Defending a franchising order, the FCC said several parts of the Communications Act give it oversight of most aspects of cable TV service and limit cities’ power to award or deny franchises. The filing said the FCC acted under congressional authority to limit how long municipalities can take to review franchise applications and the types of fees they can charge. FCC limits on public access channel support, data network fees and requirements for video system build-outs will make future franchise talks easier, the agency said in a brief to 6th U.S. Appeals Court, Cincinnati. The filing in Alliance for Community Media v. FCC couldn’t tout a similar order giving cable operators franchise deregulation because the FCC missed its self-imposed Sept. 5 deadline to issue it (CD Sept 13 p2). The order is still circulating on the eighth floor, FCC officials said.

The House Commerce Telecom Subcommittee announced the witness list for its Sept. 19 hearing on a 911 bill, HR-3403: National Emergency Number Association President Jason Barbour, Comcast Senior Vice President Catherine Avgiris, USTelecom Vice President for Industry Affairs Robert Mayer, EarthLink Executive Vice President Christopher Putala and Intrado Senior Vice President Craig Donaldson.

FCC Chairman Kevin Martin made last-minute changes to a controversial DTV order approved late Tuesday (CD Special Bulletin Sept 11 p1) after all other commissioners voiced concern, agency sources said. The move also headed off at least one possible cable lawsuit. Colleagues’ resistance persuaded Martin to yank from his draft a requirement that cable operators carry all program data from stations, agency officials said. They said Martin agreed to let small systems seek waivers from a requirement that cable operators give analog customers must-carry stations after the DTV transition because commissioners expressed concern.

Both broadband and wireless should be in the mix for high-cost Universal Service Fund reform, the Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service said Thursday in a brief statement. The board adopted the statement in July, but it took the FCC two months to release it, sources said Friday.

Congress should extend the Internet tax moratorium law before it expires Nov. 1, USTelecom, NCTA, American Cable Association and CTIA said Thursday in letters to Democratic leaders. Citing “strong support” for bills (S-156, HR-743) to extend the moratorium, the groups warned that lifting the ban could expose consumers to burdensome new taxes. The letter was sent to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. In contrast to earlier appeals from trade groups, the cable and phone groups buried their request for a permanent extension of the moratorium. State tax officials have lobbied heavily for a four-year extension at most (CD June 22 p5). The trade groups said near the top of the letters to Reid and Pelosi that a moratorium should be extended “for as long as possible.” They didn’t mention that they wanted a permanent extension until the end of the letters, where they referred to “unnecessary, burdensome taxes” that would be barred permanently by S-156 and HR-743.

USTelecom didn’t violate FCC ex parte rules when it filed a letter on “traffic pumping,” the FCC ruled. Washington attorney Mark O'Connor charged USTelecom with making a barred ex parte presentation because the June 6 letter was sent after Quest had filed a formal complaint against Farmers & Merchants Telephone on the matter (CD June 18 p9). A formal complaint categorizes a proceeding as “restricted,” with filing barred. The commission ruled that USTelecom was raising the general issue of traffic pumping, not the Qwest complaint. “The ex parte rules do not prohibit discussions of topics of general concern merely because they may also be relevant in some respects to a restricted proceeding,” the FCC said in an Aug. 27 letter to O'Connor and USTelecom. The issue goes beyond the Qwest complaint, said the FCC. The agency has issued two orders involving traffic pumping that have had nothing to do with the complaint proceeding; one bars big carriers from blocking calls to alleged traffic pumpers, the other ordered an investigation of companies accused of traffic pumping, the FCC said. If parties were banned from talking about topics “of general concern” also the topic of investigations, it would “stifle public discussion,” the FCC said.

An order letting the FCC void exclusive video contracts between apartment building owners and pay-TV providers (CD July 6 p2) began circulating late Thursday on the eighth floor, according to FCC and industry officials. The draft from Chairman Kevin Martin’s office seems to stick closely to preliminary FCC findings that the agency can intervene in some such cases, said several industry officials. In seeking public comment March 27, the commission said it “tentatively” found that it can regulate exclusives when it finds they “impede competition and impair deployment of services.”

A federal district judge upheld an FCC refusal to release the contents of a database on broadband deployment and local competition compiled from carrier reports. The FCC has the right to protect Form 477 data deemed confidential by submitting companies, U.S. District Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle in the District of Columbia said Monday. The Center for Public Integrity sued last year seeking access to the material after the FCC denied a request under the Freedom of Information Act. Huvelle said most data that the FCC sought to shield are exempt from FOIA search. Carriers must file Form 477 twice yearly, tallying broadband users among other things. The agency stance was endorsed by telecom companies and groups, including USTelecom, AT&T, Verizon, the Wireless Communications Association, National Cable Telecommunications Association and CTIA, which intervened or submitted amicus briefs supporting the FCC’s refusal to produce the records. The judge required release only of a small portion of the data, entered where carriers make additional comments to explain part of their reports. At issue isn’t the comments themselves but the carriers’ references to the “part” and “line” of the report to which the comments relate. The judge said the parties generally had agreed that this material could be revealed. But the Wireless Communications Association objected to release of the “part” and “line” information as revealing “the existence of a non-zero response to that particular line and item, thereby indicating that a filer is providing a particular service,” the judge said, quoting from a WCA court filing. The judge called WCA’s argument unpersuasive.

The FCC should raise the income ceiling for LifeLine and Link-Up program eligibility so the programs are in line with a similar one subsidizing heating costs, the Iowa Utilities Board said in comments filed late Friday. The FCC voted in 2004 to raise the Lifeline and Link-Up eligibility ceiling to 135 percent of federal poverty guidelines, seeking comments on whether to raise it to 150 percent. The agency recently asked for comments to “refresh” that issue, which had lain dormant.

Several cable, satellite and phone companies said the FCC should reject an exemption letting cable operators withhold their programming from competitors when channels aren’t distributed by satellite. The FCC should “endorse closing the terrestrial loophole,” said an ex parte filing about meetings Wednesday and Thursday between officials from AT&T, DirecTV, Embarq, RCN, and USTelecom and aides to Chairman Kevin Martin and Commissioners Michael Copps and Deborah Tate. The companies belong to the Coalition for Competitive Access to Content. Commissioners are weighing a rulemaking notice from Martin asking whether the FCC can eliminate that exemption, and about unbundling of some broadcast and cable programming, FCC officials said. The notice could be issued with an order on circulation to extend a ban on exclusive carriage deals between cable operators and satellite-distributed channels they control (CD Aug 24 p2). At last week’s meetings, the pay-TV companies again urged extending the exclusivity ban, the ex parte said.