The FCC Media Bureau released an updated low power FM (LPFM) channel finder search tool, drawing praise from LPFM advocate Rep. Mike Doyle, D-Pa. The tool incorporates changes required by the Local Community Radio Act, eliminating third-adjacent channel spacing requirements, a public notice from the bureau said. “While the FCC is still finalizing its rules, this tool is a great place for applicants to start planning,” Doyle said. View the tool here: http://xrl.us/bm3jug.
Maine Gov. Paul LePage (R) signed the telecom deregulation bill into law Thursday. The legislation (HP 1309), sponsored by Rep. Stacey Fitts (R), removes regulatory requirements for all products and services under the state commission’s jurisdiction, except provider-of-last-resort responsibilities. It also allows FairPoint flexibility to quickly adjust its pricing. The process started during last year’s legislative session (CD May 11 p8) when the Joint Standing Committee on Energy, Utilities and Technology asked the Maine Public Utilities Commission to conduct a comprehensive study of the current regulatory structure in the state.
Low-cost carrier Boomerang Wireless pressed the FCC to approve it as an eligible telecommunications carrier under the Lifeline program, in a meeting with Wireline Bureau staff. Boomerang CEO Dennis Henderson said his company has a “potential partner that would enable it to bring Lifeline services to a significant number of customers immediately upon approval of its ETC petition,” Boomerang said in a filing at the commission (http://xrl.us/bm3jj5).
Hubbard’s WTOP(FM) Washington was the highest-grossing radio station in 2011, said BIA/Kelsey, which tracks industry revenue. The station brought in $64 million in 2011, followed by Clear Channel Communications’ KIIS(FM) Los Angeles, with $57 million in revenue. Among the top-10 highest revenue stations in 2011, only WTOP is not owned by CBS or Clear Channel. Other than WTOP, only CBS Radio’s WBBM(AM) Chicago is located outside New York and Los Angeles, BIA/Kesley’s data showed.
The FCC deadline for TV stations to file Form 398 children’s programming reports was pushed back to April 27 from April 10. The commission “buried” that information in the children’s educational TV reporting entry in its online encyclopedia, attorneys at Fletcher Heald wrote on the firm’s blog. “It’s something of a mystery why the FCC would expect anybody at all to be checking this particular webpage [http://xrl.us/bm3jhr] for useful, current information, but maybe that’s just us."
Motorola Mobility introduced the DSR-6400 family of integrated satellite receiver transcoders. Studios and programmers continue their shift to MPEG-4 based satellite video distribution, Motorola said in a press release. Content providers can benefit from “the freeing up of costly satellite transponder space, making room for new HD channels.”
The FCC Wireline Bureau sought comment on a petition of the FairPoint cost companies for conversion of their special access services to price-cap regulation by 2013, and for limited waiver relief (http://xrl.us/bm3i8d). The 20 LECs comprising those companies also asked for waivers of parts 36 and 69 of commission rules, and a waiver of the “all-or-nothing rule so as to permit interstate switched access services to remain subject to the rate-of-return schedule for transition to bill-and-keep,” the notice said. Comments are due in docket 12-71 May 2, replies May 17.
A fundamental disconnect exists between the immediate needs of rural healthcare providers and the FCC’s goals for buildout of the national broadband network, ProForma Healthcare Solutions told the Wireline Bureau in comments submitted Thursday in docket 02-60 (http://xrl.us/bm3i26). Few rural hospitals have the resources to manage large infrastructure projects such as the construction of regional broadband networks or connecting to a nationwide backbone data network as required by the rural healthcare pilot programs, ProForma said. It submitted a proposed roadmap it said would provide “clear direction” on how to build a “Rural Trust” to leverage FCC financial support to provide rural healthcare providers with the technology they need to “provide leading-edge integrated services and solutions enabled by robust, fiber-based broadband.” The trust would be an extension of a November 2007 FCC award of $9.6 million to Big Bend Health and the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration, and would provide a 100 Gbps National LambdaRail backhaul network to connect more than 20 rural hospitals between Tallahassee, Fla., and Birmingham, Ala.
Comcast wants out of rate regulation in parts of Silicon Valley, continuing its petitions for effective competition posted in recent days to FCC docket 12-1 (CD April 12 p12). The cable operator said it faces sufficient video competition in Mountain View and Palo Alto because both DBS companies serve those local franchise areas and the portion of households buying pay-TV service from a company other than Comcast “far exceeds” the commission’s threshold of 15 percent (http://xrl.us/bm3i2j).
Intelsat is starting tender offers to repurchase senior notes of subsidiary Intelsat Jackson Holdings. There are tender offers to purchase for cash up to $310 million in aggregate principal amount of its $701.9 million outstanding 9.5 percent senior notes due 2016 and a tender offer to purchase for cash up to $470 million of its $1.05 billion of outstanding 11.25 percent senior notes due 2016, Intelsat said in a news release Thursday. Intelsat Jackson also intends to offer to sell $800 million of aggregate principal amount of 7.25 percent senior notes due 2020, and the unit will use the proceeds to repurchase the other debt, Intelsat said.