FCC staffers are working on revisions to the program access order that remains slated for a vote at the Jan. 20 meeting, commission and industry officials said. Some changes could expand what the rules would cover and others would shrink it, they said. Media Bureau staffers are believed to be close to finishing some revisions to the draft order first circulated Dec. 16 (CD Dec 16 p7). The revisions may address changes sought by Time Warner Cable and other companies and come after some commissioners discussed such tweaks, commission officials said.

Attention to a program access order circulated Dec. 16 at the FCC is expected to increase starting next week, with renewed lobbying by industry on the item and more internal discussion at the regulator, agency officials said. The Media Bureau item hasn’t appeared to be subject to extensive internal discussion amongst commissioners’ offices since it was circulated (CD Dec 16 p8). No revision to the order has since circulated, commission officials said.

The U.S. is a world leader in Internet consumption per online user, USTelecom President Walter McCormick told FCC commissioners in an ex-parte letter late Tuesday. USTelecom’s analysis cited 2009 data from Cisco’s Visual Networking Index and Internet World Stats. U.S. consumers monthly use 14.25 GB per user, compared to 13.35 GB in Western Europe and 9.9 GB in Japan, the association said. Only South Korea consumes more per user, at 24.5 GB monthly, it said. The data shows that once U.S. consumers have access to the Internet, they take advantage of it, McCormick said.

AT&T asked the FCC to set a deadline to move telecom from circuit-switched to IP-based networks. The request came in comments this week on an FCC National Broadband Plan public notice that proposed the release of a notice of inquiry (NOI) on the transition. Small rural carriers cautioned the commission not to move too fast. Meanwhile, competitive carriers fought with Verizon over whether interconnection and traffic exchange requirements under Sections 251 and 252 of the Communications Act apply to IP networks. Wireless carriers said the rules should ensure regulatory parity.

Small and midsized incumbent local exchange carriers supported a Cincinnati Bell petition seeking a waiver of an FCC rule requiring incumbents to tell consumers that they have a choice of long-distance providers. The equal-access scripting rule also requires ILECs to read potential customers a randomized list of stand-alone wireline providers on request. The rule applies only to small and midsized companies. “It has been more than two years since the Commission relieved AT&T, Qwest, Verizon and their ILEC affiliates from these outdated, unnecessary, and market- distorting rules,” CenturyLink, Frontier, Iowa Telecom and Windstream said in joint comments this week. “The time has come to extend comparable relief to … all small and mid- sized ILECs.” ILECs face heavy competition from competitive LECs, wireless carriers, cable companies and VoIP providers, said the Independent Telephone & Telecommunications Alliance. The National Telecommunications Cooperative Association said equal-access scripting “is no longer a cost-effective consumer disclosure requirement because not all long distance providers are required to update and provide the list to new subscribers and because listing only wireline providers will omit segments of the competition.” The FCC is also considering a USTelecom petition to kill the scripting rule for its members. Carriers had uniformly supported that petition (CD Sept 15 p2).

Responding to industry accusations of bias, a Harvard University center said its conclusion that open-access policies spurred broadband in several foreign countries had been based on a review of 57 studies. In a 68-page memo released Monday, the Berkman Center for Internet & Society specified the studies, and it outlined updates planned for the final version of its report, requested by the FCC for developing the National Broadband Plan and coming in mid- January. Berkman’s first draft was criticized as unfair (CD Nov 18 p7) by incumbent broadband providers including USTelecom and NCTA.

USTelecom believes that the availability of programming is “essential” to selling competitive TV service, President Walter McCormick said Tuesday. “We are pleased to see that the FCC appears to be taking on this very important issue.” He was referring to a proposed program-access order circulating on the eighth floor (CD Dec 22 p4).

ISPs resisted proposed rules requiring them to disclose more data about broadband speeds and other characteristics, urging an industry approach instead, in comments this week on an FCC National Broadband Plan public notice. But Google and public interest groups said transparency is lacking and rules are necessary. Some fixed broadband providers said any new rules applying to them should also apply to others in the broadband ecosystem.

As expected, a draft order addressing the terrestrial exemption to the FCC’s program access rules is to be circulated among the commissioners Wednesday, an FCC official said (CD Nov 23 p3). The exemption has allowed pay-TV distributors who own programming networks to withhold them from distributors if the programming never touches a satellite. The order is not expected to eliminate the exemption outright, pay-TV industry lawyers said.

FCC commissioners agreed an open Internet has been key to promoting free speech but voiced sharp divisions on possible consequences of federal network neutrality rules, in an FCC net neutrality workshop Tuesday. Meanwhile, AT&T sent Chairman Julius Genachowski a letter highlighting areas of consensus it sees between advocates and opponents of new rules. Officials from CTIA and Public Knowledge also cited some conditional agreement.