Whether to repeal or maintain consent decrees loomed large in the second round of music licensing comments filed to the Copyright Office last week (http://1.usa.gov/1tIPlqs). Early copies of the comments, due Friday, were provided by broadcasters and artist attorneys and advocates. Music attorneys foresaw the eventual elimination of Copyright Act Section 115 in favor of direct deals, but the Future of Music Coalition (FMC) doubted whether such deals would be helpful to artists.

Just who is bankrolling the efforts by national advocacy groups (CD Sept 11 p10) to generate hundreds of thousands of comments to the FCC in the net neutrality debate is murky. Phil Kerpen, president of free-market American Commitment, which said this week it’s countering the mobilization efforts of pro-Title II groups, declined to say where the organization gets its funding. Two of the pro-Title II groups that organized Wednesday’s Internet slowdown protest disclosed to us their major donors, but neither fully made its funders public. Two other protest organizers wouldn’t say how their efforts are being funded.

The California Public Utilities Commission put on hold Thursday plans to submit reply comments to the FCC supporting its net neutrality Title II NPRM. The decision came on a vote to overturn an earlier 3-2 decision to submit comments urging the commission to reclassify broadband as a Communications Act Title II service and use that authority in conjunction with other authorities as jurisdiction bases for new net neutrality rules. Commissioner Carla Peterman, who had originally voted in favor of reclassification, decided later in the meeting to officially abstain, tying the vote 2-2. The tied vote means any comments are on hold, a CPUC spokeswoman said. Commissioners Mike Florio and Catherine Sandoval had voted in favor of the staff’s set of recommendations, while Commission President Michael Peevey and Commissioner Michael Picker voted against them.

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler isn’t seen as having made a decision on Comcast’s proposed buy of Time Warner Cable, said analysts, cable industry and public interest officials in interviews this week. Ex-FCC Chief of Staff Blair Levin doesn’t believe a decision on the merger has yet been made, he said in a conference call. The Department of Justice will decide if the deal should be approved, he said. Wheeler “may know where he’s leaning” but it’s “inconceivable” he would decide the fate of the deal before the Sept. 23 due date for Comcast and TWC’s opposition filings, said Georgetown Law Institute for Public Representation Senior Counselor Andrew Schwartzman. The FCC is also awaiting responses from Comcast, Charter Communications and TWC to the Media Bureau’s detailed information requests related to the deal and to Charter’s buying divested systems (CD Aug 26 p1), which were due Thursday, Schwartzman said. “Even if he made a decision, he doesn’t necessarily have the three votes” needed for a majority vote on the FCC, Schwartzman said.

If Congress overhauls the Telecommunications Act of 1996, policymakers seem to have agreed that the categories of the old Communications Act placing technologies in silos no longer work, said University of Pennsylvania law professor Christopher Yoo. But “they can’t agree on what replaces it,” he said. That’s one challenge of the Communications Act overhaul endeavor that House Republicans launched last December, said Telecommunications Policy Research Conference speakers on Capitol Hill Thursday.

LAS VEGAS -- Compared with the TV incentive auction, the AWS-3 auction, which starts Nov. 13, got much less attention at the Competitive Carriers Association and CTIA conferences this week. Industry officials disagreed on the extent to which smaller carriers are likely to go big in the 65 MHz AWS-3 auction. CCA concluded Wednesday while CTIA wrapped up Thursday.

DENVER -- Chief Operating Officer Mike Fasulo affirmed Sony’s commitment to high-resolution audio and video in the CEDIA Expo keynote Wednesday. Citing the 25th anniversary of CEDIA, Fasulo noted Sony’s support of the custom integrator channel even before the association’s formation. This year at CEDIA Expo, Sony announced 4K Ultra HD TV, projector and receiver models offering control over IP for smoother integration with integrated home systems.

The federal government got things wrong when the Department of Justice and the FCC sent signals that effectively stopped a Sprint/T-Mobile merger dead its tracks, said C Spire CEO Hu Meena Wednesday at the last day of the Competitive Carriers Association’s annual meeting. Sprint and T-Mobile are both active members of CCA.

A draft order and Further NPRM on interservice interference after the incentive auction will reject calls from NAB and broadcast industry engineers for a cap on the total amount of aggregate interference a station can receive, a senior FCC official told us. The item was circulated by Wheeler this week (CD Sept.9 p4) along with other auction-related draft NPRMs on low-power TV, wireless mics and the commission’s Part 15 rules, the official said. The wireless mic and Part 15 NPRMs are slated for the commission’s Sept. 30 meeting, while the interference and LPTV items are on circulation for electronic voting, said the official.

The FCC likely will approve 5-0 the order rejecting claims by the NFL and other entities in support of maintaining the sports blackout rule, said agency officials in interviews Wednesday. The order is slated for a vote at the Sept. 30 FCC meeting, they said. It would eliminate the rules for all cable, direct broadcast satellite and open video systems, officials said. The commission also will consider a Further NPRM on streamlining Part 25 rules on satellite and earth station licensing and operations. That item also likely will be approved, agency officials said. The tentative meeting agenda was released Tuesday (CD Sept 10 p19).