The FCC Media Bureau granted a Time Warner Cable petition this week to exempt the cable provider from municipal rate-setting for basic-video and some other prices for 13 communities in New York and one in Pennsylvania, said a Media Bureau order released Thursday (http://bit.ly/1drRIVy). TWC’s petition cited video competition from DirecTV and Dish Network. The deregulation affects just under 7,000 New York households, including those in the communities of Angelica, Dundee, and Caton. The deregulation affects about 350 households in Ceres, Pa.

The FCC proposed a total of $44,000 in fines for TV stations missing deadlines to file kids programming reports. Media Bureau notices of apparent liability in the cases were released Friday. Unity Broadcasting faces a $15,000 penalty because Booneville, Miss., station W34DV didn’t file on time for multiple quarters between 2007 and 2010 (http://bit.ly/1azutNh). KPLC License faces a $20,000 fine because Louisiana station KPLC-Lake Charles missed filing deadlines and then failed to report the violations in its renewal application (http://bit.ly/10RAQVD). San-Lee Community Broadcasting faces a $9,000 fine because WBFT-CA in Sanford, N.C., missed quarterly filing deadlines for between 2006 and 2010 and failed to report the violations in its renewal application (http://bit.ly/11JoOAr).

The FCC should modify its indecency rules to comply with Supreme Court rulings in Fox II, National Religious Broadcasters told Commissioner Ajit Pai’s staff in a meeting Thursday, said an ex parte filing released Friday (http://bit.ly/13UPbmR). To prevent future First Amendment challenges to its indecency policy, the commission should create “two narrow, very limited exceptions” to its indecency standards -- one exception allowing content that would normally be deemed indecent if it is part of a serious news program, and another that would allow such content as part of a program with “serious value,” the ex parte said. The exceptions concept is the same that was outlined in NRB’s public comments filed during the comment period on the commission’s indecency policy in June (CD June 20 p7). The commission should also allow on-air fundraising at noncommercial educational stations for third-party nonprofits, NRB said. Allowing the fundraising would “serve a vital public interest not only by facilitation of the charitable impulses of listeners and viewers, but also by aiding non-profit groups in meeting critical community needs,” said NRB.

The FCC International Bureau’s Satellite Division granted a 60-day special temporary authority to Intelsat so that Intelsat 8 could to continue to operate at 169 degrees east to provide fixed satellite service in the 3700-4200 MHz, 5925-6425 MHz, 12.25-12.75 GHz and 14.0-14.5 GHz bands, the division said in a public notice (http://bit.ly/179ni92).

The FTC extended its deadline for public comments on its proposed changes to the agency’s Telemarketing Sales Rule, it said in a notice Friday (http://1.usa.gov/13UKYQm). The proposed changes would ban certain payment methods “favored in fraudulent telemarketing transactions,” the FTC announcement said. Because a “slightly modified version” of the original NPRM was published in the Federal Register July 9, the FTC voted to extend the comment deadline to Aug. 8, the agency said. Comments can be filed at http://bit.ly/13ULjT1.

Curtis Media affiliate Eastern Airwaves agreed to buy the construction permit for FM Translator Station W283BT from North Carolina nonprofit Tri-Ad Family Network for $100,000, according to broker Media Services Group.

TelePacific cited legal precedent to the FCC Friday as a followup to its June 25 meeting with Wireline Bureau officials on its petition for partial reconsideration of the 2012 Wholesaler-Reseller Clarification Order (http://bit.ly/13UJBku). “Courts have found USF contributions to be inequitable and discriminatory in violation of Section 254(d) where one type of carrier is put at a distinct competitive disadvantage compared with another type of carrier with no reasonable explanation for the disparity,” TelePacific said. In TelePacific’s case, “identical broadband Internet services offered by two carriers, one utilizing its own special access services and one utilizing an underlying carrier’s special access services, result in disparate USF contributions based on the method of delivery of that service,” the carrier said. The commission has provided no rational justification for its “discrimination” between carriers who own the last mile and carriers who don’t, TelePacific said.

Fox, NBCUniversal and Disney will maintain their ownership positions in Hulu and recapitalize the online TV service with $750 million in additional funding to “propel future growth,” the companies said in a joint press release Friday. “We had meaningful conversations with a number of potential partners and buyers,” before deciding to continue as Hulu’s owners, said Fox Chief Operating Officer Chase Carey in the release. Hulu generated $690 million revenue in 2012, and its paid premium subscription service Hulu Plus has more than 4 million subscribers, the release said.

Independent Telephone and Telecommunications Alliance members have been “over-assessed regulatory fees for more than a decade,” the association told the FCC Thursday, expressing support for the commission’s determination that its fee methodology is outdated (http://bit.ly/139ijRc). Since virtually all commenters support efforts to update the fee assessment methodology, the commission should move forward with reallocation and apply any rate changes this fiscal year, ITTA said. Any cap on this year’s regulatory fee changes should be no less than 14 percent, ITTA said, which would still allow “meaningful” change this year. By combining wireless voice services into the same category as wireline and interconnected VoIP services, the commission could ensure that all voice providers are treated similarly, the association said; it is “immaterial” that wireline and wireless providers are regulated by different bureaus. “Wireless carriers have received a windfall as a result of their differential treatment for regulatory fee purposes than in a side-by-side comparison of the regulatory fees paid by the wireline and wireless industries,” ITTA said. “Wireless voice providers pay only about $0.17 per handset in regulatory fees. In contrast, the regulatory fees per subscriber paid by ITTA member companies are as much as six times as high."

EchoStar requested special temporary authority for its EchoStar 16, EchoStar 12 and EchoStar 3 satellites. EchoStar wants to operate EchoStar 16 with a 180-day STA to provide direct broadcast satellite service over channels 1 and 2 at 61.5 degrees west, the FCC International Bureau said in a public notice (http://bit.ly/13FKsXm). It also requested 180-day STAs for EchoStar 12 to provide service at 61.35 degrees west and for EchoStar 3 to provide service at 61.8 degrees west, it said.