Clarification: The word ex-FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell used to describe the band plan that could let small companies participate in the incentive auction was “elegant” (CD June 27 p2).

Standards for digital cable would ease the handling of customer complaints for local franchise authorities (LFAs), said the Sacramento Metropolitan Cable Television Authority in a conference call with FCC Media Bureau staff last week, according to an ex parte letter released Thursday (http://bit.ly/14d1okD). “SMCTC believes that the lack of baseline standards makes it difficult to resolve signal quality complaints,” said the filing, saying digital standards would let LFAs “clearly determine whether the operator has met this standard.” SMCTC told the FCC staff that “if there were defined digital standards, SMCTC might determine to do periodic independent testing” of digital cable systems, “especially in areas with “persistent signal quality issues,” the letter said. SMCTC asked the commission to “adopt updated technical and operational requirements applicable to digital cable,” along with “a time frame in which cable operators must respond to and resolve signal quality complaints."

Voice Link continues to create concern and questions. On Wednesday, the New York Attorney General’s office alleged in an emergency petition to the New York State Public Service Commission that Verizon was pushing the fixed wireless service, intended as a copper alternative, in the Catskills, citing union reports and a resident’s affidavit, and called for a halt to the telco’s “illegal” behavior (CD June 27 p6). He alleged Verizon was violating a May PSC order giving Verizon conditional approval for deploying Voice Link on Fire Island, which prompted the telco to argue the approval didn’t cover cases of optional transition to Voice Link. Communications Workers of America observed other Voice Link New York deployments, District 1 Vice President Chris Shelton told the PSC in a Wednesday letter. He described Verizon’s May efforts to offer Voice Link as “replacement service to all 81 units of a building” in lower Manhattan where “elderly residents” refused after “learning that it would not support their LifeAlert health monitoring equipment,” he wrote (http://bit.ly/10nVb4x). “To CWA’s knowledge, the building remains without phone service at the present time. There have also been a limited number of installations in the Hudson Valley area to customers who were not aware of the limitations of VoiceLink service.” Shelton described installations on a “limited basis” in Brooklyn and Queens. “This is exactly the kind of very important but nit-picky and highly localized question you want handled at the state level,” Public Knowledge Senior Vice President Harold Feld wrote in a long post on his Tales of the Sausage Factory blog Thursday (http://bit.ly/14zIYtj). “Happily for New York, the NY PSC has not become one of the many states that have joined the Chump Parade and totally deregulated their phone system. If New York eliminated its COLR [carrier of last resort] regulations, as a bunch of other states have done, then Verizon would not need to provide service at all. You would take Voice Link and be grateful for it -- peasant.” Phillip Dampier, a Voice Link critic responsible for the Stop the Cap! telecom blog, issued a “call to action” to his readers: “We strongly urge our fellow New Yorkers to share their personal views about Voice Link as a landline substitute with the PSC,” he wrote in a Thursday post (http://bit.ly/1232kUm), pointing to the PSC comments deadline on Voice Link next Tuesday. On Wednesday, PSC staff also sent Verizon their questions about the service, looking at operations from May through this coming October. It asked the telco for information about dropped calls, 911 call completion and other information (http://bit.ly/17FLbcr). The New York Legislature is considering Assembly Bill 7635, which proposes “a moratorium” regarding “the replacement of landline telephone service with a wireless system” (http://bit.ly/126MTvu). The bill was introduced in late May, passed the Assembly and is now in the New York Senate rules committee.

DirecTV’s revenue and operating profit before depreciation and amortization weren’t overstated when the DBS company made an error concerning Brazilian subscribers during its 8-K Thursday, it said. The only real financial effect is expected to be the $25 million pretax charge “related to the write-off of capitalized installation costs,” said Wells Fargo analyst Marci Ryvicker. She spoke with DirecTV about the misstatement, she said in a research note. Nearly all of the affected subscribers were from the middle-markets segment, she said. DirecTV stated in its first quarter earnings call “that it is already reviewing its credit policies and retention offers to try and better manage the middle-markets segment,” she said. The disclosure of the irregularities “results in a lower target multiple,” said analyst Craig Moffett of Moffett Research. But “the resultant sell-off in this stock is sufficient for us to upgrade DirecTV,” he said in a research note. Dish Network’s options are being narrowed, he said in reference to Dish pulling out of its bids for Sprint Nextel and Clearwire. “Almost all of the remaining options are better than those that have been removed.” The most attractive option would be a merger attempt with DirecTV, he added.

The FCC Media Bureau said Barrington’s Myrtle Beach ABC affiliate, WPDE-TV, should receive the “significantly viewed” exception to the FCC’s network non-duplication rule and the syndicated exclusivity rule in several South Carolina communities, in an order released Thursday (http://bit.ly/18iZd34). The exception will be in the communities of Georgetown, Murrells Inlet, Pawley’s Island, Kingstree, Andrews and Hemingway, the order said. The Media Bureau also denied a request for a waiver of the “significantly viewed” exception requested by Neuhoff Family Limited Partnership, for its Twin Falls, Idaho, CBS affiliate, KMVT-TV, said another order released Thursday (http://bit.ly/12on8dt). NFLP had argued that Idaho Falls CBS affiliate KIDK-TV is no longer viewed sufficiently in several counties. However, the Media Bureau said KMVT did not provide the correct audience data to demonstrate that KIDK-TV is no longer significantly viewed, and so denied the requested waiver, the order said.

Rep. Mike Honda, D-Calif., bowed a cybersecurity bill Thursday that would create five new multistakeholder cybersecurity centers to “analyze threats and develop best practices,” according to a news release. “Representing Silicon Valley in Congress, I believe we must be proactive in our approach by developing industry-specific coalitions that bring together a wide variety of stakeholders,” said Honda. “I am proposing the creation of vertically-integrated cybersecurity centers to meet this challenge and further America’s economic prosperity and technological growth in the 21st century.”

The Satellite Industry Association urged the FCC to implement changes in the regulatory fee structure “to more accurately assign FTEs [full-time employees] and improve the regulatory fee structure,” it said in reply comments in docket 08-65 (http://bit.ly/13aUD4L). The record supports the commission’s proposed allocation of International Bureau FTEs, SIA said. SIA opposed Fireweed Communications’ support for revenue-based fee allocation. Fireweed “fails to present any supporting rationale that passes statutory muster,” SIA said. Fireweed argues that the FCC can eliminate all fee categories, “ignoring the fact that these categories were explicitly established by Congress when it adopted the regulatory fee framework,” SIA said. The commission also should use objective workload metrics wherever possible to assign support bureau FTEs among categories of fee payers, it said. SES, Inmarsat and Telesat urged the commission not to impose a regulatory fee on foreign-licensed satellites. The only FCC efforts solely focusing on such satellites involve processing requests for market access, “a one-time expenditure of resources that does not justify a recurring regulatory fee,” they said in a joint filing (http://bit.ly/13aGaXJ). In its comments, Intelsat listed the number of foreign satellites that have been approved to serve the U.S. through petitions for declaratory ruling, the parties said: This work doesn’t constitute ongoing regulation “and any associated costs would more appropriately be recovered through an application fee, not regulatory fees.” EchoStar and Dish also opposed imposing regulatory fees on non-U.S. satellites. Intelsat disregards the fact that the entities it references as foreign-issued authorization holders “are also holders of U.S. authorizations for satellite space stations, earth stations or both,” they said in joint comments (http://bit.ly/13aGMN2). They also urged the FCC to avoid altering the methodology for collecting fees from DBS licensees: Media Bureau activities relating to DBS “are certainly no greater than they were when the current fee structure was established in 1993.” DirecTV urged the FCC to reject the American Cable Association’s suggestion to impose such fees on DBS companies. The FCC may only amend the regulatory fee schedule “based on changes in law and regulation that, in turn, change the costs of regulating particular industry segments,” it said (http://bit.ly/19FMnd4).

The FCC shouldn’t adopt specific numeric standards to measure the quality of closed captions or impose fines for substandard ones, said officials from CBS and the NAB in a meeting with FCC staff Tuesday, according to an ex parte letter filed Wednesday (http://bit.ly/12qxVPM). The broadcasters argued that “defining a common metric for quality (including technical and non-technical standards) raises significant challenges,” said the filing. Broadcasters have a limited pool of sources to provide captions, and sometimes have to depend on program producers to provide captions for their content. “Inherent in this process is an unavoidable truth that in captioning both live and recorded programming, both human error and transmission delays will preclude perfect captions,” said NAB and CBS. The FCC should also continue to allow smaller broadcasters to use Electronic Newsroom Technique (ENT) to provide captions, the broadcasters said. “Extending the prohibition beyond the top 25 markets could likely result, both on cost considerations and the continued challenges associated with securing real-time captioners, a loss of news coverage,” said the filing.

Verizon FiOS added TV Everywhere capabilities for Time Warner Cable SportsNet and Deportes for its subscribers in southern California, TWC SportsNet said in a Thursday release (http://bit.ly/14xmMQa). The programming is available online and on various iOS and Android tablet and mobile devices, it said. Access is limited by geographic location, in accordance with the National Basketball Association’s and Major League Soccer’s broadcast territories and other rules, TWC SportsNet said.

Time Warner Cable petitioned to be excluded from municipal rate-setting for basic-video and some other prices for nine New York communities this week, said filings posted in FCC docket 12-1. The petitions cited video competition from DirecTV and Dish Network. The proposed deregulation would affect just under 13,000 households, including the communities of Southport, Big Flats and Sempronius (http://bit.ly/10nQ0BV).