The FCC’s upcoming incentive auctions may be the weapon broadcasters are looking for in their fight against Aereo, the upstart company using over-the-air signals to sell content to consumers on the cheap.

One theory being floated says the threats by CBS and FOX to pull their networks off the air may not be so far fetched. Selling off spectrum would accomplish two goals: it would bring in billions to broadcasters while they stick it to Aereo by denying them the very root of their service, over-the-air signals. The Verge has more details on the idea that may make Aereo the game changer it promises to be, just not in the way it intended.

Conveniently, CBS directly owns 29 stations, most in major markets, while Fox parentNews Corporation owns 27. Every station sits on a lucrative license to regional spectrum that it uses to broadcast its signal. By submitting those licenses to the FCC’s auction, these networks would stand to see a windfall, shutting the door on Aereo (which relies on over-the-air signals to collect its source content) in the process. Meanwhile, American households that rely entirely on over-the-air television — a recent GfK report estimates them at 17.8 percent of the viewing public — would be the pawns in the game.

President Obama has nominated Tom Wheeler, a venture capitalist and former cable and wireless lobbyist, to head the Federal Communications Commission.

If confirmed by the Senate, Wheeler would succeed Julius Genachowski, who is exiting his post to join the Aspen Institute. Obama formally nominated Wheeler Tuesday afternoon, noting the FCC “sits at the center of a communications universe that is growing and changing faster than you can tweet.”

“Tom is the only member of both the cable television and the wireless industry hall of fame,” Obama said. “For more than 30 years, Tom’s been at the forefront of some of the very dramatic changes that we’ve seen in the way we communicate and how we live our lives.”

Wheeler has served as president of of the National Cable Television Association and the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association.

Julius Genachowski, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission has announced plans to step down from his post in the coming weeks.

“Over the past four years, we’ve focused the FCC on broadband, wired and wireless, working to drive economic growth and improve the lives of all Americans,” Genachowski told his staff “And thanks to you, the Commission’s employees, we’ve taken big steps to build a future where broadband is ubiquitous and bandwidth is abundant, where innovation and investment are flourishing. “

Genachowski was nominated by President Obama and confirmed for the post by the Senate in 2009. Read more

A trailer for the new movie “Olympus Has Fallen” is using short bursts of a real Emergency Alert System tones as part of its soundtrack.

Radio magazine decoded the tones from the trailer titled, “No Surrender” and tracked them to a monthly test in Virginia. While the trailer is currently posted on You Tube, The Society of Broadcast Engineers has warned stations they could be in trouble if they use it on air:

March 7, 2013 – This is an advisory that a new movie, Olympus Has Fallen, to be released on March 22, 2013, uses actual EAS tones in the movie trailer. If the trailer is used in radio or TV advertisements, the stations may be subject to FCC fine. Read more

Despite indications the FCC has tabled a decision to end joint sales agreements until the commission could study the impact of the proposal on minority ownership, commissioner Ajit Pai recently told TVNewsCheck, “It is very much on the table.”

Pai told TVNewsCheck he felt the proposal to eliminate the agreements would hurt smaller broadcasters. “We are talking about stations in the 100 or 200 biggest markets, which have a miniscule portion of the revenue of, say, a New York City station. A JSA or SSA (shared service agreements) can mean the difference between consolidating operations and saving costs.”

Shared service agreements allow broadcasters like Nexstar to operate two stations in markets where outright ownership would be prohibited. Nexstar has agreements to operate many Mission Broadcasting owned stations. In Little Rock, Nexstar operates both the FOX affiliate and the NBC affiliate, but only owns KARK. KLRT is owned by Mission.

Under the proposal, JSA’s would need to be “unwound” within two years or the stations would count as being wholly owned.

We’ve all experienced the commercial or two that seem way louder than the show we’re watching.  Well today, the FCC, urged on by Congress, is ending the national pastime of riding the remote during commercial breaks when it begins enforcing the Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation Act, or CALM Act.

The CALM act requires all TV ads maintain the same average volume as the programs in which they appear.  The FCC rules do make allowances for some variations in volume, though.

A commercial may have louder and quieter moments, but, overall, it should be no louder than the surrounding programming. This may mean, however, that some commercials will comply with the new rules, but still sound “too loud” to some viewers.

The FCC is relying on viewers to file complaints if they find a commercial that is louder than the program it accompanies.  The complaint form can be found by clicking here.  Instructions on filling out the form can be found here.  After the jump you can see what information the FCC is looking for when a complaint is filed. Read more

White males may be losing traction when it comes to politics, but not so when when it comes to owning TV stations.

A recent Federal Communications Commission study shows that as of 2011, 69 percent of commercial broadcast stations are owned by whites.

The remaining 31 percent was split between station ownership identified by ethnicity (2 percent) and those that weren’t (28 percent).

Station ownership by women was also lacking.  Women owned only 6.8 percent of all commercial stations in 2011 while men owned 64.8 percent, .5 percent were jointly owned and 28 percent were owned by no majority male or female interest.

According to the study minorities owned just 30 of the 1,348 full power commercial stations in the US.

The full study can be read by clicking here.

[Los Angeles Times]

MediaDailyNews is reporting when it comes to blackouts over carriage fee disputes, it may have to get worse before it gets better.

According to the article, the practice of satellite or cable carriers cutting off viewer access to networks or local stations during disputes or vice-versa has steadily increased since 2010.  This year there were 70 blackouts compared to 51 in 2011 and just 12 in 2010.  But the article said viewers will see more blackouts before the government steps in.

In a email from TargetCast representatives, the agency says: “We believe that there will have to be significantly more, and longer, blackout periods for Congress and the FCC to take action.  For the most part, the system is working, as the majority of the 15,000 [plus] deals are done successfully and quietly behind the scenes, with only 1% becoming public disputes impacting viewers.” Read more

The FCC has ruled that a must-carry station cannot expect to keep its channel number on a cable system based on its previous analog channel, but instead will be given a channel number from its new digital channel designation.

The ruling comes after KSQA in Topeka, KS asked to be on channel 12 on the local Cox cable system and not on channel 22, the number it was given by Cox.  Channel 12 is currently occupied by WIBW, the local CBS affiliate.

According to the FCC complaint, “the primary issue before us is whether KSQA has a right to demand carriage on Channel 12 of Cox’s cable system when its over-the-air broadcast channel is 12.”

In its ruling the FCC stated, “KSQA is incorrect that it would also have a right to carriage on Channel 12. Therefore its demand that it be carried on Channel 12 must be denied.” Read more

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, according to GigaOM.com, is planning to circulate his ideas to the commission today on how they might conduct the so-called incentive auctions where broadcasters can sell off their airwaves, or spectrum, to appease increasing consumer demand for wireless broadband.

The FCC is also expected to release its tentative agenda today for its meeting in three weeks.  That agenda is expected to include discussion about the incentive auctions approved by Congress in February.

Wireless carriers say they’re running out of spectrum space to fuel the increasing consumer appetite for data streaming and wireless services offered by smart phones and tablets.  In response, Congress is encouraging broadcasters to sell off unused spectrum to wireless carriers who can then use it to ease their broadband crunch.

Read more