DirecTV, KSQA Clash Over Closing of Broadcaster's Carriage Complaint

With nothing new filed since 2015 regarding the mandatory carriage complaint brought by KSQA Topeka, Kansas, against DirecTV, the FCC should reject KSQA's petition for reconsideration of that docket's termination, said AT&T, DirecTV's parent company, in a docket 20-158 posting Thursday. It said KSQA's complaint became moot at the end of 2017, which was the end of the complaint's election cycle. It said a Media Bureau ruling on the complaint would be over "a stale set of facts that will have no practical effect" since KSQA at the time wasn't audio streaming in AC-3, which is why DirecTV wouldn't carry it, but now is doing so. KSQA in its recon petition said its complaint wasn't rendered moot by the end of the previous must-carry election cycle, it's still not being carried, and AT&T has never told it what equipment would be needed for audio signal conversion. It said ending an adjudicatory proceeding without notifying a party to the adjudication is an Administrative Procedure Act violation.