USF/ICC Order May be Done in Fall, Not Later, Genachowski Aide Says

The USF/intercarrier comp order won’t be delayed until the end of 2011, said Smith. A March 15 blog post by all FCC members had said they looked forward to “moving to an Order within a few months -- it’s going to be a busy spring and summer” -- http://xrl.us/bkrr94. Aides to each of the other FCC members said on the panel that their bosses were ready to vote on whatever order comes their way, whenever it does. “We expect to have an order on universal service and intercarrier compensation reform teed up for a vote in late summer or early fall,” a commission spokesman said.

Commissioner Robert McDowell “really do[es] hope that we can come to a deal, whenever it is -- this fall it sounds like,” on USF and intercarrier comp, said aide Angela Giancarlo. “The commissioner has made his priorities very clear” on not increasing the amount of funds under any forthcoming order, she noted. In 2008, when McDowell and three other commissioners had a USF deal under then-Chairman Kevin Martin, “it was really a good time” and “it was unfortunate that nothing happened then,” Giancarlo said: There’s commitment to acting now.

This is “a really amazing moment” at the FCC on USF and intercarrier comp, said Commissioner Michael Copps’ aide Margaret McCarthy, pointing to the March blog post. “The exact timetable may be in flux, but everyone recognizes that this is one of the key areas coming out of the National Broadband Plan and one of the things the commission really has to do if we're reorienting toward the broadband world,” she continued. Commissioner Mignon Clyburn, as are her colleagues, is ready to vote on a USF/intercarrier comp item whenever it’s ready, her aide Dave Grimaldi said. Copps continues to see the two systems as “inextricably intertwined, so it’s going to be important that we address all of it” together, McCarthy said in response to our question about whether both USF and intercarrier comp can move in tandem.

"Maybe August with a small ‘a,'” Clyburn said of timing for finishing a USF and intercarrier comp order, during a luncheon at the Cable Show. “The stars are aligned.” She cited her “fellow commissioners, who are anxious” to move forward. Former FCC Commissioner Deborah Tate reminded her of the near-deal on USF in 2008, Clyburn said. “You have not only the enthusiasm, but the recognition that we are going to make some hard decisions,” she added. “So before the leaves turn, I think we are going to make some hard decisions."

Congress is beginning to worry about the “esoteric” direction that universal service and intercarrier comp reforms are taking at the commission, NTCA Vice President Tom Walker told us Wednesday. “There’s concern that folks aren’t seeing things in a broad enough perspective,” he said. “Our message is starting to resonate.” Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., wrote Genachowski last week urging him to protect rural telcos’ interests. “While I strongly support your effort to achieve broadband availability nationwide, USF and ICC reform must not jeopardize current investments or discourage future investments from the private sector or Federal incentive programs,” Landrieu said.

Telcos continue to huddle in several forums, trying to come up with an industry-endorsed reform package. NTCA met with the USTelecom-led working group on Wednesday, industry officials said. The sides are focused on two questions, industry officials said. They are the size, length and withdrawal methodology of the AT&T-proposed access recovery mechanism; and the question over a universal intercarrier rate, with Verizon continuing to press for its “triple zero-seven” rate.

Genachowski is “heartened” by cable industry efforts to move cable content to more devices, as displayed at the Cable Show and other venues, Smith said. “The industry has displayed a number of things that show it is moving toward a competitive retail market,” she said. “Our concern is that a lot of these things are at prototype stage, and we need to get things moving as soon as possible.”

Genachowski hopes to hear that industry on its own “is actually going to get them out to market rather quickly,” Smith said of new devices that can access various types of video. “If we get to where we wanted to be two years ago ... that’s ultimately our goal” with looking at AllVid rules, she added. “These are things we are going to be assessing in the very, very near future.” Clyburn “is open to any things that will achieve the goals of Section 629” of the Telecom Act, and of hearing from all sides on AllVid, Grimaldi said.

An order and rulemaking on program carriage rules (CD June 3 p2) governing complaints of discrimination against cable operators by independently owned channels hopefully will be voted on and issued next week, Smith said. There had been a backlog at the FCC of program carriage complaints, and that’s been dealt with by the Media Bureau, she said. Genachowski hopes for a “much more streamlined process” of dealing with allegations of discrimination on programming owned by cable operators over indie channels, and one “that is fairer to both sides,” Smith said. This week, commissioners approved an order dismissing a program carriage complaint by WealthTV against four major cable operators, a case heard by an FCC administrative law judge in 2009.

"A lot” of retransmission consent deals between TV stations and subscription-video providers have been getting “done, and I think that is a good thing,” Smith said. Much has changed since broadcasters were allowed to charge for carriage in the 1992 Cable Act, but “we don’t have a full record yet” in the commission’s rulemaking on retrans, “so I can’t tell you if we are going to have a full record by the end of the year” on which to base an order, she said: “We of course will move as quickly as possible,” yet “at the end of the day we are still bound by the statute put in place by Congress.”