The Mich. Dept. of State Police (MSP) and the state’s Dept. of Information Technology opposed a request by the National Wildlife Federation (NWF) and other groups asking the FCC to conduct certain environmental analyses before approving tower projects. The groups asked the FCC to require an environmental assessment for a public safety wireless facility in Copper Harbor, Mich., which is one of 180 stations in the Mich. Public Safety Communications System. The Mich. agencies took exception to a broader application by the environmental groups last month seeking review of their earlier challenge of the approval of the single public safety site. The Mich. agencies said the issues raised in the latest challenge were too broad. The application “improperly seeks review of numerous issues that are outside the scope of the original NWF petition,” they said. They said the “out-of-scope” issues included questions on: (1) Alleged failures by the FCC and MSP to consult with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS). (2) Alleged failures to carry out conservation plans under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). (3) Alleged “generic deficiencies” in the Commission’s environmental rules. In its original filing last year, NWF told the FCC Wireless Bureau that insufficient environmental analyses were made before tower construction, meaning the agency was violating the ESA and the National Environmental Policy Act. The groups asked the agency immediately to conduct environmental assessments on 3 towers and evaluate the cumulative impact of the tower permitting system on migratory birds and endangered species. The Bureau rejected the request, saying the MSP and FWS were conducting a study on avian collision and towers. NWF contended the Bureau had erred in concluding that it would be premature to perform environmental assessments before the avian study was complete. The Mich. agencies said the broader issues weren’t before the FCC in the original petition, so they couldn’t be the basis for an application for review (AFR) under FCC rules. “Moreover, with regard to all of these issues, petitioners have failed to establish interested-party status in connection with this petition, or aggrieved party status in connection with the AFR, and therefore petitioners lack standing to raise these issues,” the Mich. agencies said.

The U.S. Supreme Court denied a review sought by Charter of a 9th U.S. Appeals Court, San Francisco, order (CD Sept 24/02 p2) upholding Santa Cruz County’s decision to deny transfer of franchise to Charter for, among other things, its failure to provide requested financial and other information. Charter had contended that the county had violated the franchise agreement and the First Amendment in denying consent to its transfer application for the 5,000 cable subscribers it took over in the county after its purchase of Sonic Cable TV. The Circuit Court had held that a cable operator’s ability to service its franchise adequately throughout its term, plus a fear of higher cable rates because of a higher-than-market sale price, were legitimate concerns for local franchising authorities that justified seeking more information on those issues. In the Supreme Court, the Solicitor Gen. submitted an amicus brief urging denial of certiorari. Although the Solicitor Gen. argued that the 9th Circuit’s “error in this case threatens to undermine important federal restrictions on cable regulation,” he said the questions raised hadn’t emerged in other appellate cases. “This court might benefit from further analysis by the courts of appeals of cases, like this one, in which a cable franchising authority is found have acted with mixed motives, some of which are lawful under federal law and some of which are not.” A Charter spokesman said that although the company was disappointed in the outcome, “our efforts did achieve much for Charter and for the cable industry.” He said the Solicitor Gen.’s brief as well as the Dist. Court. opinion had “clearly indicated” that LFAs weren’t permitted to “supplant their own wish list for federal principles.” Attorney Nicholas Miller, who represents municipalities, called the Supreme Court’s decision significant and likely to influence other circuit courts because it was “well written and consistent” with what other circuits had said.

The U.S. Supreme Court overturned a lower court ruling that had subjected the Telecom Act’s network-sharing requirements to enforcement through antitrust law. In a unanimous decision Tues. written by Justice Antonin Scalia, the court said the Telecom Act actually was “more ambitious than the antitrust laws” because it attempted to eliminate monopolies rather than “merely to prevent unlawful monopolization” as called for in the Sherman Antitrust Act. Scalia said the court had found no “implied immunity” from antitrust enforcement in the Act but “just as the 1996 Act preserves claims that satisfy existing antitrust standards, it does not create new claims that go beyond existing antitrust standards.”

LAS VEGAS -- Beginning to “understand and keep protected the world of VoIP” will be one of the FCC’s biggest jobs this year, Chmn. Powell said Fri. at the CES here. He said “ignorance” was the biggest threat to VoIP, particularly “policymakers who don’t really understand the technology, but think they do because it looks like a phone.” Powell also touted unlicensed spectrum and DTV as big issues for the year.

The DTV transition is nearing the “tipping point” at which consumer and industry takeup will accelerate rapidly, FCC Chmn. Powell said Fri. at CES in Las Vegas. But he said there still were some challenges, such as DTV must-carry and an agreement on 2-way interactive plug-&-play. CEA Pres. Gary Shapiro, who interviewed Powell, said the CEA believed the tipping point “has already been achieved.”

Many World Trade Organization (WTO) members still don’t comply with telecom trade agreements, comments filed with the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) this week revealed. The comments were filed as part of USTR’s annual review of the operation and effectiveness of all U.S. trade agreements on telecom products and services. The USTR is expected to conclude its review by March 31.

The FCC issued a declaratory ruling allowing Comcast to raise rates for its basic service tier in Middletown Twp., Pa., noting that Comcast hadn’t raised its rates in 3 years. Comcast had filed a petition asking the FCC to revoke the township’s authority to regulate its basic rates, saying local officials had acted unreasonably. The Commission disagreed on that point, however, and denied Comcast’s petition. The FCC allowed Comcast a rate increase to $12.65 from $11.66.

NAB on Mon. again asked the 3rd U.S. Appeals Court, Philadelphia, to vacate the FCC’s new rule allowing companies to own more than one TV station in a market and another redefining radio markets. NAB said the FCC’s rule blocking companies from owning more than one of the top 4 stations in a market is “arbitrary and capricious” and would stifle consolidation where it’s needed most -- in small- to medium- sized markets where even stations ranked 3rd or 4th sometimes lose money.

Democratic Presidential candidates know President Bush will be a tough challenge in Nov., but some believe there is one issue on which he is vulnerable -- media ownership. Former Vt. Gov. Howard Dean (D) and other candidates have hammered the Administration on that issue. Aside from that, broadcast and media issues aren’t getting much play in the campaigns although campaign finance and broadcast indecency are likely to gain some attention.

AT&T urged the FCC to not grant a BellSouth (BS) request to let ILECs recover certain wireless local number portability (LNP) costs until it had shown a more direct link between the costs and the new LNP requirements. BS asked the Commission to let ILECs assess a federal user charge on end users to recover wireless LNP costs and to waive recovery limits for end-user charges, which have been in effect for wireline LNP since 1999. Verizon Wireless said it generally backed BellSouth’s request, but only if the FCC spelled out that carriers couldn’t recover those costs from other operators.