Overhauling the Telecom Act may be timely but is fraught with serious, sometimes unpredictable implications and hard work, said those who succeeded in rewriting telecom law 18 years ago. House Republicans announced a plan to again update the act in December, with hearings and white papers this year and legislation on the table next year. Some of those responsible for the 1996 Act, the first and only rewrite since 1934, said in interviews an update is possible and emphasized the importance of strategic focus and constant collaboration, given the magnitude of the process.

LAS VEGAS -- Broadcasting is at “an inflection point” where it can move from “being disrupted to the disruptor,” said FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler in a highly anticipated speech to a packed room at the NAB Show Tuesday. In the speech and a subsequent chat with NAB CEO Gordon Smith, Wheeler offered up a list of “opportunities where the FCC could help broadcasters remain competitive.”

Telcos, carriers, libraries and states gave the FCC “focused comment” this week in response to the Wireline Bureau’s request for more specific suggestions on how to modernize the E-rate fund (CD March 7 p16). Every comment we reviewed agreed on the need for administrative streamlining. Otherwise, blanket agreement was hard to come by, with differing opinions on potential elimination of support for voice-only services and on whether encouraging consortium purchasing or bulk buying is the best way to go. The wireless industry encouraged the commission to consider the role wireless services might play in any E-rate transformation. Fiber is not always the answer, said carrier allies. The Urban Libraries Council called for a separate “L-Rate” fund dedicated to libraries, which in many cases face different connectivity challenges than schools do.

LAS VEGAS -- Beginning late summer, over-the-air field trials are planned by broadcasters in four markets of “Futurecast,” the technology that LG, Zenith Labs and GatesAir submitted to the ATSC as their proposal for next-gen ATSC 3.0’s physical layer, executives with those companies said Tuesday at the NAB Show.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., blamed committee Republicans Tuesday for prompting a new delay in the committee’s consideration of the Patent Transparency and Improvements Act (S-1720) but said in a statement that he hoped the committee would reach a deal by the end of the day. Senate Judiciary planned to mark up S-1720 Tuesday afternoon (CD April 8 p13), but postponed that markup to 10 a.m. Thursday in 226 Dirksen. The House Commerce Subcommittee also took on patent abuse Tuesday, holding a hearing exploring possible legislation aimed at curbing abusive pre-litigation patent demand letters.

Comcast’s $45 billion buy of Time Warner Cable will benefit consumers and businesses by giving them access to next-generation broadband, video, voice and other services with national and global scale, it claimed in a public interest statement filed with the FCC Tuesday. Comcast ensures benefits like high-speed broadband services available on bundled and standalone bases, a nationally acclaimed and comprehensive low-income broadband adoption program, the most robust and advanced VOD and TV Everywhere experience and a commitment to diversity and inclusion, “and to providing accessible solutions to people with disabilities,” it said (http://bit.ly/1lOr7ei).

Attorney General Eric Holder emphasized the White House’s commitment to changing the government’s phone surveillance program. That came in a House Judiciary oversight hearing lasting almost four hours on the Justice Department, where Holder said DOJ will recommend changes to Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Section 702, which authorizes Internet surveillance.

Europe’s phone and Internet data traffic storage law is invalid, the European Court of Justice ruled Tuesday. To the joy of digital rights and privacy activists, the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) and others, the court said the data retention directive (CD Dec 13 p25) “entails a wide-ranging and particularly serious interference” with fundamental rights, without the interference being “precisely circumscribed” to ensure that it’s limited to what’s strictly necessary. The judgment “finds that untargeted monitoring of the entire population is unacceptable in a democratic society,” said Digital Rights Ireland (DRI), one of the law’s challengers. The big question now is what happens to national laws based on the directive, some said in interviews.

LAS VEGAS -- The Media Bureau will recommend the FCC issue a rulemaking on the effects of the incentive auction on low-power TV after the auction report and order is issued this spring, bureau Chief Bill Lake told low-power broadcasters at an information session Monday at the 2014 NAB Show. The proposed rulemaking notice is designed to answer questions about the impact of the auction on LPTV that the bureau can’t, Lake said. It would consider extending DTV transition deadlines for LPTV, propose authorizing voluntary LP-channel sharing, seek comment on creating digital replacement translators for full-power stations affected by the auction, and discuss offering LP stations the chance to use the FCC’s repacking software to find new channels, Lake said.

Price-cap carriers could be required to build broadband capable of delivering 10 Mbps downstream as part of Phase II of the Connect America Fund, according to a further NPRM on circulation, said agency and industry in interviews Monday. That proposed speed requirement is more than double the 4 Mbps downstream requirement specified in the original 2011 USF/intercarrier compensation order. An order and FNPRM are tentatively scheduled to be voted on at the FCC’s April 23 meeting, the agency said last week (http://fcc.us/1eajJaE).