If the FCC’s eventual ATSC 3.0 rules prevent broadcasters from encrypting only their primary channel using digital rights management (DRM), it would leave a loophole allowing them to still lock content behind DRM restrictions using secondary channels, said device maker Silicondust USA in an ex parte filing posted Tuesday in docket 16-142. “Consumers today understand over-the-air television to include a significant number of freely receivable channels, not merely a single minimally compliant channel from each broadcaster.” The FCC should require that ATSC 3.0 broadcasters “provide an experience equivalent to the modern, multiple virtual-channel, freely viewable, unencrypted ATSC 1.0 broadcast experience being replaced,” the company said.
Nexstar wants the preliminary injunction blocking its merger with Tegna to be limited to the 31 markets where the two companies both own Big Four stations and for the state plaintiffs to be ruled out of the case for lacking standing, it told the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in a brief Wednesday. Nexstar also asked the court in a separate motion to expedite the case to allow oral argument in August. “The district court relied on locality-specific antitrust allegations but imposed a nationwide remedy,” the company said. “Both cannot be right.”
The LPTV Broadcasters Association urged FCC Chairman Brendan Carr on Tuesday to authorize 5G broadcasting as a voluntary transmission standard for low-power TV stations “without delay.” The group's chairman, Frank Copsidas, said in a letter in docket 25-168 that “5G television technology is rapidly evolving but American broadcasters are unable to deploy it to consumers -- we need the FCC to eliminate regulatory barriers to unleash the potential of 5G Broadcast, and the LPTV service is the perfect proving ground.”
NAB on Wednesday criticized the FCC Media Bureau’s order requiring Disney TV licenses to undergo early renewal proceedings after President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump each called for the firing of late-night host Jimmy Kimmel. In addition, analysts and academics warned that the agency’s actions could reduce the value of all broadcast stations and authorize similar investigations from a future FCC led by a Democrat.
LAS VEGAS -- In a Q&A session Monday at the 2026 NAB Show here, FCC Media Bureau staff members warned broadcasters about following the agency's filing requirements for license renewals, signaled openness to a new FM translator filing window and dodged questions about the timing of ownership deregulation and new ATSC 3.0 rules. “I don't want to specifically comment or make any statement concerning open rulemakings, which is a line we'll probably say a lot today,” said Deputy Bureau Chief Alex Sanjenis.
The 2026 NAB Show will kick off Saturday in Las Vegas with close to 60,000 attendees expected and a broadcast industry maneuvering to take advantage of expected ownership deregulation, according to interviews with NAB officials, broadcasters, brokers and industry officials.
Broadcast station groups want the FCC to issue new rules on the network/affiliate relationship to keep sporting events on broadcast TV, according to reply comments filed in docket 26-45 by Monday’s deadline.
The FCC shouldn’t intervene in the sports rights marketplace and doesn’t have the authority to do so, said the Conservative Political Action Coalition Foundation’s Center for Regulatory Freedom in a filing posted Monday in docket 26-45. It came just days after FCC Chairman Brendan Carr highlighted Amazon’s increased carriage of sporting events in a social media post.
Any FCC mandate requiring a nationwide transition to ATSC 3.0 shouldn’t extend to low-power TV stations, said LPTV Broadcasters Association President Frank Copsidas in a letter Thursday responding to lawmakers who recently urged the FCC to move ahead with the transition. “LPTV stations constitute a distinct service under the FCC’s rules, with technical, licensing, and operational requirements that are distinct from full-power facilities,” Copsidas wrote. “LPTV stations must remain free to continue to broadcast in ATSC 1.0 to serve the approximately 80% of viewers who rely exclusively on legacy ATSC 1.0 receivers or who would otherwise be ‘left behind’ by the transition.”
The FCC’s proceeding on sports programming and streaming (docket 26-45) drew more than 8,000 comment filings, many of them -- apparently made through online forms -- nearly identically urging the agency to “keep live sports on broadcast TV.” However, broadcasters, trade groups and other FCC regulars generally said the agency's lack of jurisdiction in this area limits it to gathering information and making recommendations to Congress.