Have you ever heard this from a potential client? ”I don’t want to buy radio, people just switch stations as soon as a commercial comes on?” Now there’s a great study you can cite that shows the exact opposite.

The study, performed in 2011 by Arbitron, Media Monitors and Coleman Insights shows that on average, 93% of listeners stick around through a commercial break. 93%! Shorter breaks of two or three minutes bring back 99% to 96%, respectively.

The study used PPM data from all 48 PPM markets over a year.

You can read more about the study from this RAB Radio Sales Today article. Now get selling!

The Massachusetts Broadcasters Association and 45 other State Broadcasters Associations joined in filing comments in response to the FCC’s proposal to require television stations to post the bulk of their public inspection files, including their political files, on the FCC’s website.

We supported the Commission’s proposal to exclude from any online public inspection file requirement the multitude of letters and emails that television stations receive from the public.  We also expressed support for the Commission’s decision to offer to host the public inspection files on the FCC’s own website, but qualified our support by urging the Commission, as we did in earlier stages of the proceeding, to give stations the option of using the FCC’s website or its own website, with appropriate links to the FCC’s website, for their online public inspection files.

The State Associations did raise serious concerns however.  We expressed great concern that the Commission’s apparent focus in the proceeding had changed, and inappropriately so, from the FCC’s longstanding emphasis on encouraging local dialogues between local residents and their local stations about their programming service to a new emphasis on oversight of television stations by non-local, and in fact, distant researchers and public advocacy groups that have no local ties to or personal knowledge of the individual communities served by local television stations.

We also registered our strong objection to the Commission’s proposal to require television stations to place their political files online, including forcing stations to catalogue the political file materials by “subfolders” and “subdivisions,” in effect to standardizing the management of traffic at television stations.  We pointed out that there is no industry standard for managing traffic because many television stations use their own in-house trafficking software and many others use the products of at least fourteen outside vendors.  In addition, we opposed the Commission’s proposal to expand substantially the types of “sponsors” that must be identified on the lists that stations have long been required to maintain in their public files.  We argued that not only will each of these proposed new requirements be extraordinarily burdensome, they reflect a new “gotcha” regulatory attitude of the Commission with researchers, public advocacy groups and the Commission playing “stop watch” roulette if station political files go online or if the list of a television station’s “sponsors” must be expanded.  Given that the base fines for violations of the FCC’s political file and public inspection file rules are $9,000 and $10,000, respectively, we pointed out that the FCC will have a strong incentive to encourage the filing of “stop watch” complaints as well as to make adverse “willful or repeated” findings notwithstanding the good faith efforts of broadcasters.

The State Associations urged the Commission not to adopt an online political file requirement or to expand the types of sponsorships that must be listed by television stations in their public inspection files.  In the alternative, we suggested that the Commission defer a decision on whether to adopt an online political file requirement for television stations pending the outcome of its action with respect to replacing FCC Form 355.  We also urged the Commission, if it still intends to adopt an online public inspection file requirement for television stations, to conduct a pilot program before finalizing any online public inspection file rule as well as provide a reasonable phase-in period for compliance.  Furthermore, with the adoption of an online public inspection file requirement, we requested the Commission to remove as unnecessary the public file certification question from its application for renewal of broadcast licenses on FCC Form 303-S, as well as to reduce the base forfeiture amount for public inspection file violations which will become even more arbitrary and capricious in an online public file world.

Lastly, to acknowledge the high priority of dialogues between local viewers and local stations, the State Associations urged the Commission to require all persons and organizations having complaints about a station’s programming to certify, in any complaint, objection or petition filed with the Commission, that they have already made their concerns known, in writing or by email, to the affected station(s) and that they have not received either any response from the station(s) or a satisfactory response (along with the reasons why the response was not satisfactory) before the FCC will consider the matters contained in the person’s or organization’s complaint, objection or petition.

In this training, Eric Moore of Insight Edge discusses trends related to the consumer electronics industry. Moore focuses on over-hyped 3D televisions and the very real appeal of tablet computers.

Watch this 7 minute training video here.  Not a part of LocalBroadcastSales.com?  It’s free to MBA members.  Just email jordan@massbroadcasters.org for your access code.

by Lauren Lynch Flick and Paul A. Cicelski

Pillsbury Law

All commercial and noncommercial educational digital television broadcaststation licensees and permittees must file FCC Form 317 by December 1, 2011.

The FCC requires all digital television stations, including all commercial and noncommercial educational full power television stations, digital low power television stations, digital translator television stations, anddigital Class A television stations, to submit FCC Form 317 each year. The report details whether stations provided ancillary or supplemental services at any time during the twelve-month period ending on the preceding September 30.

It is important to note that the FCC Form 317 must be submitted regardless of whether stations offered any such services. FCC Form 317 must be filed electronically, absent a waiver, and is due on December 1, 2011.  Ancillary or supplementary services are all services provided on the portion of a DTV station’s digital spectrum that is not necessary to provide the required single free, over-the-air signal to viewers. Any videobroadcast service that is provided with no direct charge to viewers is exempt.

According to the FCC, examples of services that are considered ancillary or supplementary include, but are not limited to,”computer software distribution, data transmissions, teletext, interactive materials, aural messages, paging services, audio signals, subscription video, and the like.”  If a DTV station provided ancillary or supplementary services during the 12-month time period ending onSeptember 30, 2011, it must pay the FCC 5% of the gross revenues derived from the provision of those services.

This payment can be forwarded to the FCC’s lockbox at the U.S. Bank in St. Louis, Missouri andmust be accompanied by FCC Form 159, the Remittance Advice.  Alternatively, the fee can be paid electronically using a credit card on the FCC’s website. The fee amount must also be submitted by theDecember 1, 2011 due date.

The Massachusetts Broadcasters Association, along with 44 other State Broadcasters Associations joined in filing Reply Comments in the FCC’s rule making proceeding to implement certain provisions of the 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2010 that would require television stations to caption television programming disseminated over the Internet.  Because the NPRM raised the specter of a wide range of new regulations on television stations, the Associations sought to reduce those  burdens and regulatory risks in several ways.  First, we urged the FCC to adopt the SMPTE-TT, which was recommendated and the Video Programming Accessibility Advisory Committee and supported by the NAB, as the industry standard for the interchange format for receiving and passing through closed captioning.  We pointed out that SMPTE-TT would provide television stations and other parties in the distribution chain with needed certainty which, in turn, would save time and money during the online captioning process.  In line with the NAB, we also asked the Commission to allow SMPTE-TT to serve as a safe harbor for the FCC’s Internet captioning requirements.  Second, we urged the FCC to limit its captioning requirements to “full-length programmings” with the effect that the new requirements would not apply to excerpts or clips of full-length programs, such as individual segments of a local news program streamed online.  Third, we urged the FCC to extend by an additional six months the lead times when the new regulations would become effective, reasoning that without such an extension stations may be forced to reduce or eliminate online postings of live, near-live, and prerecorded, unedited programming until their captioning resources and other capabilities are fully developed.

We’re one week away from our souped-up MBA Annual Meeting and mingling event, Sound Bites 2011.  We’ll have the Digital Sales seminar by LocalBroadcastSales.com founder Stephen Warley from 2-5 and a cocktail party with live music from the Adam Ezra Group from 5-8.

The event is open to EVERYONE at the station. Great food, a free drink and some door prizes, plus a great band.  All of it free to MBA members.  It’ll be worth it!  Complete information below… RSVP information below.  See you there!

Click here to RSVP

NAB President and CEO Gordon Smith sent a letter to all members of the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, more commonly referred to as the “Super Committee,” citing a Citigroup study examining the “looming” spectrum crisis.  Massachusetts Senator John Kerry sits on the committee.

In the study, Citigroup states that ” we do not believe the U.S. faces a spectrum shortage.”

The full letter can be read here.

It is widely assumed that the “Super Committee” will include language giving the FCC the power to hold incentive auctions for broadcasters.  The NAB and MBA are not against the idea of voluntary incentive auctions with the caveat that  authorizing legislation maintains specific safeguards to ensure that: (a) viewers who currently rely on and can view localtelevision stations today continue to have access to those stations…and (b) broadcasters whochoose not to volunteer are held harmless by the process.

On Friday, September 15th, the FCC agreed to extend the deadline for broadcast stations to upgrade to new CAP (Common Alerting Protocol) EAS equipment.  The full ruling can be read on FCC.gov.

FEMA IPAWS Special Event – Prepared & Ready: The Final Stretch Before the Nationwide EAS Test Save the Date for September 30, 2011 at 1:30 PM – 3:30 PM ET

Please save the date for the final EAS Participant Virtual Roundtable discussion with government and industry leaders on September 30, from 1:30 PM – 3:30 PM ET. The discussion will involve a variety of topics and draft documents for feedback that will support updates to the EAS Best Practices Guide and Nationwide EAS Test Informational Toolkit.

Some examples include:

• Television and Cable EAS Background Slate

• Nationwide EAS Test Message Transcript Draft

• Public Service Announcement Audio Sample

• Nationwide EAS Test Data Reporting

• Required Monthly Test Activities and Findings

Event Details:

What: FEMA IPAWS Special Event – Prepared & Ready: The Final Stretch Before the Nationwide EAS Test

When: Friday, September 30, 2011; 1:30 PM- 3:30 PM ET

Where: Microsoft Live Meeting 2007 (This link will be active the morning of September 30th)  Please note that if you have Live Meeting Client correctly installed, you do not need a pass code or username

The event will finalize the best practices guide with industry for a formal release on October 3, 2011. In order to prepare the EAS Community for the November 9, 2011 Nationwide EAS Test, FEMA IPAWS, the FCC, and NOAA are partnering with industry leaders and experts to draft a comprehensive technical best practices guide on end-to-end National EAS message procedures.

Questions? Email ipaws@dhs.gov.

Content Collaboration from the EAS Community and our partners has been essential before the Nationwide EAS Test. Thank you for your support and productive dialogue. We look forward to seeing you September 30th!

The MBA is proud to announce the Adam Ezra Group will be performing at our event on Nov. 2! AEG is a dynamic rock band whose unique diversity of folk, pop and acoustic rock sound, perfectly combines Ezra’s passion for smart well written lyrics and the bands amazing musicianship.

They have played with Blues Traveler, Entrain, Goo Goo Dolls, Ziggy Marley and more! Be on the lookout for “Save the Date” postcards, being sent soon!

AdamEzra.com

Adam Ezra Group live