CTIA floated a compromise plan at the FCC Fri. in the contentious 800 MHz proceeding, seeking what it called a “legally sustainable” outcome to a rebanding plan for mitigating public safety interference. CTIA Pres. Steve Largent outlined the proposal in a letter to FCC Chmn. Powell. It would entail Nextel’s paying $3 billion in a trust fund for relocating public safety and other incumbents. The plan, which Nextel called “astonishing,” allocated it 10 MHz at 2.1 GHz, instead of the replacement spectrum at 1.9 GHz it has sought.

Congress should “redefine” the purpose of the Universal Service Fund (USF) and what kind of “tax” should be used to support it, Qwest CEO Dick Notebaert said Wed. at a Progress & Freedom Foundation lunch. Policy-makers should decide what they really want to fund through the USF -- for example, low income households or expanding broadband coverage -- he said. Then they can define how the money is raised because “there are better ways to do it,” he said. Regulators keep adding uses for USF and “never say, ‘We've done it, let’s move on,'” Notebaert said. USF is a tax now, whether regulators care to call it that or not, he said: “We ought to call a tax a tax.”

ILECs were pushing for “significant price increases” in negotiations with CLECs over UNE-P, a CLEC executive and representative of ALTS told the Senate Commerce Committee Tues. The increases “would not allow us to sustain our business,” said Cbeyond CEO James Geiger at the hearing on “lessons learned” from the Telecom Act: “The assumption of the incumbent is that unbundling elements are gone.” Geiger also suggested that ILECs weren’t even putting the local loop on the table, though Qwest Chmn. Richard Notebaert said he didn’t object to loops’ remaining an unbundled element.

SBCA said the House Telecom Subcommittee would consider raising rates for distance broadcast signals as part of its markup of Satellite Home Viewer Improvement Act (SHVIA), scheduled today (Wed.), 2123 Rayburn Bldg. SBCA said the Cable Data Corp. showed in 2003 satellite providers paid 21.4% more per subscriber for distant broadcast signals than did the largest cable providers. SBCA said satellite could be forced to pass these rate differences on to customers, which would put “cable’s only real competitor at a further disadvantage.” “Before Congress raises the rates that satellite companies pay for distant network signals they should carefully consider whether this action will hurt consumers and how it will change the competitive landscape,” said Richard DalBello, SBCA pres. DalBello said the draft of the bill “has a lot to offer the broadcasters but very little for the satellite industry and the consumers.”

Patents for the Surface-conduction Emission Display (SED) developed by Canon and Toshiba (CED April 14 p6) detail how the flat panel TVs are made, and their main claim to fame: About 1/3 the power consumption of plasma display panels (PDP), 1/2 that of CRTs and LCDs, and with no need for backlighting. No performance specs are available yet.

Uncertainty of FCC rules were blamed at Tues. morning panel on ownership for the fact that many station transactions aren’t being made in today’s climate. “The deals of basically ground to a halt,” said Lin TV’s Gregory Schmidt. Mass Media Bureau Chief Kenneth Ferree and others cited a case pending in the U.S. Appeals Court, Philadelphia, which held 8-hour oral argument (scheduled for 4 hours) on many ownership issues and appeals Feb. 11 (CD Feb 12 p8) as a reason for uncertainty and delay. Ferree refused to predict how the court will rule on that case -- or what the FCC might do on other ownership issues pending the court’s decision -- but he said the Commission “probably” will await a court decision on several issues, though “the staff work is on- going.” Attorney Donald Verrilli, who represented NAB in the case, responded “that depends” when asked if broadcasters would go for an en banc rehearing following court decision or go direct to Supreme Court. Ferree took issue with the suggestion the FCC is delaying action on revising cable ownership rules. “I don’t call it delay, I call it work,” he said on attempts to define rules covering cable system ownership and program providers. Citing the FCC’s new definition of a radio market, Clear Channel’s Andrew Levin said the largest owner of radio stations was “obviously disappointed that radio was the only medium reregulated” by the Commission. He said “it just makes no sense” that a licensee is permitted to own as many radio stations in Memphis as in N.Y.C. -- TN

The FCC opened a rulemaking to improve its Form 477 local competition and broadband data gathering program. It proposed to extend the program for 5 years beyond its March 2005 sunset and collect more granular data from broadband service providers. Comments are due 30 days after publication in the Federal Register, replies 60 days after publication.

An investigation into the mysterious disappearance of Akai’s assets apparently has been closed after a settlement was reached between court-appointed liquidators and the company’s principal, Hong Kong tycoon James Ting, who had done a 3-year disappearing act of his own. The settlement lets Ting walk free from any current or future litigation, the South China Morning Post reported based on confidential documents it uncovered in the course of litigation involving Ting and another of his firms, Semi-Tech, in the U.S. The agreement between Ting and the liquidator, RSM Nelson Wheeler, absolves Ting from liability for the $1 billion owed to creditors when his flagship company, Akai Holdings, folded in 2000, leaving behind Hong Kong’s largest-ever corporate loss of $1.72 billion. It owed creditors more than $1 billion when a High Court in Hong Kong ordered Akai into liquidation in Aug. 2000. At the time, Hong Kong financial authorities raised questions about alleged asset-stripping and the “de facto surrender” of the CE company to Hong Kong-based Grande Group. Earlier, in May 2002, the liquidator advised creditors not to expect much of a pay-out, as Akai was an empty shell. Ting vanished from Hong Kong in late 2000, and no information about his whereabouts was made public, although documents discovered by the Hong Kong newspaper suggest the liquidators and possibly others were in touch with Ting or his lawyers. He re-emerged in Hong Kong last May. Under the reported agreement, RSM Nelson Wheeler will forgo any claims or legal action against Ting if he withdraws his opposition to a sale of Akai’s stock-market listing shell, worth about $1.5 million. According to the report, the deal was struck in Dec. 2002 on the eve of a sale of Akai’s listing shell to Hong Kong clothing retailer Hang Ten Group. Ting, through 2 companies registered in the British Virgin Islands, tried to block the sale by voting his nearly 110 million Akai shares by proxy against the listing proposal. Then, he agreed to drop his opposition for a promise that the liquidators wouldn’t sue or “otherwise pursue any claims” against him. According to the U.S. court document, the liquidators also agreed to drop any further investigations that might lead to legal proceedings against Ting. As a result of the agreement and sale of Akai’s listing shell, creditors and the liquidator got $1.5 million in cash and 2.1 billion Hang Ten shares -- worth about a penny each at the time. Akai shareholders got 300 million Hang Ten shares and Ting was awarded $80,000 for legal costs, the newspaper said. RSM Nelson Wheeler declined comment on the paper’s questions, citing a confidentiality agreement whereby only the parties involved and Akai’s committee of inspection could view the details -- barring a court order. That might be a possibility, as the Akai debacle remains an unquiet grave for Hong Kong’s financial community and regulatory authorities. The latter were not aware of the deal between the liquidator and Ting. “We need to look at this. There are certain checks we have to do,” Official Receiver Eamonn O'Connell told the newspaper. David Webb, a corporate governance activist in Hong Kong, said: “The settlement is being reached for what appears to be a small amount of benefit to shareholders against a huge potential claim against Mr Ting. One has to wonder whether the liquidators had a financial interest in the back-door listing proceeding.”

The FCC International Bureau denied Intelsat’s request to defer notification of certain Loral customers of Intelsat’s “additional services” restriction. The FCC authorized Intelsat’s purchase of certain assets from Loral Feb. 11, but conditioned the authorization with special temporary authority (STA) for “additional services” (DTH, DBS, Ka- or V-band services) due to an ORBIT Act restriction. The FCC said Intelsat would have to notify those customers within 30 days of the acquisition’s completion that it could only provide “additional services” up to 180 days, at which time the company would have to terminate the services until completing its IPO. The notification deadline was Fri. Intelsat argued the delay would serve public interest, rather than causing confusion, conflicting with the bureau’s reason for granting the STA and disrupting the customer base and anticipated revenue. The bureau said Intelsat also claimed “the issues raised on review have created legal uncertainty regarding the duration of Intelsat’s authority to provide additional services,” and notification should be delayed at least until the Commission resolved legal challenges. The bureau said it wasn’t convinced. While Intelsat said the bureau granted the STA for continuity of service, the bureau said the STA was meant to provide customers “an orderly transition” and “adequate time in which to consider alternative service providers.” Disclosure of the information will allow customers to “make informed decisions as to the need to transition… to avoid disruption in service to their customers,” the Bureau said. If Intelsat wants to alert customers that there are challenges against the order and that the STA ruling could change, it may do so, the bureau said, but Intelsat must also tell customers its STA currently ends Sept. 13. The bureau said its order did give Intelsat the option of delaying the completion of the transaction until it conducted its IPO. A bill has been introduced in the Senate that would extend the company’s IPO deadline to June 30, 2006 (CD April 13 p8).

The FCC Thurs. issued a notice of inquiry, rather than launching a rulemaking, on protecting in-band on-channel (IBOC) digital radio content from home copying or redistribution over the Internet. The Commission also unanimously agreed to launch a full rulemaking on IBOC technical issues and what types of IBOC services can be offered. An inquiry is typically a step further from a final decision than a rulemaking.