A long-simmering spat over DVD royalties seems to have boiled over into U.S. courts, with 2 Chinese makers of players reportedly suing the 3C patent pool on antitrust grounds for alleged unfair competition.

Buy.com registered with the SEC for an initial public offering (IPO) of up to $86.25 million in common stock. But the e-tailer -- one of Amazon.com’s largest rivals -- said the number of shares it will offer and the price range for each share sold hadn’t been determined.

Classifying cable modem service as a telecom service would “drastically change the regulatory environment for cable modem service,” Acting Solicitor Gen. Paul Clement said in a brief on the FCC’s behalf to the U.S. Supreme Court in the Brand X case (CD Jan 19 p13). Cable modem providers would be subject to common carrier pricing and filing requirements, and face new financial obligations such as contributions to universal service funds, which “could lead them to raise prices or forego new investment, particularly in rural or underserved areas,” the brief said. It also argued that the 9th U.S. Appeals Court, San Francisco, erred in refusing to review the FCC’s classification of cable modem service under the Chevron framework. The brief urged the Supreme Court to address the issue, noting that there’s “significant conflict in the circuits concerning the interaction of the Chevron doctrine… The court should reject the Ninth Circuit’s mistaken view that its own precedent predating the agency decision under review automatically precludes adherence to Chevron.”

With Congress set to return this week, govt. and industry sources are pondering its direction on communications issues. The topics Congress will address this session are generally agreed on, but a key question is when members will begin to tackle telecom and media issues. They may not be an early priority, with Social Security and tax reform getting most attention from the national media.

FCC Comr. Adelstein asked the Commission’s Enforcement Bureau to investigate whether conservative commentator Armstrong Williams broke the law by failing to disclose that the Bush Administration paid him $240,000 to promote the No Child Left Behind Act. At an FCC meeting Thurs., Adelstein said he has received a dozen complaints about Williams’ so-called “payola” practices. “I certainly hope the FCC will take action and fully investigate whether any laws have been broken,” Adelstein said.

European incumbent telcos are urging the European Commission (EC) not to rush into a decision on a harmonized, pan-European freephone service for services of “significant public interest.” Last April, the EC’s Communications Committee (COCOM) began considering the need for such a service. Last month, the committee reviewed a working document that took into account comments from several member states. The group said 4 key issues must be addressed before launching such a service: (1) Ensuring that calls are completed from fixed and mobile networks, PBXs, public pay phones and hotels. (2) Ensuring citizens aren’t charged for freephone calls. (3) Ensuring there are adequate commercial arrangements between operators. (4) Making sure a specific service can be reached by dialing the same number in all member states. COCOM proposed that member states reserve the number range beginning with “116” for a future harmonized freephone service. It recommended the service be “of social importance” and “useful for a majority of citizens” in all member states. The service should be “strongly related” to subjects such as public security or safety, consumer protection and medical/social care, COCOM said. The nature of the service should be information, assistance and hotlines, such as in cases of disaster. Finally, the group said, purely commercial and entertainment services should be barred from using a 116 number. COCOM recommended that access code 116 be administered under the authority of the European Conference of Posts & Telecoms. But incumbents want the EC to understand the issues better before acting. “This proposal raises a series of technical issues linked to interconnection, to costs and to the fact that numbers in this range may be already used in certain member states for other kinds of services (like charities in France),” a spokesman for the European Telecom Network Operators’ Assn. (ETNO) said. He said the main question is whether a pan-European freephone would give users any value over what they already have at the national level. Last Sept., ETNO strongly recommended that no decision on the use of 116 be made without industry-wide consultations.

LAS VEGAS -- Some decisions on a hard deadline for the DTV transition will be made this year, “one way or the other,” FCC Chmn. Powell said at the CES here Thurs. Powell clearly indicated he prefers a congressional solution but said the FCC must start making decisions on how to interpret the 85% penetration figure in the old analog turnoff rules if Congress doesn’t act on new rules.

FCC commissioners are expected to begin the voting process soon on a controversial AT&T petition seeking permission not to pay access charges and universal service contributions on its enhanced prepaid calling card revenue. AT&T has been withholding millions of dollars in intrastate access charges and universal service payments because it considers the calling card offers an information service that’s not liable for such payments. The petition seeks an FCC ruling that such action is legal.

DBS can act as a constraint on cable prices, especially in the basic service tier, according to an FCC staff report. The report found that cable operators are vulnerable to losing customers when they enact large price increases. “Large, quality-adjusted price increases for the most popular or basic cable service may not be sustainable for cable operators,” the report said. DBS penetration is lower in markets where cable operators carry regional sports channels, the report found. One reason is that cable may be limiting DBS operator access to regional sports networks, the report said. The report also found that most cable operators are adding satellite channels nearly as fast, or faster than they are raising their total package rates.

DBS can act as a constraint on cable prices, especially in the basic service tier, according to an FCC staff report. The report found that cable operators risk losing customers when they impose large price increases. “Large, quality-adjusted price increases for the most popular or basic cable service may not be sustainable for cable operators,” the report said. DBS penetration is lower in markets where cable operators carry regional sports channels, the report found. One reason is that cable may be limiting DBS operators’ access to regional sports networks, the report said. The report also found that most cable operators are adding satellite channels nearly as fast as or faster than they are raising total package rates.