Verizon and the D.C. Public Service Commission continue to debate in FCC filings the problems the PSC perceives in the telco’s access recovery charge (ARC). PSC Chairman Betty Ann Kane faulted the FCC Wireline Bureau’s lack of action on her earlier concerns. “Since the [bureau] has not acted, the Kane Application seeks a Commission determination of the question of whether a price cap ILEC can exempt all residential customers in a state from paying the ARC when the residential rate ceiling has been reached in only a few exchanges,” she said in a filing posted Friday in docket 12-9 (http://xrl.us/boaevd). Verizon dismissed the idea of Kane’s challenges earlier last week and referred to the PSC’s attempt to “inappropriately inject a policy dispute into this tariff proceeding” (http://xrl.us/boaevm). Kane compared D.C. with Virginia and looked at how certain differences affected the calculation of the ARC. “While it is true that there are no lost intrastate revenues to recover in the District, the purpose of the ARC is broader,” Verizon said. The PSC’s real dispute is with the FCC rules and not with the telco’s calculation of the tariff, the company said. Kane continued to say the way the ARC is calculated places an “unfair burden upon those customers in states where the Residential Rate Ceiling has not been met, since they pay a higher ARC to account for customers who could pay an ARC but who are exempted by the price cap ILEC."
Time Warner Cable asked for an extension through Jan. 28 to file an opposition to a must-carry complaint by the Central Ohio Association of Christian Broadcasters. The extra time would let the parties discuss a settlement, Time Warner Cable said (http://xrl.us/boaevh).
The American Cable Association recommended several capabilities be added to the Connect America Fund cost model (http://xrl.us/boaeu7). It should provide the ability to separate operating and capital expenditures in the reporting model; include or exclude “telco served” locations with a new reporting toggle; and exclude capital expenditures for all locations that are “telco served;” provide for inclusion of existing download and upload speed data for each geographic area from the national broadband map. ACA also sought a toggle to exclude Alaska from the calculations; a new summary report that shows expected annual capital expenditure cash flows by asset category for each year; and new fields in the support model detail report indicating which census blocks were previously eligible for USF support. The additions would facilitate more detailed analysis and better modeling transparency, ACA said. The model helps calculate USF costs for broadband that gets USF funds.
Mobility Fund Phase I Auction 901 results are now available in a geographic information system format, the FCC said Friday (http://xrl.us/boaeux). The files are available for download at http://xrl.us/boae25.
The FCC Wireline Bureau sought comment on Jordan Soldier Valley’s petition for a waiver of the filing deadline for ILECs to file true-up data with the Universal Service Administrative Co. (http://xrl.us/boaeuk). The telco failed to submit the data because doing so was the duty of an employee who had retired (CD Jan 9 p12). Comments in docket 08-71 are due Feb. 11, replies Feb. 26.
Cablevision plans to depose former DirecTV Executive Vice President Derek Chang in the Game Show Network’s carriage dispute against the cable operator (CD June 11 p10). The deposition is set for Jan. 15 in Los Angeles, said a notice in docket 12-122 (http://xrl.us/boaeu5).
The FCC sought comment on a 700 MHz narrowband reserve channels waiver request from the Los Angeles Regional Interoperable Communications System Joint Powers Authority (LA-RICS), said a Public Safety Bureau public notice (http://xrl.us/boaetm). Comments are due Feb. 11 and replies Feb. 25. LA-RICS is one of seven public safety stimulus grantees that NTIA suspended in mid-2012 due to concerns about compatibility with FirstNet. LA-RICs requests permission to use 48 6.25 kHz channel pairs for its planned hybrid system and cited “unique and unusual factual circumstances,” the notice said.
As of Dec. 30 there were 1,781 full-power TV stations and 454 Class A stations, the FCC said (http://xrl.us/boaetd). The agency counted 4,171 TV translator stations and 1,984 low-power TV stations. There were 15,196 radio stations and 6,075 FM translators and boosters. The tally of low-power FM stations was 809.
Gogo will install in-flight connectivity solutions on American Airlines and Boeing 737 aircraft. The in-flight digital entertainment provider will provide Ku-band satellite and its next generation air-to-ground technology, Gogo said in a news release (http://xrl.us/boaetw). The systems will enable the aircraft “to provide seamless in-flight Internet service on domestic and international flights,” it said. The installations are scheduled to begin this year, Gogo said.
Three lawmakers from Vermont praised a $1.8 million grant from the U.S. Economic Development Administration to develop the state’s online resources, in a joint statement Friday. Sens. Pat Leahy, a Democrat, Bernie Sanders, an Independent and Rep. Peter Welch, a Democrat, said the Vermont Council on Rural Development will use the funds to develop the Vermont Digital Economy Project, an initiative to create online tools and broadband infrastructure for communities that were affected by Hurricane Irene in 2011.