House Agriculture Committee lawmakers seek broadband “equality” between rural and urban areas, they said a Rural Development Subcommittee field hearing Saturday in Springfield, Ill. The lawmakers said they may take up the issue when they reauthorize the farm bill next year. Among other things, Subcommittee Ranking Member Jim Costa, D-Calif., urged revision of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s definition of rural. Witnesses at the hearing testified about the importance of broadband to education, healthcare and business.

CEA President Gary Shapiro thinks the administration of President Barack Obama is the most “anti-business” of his lifetime, he said in a debate Friday night on CNBC’s The Kudlow Report. Facing off against Shapiro on the program were Howard Dean, former Democratic National Committee chairman, and Robert Johnson, chairman of the investment firm RLJ Companies and former chairman of Black Entertainment Television.

Cable’s lobbying against the right-of-first-refusal sections of the incumbent-backed ABC plan appears to be gaining traction at the FCC, with staff pressing incumbents with concerns about the proposals, telecom officials told us Friday. Wireless and satellite companies have also lashed out at the plan, but cable has been the most aggressive, they said. Cable has stormed Capitol Hill and the commission in the past few weeks with objections to right-of-first-refusal that would let ILECs be the first to be able to refuse USF funds and other parts of the plan (CD Sept 22 p2). “It’s definitely on the radar screen at the commission, as an issue,” a telecom lobbyist said.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Dish will introduce a new Blockbuster-branded movie and game rental and online video streaming product to its subscribers Oct. 1, executives said Friday. The service, at Blockbuster’s lowest tier of one disc out at a time, will cost existing Dish subscribers $10 a month. New subscribers to Dish’s America’s Top 200 tier will get the Blockbuster Movie Pass service included in their $40 monthly subscription for a year. “Dish and Blockbuster are uniquely positioned with a consumer friendly platform to launch our own streaming service,” CEO Joe Clayton told reporters Friday. The announcement comes about five months after Dish acquired Blockbuster.

Senate Republicans resumed their effort to reject the FCC’s December net neutrality order, after the rules were published in the Federal Register on Friday. Publication meant they will take effect Nov. 20 and started a 60-day shot clock under the Congressional Review Act for Senate Republicans to move their joint resolution of disapproval (SJ Res 6). The House passed its own joint resolution (HJ Res 37) earlier this year. But it could be difficult for Republicans to overcome a veto threatened by the White House. Meanwhile, Verizon and MetroPCS are expected to file challenges in coming days to the rules now that they're taking effect. Other legal challenges are also expected.

It makes sense for the FCC to research the diversity of media ownership because a rule targeted at women and people of color was sent back to the agency, officials said Friday. The head of the FCC’s Office of Communications Business Opportunities and an aide to Commissioner Michael Copps said the agency may have to do more research in light of July’s remand of media ownership rules. The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia sent back an eligible entity rule, and OCBO Director Thomas Reed said his office is working on the issue. Joshua Cinelli of Copps’ office said his boss hopes there will be more studies than the 11 the agency already has done for its current ownership review, with at least one on diversity.

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski asked the reconstituted Communications Security, Reliability & Interoperability Council to make 911 call prioritization a key focus as it starts work. Genachowski was not at Friday’s CSRIC meeting, but sent a letter, which Public Safety Bureau Chief Jamie Barnett read at the start of the session. The FCC is also asking questions about 911 prioritization in a rulemaking approved Thursday (CD Sept 23 p6).

SAN FRANCISCO -- An FCC official took pains to reassure local officials that a commission inquiry into wireless antenna siting will require hard proof of industry complaints about city and county burdens rather than accepting anecdotes and generalizations at face value. “We haven’t reached any conclusions,” said Associate Chief Deena Shetler of the Wireline Bureau, discussing the point at length at the NATOA conference. She spoke a few hours after a panel Thursday in which a NATOA official had called inaccurate a list of localities that a PCIA filing has complained to the FCC about, and a Montgomery County, Md., official got strong applause for rebuking the PCIA president and a Wireless Bureau official (CD Sept 23 p10).

The FCC Media Bureau said AT&T and Verizon must get access to two HD regional sports networks that carry New York teams and that used to be part of Cablevision, as expected (CD Aug 11 p6). In orders issued Thursday afternoon, the bureau granted part of the telcos’ complaint against RSN owner Madison Square Garden, part of Cablevision before it was separated last year.

Making wireless broadband “ubiquitous” in the U.S. will cost $7.8 billion to $21 billion “in initial investment alone,” underscoring the need for a “robust and ongoing” Mobility Fund as the FCC reforms the Universal Service Fund, CTIA said in a letter to the FCC. The report comes at a critical time, with the FCC expected to take up a USF revamp plan at its Oct. 27 meeting, though Chairman Julius Genachowski indicated Thursday that vote may not come off as expected. America’s Broadband Connectivity (ABC) plan, submitted by major carriers, would allocate only $300 million a year to the Mobility Fund for wireless build-out. CTIA is not expected to release a more detailed estimate of the optimum size of a Mobility Fund, an industry official said.