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Attention, N.C. Broadcasters: Sports Wagering Is Coming

Radio+Television Business Report - Thu, 01/25/2024 - 16:15

North Carolina’s radio and television broadcasting stations could be in for a windfall of new advertiser revenue, as the State Lottery Commission on Thursday morning confirmed that approved, licensed sports wagering operators will be able to begin accepting online
wagers in the state in a matter of weeks.

 

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Categories: Industry News

Fubo Moves Forward With GenAI-Based ‘Instant Headlines’

Radio+Television Business Report - Thu, 01/25/2024 - 15:56

NEW YORK — They are designed to help Fubo consumers make better viewing decisions in real-time, the publicly traded company says.

Introducing “Instant Headlines,” which FuboTV Inc. describes as “a pioneering beta feature that generates contextual news topics as they are reported live on air.”

The new Fubo offering surfaces current programming topics and highlights them — in 10 words or less — in a home page news carousel. The page continuously refreshes each channel tile in the carousel, updating the user on the current topic being discussed on that channel. From there, the user can click on the channel tile to watch the live segment.

Instant Headlines is available to Fubo users on FireTV and Android TV, and is currently integrated with select 24 hour news channels, including national networks and, in certain markets, local stations.

The feature may be expanded to other devices in the future.

Fubo also said it plans to launch a suite of news-focused product features and intends to make similar features available for sports and entertainment content.

“Fubo continuously pushes the boundaries of innovation, delivering to consumers market defining product features optimized for live TV streaming,” said David Gandler, Fubo’s co-founder and CEO. “We were the first virtual MVPD to offer 4K streaming and multi viewing, which we launched years ahead of our peers. It’s Fubo’s premium user experience, coupled with our aggregated sports-first content offering, that provides meaningful differentiation in a crowded streaming landscape. We believe tech advancements will continue to demarcate Fubo from other live TV streaming services – appealing to both consumers and advertisers alike – and will contribute strongly to our profitability goals.”

Categories: Industry News

House E&C Republicans To Probe Sports Media Rights

Radio+Television Business Report - Thu, 01/25/2024 - 15:55

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee and the House Member who chairs the Communications and Technology Subcommittee Chair want a clearer understanding of sports media rights in the U.S.

They hope to get answers in a hearing scheduled for January 31 on Capitol Hill.

House E&C head Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) and Bob Latta (R-Ohio) are calling the hearing “TV Timeout: Understanding Sports Media Rights,” and it is scheduled for the final day of the month at 10:30am Eastern, in Rayburn HOB Room 2322.

Why are Rodgers and Latta convening the hearing? “The media marketplace has rapidly evolved over the last decade to adapt to the shifting dynamics of the sports’ media rights debate and the rising influence of online streaming platforms,” they note. “The introduction of streaming services, in particular, has expanded the options for people to choose where, when, and what content they view, including live sports. We look forward to discussing this evolution and better understand the innovation and competition in this market and how it has changed the consumer experience.”

Perhaps the key word here is “disrupted,” and streaming services such as Peacock and Amazon Video gain exclusives, such as National Football League telecasts.

A witness list is forthcoming.

Categories: Industry News

A Weiser Look At Comcast In Q4: Powered by Peacock

Radio+Television Business Report - Thu, 01/25/2024 - 15:42

Comcast Corp., the NBCUniversal parent, on Thursday reported its Q4 2023 earnings results. The big takeaway as Brian Wieser, the respected media industry financial analyst who leads Madison & Wall, sees it?

OTT platform Peacock is powering NBCU, as the linear media assets are experiencing turbulence.

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Categories: Industry News

Morse Code Is Alive and Well at KPH

Radio World - Thu, 01/25/2024 - 15:17

Last Saturday, more than 150 listeners across the U.S., Italy, France and Japan huddled by their radios to decipher a series of Morse Code transmitted by the Maritime Radio Historical Society.

MRHS was formed on July 12, 1999, the date of the supposed last commercial Morse transmission in the U.S. Today, the group operates stations KPH, KFS, KSM and, on amateur frequencies, K6KPH. In addition to honoring the craft of maritime radio, KPH also hosts a number of events — most recently, an over-the-air cryptographic challenge.

A Quick History Lesson

During the Cold War era, “numbers stations” were frequently heard on the shortwave bands by radio amateurs and SWLs (shortwave listening). Using voice or Morse Code, these stations would broadcast encrypted messages in the form of five-letter groups of numbers.

The encryption methods used by number stations are widely believed to use a one-time pad (OTP) procedure: the simple addition (or subtraction) of a set of random numbers from the OTP to encode (or decode) the cleartext. Once used, the OTP key was never re-used and destroyed after use. “Number stations still offer a powerful advantage in our modern world: provably unbreakable security and complete anonymity,” says MRHS on its website. “All the recipient needs are the OTP, a shortwave radio and to be on the right frequency at the right time.”

KPH’s Crypto Transmission

On Jan. 20, KPH transmitted a coded message consisting of five-digit groups. The message was encrypted using typical Cold War numbers station cryptographic procedures. All KPH listeners were invited to try their hand at receiving and decrypting the message.

To recap the event, and to learn more about KPH, Radio World chatted via email with Bill Ruck, one of KPH’s passionate volunteers.

Radio World: Can you share a little bit about KPH’s history?

Bill Ruck: When the maritime business collapsed the [former KPH] licensee sold the license and shut down the transmitters. The founders of the Maritime Radio Historical Society went to Point Reyes National Seashore with a proposal to operate the station. They accepted the proposal and now we operate, maintain and interpret the station for visitors in partnership with Point Reyes National Seashore. It is now a National Park Service Historical Site and on its way — very slowly — to becoming a NPS Museum.

The transmit site for all MRHS stations is the original 1914 Marconi site in Bolinas, Calif. The receive site is the RCA point to point site built in 1930 at Point Reyes, Calif. KPH commenced receive operations at the Point Reyes site in 1946 when the station reopened after the war. (Photo credit: MRHS)

RW: How often does KPH hold events like this past weekend’s crypto transmission?

Ruck: It takes a lot of time to put this together but we really want to do a crypto event twice a year. This is our third crypto event. The first two used Enigma (German WWII system) encryption.

RW: What was your role with the event, and at KPH in general?

Ruck: While I really like to work on equipment lately I have mostly been “interpreting,” giving descriptions of what we do at KPH to visitors. Last Saturday, I explained not only the history of KPH but what we were doing, and kept the visitors from annoying the operators sending the five number groups.

Cypress Tree Avenue leads visitors to the historic KPH maritime radio receiving station, Point Reyes National Seashore, Marin County, Calif. (Photo credit: Frank Schulenburg/Wiki)

RW: How and why did you get involved at the station?

Ruck: Long story. One of my high school friends worked for Radio Corporation of America (RCA) in downtown San Francisco part time at night. When he graduated he became the teletype operator at Point Reyes. I used to hang out with him while he worked and saw KPH in full operation about 50 years ago. Then, years later, a mutual friend invited me to join, not knowing my previous experience at KPH. It was too easy to get sucked in.

I have an active interest in the history of technology, especially radio, and to be involved in a radio station that dates back to 1905 is heaven for me.

Bill Ruck in front of one of MRHS’ Press Wireless PW-15 transmitters. “This is a WWII vintage transmitter that operates every Saturday,” says Ruck. (Photo credit: MRHS)

RW: What kind of programming does KPH do outside of these events?

Ruck: Every Saturday we broadcast marine news and weather in both Morse Code and teletype. There are a few, mostly historic, ships that have the equipment and operators to send messages in Morse. If you take a SS Jeremiah O’Brian San Francisco Bay Cruise (which is highly recommended) you can go to the ship’s radio officer, fill out a radiogram blank and watch as the radio officer sends the message to us. We then forward that message via email. We also send the JOB “Air raid Pearl Harbor. This is no drill” just because we can.

We also operate on amateur HF bands under the call K6KPH. Same thing — hand-sent Morse Code.

This is a picture of Position 1 at the Point Reyes receive site. Mike Payne is holding the microphone on the voice link to the Bolinas transmitter and Roy Henrichs is sitting down. Context: Position 1 has the senior operator controlling all of the transmissions from a total of 6 operating positions. (Photo credit: MRHS)

RW: How many volunteers help to keep the station running?

Ruck: We have about eight regulars and a few more that come by once in a while. We NEED more volunteers.

RW: Why is keeping the art of Morse transmissions alive important to KPH, and you?

Ruck: For almost 100 years maritime radio was the only contact between a ship at sea and land. Until the 80’s this was almost all hand-sent Morse Code. Gradually, several technologies took over and today a ship sends email via satellite. We honor the men, and some women, that were radio officers at sea.

I tell visitors “We do the radio equivalent of a Civil War re-enactment.” There is no money in hand-sent Morse Code anymore, but by keeping the single operational Coastal Marine Station in the U.S. on the air — even if only Saturdays — is living history. While the KPH project is well known in our limited circles, my goal is to get the word out as much as possible.

So, What Was Transmitted?

Here’s the Numbers message as sent (both CW and RTTY):

CQ CQ CQ DE KPH KPH KPH
CQ CQ CQ DE KPH KPH KPH
NUMBERS MESSAGE FOLLOWS
=
447 447 447
=
14408  22398  89277  37674  58289
07722  15378  84975  30552  61128
69986  02108  68467  10079  92331
32982  54092  37446  22905  15340
17129  81152  39418  67073  25414
81456  43361
=

And here is the cleartext:

CURRENT OP  COMPROMISED.  ABORT.
TRAVEL   IMMEDIATELY  TO  ISTANBUL VIA SWISS  PASSPORT.
CONTACT AGENT  MAX.   DANGER,  INSIST   ON   MOSCOW    RULES.
BURN   AFTER   READING.

One of the event’s participants followed orders and sent the below video to KPH.

Visit KPH’s website for more information on its history and future events.

Submit business announcements to radioworld@futurenet.com.

The post Morse Code Is Alive and Well at KPH appeared first on Radio World.

Categories: Industry News

FCC Plans to Fine Five Radio Pirates in Florida

Radio World - Thu, 01/25/2024 - 14:36
A logo for Touche Douce from Facebook.

The Federal Communications Commission is ramping up its pressure on a person it describes as “one of the longest-operating [radio] pirates in the Miami area.”

It has proposed the maximum allowable penalty, about $2.4 million, against Fabrice Polynice for allegedly operating a pirate station known as “Touché Douce” over 22 days in 2023. In a notice of apparent liability, it said Polynice had also been issued forfeiture orders in 2013 and 2018.

This is the fifth multimillion-dollar penalty proposed by the FCC since the PIRATE Act significantly raised maximum fines in 2020. Only one to date has progressed to a final forfeiture order, involving Radio Impacto 2 in New York; there has been no further word about that one being paid or collected.

The FCC also has proposed four smaller fines in the Miami area.

Penalties of about $358,000 each are proposed against Brindley Marshall, Wilfrid Salomon and Cameron Brown. “All three individuals have been operating pirate radio stations for years and have received multiple warnings to cease their unauthorized broadcasting,” the commission wrote. The dollar figure is the maximum penalty for three days of alleged violations in 2023.

The FCC also proposed a forfeiture of $120,000 against Abdias Datis.

“These operators were not just using the public airwaves unlawfully, they were increasing the risk for harmful interference of authorized users,” said Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel in a statement. “That is unacceptable.”

The NALs were approved unanimously by the FCC commissioners.

In each case, the people named have an opportunity to respond and counter the allegations before the FCC confirms a forfeiture.

The Miami notices are a result of the commission’s first sweep of the Miami area under the PIRATE Act. The commission must conduct regular sweeps of five cities where pirate radio is most common.

Rosenworcel described the field regional management and agents in the Miami field office as “a team on the front lines of enforcing our rules governing the public airwaves.”

The FCC this week also issued an update to Congress on its pirate radio enforcement efforts in the past fiscal year.

The post FCC Plans to Fine Five Radio Pirates in Florida appeared first on Radio World.

Categories: Industry News

Gómez Reveals Key Staff Members

Radio+Television Business Report - Thu, 01/25/2024 - 14:08

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The newest FCC Commissioner on Thursday named her Chief of Staff while revealing who will serve as a legal advisor for media and technology, and for both wireline and space issues and for wireless, public safety and consumer protection matters.

Anna Gómez also has a new executive assistant.

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Categories: Industry News

DuJuan McCoy Sees Return Of Racial Discrimination Cases

Radio+Television Business Report - Thu, 01/25/2024 - 13:59

“Appeal No. 23-1787,” the second argument heard on Wednesday morning by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in Chicago, could give Indiana broadcast television station owner DuJuan McCoy a renewed racial discrimination fight against the nation’s two direct broadcast satellite (DBS) providers.

 

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Categories: Industry News

Illiana Broadcaster Deploys Telos VXs

Radio World - Thu, 01/25/2024 - 12:36

Radio World Buyer’s Guide articles are intended to help readers understand why their colleagues chose particular products to solve various technical situations. This month’s articles focus on telephone systems and applications for radio.

WGFA has been a pivotal voice in the Illiana community, broadcasting from Watseka, Ill., since 1961. Founded by Dick Martin, the station emerged to fulfill the need for radio services in the underserved regions of eastern Illinois and western Indiana.

Over six decades, WGFA has expanded from a single station to three under the Iroquois County Broadcasting Corp. umbrella, still owned and managed by the Martin family. ICBC’s 400-foot tower continues to dominate the landscape of cornfields, embodying the slogan that inspired its initialism “The World’s Greatest Farming Area.”

Erik Bonilla-Sanchez, systems engineer at Inrush, checks the Telos VXs system.

The station’s commitment to local businesses and community engagement has placed a premium on listener participation. However, technical limitations with standalone VoIP hybrids led to frequent dropped calls and busy phone lines, undermining attempts to run contests, record farm reports and engage with listeners live on air.

In 2023, ICBC partnered with Inrush Broadcast Services to address these and other engineering challenges. ICBC embraced Inrush’s proposal to overhaul its phone system using the Telos Alliance VXs platform.

Inrush installed the necessary hardware, a small Lenovo server, at the ICBC studios. The physical setup, involving two network cables and power, was straightforward. Remote configuration, from the operating system installation to test calls via VXs, was completed in under 24 hours, aided by Inrush’s installation workflows and WGFA’s Livewire infrastructure.

The station’s staff say the introduction of VXs transformed its operations, with enhanced audio quality and reliability. Sports Director Andy Moore told Telos, “The difference is night and day. I can now confidently put calls on the air without worrying about audio clarity or dropped connections. It just works, allowing me to focus on what matters most: serving our listeners.”

[Read More Buyers Guide Reviews Here]

The post Illiana Broadcaster Deploys Telos VXs appeared first on Radio World.

Categories: Industry News

Notorious Miami Pirate Radio Operator Gets Biggest FCC Fine

Radio+Television Business Report - Thu, 01/25/2024 - 12:18

MIAMI — Fabrice Polynice, the long-time operator of an unlicensed FM radio station at 90.1 MHz based in North Miami, Fla., has received a multimillion-dollar fine from the FCC under its “PIRATE Act” authority for the continued broadcasts of the pirate operation.

It is one of five proposed fines against a total of five unlicensed radio operators in the Sunshine State, and are actions resulting from the FCC’s first sweep of the Miami area under the law, which was enacted exactly four years ago.

The quintet of fines against broadcast buccaneers total $3.5 million, and are possible thanks to the January 2020 enactment of the “Preventing Illegal Radio Abuse Through Enforcement Act.”

Under the legislation, the FCC was given the ability to significantly increase its fines handed to pirate radio operators, pushing it up to inflation-adjusted amounts of $119,555 per day and a maximum of $2,391,097. That’s the exact dollar amount of the Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture handed to Polynice, specifically for the operation of “Radio Touche Douce” across 22 days in 2023.

RBR+TVBR on January 14, 2024 independently confirmed the continued broadcasts of this unlicensed radio operation from Coral Gables, Fla., some 17 miles to the southwest.

The FCC acknowledged that Polynice is one of the longest operating pirates in the Miami area. In fact, he received a forfeiture order in 2018 and, before that, in 2013.

While Polynice’s proposed fine is the largest by far, the FCC also proposed fines of $358,665—the maximum penalty for three days of violations in 2023—against Brindley Marshall, Wilfrid Salomon, and Cameron Brown.

According to the FCC, the three individuals have been operating pirate radio stations “for years” and have received multiple warnings to cease their unauthorized broadcasting.

Lastly, the FCC proposed a forfeiture of $120,000 against Abdias Datis for operating a pirate radio station during three days in 2023.

In a statement issued during the FCC’s January Open Meeting, Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said, “These operators were not just using the public airwaves unlawfully, they were increasing the risk for harmful interference of authorized users. That is unacceptable.”

Rosenworcel thanked the Field Regional Management and Agents in the FCC’s Miami Field Office for their work on the investigations. “This is a team on the front lines of enforcing our rules governing the public airwaves,” she said. “I am grateful for their efforts, which have been boosted in a big way by congressional action in the ‘PIRATE Act.'”

Rosenworcel also thanked “those in Washington who took up their work and converted it into what we have here today, including Loyaan Egal, Jeremy Marcus, Matthew Gibson, Ryan McDonald, Michael Rhodes, David Marks, Robert Keller, and Reggie Breshears from the Enforcement Bureau; and William Dever and David Konczal from the Office of General Counsel.”

RBR+TVBR RELATED READ:

‘PIRATE Act’ Positives, Even With Enforcement Concerns

Categories: Industry News

WFUV Deploys AudioVault 11 System

Radio World - Thu, 01/25/2024 - 11:55

From the Radio World Who’s Buying what page: Alternative music station WFUV(FM) in New York City has upgraded its Broadcast Electronics AudioVault audio media management system to AudioVault 11.

George Evans, director of technical operations for the Fordham University station, told BE that the platform helps “to deliver our unique blend of programming to the number 1 market and prepare our student journalists for the evolving media landscape.”

He said the station has a “unique mandate to champion music discovery and foster an appreciation of our diverse musical heritage but also to train the university’s next generation of multimedia professionals through educational programs and practical experience.

BE said in the release that the station “is nationally recognized for its unique format of adult album alternative music, award-winning local news, and sports” and noted that it is the highest rated alternative music station in the United States.

Features of AV11 include a new AudioVault Scheduler that improves management of complex program and content distribution tasks. 

AudioVault Anywhere provides control and simplified operations from connected devices, supporting remote functions including voice tracking, playlist and program management and remote broadcasts, while the CloudVault feature enables cloud-based sharing and redundancy on a scalable Microsoft Azure platform.  

Users of AV11 can load content from Adobe Audition directly, eliminating data entry. And an enhanced AVWatchDog feature monitors schedules and playlists in advance and proactively notifies the user of problems.

[Check Out More Products at Radio World’s Products Section]

The post WFUV Deploys AudioVault 11 System appeared first on Radio World.

Categories: Industry News

FCC Acts to Improve Network Reliability During Disasters

Radio+Television Business Report - Thu, 01/25/2024 - 11:29

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The FCC has updated its rules and proposed additional updates designed to improve communications network reliability, resiliency, and transparency during disasters and outages.

The rule changes, approved unanimously by the Commission on Thursday at its January Open Meeting, will increase participation in, and enhance the use of, the FCC’s Disaster Information Reporting System (DIRS), in which service providers report on their operational status during emergencies. This operational data informs service restoration efforts during disasters, when it is vital for first responders and the public to maintain communications.

Certain types of communications providers are required to report network outages to the FCC’s Network Outage Reporting System (NORS) on an ongoing basis. During disasters, the FCC may also activate DIRS to gain greater situational awareness, keep public safety officials and the general public informed about service outages, and support service restoration. In the case of DIRS, however, industry participation is voluntary—which can result in information gaps that impair emergency response. There are also information gaps with NORS because some communications providers are not required to participate.

To address these gaps, and to enhance public safety, the Commission adopted rules that:

· Require cable communications, wireline, wireless, and interconnected Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) providers to report daily infrastructure status information when DIRS is activated for geographic areas in which they provide service.

· Suspend NORS reporting obligations when providers are required to report in DIRS during a disaster, so they are not obligated to report twice.

· Require DIRS filers to provide a single, final summary DIRS report to the Commission within 24 hours of the deactivation of DIRS.

The Commission is also seeking comment on:

· Whether to require TV and radio broadcasters, satellite providers, and broadband Internet access service (BIAS) providers to report in NORS and/or DIRS.

· The extent to which the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet) should be subject to NORS and/or DIRS reporting.

· Whether providers should be required to supply the Commission with after-action reports detailing how their networks fared during the emergency or disaster event.

· Whether providers should be required to report the location of mobile recovery assets during a disaster response, as well other specifications of those assets.

 

Categories: Industry News

FCC Names Final Tentative Selectees In Six NCE MX Groups

Radio+Television Business Report - Thu, 01/25/2024 - 11:15

In November 2021, the FCC opened a filing window for new noncommercial FM radio station applications. Six groups of mutually exclusive applications for new construction permits resulted from the filing window. Now, the Commission has moved forward with its final tentative selectees, determined through its point system.

 

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Categories: Industry News

FCC Revises Selections in Four NCE MX Groups

Radio World - Thu, 01/25/2024 - 11:12

The Federal Communications Commission has changed its tentative selections in four groups of mutually exclusive applications to build new noncom educational FM stations.

These are among 231 groups of MX applications that emerged from the 2021 application window. After it announced tentative outcomes in batches, a 30-day filing window opened for others to file petitions to deny those choices. 

The commission has been working through this MX process for many months, changing the tentative selections in some cases.

In its latest action it announced the results of a reassessment of six selections that were contested. The reasons cited by opponents included invalid application data and challenging the merit of the FCC’s tie-breaking decisions. 

Four of them now are reversed, involving future FM stations in New Mexico, Iowa and Florida. Two are upheld, involving communities in Texas and North Dakota.

Here are the commission’s six conclusions:

Group 152 — In this group, after a tentative conclusion was announced, the commission responded to subsequent filings by conducting a new point analysis. The MX group consisted of applicants straddling the New Mexico/Arizona border: Good News Broadcasting Inc. and New Hope Baptist Church–Gallup, each proposing to serve Gallup, N.M.; and Gallup Public Radio, proposing to serve Saint Michaels, Ariz. The new tentative selectee is New Hope Baptist Church. 

Group 54 — In this group, the commission deemed to have found population and coverage area errors after a tentative decision was made. Hoping to serve the community of Weeki Wachee, Fla., the filings of Call Communications Group Inc., New Media Humanity Association Inc., Ethree Group Inc., and Central Baptist Church of Ocala Inc., were considered. Call Communications Group Inc. is the new tentative selectee. 

Group 76 — The commission also deemed to have found population and coverage area errors after a previous tentative decision and a new point analysis was conducted. For the community of Burlington, Iowa, two filings were considered from Heritage Baptist Church and Sound in Spirit Broadcasting Inc. The new tentative selectee is Heritage Baptist Church. 

Group 51 — For Key West, Fla., the FCC received a tie-breaker challenge to reassess its decision between the filings of West Palm Beach Corp. and Newland Broadcasters Inc. The commission has reversed its decision, and the new tentative selectee is Newland Broadcasters Inc.

Group 200 — Amongst four filings serving different communities in Texas, the FCC considered a petition to deny its tentative selectee but has upheld the selection of Vida Ministry Inc. to serve the community of Central Gardens.

Group 122 — And for Grand Forks, N.D., the FCC considered a petition to deny its previous tentative selectee but has upheld its selection of Grand Forks Bible Study Group. 

The challenges, calculations and rationales can be complicated to follow. You can read the FCC’s comparative consideration of these groups to dig into them.

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The post FCC Revises Selections in Four NCE MX Groups appeared first on Radio World.

Categories: Industry News

‘PIRATE Act’ Positives, Even With Enforcement Concerns

Radio+Television Business Report - Thu, 01/25/2024 - 10:59

CORAL GABLES, FLA. — As the clock neared 2pm on Sunday, January 14, the sounds of Haitian Creole-flavored programming at 90.1 MHz could easily be heard on a car radio in the parking lot of the Biltmore Hotel.

It is not supposed to be there. The FCC knows this, and in July 2018 presented the operator of this pirate radio station branded as “Radio Touche Douce” a then-maximum forfeiture of $144,344. Polynice Fabrice has yet to cease broadcasts; an Instagram page for the faux station promoted a live event co-sponsored by Radio Touche Douce for a North Miami venue over Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., weekend. An Instagram story asked people on Wednesday evening (1/24) to offer up their song suggestions for a mix show.

While enforcement of forfeitures against individuals found to be unlicensed radio operators has been difficult, if not impossible, in some circumstances, the Commission’s efforts to stop unlicensed radio activity has seen a significant step-up over the last year. These accomplishments were shared in an annual report to Congress submitted by the FCC on the positives the “Preventing Illegal Radio Abuse Through Enforcement Act” has brought to patrolling the nation’s airwaves.

 

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Categories: Industry News

‘Demographic Modeling’ Comes To TV With MRI-Simmons Deal

Radio+Television Business Report - Thu, 01/25/2024 - 09:00

A New York-headquartered company that calls itself a specialist in analytics and technology for multi-currency, cross-platform advertising opportunities has forged a partnership with a top consumer insights firm designed to “enable the scoring of device-level TV viewing data sets with age/sex propensities” and other attributes for targeted advertising sales and pre- and post-campaign reporting.

This service will be offered to automatic content recognition (ACR) and set top box (STB) providers in the U.S. thanks to a just-signed partnership between datafuelX and MRI-Simmons. 

To accomplish this, datafuelX’s modeling capability, profileX, will layer MRI-Simmons data, including age, sex and other demographic attributes onto the device-level TV viewing data sets. “Now, if an advertiser wants to run an addressable campaign against their desired demographic audiences, datafuelX’s model will identify the U.S. TV sets that are most likely to be viewed by those demos,” the company says.

For datafuelX, the product offering harbors the ability to help the industry deal with a growing issue of concern: the fact that certain states are starting to restrict the release of data including race/ethnicity and age to companies including Experian and Acxiom.

Howard Shimmel, Head of Strategy at datafuelX, commented, “The industry has long had the ability to profile device-level TV viewing data using household attributes like ‘Presence of a Male 18 to 24.’ With this new solution, we will be able to identify the TVs that are actually being viewed by this demo, based on the MRI-Simmons modeling attributes and actual viewership of that TV. ‘ProfileX’ can help the industry more broadly by being able to fill in important attributes that various states are restricting. These attributes are important for both evaluating the value of individual data sets and weighting to make them more usable.”

Brian Katz, Head of Advanced Advertising at MRI-Simmons, added, “By partnering with datafuelX, that same trusted data can be used to personify any ACR and set-top box datasets, allowing advertisers to run addressable campaigns against a desired demographic audience.”

This U.S. partnership follows datafuelX’s use of demographic modeling across five European and two Latin American countries for an undisclosed TV OEM.

— With reporting by RBR+TVBR in New York

Categories: Industry News

FCC Sued In Move To Stop ‘Low Power Protection Act’

Radio+Television Business Report - Thu, 01/25/2024 - 05:55

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The owner of a low-power digital television station serving New Haven, Conn., has petition the D.C. Federal Appeals Court in a move that seeks to stay, and reverse, the FCC’s unanimous decision to sign the “Low Power Protection Act” into law.

Despite its name, the LPPA has its detractors — including the LPTV Broadcasters’ Association.

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Categories: Industry News

Applications

FCC Media Bureau News Items - Wed, 01/24/2024 - 19:00
.

Table of TV Allotments, Report and Order, Wittenberg and Shawano, Wisconsin

FCC Media Bureau News Items - Wed, 01/24/2024 - 19:00
The Petitioner has requested that the Commission delete channel 31 from Wittenberg and allot it to Shawano, Wisconsin in the Table of TV Allotments and modify its construction permit to specify Shawano as its community of license.

Pleadings

FCC Media Bureau News Items - Wed, 01/24/2024 - 19:00
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