State broadcast associations fully supported a proposal to establish a system for delivery of multilingual emergency alerts, while NAB, noncommercial broadcasters and pay-TV operators support it but cautioned against imposing unnecessary burdens on emergency alert system (EAS) participants. Comments in a public notice proceeding that stemmed from a 2005 petition from Minority Media and Telecommunications Council were due this week (CD April 28 p19). The proposal focuses on a “designated hitter” backup plan, which involves broadcasters helping to transmit EAS messages for non-English stations that are knocked off-air (CD March 13 p10).

FCC Chief Technologist Henning Schulzrinne disputed the idea that regulation can’t keep up with the pace of technological change. Schulzrinne spoke Thursday at the opening of a symposium sponsored by the agency and The Institute for Information Policy (IIP) at Pennsylvania State University on the future of broadband regulation (http://fcc.us/1k4cfb9).

Wireless industry executive Sue Swenson is replacing Sam Ginn as FirstNet board chair, the Commerce Department said Wednesday. Ginn will retire from the board when his term expires in August, the department said. FirstNet watchers said Swenson is a respected telecom executive playing a key role at the nascent public safety network. The announcement means more change at the top of FirstNet. General Manager Bill D'Agostino said last month he was leaving after less than a year, as questions continue to swirl around the network (CD April 16 p1).

The second half of 2015 is AT&T’s target to stop offering legacy TDM services to new customers in its wire center trial areas, it told the FCC. The telco has said that when it stops offering TDM service to new customers in West Delray Beach, Florida, and Carbon Hill, Alabama, (CD March 3 p3) it would still “grandfather” legacy TDM customers for some time. TDM service to customers in AT&T’s trial wire centers won’t be discontinued “imminently,” the telco said in an FCC presentation Tuesday posted the next day to docket 13-5. “AT&T does not currently anticipate seeking approval to grandfather any TDM service earlier than the second half of 2015” (http://bit.ly/1k3vTTf). Public Knowledge was skeptical of the presentation, and the company’s IP transition plan has drawn many questions from state and local officials (CD March 17 p7).

The Copyright Alert System’s first 10 months of operations are encouraging, said a report (http://bit.ly/1isdnzM) released by the CAS operator Center for Copyright Information (CCI) Wednesday. Don’t expect the system to bring an end to all copyright infringement, said panelists at an Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) event Wednesday. The CAS delivers notices to individuals accessing infringing content through peer-to-peer networks and is intended to educate consumers about copyright infringement. If infringement continues, Internet speed is slowed or Web access is suspended temporarily. CAS is a collaborative effort on the part of AT&T, Cablevision, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Verizon and copyright holders such as MPAA and RIAA (CD Feb 28/13 p12).

Consumer groups representing the hearing impaired and video programmers disagree with pay-TV distributors over who should be held responsible for the quality and other aspects of closed captions, according to reply comments filed Tuesday in docket 05-231 (http://bit.ly/1nCSvLs) in response to an FCC FNPRM on the issue (CD May 1 p9). Charter Communications, Comcast and DirecTV support a “burden shifting” model that puts the onus for quality on programmers, while CBS and Viacom, along with consumer groups like Telecommunications for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, don’t think the current system holding video distributors responsible should be changed. Distributors are “in a better position to police the captioning practices” of programmers than the FCC, the consumer groups said.

Consolidation makes it even more important for municipalities to be able to create broadband networks, but they face opposition from incumbents which have pushed restrictive state laws (CD March 3 p8), said proponents of muni broadband on a New America Foundation panel Wednesday. Speakers were optimistic about FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler’s recent comments about pre-empting the laws (CD April 29 p3). Wheeler should be applauded, said CTC Technology & Energy President Joanne Hovis, a NATOA board member and a consultant who specializes in planning public and nonprofit broadband projects.

The FCC got tremendous deference from an appeals court in response to a challenge of 2011 USF/intercarrier compensation rules, said attorneys in interviews Tuesday. That’s disappointing, some said, but not surprising given the complexity of the issues. The FCC won a sweeping victory Friday as the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied all challenges against the order (CD May 27 p1). As the 45-day clock counts down for motions for rehearing by the full court, at least one VoIP provider is considering a challenge. But because of the complexity of the case, and the deference often granted to the panel that heard the challenge, such requests for rehearing are unlikely to be successful, said attorneys.

Having to handle at once AT&T’s plan to buy DirecTV and Comcast/Time Warner Cable will tax regulators without overwhelming them, said former FCC officials, industry attorneys and analysts in interviews. While regulators will likely face the extra step of having to consider AT&T/DirecTV in light of Comcast/Time Warner Cable, the extra demand on staff in the deals each worth more than $65 billion is unlikely to substantively strain resources at the FCC or Department of Justice, said American Antitrust Institute Vice President Diana Moss. “You can’t stop the trains just because multiple deals come in,” said Moss. “You have to process them."

Interconnection between ISPs “has not always been seamless” and the FCC under Chairman Tom Wheeler will ask a series of questions to better understand how peering works or doesn’t work, FCC Chief of Staff Ruth Milkman said Tuesday at an event hosted by the Progressive Policy Institute. The question of how networks exchange traffic, such as through peering, is key as the FCC takes comment on net neutrality rules, Milkman said.