The ownership rules weren’t the only objections to Apollo/Terrier’s acquisition of these stations. Multiple organizations, including Common Cause, filed comments saying how the acquisition would be against the public interest and hurt local TV coverage. However, citing its previous approval of the Nexstar-Tribune acquisition, the Media Bureau stated that it believes this acquisition would be in the public interest.

Read the FCC Media Bureau’s full order for more information.

WASHINGTON—While the recent summer heat wave has melted nearly everything frozen, the FCC is doing its own kind of melting with the Media Bureau announcing a lift on the freeze imposed on the filing and processing of minor modification applications for full power and Class A stations.

Thanks to the now reopen application process—which was initially ceased on April 5, 2013—full power stations can apply for an increase to its noise-limited contour, while Class A stations can file to increase its protected contour, in one or more directions beyond the station’s authorized facilities. These actions are limited to full power and Class A stations that were reassigned to new channels as part of the repack and have yet to complete the transition to their post-auction channels.

While the freeze was in effect, stations had to apply for a waiver to complete their transition in instances of an antenna not exactly matching the previously authorized antenna pattern or the authorized height of the antenna on a station’s tower differs from the actual installed height. Lifting the freeze is designed to relieve stations of these steps as they move through the repack process.

The freeze is only lifted for the qualified stations, remaining in place for all others.

Minor modification applications will be processed on a first-come-first-served basis, with the filing of an acceptable application cutting off the filing rights of subsequent, conflicting applications.

More information is available by visiting fcc.gov/media.

For more information on the repack, visit TV Technology's repack silo.

WASHINGTON—Even though the proposed Sinclair-Tribune deal was eventually abandoned, the FCC’s Media Bureau has issued a letter of inquiry to David Gibber, senior vice president and general counsel of Sinclair Broadcast Group, explaining that the commission has opened an investigation into Sinclair on whether it misrepresented or provided a lack of candor about who would be controlling a group of stations that would have been spun off as part of the Tribune deal.

The initial deal fell through after the FCC set a hearing on it in front of the commission’s Administrative Law Judge on these accusations of misrepresentation. The hearing was cancelled as a result, but the ALJ Jane Harpin said the allegation warranted a closer look, which the Media Bureau is no supplying.

The investigation will look into “whether, in light of the issues presented in the HDO [Hearing Designation Order], Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc. (Sinclair or Company) was the real party-in-interest to the associated WGN-TV, KDAF and KIAGH applications, and, if so, whether Sinclair engaged in misrepresentation and/or lack of candor in its applications with the Commission,” the LOI reads.

The FCC is now ordering that Sinclair deliver the deal-related documents to the Media Bureau by July 9. The LOI stresses that failure to “respond accurately and completely” can result in a fine or imprisonment.

Other issues raised in the original HDO were dismissed as “moot.”

Speaking on the proposed Sinclair-Tribune deal last year, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said: “Based on a thorough review of the record, I have serious concerns about the Sinclair-Tribune transaction. The evidence we’ve received suggests that certain stations divestitures that have been proposed to the FCC would allow Sinclair to control those stations in practice, even if not in name, in violation of the law.”

WASHINGTON—The FCC is giving an incomplete on its Congressionally-mandated review of the current television content rating system. While the commission’s Media Bureau lays out instances that indicate that the current ratings system could be applied better to some video content, a definitive or specific conclusion as to “the extent to which the rating system matches the video content is being shown” could not be reached in the 90 days allotted for review.

The Media Bureau was tasked by Congress to look into the voluntary ratings system designed by the NAB, the National Cable Television Association and the Motion Picture Association of America and approved by the FCC in 1998 as a response to the Telecommunications Act of 1996. The Media Bureau issued a Public Notice in February that sought comments on the accuracy of television content ratings and the ability of the TV Oversight Monitoring Board (TVOMB) to oversee the ratings and address public concerns.

Nearly 1,800 comments were filed for the Public Notice. A number of commenters made the argument that “the TV Parental Guidelines are not applied accurately to television programming,” citing violence, sexual situations and other “mature” content are being rated appropriately for children. However, Industry Representatives say that surveys they conducted as recently as 2018 find that 94% of parents were satisfied with the accuracy of the TV Parental Guidelines.

Similarly, the view on the operations of the TVOMB was dependent on what side of the industry commenters came down on. Those representing parents were worried about the TVOMB’s process for collecting and responding to complaints, as well as the group’s transparency. Industry reps stressed the value that the TVOMB provides in helping parents understand the ratings system.

The Media Bureau ultimately determined that the TVOMB had “been insufficiently accessible and transparent to the public,” noting that when the review began the TVOMB did not have a phone number for the public to contact, though that problem was ultimately resolved. Even so, it was recommended that steps should be taken to increase awareness, with suggestions of improving the TVOMB’s promotion of its role overseeing the ratings system; providing more information on the complaints that TVOMB receives and their resolutions; and holding at least one public meeting a year.

However, unable to, as it states, effectively determine the accuracy of the current TV ratings, the Media Bureau does believe “that sufficient concerns have been expressed in the record to merit additional Board action to analyze the accuracy of ratings.” Recommendations for possible Board actions included random audits or spot checks analyzing the accuracy and consistency of the ratings being applied.

The Parents Television Council released a statement from its President, Tim Winter, in response to the report, saying that the FCC affirmed “numerous, intrinsic failings of the TV content ratings system that we've been proclaiming for years.”

Winter continued: “The next step in the process for positive change needs to be public hearings, or perhaps a symposium, conducted by Congress or the FCC, that can deliver to parents a reliable and robust content ratings system which reflects the realities of today's entertainment media landscape.”

To read the FCC’s full report, click here.

This story was updated to include comments from the Parents Television Council.

WASHINGTON—A pair of staff moves were announced on Thursday for the FCC Media Bureau with the promotion of Holly Saurer and the hiring of Paul Jackson.

Saurer will now serve as the deputy bureau chief. She has previously held the positions of associate bureau chief, senior legal adviser to the bureau chief and attorney-adviser to the policy division within the Media Bureau. She also was an advisor to then-FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler and acting advisor to Mignon Clyburn and Jessica Rosenworcel.

Jackson returns to the FCC in the role of associate bureau chief. He was most recently a professional staff member at the Energy and Commerce Committee in the U.S. House of Representatives. His previous stint at the FCC was for six years, working as acting director and deputy director of the Office of Legislative Affairs and special assistant to FCC Chairman Michael K. Powell.

“I am excited that these two experienced and talented individuals will be part of the front office team,” said Carey. “The Bureau has relied on Holly’s breadth of knowledge for many years, and Paul’s significant private sector and Hill experience will provide a unique perspective. The decades of expertise they each bring to their roles will be invaluable to the work of the Bureau.”