FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler’s comments made at the CES on retransmission consent intervention were “overlooked” and are a “positive” for broadcasters, a Guggenheim Partners analyst said. Wheeler’s comments on retrans “certainly indicated he was unlikely to support FCC intervention in signal blackouts,” analyst Paul Gallant said in a research note. “This is what broadcasters have been hoping for.” If the commission does stand down on retrans, “then the ball is solely in Congress’ court,” he said. “But, given that Republicans control the House and broadcasters tend to have rising influence in an election year, we continue to believe the odds are against Congress passing retrans legislation in 2014.”

Journal Broadcast Group closed on the $17 million sale of two Palm Springs, Calif., stations to OTA Broadcasting, Journal said in a news release Tuesday (http://bit.ly/K71OTC). The stations sold were NBC affiliate KMIR-TV and MyNetwork affiliate KPSE-TV, said Journal. Kalil & Co. represented Journal in the transaction and Media Venture Partners represented OTA.

A carrier backed a broadcaster’s request to move from Channel 51, the one spot on the TV dial where the FCC is accepting such requests from full-power stations. U.S. Cellular said Family Broadcasting Group should be allowed to move KSBI Oklahoma City to Channel 23, a change that’s the subject of a Media Bureau NPRM saying the move warrants consideration (http://bit.ly/1dgGnMY). The plan is in conjunction with a “voluntary industry settlement that will facilitate the offering of quality wireless broadband by a USCC affiliate,” said U.S. Cellular in a comment Tuesday in docket 13-302 (http://bit.ly/1erlM5c). “Family has demonstrated that the proposed change falls squarely within an express exception to the Commission’s ‘freeze’ on channel reallocations and assignment."

The FCC Media Bureau upheld its dismissal of an application from Wynnewood Community Radio Association for a new noncommercial educational FM station in Wynnewood, Okla. WCRA’s application was filed by Tony Malaska, whose name served as the unincorporated association, the bureau said in a letter. The bureau said “unincorporated associations generally consist of two or more people, whereas Malaska is the sole officer and director of WCRA.” WCRA’s claim that the bureau erred on its ineligibility is based largely upon a new legal opinion, “which allegedly confirms and bolsters information that we previously rejected from WCRA’s principal about Oklahoma law,” it said. “This new evidence is inadmissible under the rules and thus forms no basis for reconsideration."

The FTC wants broadcasters to screen out advertising for fraudulent diet and weight-loss products, using a list of seven claims commonly made in such ads that “can’t be true,” said an agency news release. Ads for “bogus” products do “incalculable damage to the reputation for accuracy that broadcasters and publishers work hard to earn,” said an FTC letter to broadcasters (http://1.usa.gov/1ddzoEn) announcing the new campaign, called “Gut Check.” The list of tell-tale signs that should flag a fraudulent ad for broadcast ad sales teams includes claims that a product causes substantial weight loss “no matter what or how much the consumer eats,” or by rubbing a product into skin, or “causes permanent weight loss even after the consumer stops using product.” The FTC takes law enforcement action against fraudulent product sellers after such ads run, but “the most effective front-line defense is when media outlets have an effective in-house clearance program that screens out clearly deceptive diet ads,” said the letter to broadcasters. It urged broadcasters to point their ad sales teams to an online tutorial that teaches users how to spot weight-loss fraud (http://1.usa.gov/1adifII). The campaign also includes an FTC-created website for a fake weight-loss product called “FatFoe” (http://bit.ly/1htHpa1). “When consumers try to order FatFoe, they learn the ad is a warning from the FTC about diet rip-offs,” said the FTC in the release.

The FCC Media Bureau ordered a $4,500 forfeiture for Harpole Telecom, licensee of WUWT Union City, Tenn., for late filing children’s TV reports and failing to report the violations on its renewal application, said a forfeiture order issued Tuesday (http://bit.ly/1cWfYlY). The forfeiture amount was originally proposed at $20,000, but was reduced because of Harpole’s inability to pay the higher amount, the order said. The bureau also proposed a $1,000 fine for Mission Broadcasting, licensee of KTVE El Dorado, Ark., for failing to air announcements publicizing the existence and location of its kids’ TV reports for a year, said a notice of apparent liability (http://bit.ly/1a4EMnA).

Common Frequency urged the FCC to protect low-power FM station and translator opportunities as it moves toward opening an FM translator application window for AM stations. “No filing window for translators should be enacted until the LPFM 90-day settlement window period for LPFM applicants occurs,” said the organization, which advocates for community and college radio broadcasting, in comments in docket 13-249 (http://bit.ly/1bLprry). If mutually exclusive groups of LPFM applicants aren’t dealt with prior to creating additional translator mutually exclusive groups, “it would be an insurmountable engineering pile-up of pending applications,” it said. The commission should expedite the 250-watt upgrade opportunity before opening another FM translator auction, Common Frequency said. “If an AM translator filing auction is enacted prior to [an] LP-250 upgrade, current LPFM permittees and licensees would be boxed in and unable to upgrade.” Common Frequency also recommended the creation of an incentive program for AM licensees choosing to donate their licenses to local nonprofit groups and educational institutions, it said.

The Gray Miller Persh law firm launched this month. The firm was founded by former Dow Lohnes attorneys Todd Gray, Margaret Miller and Barry Persh, said Miller. Their practice areas are noncommercial radio and TV broadcasting, and educational communications, she said. Cooley acquired Dow Lohnes effective Jan. 1, and announced the acquisition in the fall (CD Oct 16 p13). The public broadcasting and educational communications practice of Dow Lohnes broke off into a separate firm, Gray said.

More than 90 percent of current commercial TV station owners “did NOT get free spectrum,” NAB Executive Vice President Dennis Wharton said in response to comments from CEA President Gary Shapiro on an episode of C-SPAN’s The Communicators, that was set for telecast Saturday (CD Jan 3 p1). “In fact, today’s TV station owners paid BILLIONS of dollars IN TOTAL for properties that have been sold and re-sold since the 1940s,” Wharton said in an email. “Spectrum was part of that price.” Wharton also challenged Shapiro’s comments that only 10 percent of people watch over-the-air TV. “GfK’s annual survey released last June showed that non-pay TV households now represent 19.3 percent of the population, up from 17.3 percent a year earlier and 14 percent the year before that,” he said. “A leading factor is cord-cutting and the multiplicity of ‘multicast DTV channels’ (especially foreign language channels and channels like Bounce, and 24/7 all-African American broadcast network).” Shapiro was confused in his comments on must-carry rules, Wharton said. “The ‘92 Cable Act simply requires a cable company to sit down every few years with a broadcaster and negotiate terms under which the highly valuable local TV signal is carried,” he said. “If a broadcaster elects ‘must carry,’ the broadcaster CANNOT demand payment. If a broadcaster elects retransmission consent, the broadcaster CANNOT demand carriage. The law does NOT require cable companies to pay broadcasters A PENNY if the broadcaster elects retransmission consent, and the law does NOT allow a broadcaster that elects retransmission consent to default to mandatory ‘must-carry’ if retrans negotiations break down and there is an impasse in service."

Nexstar Broadcasting relocated to new headquarters in Irving, Texas, the company said in a news release Thursday. The company’s previous offices were also in Irving, but the new offices are larger. Nexstar relocated because of its expansion over the past two years, said CEO Perry Sook. “Since July 2012, Nexstar has completed or announced over $855 million in accretive transactions, adding 55 television stations and expanded digital media operations to its portfolio,” said Sook, saying the new headquarters provides “capacity for continued growth.” Nexstar’s new address is 545 East John Carpenter Freeway, Suite 700, Irving, Texas, 75062-3932. Other contact information for the company’s employees hasn’t changed, the release said.