FCC Actions
Curtis Media Group Hot AC “92.9 Star-FM” W225DF Raleigh has been issued a $2,000 fine for failing to notify the FCC that the translator changed its primary station and failed to provide a “technical need” showing in support of that change. In the Petition To Deny filed by Triangle Access Broadcasting, it was argued that the license to cover for the translator should be dismissed as procedurally defective. W225DF apparently rebroadcast 570 WPLW Raleigh from its launch from around May 1 until June 4, when its authorized 94.7 WQDR-HD3 Raleigh began duplicating WPLW’s programming coinciding with the launch of the Hot AC format.
The FCC has dismissed Justin Howze’s Petition For Reconsideration and granted iHeartMedia’s application for 107.5 K298DG Modesto CA (rebroadcasting Conservative Talk “Power Talk 1360” KFIV Modesto). The FCC stated that Howze did not present any new facts or arguments in his previous Petition To Deny which claimed that the FCC “erred in its reasoning that Section 5 of the Local Community Radio Act of 2010” by not requiring iHeartMedia or any other Auction 100 applicant to provide detailed preclusion studies demonstrating that grant of their cross-service FM translator applications would leave adequate opportunities for future LPFM licensing.
Univision’s petition for a Decalatory Ruling to permit aggregate foreign ownership of up to 70% of its equity and voting interests has been approved. The FCC had previously permitted Univision to have a 49% foreign stake in 2017. That ruling permitted Mexican broadcaster Grupo Televisa and their owner Emilio Fernando Azcarraga Jean to own up to 49% of Univision’s equity and 40% of its voting interests. The company later proposed a restructuring that would give Mexican based subsidiary Notivision, S.A. de C.V a 21% stake in Univision Radio Inc., which would be considered foreign investment because the subsidiary is based in Mexico.