The “glaring defect” in the FCC’s pricing flexibility rules is that they measure competition for end office services in order de-regulate transmission services, the Ad Hoc Telecommunications Users Committee, a group of enterprise purchasers of telecom services, told aides to Commissioners Mignon Clyburn, Robert McDowell and Jessica Rosenworcel last week. In other words, Ad Hoc said, “they take the cow’s temperature to see whether the pig is sick” (http://xrl.us/bnb5tp). Ad Hoc was just one of several groups showering commission staff with metaphors and academic papers to try to persuade them on the state of competition in the special access marketplace.

The Court of International Trade said it will hear a challenge of the “acquisition clause” of the Continued Dumping and Subsidy Act of 2000 (CDSOA, commonly known as the Byrd Amendment), which says a company must not have been acquired by a company or business that is related to a company that opposed the investigation in order to qualify for CDSOA disbursement.

The FCC needs to become “more nimble” in “keeping pace with the marketplace and technological innovation,” new Commissioner Ajit Pai told the FCC’s Consumer Advisory Committee Friday. The FCC’s other new Commissioner, Jessica Rosenworcel, told the CAC consumer issues loom large for her.

Vizio’s sales of PCs could eventually outstrip those of its popular TVs, as the company cashes in on the three- to five-year investment it’s making in entering a new product category, Chief Technology Officer Matthew McRae told us. The PCs -- a notebook PC, two Ultrabook PCs and two all-in-one desktops -- are expected to hit Walmart and other retailers in the next one to two weeks, as Vizio moves to challenge Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Sony, Toshiba and others. The PCs’ arrival caps a two-year development effort, including the last year working with Intel in building its new Ivy Bridge processors into the models.

More companies told the FCC Media Bureau that a program-access dispute between Sky Angel and Discovery Communications is the wrong venue to resolve questions about whether online video distributors (OVDs) can be classified as multichannel video programming distributors and benefit from the same regulatory system. Intel urged the commission to initiate a rulemaking on the topic (http://xrl.us/bnbswz). “As much as the video marketplace has already evolved, we are on the cusp of even more profound changes as devices become more powerful, high capacity broadband Internet access becomes more ubiquitous and innovative ways to present and curate video content continue to develop,” the company said. “In such a dynamic and evolving environment, the issue of which video programming distributors are covered by the Communications Act warrants careful analysis."

More companies told the FCC Media Bureau that a program-access dispute between Sky Angel and Discovery Communications is the wrong venue to resolve questions about whether online video distributors (OVDs) can be classified as multichannel video programming distributors and benefit from the same regulatory system. Intel urged the commission to initiate a rulemaking on the topic (http://xrl.us/bnbswz). “As much as the video marketplace has already evolved, we are on the cusp of even more profound changes as devices become more powerful, high capacity broadband Internet access becomes more ubiquitous and innovative ways to present and curate video content continue to develop,” the company said. “In such a dynamic and evolving environment, the issue of which video programming distributors are covered by the Communications Act warrants careful analysis."

The FCC voted unanimously to let expire later this year a rule that has required cable operators to deliver the DTV signals of must-carry stations to its analog cable subscribers. The order approved by a 5-0 vote had been expected (CD May 25 p5), though broadcasters had mobilized in recent weeks to attempt to alter it. The FCC said it finds the viewability rule is “no longer necessary,” but requires hybrid analog-digital cable systems to continue complying with the rule until Dec. 12, 2012. NAB will consult its board before it decides how to respond, it said. “The NAB remains concerned that today’s FCC decision has the potential to impose negative financial consequences on small local TV stations,” a spokesman said. “We will be reviewing our options with our Board of Directors.” A coalition of must-carry station owners that formed to lobby on the issue didn’t immediately respond to our query.

The FCC should confirm that a text message reply to a subscriber choosing to opt out of receiving future text messages isn’t a violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, said SoundBite Communications, CTIA and other companies and groups in a series of meetings at the FCC. SoundBite has a petition before the agency asking it to address the issue raised in the meetings. “The group emphasized that without such a clarification, the tens of millions of confirmatory opt-out messages that have been sent out over the past four years by thousands of organizations, including those sent by the FCC, USA.gov, other government organizations, political campaigns, and the vast majority of both for-profit and non-profit organizations, are exposed to wasteful and harassing class-action lawsuits that seek to extort millions of dollars from organizations sending a one-time confirmation receipt costing some small percentage of consumers at most twenty cents,” said a filing (http://xrl.us/bnbhbn). “The group emphasized that such a clarification is not only correct under the law, but is a matter of simple, common sense.” The group noted that “the vast majority of text messages sent to consumers apply standard rates” including from such organizations as the Center for Disease Control, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Obama for America, Romney for President, USA.gov and Consumers Union. Also attending were representatives of Neustar, the Mobile Marketing Association, Council of Better Business Bureaus, Center for Regulatory Compliance for the American Bankers Association, and Consumer Bankers Association.

Companies are submitting to the FCC data they say shows the lack of competition in the special access market, as well as the price-cap LECs’ exercise of market power. That’s even before the agency requests data from companies affected by special access “pricing flexibility” waivers. Level 3’s 39-page filing Friday -- much of which was redacted for public inspection -- attempted to demonstrate the price-cap LECs’ market power, arguing it must “begrudgingly purchase the vast majority” of its special access needs from carriers like Verizon, AT&T and CenturyLink because there’s often no other choice available.

Advocates for the deaf and hard of hearing pushed back against a CEA petition for reconsideration that sought to change some IP-video closed captioning rules that the FCC adopted to comply with the 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act (CVAA).