Federal regulatory approval of Charter/TWC/BHN coming before the California Public Utilities Commission decision expected by May 12 (see 1602120055) is "a possibility," Charter Communications CEO Tom Rutledge said Tuesday at a Morgan Stanley conference. The FCC's unofficial 180-day shot clock for review of the Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks deals was at 158 days Wednesday, with the agency "working ... to be consistent with their shot clock," Rutledge said. While upward of 95 percent of Charter video customers take an expanded video package, affordability "is a real issue," Rutledge said, saying video expenses are driven by programmers and programming bundles. He said optimally Charter would sell smaller, tailored programming packages but "I don't have the right to buy programming that way." Pricing is seeing "some moderation," Rutledge said, saying New Charter's bigger scale should help with video pricing. He said Charter's cloud-based Spectrum Guide user interface was rolled out in Missouri and Nevada, and is being introduced in other parts of the company's current footprint. He also said the company sees it as a means to increasing its customer base: "There's a tremendous amount of entertainment in that [video] package; it's hard to represent because of the user interfaces." Asked about future mergers and acquisitions opportunities for Charter, Rutledge said, "At the moment, M&A isn't really attractive to me. Just out of sheer exhaustion. But there's opportunity out there and we'll take advantage as those things come to us." In a separate presentation at the Morgan Stanley conference, Comcast CEO Brian Roberts said that the day after it called off its attempt to buy TWC, Comcast Cable CEO Neil Smit "said we're going to make customer service our best product." Referring to Smit's being a former Navy SEAL, Roberts said, "I thought to myself he's had some worse missions than a merger that failed. It is early innings but were seeing the beginning of a turnaround and results" with video customer growth in 2015 -- the first such growth in years. Roberts said he sees Comcast moving toward providing a variety of broadband-related services, such as remote diagnostics of connected devices in homes: "We are looking at smart Internet as an opportunity not any other company has -- even if all those aren't our devices." A Comcast goal this year is to move to a system where all customer transactions can be done on mobile devices, Roberts said.

The Senate Commerce Committee is likely to accept some amendments to Mobile Now, Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., told reporters Wednesday. More than two dozen amendments were filed this week (see 1603010070). The spectrum bill from Thune and ranking member Bill Nelson, D-Fla., will be marked up Thursday at 10 a.m. in 253 Russell and was the subject of much discussion during Wednesday’s Senate Commerce Committee FCC oversight hearing.

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler faced many questions about his set-top box proposal during Wednesday's Senate Commerce Committee oversight hearing. Both committee leaders questioned the merits. But there was little rancor at the two-and-a-half-hour hearing, with much attention devoted to spectrum policy and relatively little to the agency’s net neutrality order.

The FCC issued an enforcement advisory warning that operating radio equipment without a license is a violation of federal law, as Commissioner Mike O’Rielly said it would during a recent speech to NAB (see 1602230070). The law against pirate radio applies “equally to the rebellious high school kid operating a radio station from his bedroom as it does to slick and sophisticated high-powered illegal broadcast operations,” the advisory said. It laid out the sections of the Communications Act that makes such activity illegal, and explained how to tell a pirate station from an authorized one. “Rules require licensed broadcast stations to identify themselves each hour using their FCC-assigned call signs, as close to the hour as possible. If the station does not identify with a call sign, it may be a pirate operation,” the advisory said. It also advised readers to look up station call signs in the Consolidated Database System. Those who suspect they’ve found a pirate operation are advised to give all possible information to the commission. The advisory also warns against supporting such stations. “Be advised that pirate radio operators also seek support from landlords or advertisers, including nightclubs, concert promoters and local merchants,” the advisory said. “Providing support for such illegal activity could not only damage the reputation of such businesses, but could expose them to FCC enforcement or other legal actions.”

Senate Republicans revived the year-old charge the White House unduly influenced the FCC net neutrality order. They cited new documents showing the internal agency discussions in November and December 2014 and the “pause” in developing the order after President Barack Obama’s Nov. 10 message urging the FCC to develop strong net neutrality rules under Communications Act Title II. They slammed the agency for what they called violations of the Administrative Procedure Act.

With a rulemaking imminent, major industry trade associations submitted to the FCC a consensus proposal on ISP privacy rules Tuesday. Meanwhile, FTC Commissioner Maureen Ohlhausen said the FCC would be better off leaving ISP privacy to her agency, which has expertise in the area, rather than approving its own set of rules. Ohlhausen spoke Tuesday on an Information Technology and Innovation Foundation panel.

Senate Commerce Committee members filed 25 amendments, not released publicly, to Mobile Now (S-2555) ahead of its Thursday markup. Some of the amendments would raise the broadcaster repacking relocation fund by $1 billion, force a national unlicensed spectrum strategy, and include stronger dig once provisions. But Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., told us Tuesday that he doesn’t expect too many up-or-down votes during the markup and he anticipates a possible manager’s package to address some of the members’ concerns. Thune filed a substitute amendment text, as expected (see 1602290069), proposing some technical changes to Mobile Now.

The FCC and others opposed an Oklahoma bid to stay inmate calling service (ICS) rules set by the commission capping intrastate rates (see 1602230034). The FCC said Oklahoma officials missed a federal court deadline for stay motions, and hadn't even sought an administrative stay from the commission itself, as the agency said federal appellate procedures generally require. “There is no cause to excuse Oklahoma’s refusal to comply with the obligations set forth by this Court and the Federal rules,” the FCC said Friday in its opposition filing to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, which is reviewing the consolidated case (Global Tel*Link v. FCC, No. 15-1461). The FCC said ICS providers filed stay requests at the FCC, which were denied (see 1601220040), and with the D.C. Circuit, which set a Feb. 5 deadline for any further such requests (see 1602040023); but the Oklahoma officials didn't file their stay request until Feb. 22. Even if the D.C. Circuit considers the Oklahoma stay request, the FCC said the court should deny it because the state was unlikely to succeed on the merits of its underlying challenge, hadn't shown it would suffer irreparable harm absent a stay, and a stay would harm third parties and the public interest. The FCC said it didn't intrude on state authority by capping intrastate rates, but simply implemented sections 276 and 201 of the federal Communications Act to ensure that compensation for interstate and intrastate ICS is fair. The FCC was backed in opposing the Oklahoma stay motion by a filing from the Martha Wright Petitioners, which includes numerous groups and individuals advocating for the ICS rights of inmates and their families. They said it was “implausible that Oklahoma was not aware of the FCC Order in time to have filed a timely motion for stay with the agency.” Meanwhile, the states of Arkansas, Arizona, Kansas, Indiana, Louisiana, Missouri, Nevada and Wisconsin as well as Indiana sheriffs’ groups filed motions (here and here) seeking to intervene on behalf of Oklahoma.

The FBI is making a "stunning overreach" in its court battle with Apple over demands that the company "create a new operating system with a 'swinging door' that the federal government can enter and exit without any rules whatsoever, whenever they wish," House Communications Subcommittee ranking member Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., said in a statement Friday. If Apple complies with the court order to unlock an iPhone of one of the San Bernardino, California, shooters (see 1602250056), "it would in essence be ordered to also unlock a world where our personal information is vulnerable to attacks by terrorist organizations, rogue nations and others seeking to cause the U.S. harm and instill fear," Eshoo added. Not only would back doors endanger the country and provide a way for hackers and others to exploit, she said, the American public's trust in the government already has been "severely diminished" through its past spying actions. Congress is considering forming a commission to study the encryption issue (see 1602240056).

FCC regulation of IP interconnection drew mixed reviews from panelists at an FCBA event Thursday night. Representatives of Level 3 and New America’s Open Technology Institute (OTI) were supportive and representatives of the American Cable Association and CenturyLink were critical or skeptical. The discussion focused more on past problems and ongoing general industry debates -- particularly over costs -- than any current interconnection disputes. The FCC has received no formal IP Interconnection complaints but has received 7,849 informal complaints on net neutrality issues since December 2014, a spokesman told us Friday.