The CEA said it was developing point-of-sale educational pieces, including a retailer “tip sheet,” to provide salespeople and consumers with an overview of DTV terminology and reception requirements. CEA said it also was co- producing a retailers’ guide to selling HDTV that would feature frequently asked questions, selling tips and other key information, and was developing an online training and certification program for retailers. The details were in a letter updating the FCC on the CEA’s efforts to move the DTV transition forward. The association said it continued to put on HDTV update meetings around the country that brought together local DTV leaders -- retailers, broadcasters, programmers and other service providers -- to discuss how best to promote DTV in their markets. CEA Pres. Gary Shapiro said his group would continue its media tour and consumer home show appearances to raise consumer interest about HDTV. The media tour hit 75 major media markets in 2002 and CEA representatives appeared on more than 134 TV and 3,194 radio programs, including CNN Headline News, CNBC, BBC, CNET and Webfn First Business, CEA said. Shapiro said CEA had devoted roughly $5 million in human and monetary resources to promote HDTV. The CEA said its letter to the agency was meant to supplement those submitted by individual DTV manufacturers last week. The FCC has been receiving hundreds of responses from cable, broadcast, satellite and consumer electronics companies since it asked them to update the Commission on their DTV efforts. The CEA letter also urged the FCC to act expeditiously on the cable-CE “plug-&-play” agreement.

CEA said it’s developing point-of-sale educational pieces, including a retailer “tip sheet,” to provide salespeople and consumers with an overview of DTV terminology and reception requirements. CEA said it’s also co-producing retailers guide to selling HDTV that will feature frequently asked questions, selling tips and other key information, and is developing an online training and certification program for retailers. Details were included in letter updating FCC on CEA’s efforts to move DTV transition forward. Assn. said it continues to put on HDTV update meetings around country that bring together local DTV leaders -- retailers, broadcasters, programmers and other service providers -- to discuss how best to promote DTV in their particular market. CEA Pres. Gary Shapiro said CEA will continue its media tour and consumer home show appearances to raise consumer interest about HDTV. Media tour hit 75 major media markets in 2002 and CEA representatives appeared on more than 134 TV and 3,194 radio programs, including CNN Headline News, CNBC, BBC, CNET and Webfn First Business, CEA said. Shapiro said CEA has devoted human and monetary resources of roughly $5 million to promote HDTV. CEA said its letter to agency was meant to supplement those submitted by individual DTV manufacturers over past week. FCC has been receiving hundreds of responses from cable, broadcast, satellite, and consumer electronics companies after agency asked them to update FCC on their DTV efforts. CEA letter also urges FCC to act expeditiously on cable-CE “plug-&- play” agreement.

A new national do-not-call (DNC) program kicked off Fri. at a ceremony in the White House Rose Garden. “We are announcing new measures by the federal government that will help Americans protect their private time or family time by blocking unwanted phone calls from telemarketers,” President Bush said. He commended FCC Chmn. Powell, FTC Chmn. Timothy Muris and Congress for “hard work on an interesting and important initiative.” Bush said unwanted telemarketing calls were “intrusive,” “annoying, and they're all too common… We're taking practical action to address this problem.” He said the service came “at no expense to the taxpayers. After all, it is fully funded by the telemarketing industry.” Bush said there was a strong consumer response to the creation of the DNC registry: “As of today, 108 persons per second are now registering their phone numbers.” In a separate statement, House Commerce Committee Chmn. Tauzin (R-La.) applauded the FCC and the FTC for their timely launch of the registry, calling it “a welcome relief from those annoying calls that have interrupted us at dinnertime far too many times.” The House in Feb. overwhelmingly passed HR-395, the Do-Not-Call Implementation Act, which was sponsored by Tauzin and Commerce Committee ranking Democrat Dingell (Mich.), giving the agencies authority to proceed with the national DNC registry this year. The bill signed into law by Bush in March (CD March 12 p6) provides a 5-year authorization for the FTC to raise money from telemarketers to operate, maintain and enforce the registry and requires that both the FCC and the FTC report to Congress annually on the effectiveness of the registry. Free online registration for the national DNC list is available at www.donotcall.gov. At a White House news briefing afterward, FCC Chmn. Powell said he viewed Congress’s attempts to roll back several FCC ownership rules (CD June 20 p1) as “nothing, but a healthy dialog.” He said “I believe very firmly that media rules are the consequence of a legislative action. In 1996, when we established a framework for the review of media rules, we added a strong deregulatory component… If Congress wants to create a different foundation… I don’t interpret it as overturning… I see it as stimulating a dialog.”

RIAA may run into legal, political and practical hurdles to getting music file-sharing down to manageable levels by filing hundreds of lawsuits against large-scale traders, technology lawyers we polled said Thurs.

Several amendments were tacked onto the FCC Reauthorization Act (S-1264) that the Senate Commerce Committee passed Thurs., but it wasn’t the telecom “war” some lobbyists saw as possible earlier this week. Senate Appropriations Chmn. Stevens (R-Alaska) didn’t put forward an amendment to delay the wireless industry’s local number portability deadline, nor were TELRIC pricing or broadband UNE requirements mentioned. “Judging by the amendments filed, the truce in the battle of telecom titans is holding,” Senate Commerce Committee McCain said.

MPAA Wed. celebrated Gov. Jeb Bush’s (R) signing of HB-79, the Fla. version of communications piracy legislation quietly enacted in 7 states but hung up elsewhere this spring after controversy erupted. “We believe it will pave the way to new communication services on the Internet,” said MPAA Senior Vp Vans Stevenson. “It also provides momentum [nationally] and validates this legislation to protect services and intellectual property, particularly the movies and other audio-visual products our companies license to these services.”

With several amendments potentially queued for the FCC Reauthorization Act (S-1264), the Senate Commerce Committee meeting Thurs. has the possibility to be a “war,” an industry lobbyist said. But it’s more likely that members will try to keep the bill as clean as possible, several industry sources told us. Not until Wed. evening, when amendments begin to trickle into the committee, will it be known whether there will be a battle of amendments, lobbyists told us.

The U.S. Supreme Court Mon. granted a review of an 8th U.S. Appeals Court, St. Louis, decision vacating an FCC order denying preemption of a Mo. statute that barred localities and municipally owned utilities from providing telecom services or facilities. Petitions for writs of certiorari had been filed by the FCC, the state of Mo. and Southwestern Bell. The Supreme Court’s intervention is expected to resolve the conflict between decisions of the 8th Circuit and the U.S. Appeals Court, D.C., which ruled in the FCC’s favor in City of Abilene (Tex.) v FCC. In declining to preempt the Mo. statute, the FCC had ruled that the term “any entity” in Sec. 253(a) of the Telecom Act wasn’t intended to include political subdivisions of a state but rather “appeared to prohibit” restrictions on market entry that applied to independent entities. The Commission had held that if municipally owned utilities had sought to provide telecom service as independent corporate entities, it would have reached a different conclusion. However, the 8th Circuit ruled that there was no doubt that municipalities and municipally owned utilities were entities under the standard definition of the term. Although municipalities in Mo. derive all their powers from the state and although the state can control its subdivisions in an “almost limitless way,” municipalities and its subdivisions have an existence separate from that of the state, the court held in a challenge brought by Mo. municipalities. The FCC said the 8th Circuit’s ruling conflicted with that the D.C. Circuit, “thus placing the FCC in the position of having to give effect to diametrically opposite court opinions.” The Commission said the questions at issue in the case could be expected to be raised again because several states had statutes similar to the Mo. law and could be subject to attack under Sec. 2539(a) of the Telecom Act, and still others could enact such laws. “The Supreme Court’s decision to grant immediate review will expedite a final resolution of the controversy,” said attorney James Baller, who represents the Mo. municipalities. Currently, 12 states have some barriers to entry for municipalities, and “those will fall by the wayside,” as will those being considered in other states, said Alan Richardson, pres. of the American Public Power Assn.: “We believe that the 8th Circuit decision would have been followed by courts across the country even if the Supreme Court had not granted certiorari.” USTA Senior Vp- Law &Policy Daniel Phythyon said: “We are encouraged that the Supreme Court has agreed to hear this important case. The conflicts between the lower court rulings on this critical issue have created considerable uncertainty in the telecom industry and we hope the court will act swiftly to help clarify the role of the states."

Sen. Schumer (D-N.Y.) vowed Wed. to fight any efforts to delay the local number portability (LNP) deadline for wireless carriers, even if it meant opposing media ownership legislation he now supported. He said Sen. Stevens (R- Alaska) could use his 35% broadcast ownership bill as a vehicle to move a delay of the FCC’s Nov. 24 LNP deadline, and if he did, Schumer said he would reverse his support for the media ownership bill.

In yet another run at the FCC’s wireless local number portability (LNP) requirements, CTIA, Cingular Wireless, AT&T Wireless and Alltel filed an “expedited petition” at the Commission urging the Commission to rescind the rule. The petition came a week after the U.S. Appeals Court, D.C., turned down an industry challenge to an FCC decision to not exercise forbearance on the wireless LNP requirements, which carry a Nov. 24 deadline for implementation in the top 100 metro areas. In the latest petition, filed late Mon., the 3 carriers and CTIA contended the rule should be rescinded “because the FCC lacks statutory authority to impose the obligation.” The petition said that while the court had affirmed the FCC decision to not exercise forbearance, it “did not rule on the merits of the statutory authority argument, observing that this matter could only be raised, given the lapse of time since the original rulemaking, in connection with a petition to rescind the rule in connection with an enforcement action.” The petition said the latest request for FCC action was sought so that “petitioners can have their day in court before the fast-approaching Nov. 24, 2003, deadline, and because carriers already have numerous mandates (i.e., E911) and limited resources.” The petition said the root of the FCC’s statutory authority to impose LNP, Sec. 251(b) of the Communications Act, applied only to LECs, and the statutory definition of LECs specifically excluded wireless carriers. “Thus, it is clear from the statutory scheme that Congress intentionally limited the FCC’s authority to impose LNP and specifically exempted CMRS,” the filing said.