A hearing on the carriage dispute between Cablevision and the Game Show Network (GSN) has been indefinitely delayed by an FCC administrative law judge, said an order released Tuesday. Both parties in the case requested a continuance to “consider the potential impact” of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit decision in Comcast’s similar carriage case against the FCC over the Tennis Channel. Though no new hearing date for Cablevision has been set, Chief Administrative Law Judge Richard Sippell ordered both sides to provide monthly status reports. The case had been set for a July 16 hearing after a previous rescheduling to allow Comcast to be resolved (CD March 27 p12). Comcast was unanimously decided in the cable provider’s favor May 28 (CD May 29 p1), with written opinions by several of the judges that may cause both sides in Cablevision to modify their arguments or “develop an entirely new theory of the case,” said the order. Status reports in the case will be due July 1, July 31 and Sept. 3 and the Enforcement Bureau will weigh in on the case’s progress by Sept. 10.

Municipalities can “connect with citizens virtually anywhere” by using a new app AT&T has designed, the telco said Wednesday (http://soc.att.com/14XvUQo). AT&T Community Central is ideal for small- to mid- sized governments and “aims to stand out amongst similar mobile applications by offering government agencies an easy-to-manage software platform and access to customer service, all while providing the ability to connect with citizens where they live, work, and play,” AT&T said. The app is accessible via both smartphones and tablets. It lets municipalities showcase information, such as maps and directories, as well as provides an opportunity for citizens to report problems and give and receive feedback, the telco added. The press release described how citizens can take photos of issues such as potholes as well as receive alerts if there are traffic and water problems, among other issues.

FirstNet will consider a resolution on approval of a spectrum lease agreement with the Los Angeles Regional Interoperable Communications System Authority at its special meeting by phone at 1 p.m. EDT Thursday, it said in an agenda released Tuesday (http://1.usa.gov/121EXvA). That project is one of the seven broadband stimulus grantees, currently suspended by NTIA, that FirstNet hopes to turn into FirstNet pilots. LA-RICS approved the agreement last week (CD June 20 p3). The FirstNet board will also consider a resolution on the FirstNet general manager’s acquisition strategy, it said.

Verizon got its date in court as it seeks to overturn the FCC’s still-controversial December 2010 net neutrality order. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit Tuesday scheduled oral argument for Sept. 9 before Judges Judith Rogers and David Tatel and Senior Judge Laurence Silberman. Tatel is the only judge who was also on the panel that vacated the FCC’s order in Comcast v. FCC in April 2010, which found the agency lacks ancillary jurisdiction over the cable company’s Internet service under the Communications Act. Verizon had asked that the Comcast panel hear the case. Tatel was appointed to the court by President Bill Clinton, Rogers by President George W. Bush and Silberman by President Ronald Reagan.

The FCC should assess all voice providers on the same basis by including wireless voice providers in the interstate telecom service provider category for fee assessment purposes, officials from the Independent Telephone and Telecommunications Alliance, Frontier, CenturyLink and Windstream told FCC officials Thursday, an ex parte filing said (http://bit.ly/17AJhd8). “Wireline carriers have been over-assessed regulatory fees for more than a decade in comparison to the wireless sector,” the groups said. They also encouraged the commission to combine wireless voice services into the Interstate Telecommunications Service Providers category with wireline and VoIP services “so that all voice providers are treated in a similar, straightforward manner.”

The latest version of the Connect America Cost Model is available for interested parties to calculate costs based on a series of inputs and assumptions for Connect America Phase II implementation, the FCC Wireline Bureau said in a public notice Tuesday (http://bit.ly/17AHZyX). The new model, version 3.1.4, updates the prior version in several respects, the bureau said: It includes a code change to let users calculate costs associated with assumptions of “very heavy data usage”; it changes the size categorization for Fremont Telephone from “medium” to “small”; and it modifies the support model interface to present users with “illustrative values” for the target benchmark and alternative technology cap by solution set. The methodology documentation is at http://bit.ly/17AIgBT.

The Senate Commerce Committee added two new members Tuesday: Sens. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M.; and Jeff Chiesa, R-N.J. Chiesa, the former state attorney general of New Jersey, was named the 12th Republican on the committee. Earlier this month New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie appointed Chiesa to the Senate seat vacated by former Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., who died due to complications from viral pneumonia (CD June 4 p9). Chiesa said he will not run in the special election to permanently fill Lautenberg’s seat, scheduled for Oct. 16. Lautenberg’s term expires in January 2015. Heinrich was named to the committee in order to preserve the majority’s one-member advantage over the minority, a committee spokesman confirmed.

Lifeline providers will be liable if their representatives violate the FCC’s rules, the Wireline Bureau said in an “enforcement advisory” Tuesday. Eligible telecom carriers (ETCs) should take “all necessary steps” to ensure their agents “scrupulously adhere” to the rules, or else face penalties of up to $1.5 million for each failure to comply, the bureau said (http://bit.ly/17AGuAB). The bureau has become aware of some ETCs activating Lifeline phones before fully verifying consumers’ eligibility, an accompanying order said (http://bit.ly/17AGHUz). ETCs “may not activate Lifeline service until completing the entire enrollment process,” the order said. The bureau also took the “opportunity” to “reiterate” the rule that Lifeline is a “non-transferable retail service offering” that the subscriber cannot transfer to any other individual, even a low-income one. The rules are in place to combat waste, fraud and abuse, the bureau said.

The EU Data Protection Directive “does not establish a general ‘right to be forgotten,'” the EU Court of Justice Advocate General Niilo Jaaskinen said in an opinion Tuesday (http://bit.ly/179Kncn). The opinion related to the case between Google and an individual who unsuccessfully asked that the search company remove search results linking his name to press reports about “announcements concerning a real-estate auction connected with attachment proceedings prompted by social security debts,” according to a release describing the ruling. The individual brought his case to the Spanish Data Protection Agency, which upheld his case, the release continued. National data protection entities “cannot require an internet search engine service provider to withdraw information from its index,” Jaaskinen ruled. Additionally, because the directive does not create a general “right to be forgotten,” such a right cannot “be invoked against search engine service providers on the basis of the Directive, even when it is interpreted in accordance with the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union,” the release continued. Jaaskinen found that Google is subject to the directive as it established a presence in an EU member state “for the promotion and sale of advertising space on the search engine, in an office which orientates its activity towards that inhabitants of that State.”

FirstNet plans to issue multiple requests for information over the next few weeks, which will examine the radio access network and core network, FirstNet said in a news release Tuesday. All RFIs will be posted on www.fedbizopps.gov. “The upcoming RFIs are an important step in the FirstNet information gathering process, which will enable us to continue toward our mission of delivering a nationwide network dedicated to public safety,” said FirstNet General Manager Bill D'Agostino (http://1.usa.gov/133YJvA). “I encourage all those interested in responding to be creative and detailed in their comments."