Industry News

Two AV companies have done something that may be of interest to the broadcast industry. Last week, they agreed to a strategic partnership to offer “the most complete and most collaborative versions” of the Crestron XiO Cloud product. This adds new levels of control, management and rapid installation features to Philips displays.

PPDS, the exclusive global provider of Philips pro TV products, is now among the world’s first manufacturers to gain Crestron XiO Cloud certification.

The company says this “unique and highly collaborative partnership opens up incredible opportunities for a multitude of industries.”

With Crestron technology now embedded and compatible across almost all Philips professional displays (including pro TV, digital signage and interactive), PPDS has become one of the world’s few display manufacturers to support all four of Crestron’s key technology integrations, including its Control, Remote Management, Video Distribution and Unified Communications solutions, the company says.

Built on the Microsoft Azure platform, Crestron XiO Cloud integrates seamlessly with a
wide range of Philips Windows and Android digital displays and pro TVs.

In 2020, PPDS became a Crestron Connected Gen 2 certified and trusted partner. The first examples of the relationship included the launch and availability of a range of new products, including Philips B-Line and C-Line interactive displays.

Customers can purchase the Crestron XiO Cloud service on a monthly basis, with pricing based on the number of rooms and service options required.

State broadcast associations are telling the Federal Communications Commission that its planned increase in regulatory fees will be harmful to radio and TV stations at a time when many stations face “an increasingly precarious situation.”

They also want the commission to start a proceeding that would lead to fees being allocated more fairly across industries that benefit from the FCC’s work.

[“Broadcasters Face Higher FCC Regulatory Fees”]

The leaders of several associations met via tele-conference calls last week with staff members of three FCC commissioners. The associations include those in Indiana, Minnesota, Georgia, Montana and Missouri.

The state groups echoed arguments that have been made to the FCC — so far without success — by the National Association of Broadcasters.

The associations described financial challenges facing broadcasters, especially those in small markets, where stations may be the only source of local news and information as well as a balance to misinformation on social media.

According to ex parte filings summarizing the calls, the associations complained about increases of “double-digit percentages year over year” and said that the FCC’s published Broadcast Totals “show a loss of at least 122 full-power commercial AM and FM radio stations since 2019, demonstrating the increasingly precarious situation many stations face.”

They also noted that the FCC’s most recent auction failed to attract a bidder for any of the offered AM station authorizations and for a third of the FM station authorizations.

This, they said, “further confirms an increasingly obvious fact: that the FCC’s proposal to charge broadcasters 16% of its operating costs while those same broadcasters hold only 0.07% of the spectrum regulated by the commission is an unsustainable approach to funding the commission’s operations.”

They also said that the fee increases “are due almost entirely to the commission’s decision to treat its work under the Broadband DATA Act as commission ‘overhead,’ to be spread across all FCC regulatees despite the fact that broadcasters have no connection to, and do not benefit from, that work in any way.”

That, they say, is contrary to the will of Congress.

“The commission’s traditional license-centric approach to setting regulatory fees is neither legal nor sustainable,” the associations wrote in their filings.

They said that approach “merely forces broadcasters to subsidize through excessive regulatory fees their fiercest competitors: social media and technology companies that consume vast amounts of the commission’s time and resources while paying no regulatory fees whatsoever.

“This subsidy is particularly offensive when some of these resources broadcasters are paying for are being used to encroach on broadcaster’s spectrum through unlicensed uses, reducing the ‘benefit’ of that spectrum to broadcasters while simultaneously benefitting technology companies who conveniently avoid having to pay for the cost of those proceedings since they are not an FCC licensee.”

The associations told FCC staffers that current law now requires it to diversify its portfolio of regulatory fee payors.

They want the commission to start a proceeding to examine how to bring its regulatory fee processes into compliance by expanding the universe of regulatory fee payors and acknowledging that the amount of fees must be governed by what is called the “touchstone” of the benefit the commission delivers to the payor.

[Read one of the ex parte summaries as filed with the commission.]

The post State Associations Push Back on FCC Fee Increases appeared first on Radio World.

Cornelius Gould has joined Angry Audio with the title of audio processing architect. Among his jobs will be helping to develop products for new media content creators.

Angry Audio is a Tennessee-based company founded in 2019 by Mike “Catfish” Dosch. It specializes in making “gizmos and gadgets.”

“Broadcasters around the world know Gould for his Omnia.11 work,” the company said in a press release. “What they may not realize is that he has been designing, building and tuning audio processing for decades. In fact, he is considered by many to be one of the world’s foremost audio processing authorities.”

Dosch said Angry Audio has a lot of customers working in podcasting and live-audio streaming. “With Corny on board, we have some new product ideas that should be real eye-openers,” he said.

Gould is best known in radio for his decade-plus at Telos Alliance. Before that he founded a streaming company and worked as an engineer for CBS Radio. More recently he was with Futuri Media in an R&D role; he also co-hosts a podcast about rocketry.

Send announcements for People News to radioworld@futurenet.com.

The post Corny Gould Joins Angry Audio appeared first on Radio World.

The Media Bureau has agreed to cancel a Notice of Apparent Liability against the licensee of an low-power FM station in Florida for a renewal violation — but not before the station was admonished by the Federal Communications Commission for operating without a license.

The bureau sent a liability notice to Minority Broadcasting Association, licensee of LPFM station WPJM in Palatka, Fla., for apparently willfully violating the FCC Rules by failing to file a license renewal application on time and engaging in unauthorized operation of the station.

[Read: LPFM Station Allowed to Resume Operations]

According to the rules, the bureau has the authority to set a base forfeiture of $3,000 for failing to file a required form. The guidelines also specify a base forfeiture of $10,000 for construction or operation without authorization. In Minority Broadcasting’s case, the bureau proposed a reduced forfeiture amount of $3,500 since the station is an LPFM and is providing a secondary service.

Minority Broadcasting responded to the commission’s notice and responded that its failure to file the application was not willful; rather, it resulted from unintentional oversight and argued that the commission did not give them enough opportunity to achieve compliance with the Administrative Procedure Act. Minority Broadcasting also requested cancellation of the notice due to an inability to pay.

But the bureau said that violations resulting from failure to become familiar with the FCC’s rules are still willful violations — even if the licensee didn’t intentionally set out to break the rules. As a result, the commission said it was not persuaded by Minority Broadcasting’s argument that the mistake was just an accident.

The bureau also said that Minority Broadcasting’s interpretation of the Administrative Procedure Act is also incorrect. The rules state that the suspension of an license is lawful only if the licensee has been given notice and an opportunity to achieve compliance. But here, the commission is not attempting to revoke or cancel the station’s license, so in this case the act has no standing, the bureau said.

The bureau also explained that in order for the commission to consider reducing or cancelling a forfeiture, the licensee must submit federal tax returns for the last three years or some other objective documentation showing the licensee’s current financial status. Minority Broadcasting said its financial status was clear: it doesn’t have a bank account and any funds needed for station operations are obtained through donations.

The commission accepted Minority Broadcasting’s showing that payment of the proposed forfeiture would create a financial hardship. The bureau also agreed to cancel the proposed forfeiture but not before admonishing Minority Broadcasting for its violation of the rules.

The post Florida Low-Power FM Station Has Liability Canceled by Media Bureau appeared first on Radio World.

There’s a new VP/GM for the Sinclair Broadcast Group-owned FOX affiliate serving the Omaha-Council Bluffs market.

He will also oversee the market’s The CW Network affiliate, which Sinclair operates via a provision of services agreement.

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From big brick and mortar retailers to auto insurance specialist and a big Procter & Gamble Co. brand, there’s lots of strong activity at spot television for the week ending August 22.

The variety in advertiser categories is a welcome sign, even as Auto was absent ahead of the next end-of-month sales push.

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The latest Media Monitors Spot Ten Radio report shows that there’s little movement from last week, with respect to fully paying advertisers and the amount of commercials aired for each of them for the week ending August 22.

As shown below, Progressive, Indeed, Babbel, GEICO and Bank of America — along with Grainger — are committing to their radio budgets.

For Progressive, that translates to nearly 54,000 spot plays for the week ending August 22.

For No. 10 Grainger, roughly 30,700 spots were detected for the week.

NBCUniversal is urging all measurement companies to offer alternative means of tracking viewing across multiple platforms.

The request is in an open letter signed by Kelly Abcarian, the former Nielsen veteran who recently became EVP of Measurement and Impact for NBCUniversal.

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Add Beasley Media Group to the list of major radio companies to require employees to get vaccinated. Employees have until November first to get fully vaccinated.

“As a company, we have a responsibility to ensure a safe working environment on behalf of our employees and their families,” said Caroline Beasley, Beasley’s CEO. “Accordingly, we will be requiring all employees to be fully vaccinated by November 1 — excepting those with religious or medical accommodations. This policy will apply to new and existing employees alike.”

Beasley follows Cumulus Media, Gray Television and Urban One as publicly traded broadcast media companies requiring “the jab” for employees.

BIN: The Black Information Network, launched by iHeartMedia in 2020, is planning to expand local new coverage in January 2022.

Right now the iHeartMedia national audio news network, presenting news with a Black voice and perspective is heard in 32 affiliate markets.

The expansion plans have resulted in the promotion of three staff members.

Tanita Myers, previously Director of News Operations, is now Vice President of News Operations; Chris Thompson, previously Director of Network Operations, is now Vice President of Network Operations; and Lauren Crawford, previously Associate Editor, is now Senior Director of Digital and Social Strategy.

“We are incredibly proud of the growth and success of BIN during our first year,” said Tony Coles, President of BIN. “We are thrilled to continue our leadership in providing the most trusted news source for the Black community, offering even more local news coverage to the communities we serve. BIN’s success has been, in no small part, due to our dedicated and talented team. I look forward to seeing how Tanita, Chris and Lauren continue to grow within BIN, and I am excited to add even more experienced talent to our team.”

iHeartMedia indicates that the expansion of local news coverage will create new employment opportunities including multiple news anchor and reporter positions, a Managing Editor, and a Podcast Managing Editor.

— Rob Dumke