William Lake

The Federal Communications Commission has entered into a Consent Decree to resolve an investigation into the political file practices of OTA Broadcasting, licensee of Station KAXT-CD, San Francisco, CA.

Section 315(e) of the Communications Act of 1934 and Section 73.1943 of the Commission’s Rules require licensees to maintain political files for public inspection that contain specific information about certain types of political advertisements. In November 2016, the FCC opened an investigation into whether OTA Broadcasting had failed to place required information into Station KAXT-CD’s political file for paid political advertisements by or on behalf of legally qualified candidates for the California State Assembly. The investigation revealed a number of omissions. s. To settle this matter, OTA Broadcasting has agreed to establish a program among all of the broadcast stations of which it is the licensee to ensure their future compliance with the political file disclosure obligations. In addition, OTA has agreed to pay a civil penalty in the amount of $32,000 for its past misconduct.

On August 21, 2014, the Federal Communications Commission sent Charter Communications a request for information and data with respect to the applications for transfer of control of certain licenses that the company filed on June 4, 2014. Now, the FCC asks that Charter provide additional written responses and supporting documentation for each request listed below:

Describe in detail Charter’s plans to migrate subscribers acquired as a result of the proposed divestiture transactions, including but not limited to:
a projected timeline for the transition of all the acquired customers;

• any plans for relevant services and devices necessary to access the services to be offered to the acquired subscribers;
• any plans for the acquired customers to retain their current service plans and if so, the length of time the acquired customers may remain enrolled under their existing service plans;
• the features and services accessible from each device that will be offered to acquired customers;
• any services or features that an acquired subscriber received from its previous provider that it will not be able to obtain from the Company after the consummation of the proposed the proposed divestiture transactions, and plans to introduce that lost service or otherwise compensate the subscriber; and
• all documents discussing customer migration and transition of the acquired customers to the Company.

For the proposed divestiture transactions, provide: (i) a timetable for each transaction, a description of all actions that must be taken prior to consummation of each transaction, and any harm that will result if the transactions are not consummated; and (ii) a description of any other terms or conditions of the transactions that are not reflected in the transaction agreements between the parties.

The FCC requested responses no later than September 11, 2014.

[Lake is Chief, FCC Media Bureau]

[MB Docket No. 14-57]

The Federal Communications Commission’s Media Bureau adopted an Order approving the $985 million Sinclair/Allbritton transaction after the parties agreed to amend the proposal in three markets to comply with our ownership rules:

• Consistent with Department of Justice review, Sinclair will divest the station in the Harrisburg market.
• To comply with our local TV ownership rule, Sinclair will deliver the programming of stations in the Birmingham and Charleston markets via digital multicasting. This means that Sinclair will put the full programming of the stations on the digital signal of the stations it already owns. The licenses of the Allbritton stations that previously broadcast that programming will therefore be returned to the FCC. Most importantly, consumers will lose no programming currently available to them.
• The originally proposed sidecar arrangements with Howard Stirk Holdings and Deerfield will not be included in the transaction.
• To comply with our local TV ownership rule, Sinclair will terminate an improper sharing arrangement in the Charleston, South Carolina market.

[Lake is Chief of the FCC Media Bureau]