FCC is seriously looking into idea of adopting period of regulatory forbearance or creating “safe harbor” for new, cable- related technologies. Departing Cable Bureau Chief Deborah Lathen told us her staff had done “some additional work” on proposal “at the chairman’s request” after she floated general concept at Commission’s Feb. meeting (CD Feb 23 p2). “We've been doing work on forbearance,” she said in interview between clearing out her 3rd floor office at agency hq Wed. “This is food for thought.”

New ICO wants “regulatory flexibility, not new spectrum” with plan CEO Craig McCaw has offered to FCC, Senior Vp-External Affairs Gerry Salemme told us Thurs. “This isn’t an attempt to change the rules. We want to take the rules as they are written to optimize our spectrum to bring service to rural and remote parts of the world.” McCaw wants Commission to approve plan that would allow him to develop terrestrial spectrum using radio spectrum allocated to MSS operators, including New ICO (CD April 4 p1). Motient and Cellsat have offered similar plans to FCC. There has been strong opposition to Motient plan from wireless industry, including AT&T, but Cellsat is concerned about latest McCaw proposal because it has been waiting 7 years for license and doesn’t want proceeding delayed.

U.S. Appeals Court, D.C., questioned Tues. how costs of Enhanced 911 upgrades that rural and other wireless carriers pass on to customers are any different from public safety costs faced by other industries such as automakers and airlines. U.S. Cellular Corp., Corr Wireless Communications and Rural Cellular Assn. challenged 1999 FCC decision to eliminate cost-recovery mechanism for carriers as precondition to their obligation to furnish E911 caller location services. Commission lifted that requirement as it related to commercial carriers based on concerns that difficulties with putting state cost recovery legislation into effect were dramatically slowing E911 rollouts. Challenge by rural carriers centered on concerns that compared to larger carriers with urban customer bases, they must spread such costs over smaller subscriber base covering larger areas. But Judges David Tatel and Merrick Garland pressed U.S. Cellular attorney Thomas Van Wazer on how public safety costs and mandates at issue in this case were different from similar requirements imposed on other industries that also must pass on costs to customers. “Don’t auto makers pass that along?” Tatel asked. “Couldn’t Ford say we're not going to install any seatbelts because they are very expensive?”

Cable operators, manufacturers and their allies took off their gloves in battle over federal govt.’s interactive TV (ITV) policy, pounding away at Disney, Viacom, Gemstar-TV Guide and consumer electronics manufacturers for pursuing ITV regulation of cable industry. In reply comments on FCC’s ITV inquiry, AT&T, Comcast, Motorola, NCTA and Scientific-Atlanta accused regulatory proponents of hypocrisy and said they sought to replace fair marketplace competition with unfair govt. rules. In particular, they attacked Disney and Viacom, major independent programmers whose many cable networks are members of NCTA. Cable interests accused programmers and broadcasters of trying to use Commission’s proceeding to gain leverage in private, commercial negotiations.

FCC Comr. Ness will leave FCC at end of May proud of her work on E-rate and Telecom Act implementation, disappointed that agency didn’t move on redefining broadcast markets to ease radio concentration and ready to “weigh her options” for next job, she told news media after FCC agenda meeting Thurs. Ness reportedly has been thinking about going into academia, but she wouldn’t give any hints in impromptu news conference other than saying any future job probably would involve communications. “I am squelching the rumor that I'm opening a world-class restaurant in the Portals,” Ness said. FCC’s Portals building is in area not known for good restaurants.

Some wireless technology developers are recommending FCC set aside 5 GHz of spectrum or more when Commission finalizes proposal for service rules for spectrum at 92 GHz. Expectation is that as early as this fall FCC will launch rulemaking, although industry already has been bouncing ideas off Commission for what developers would like to see in that spectrum. On issue whether band should be made available on unlicensed basis or via licenses, panel organized by Wireless Communications Assn. (WCA) has floated idea of hybrid approach that would license some segments and allow others to be unlicensed at more restricted power levels, said Donny Burt, vp-advanced technology, e-xpedient/CAVU. Among “last mile” technologies that can be offered in that band, developers said, are gigabit ethernet-based systems that can connect buildings and extend metropolitan area networks.

Despite some progress by movie studios and videogame makers, Sen Lieberman (D-Conn.) intends to introduce today his controversial bill that would impose fines on entertainment companies that marketed adult content to children. Dan Gerstein, Lieberman’s communications dir., said proposed legislation clearly would empower FTC to pursue civil penalties against movie studios, videogame makers, record companies and others that used “false and deceptive marketing practices” to target adult-rated material to kids in TV and print ads. Speaking at American Advertising Federation (AAF) conference in Washington Wed., he said bill also would authorize FTC to conduct periodic evaluations of how well industries were complying with advertising restrictions. “We said we would issue legislation if [industry] commitments were not made,” Gerstein said, noting that only videogame industry had responded fully so far. “We were very consistent all along.”

FCC unanimously approved Deutsche Telekom’s (DT) merger with VoiceStream and Powertel, imposing no special conditions on $34 billion deal and provoking renewed commitment from Sen. Hollings (D-S.C.) to seek restrictions on foreign govt. ownership in U.S. telecom companies. FCC adopted order 4-0, with Comr. Furchtgott- Roth dissenting in part on separate deal on national security issues between federal agencies and companies. Order, approved Tues., is expected to be released as early as today (Thurs.) Commission said in news release it found DT would “have neither the incentive nor the ability to engage in unfair competition, specifically predatory pricing, in the U.S. domestic mobile telephony market.”

Canada’s TV regulator was skeptical in hearing this week about how country’s media conglomerates could maintain editorial diversity in face of cross-media consolidation and convergence. At license renewal hearings for Canada’s 2 private national TV networks, CTV and CanWest Global, Canadian Radio-TV & Telecom Commission (CRTC) asked conglomerates, which own TV networks, newspapers and Internet portals, to explain why bigger was better. Increased competition from U.S. border stations, new specialty channels and loss of viewers to Internet make it imperative that conventional TV networks be part of larger companies, Global TV’s Pres. Gerry Noble said.

FCC Wireless Bureau Chief Thomas Sugrue outlined several prospects for potentially freeing additional private wireless spectrum Fri., including possibility of user fees, audit of spectrum uses, current secondary spectrum proceeding. Point of user fees for private land mobile radio licenses, idea that has been floated in past and would require change by Congress, wouldn’t be to generate revenue but to increase efficiency of spectrum use, Sugrue said in lunch speech to Land Mobile Communications Council (LMCC) annual meeting in Washington. “The theory is unless there’s a cost placed on bandwidth and coverage, licensees wouldn’t improve their efficiency of both,” he said, noting that FCC couldn’t make change on its own.