**McDowell Hits Martin Over Cable Industry Regulation

(Monday, November 19) FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell panned efforts by FCC Chairman Kevin Martin, a fellow Republican, to re-regulate the cable industry -- saying that he is not comfortable supporting a commission report that says the industry has achieved market dominance.

The report may be considered at the agency's Nov. 27 meeting. "This is a radical departure for the commission," McDowell said, emphasizing that the public should have more time to comment.

McDowell expressed his concerns during a speech to the Media Institute, whose members include cable and broadcast companies. He also reiterated complaints raised with another GOP FCC commissioner, Deborah Taylor Tate, about accuracy of the data used to justify the assessment.

But, on another controversial issue pending before the FCC, McDowell appeared to endorse Martin's efforts to loosen the federal ban on co-owning newspaper and broadcast outlets in the same top 20 markets, noting that hundreds of newspaperss have stop publishing in recent years as readership declines.

On the cable regulation issued, Martin based the assessment that the cable industry had achieved market dominance on statistics issued by the newsletter publisher Warren Communications -- which determined that more than 70 percent of households subscribe to cable television.

In a letter to Martin last week, McDowell and Tate wrote, “As you are aware, over the past three years, our report [on video competition] has found that cable subscribership hovers around 60 percent. They added that due to the growth of satellite and phone-delivered video services, "most large cable operators report a decline."

McDowell and Tate said it had been “surprising” to learn that Warren reported a 71.4 percent threshold when two major independent research outlets settled on lower figures.

Warren said last week that that its data isn't "well suited" as the basis of policy changes.

**FTC To Examine Consumer Issues In Telephone Service Transition

(Thursday, November 15) The next project of the Federal Trade Commission’s Internet Access Task Force is to examine competition and consumer protection issues raised by the transition from "plain old telephone service" to Internet-based telephony, FTC Chairwoman Deborah Platt Majoras announced.

She told the American Bar Association's antitrust law fall forum that issues surrounding voice-over-Internet protocol provide a good opportunity for the agency to build on its June broadband report. In that document, the task force addressed so-called network neutrality regulation.

The year-old group's new assignment is to study the obligations of marketplace rivals to carry each others' data traffic and the effects of voice, video, and data bundling of services, which break down traditional market and regulatory boundaries, she said.

Majoras also noted that the FTC is working on a report with the Justice Department's Antitrust Division to address challenges associated with types of "single-firm conduct," which may violate the Sherman Antitrust Act.

**House Approves Enhanced 911 For Internet Calling

(Tuesday, November 13) The U.S. House passed by a vote of 406-1 legislation that would require Internet telephone providers to offer 911 capabilities -- so that emergency dispatchers could identify callers' phone numbers and locations.

The bill, H.R. 3403, also would require that Web phone providers be given access to telecommunications networks that enable the provision of E911.

The measure puts the providers "on the same legal footing as wireless carriers and gives providers the same access as wireless, at the same rates, terms and conditions," said Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas.

The legislation would prohibit states from using their 911 funds collected from a fee on phone bills for any purpose other than improvements to the emergency system.

It also would establish a nationwide migration plan to an Internet-enabled network and would alter an existing grant program to direct money to public-safety answering points for Internet-enabled emergency networks, Barton said.

Meanwhile, the House also passed legislation Tuesday designed to improve data collection about subscriptions to high-speed Internet service.

"This bill represents an indispensable first step" to improve data collection and broadband deployment, said Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Telecommunications and the Internet Subcommittee.

**Official Overseeing Federal DTV Switch To Step Down

(Friday, November 9) Assistant Commerce Secretary John Kneuer, chief of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, is stepping down late this month.

Kneuer has been implementing a coupon program designed to ensure that Americans do not lose television reception when the switch to digital signals occurs. He was appointed head of NTIA a year ago.

Kneuer told colleagues he will leave to resume his private-sector career in telecommunications. His departure comes as the NTIA and the FCC face mounting criticism from Congress and public advocacy groups for a $1.5 billion voucher initiative criticized as confusing and riddled with loopholes.

NTIA insists that the program, which begins Jan. 1, is on track. The coupons will lower the cost of converters that millions of Americans will need to keep their analog sets functioning after Feb. 17, 2009.

Meredith Baker, who as deputy assistant Commerce secretary is the second highest ranking NTIA official, has been tapped as acting administrator.

**Wisconsin Senate OKs Bill On Statewide Cable Franchises

(Thursday, November 8) AT&T could more easily compete in Wisconsin's television market under a bill the state Senate passed with bipartisan support.

The proposal would eliminate local franchise agreements for offering cable TV services that have been in place since the 1970s, the Associated Press reported.

Instead, a single statewide license would be issued. That would open the door for companies like AT&T to more easily, and more quickly, serve large parts of Wisconsin.

Opponents argue that the bill would not increase competition or lower cable rates. They also are worried that AT&T only intends to provide services in high-income areas.

Gov. Jim Doyle, a Democrat, generally has supported the bill, which he could sign as early as December

Big Jump For High-Speed Internet Subscriptions

(Thursday, November 1) Subscriptions to high-speed Internet access jumped 61 percent in 2006 compared with 2005, the FCC reported.

The figures were culled from data that broadband providers must report to the agency twice a year. The FCC said high-speed lines grew 27 percent during the second half of 2006, from 65 million to 82.5 million, after another 27 percent gain in the first half of 2006.

In 2005, high-speed lines increased by 37 percent, from 37.4 million to 51.2 million. As of Dec. 31, the agency estimates that high-speed connections over the digital subscriber line were available to 79 percent of households with telephone service from dominant local carriers. Broadband via cable modems was available to 96 percent of households.

Critics, however, question the accuracy of the agency's data collection, and Congress is considering legislation designed to improve the FCC’s methodologies.

**FCC Issues New Rules On Internet Phone Switches

(Wednesday, October 31) The FCC voted 5-0 for new rules that permit consumers to retain their telephone numbers when switching to Internet telephone service.

The move is meant to clarify that so-called local number portability -- the right to use an existing number with a new service -- extends to Internet phone providers and telecom carriers that interconnect with them.

The order also specifies that customers of small wireline carriers can retain their numbers when switching to larger wireless companies. In addition, the new rules bar telephone companies from obstructing or delaying number porting.

Senate Commerce ranking member Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, praised the decision in a He noted that the FCC's order is similar to legislation that the Commerce Committee approved this past summer.

**FCC Bars Exclusive Cable Deals For Apartment Buildings

(Wednesday, October 31) The FCC unanimously barred exclusive contracts between cable operators and apartment and condominium buildings in an effort to open the market to AT&T, Verizon and other new entrants.

Democratic FCC Commissioners Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein applauded the move, which drew also support from a leading Democratic presidential hopeful, Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York. Copps, however, did raise concerns that the move might benefit "particular services or particular competitors."

FCC Commissioner Deborah Taylor Tate, a Republican, cautioned that, as a former state official, she was wary of acting where "states have taken the lead." Tate’s Republican colleague, Commissioner Robert McDowell, warned the decision, which affects all multiple dwelling units, could be overturned in court.

The FCC noted that 30 percent of Americans live in apartment and condominium dwellings, a disproportionate number of whom are minorities.

In other action, the FCC Wednesday voted 3-2 along party lines to extend regulatory relief previously granted to new video entrants to incumbent providers. The deregulation governs franchise agreements.

**FCC Sets Final Hearing On Media Ownership

(Thursday, October 25) The FCC announced that its sixth and final hearing on broadcaster commitments to local programming will be held next Wednesday in Washington. The development comes as the agency faces increased pressure from Congress to postpone a planned Dec. 18 vote on revising media-ownership limits.

The two Democrats on the commission, FCC Commissioners Jonathan Adelstein and Michael Copps, complained that the hearing was not scheduled until five days before it will be held.

"This is unacceptable and unfair to the public. And it makes putting together an expert panel nearly impossible," they said in a statement. "Is the goal to be able to claim that hearings have been held, even if the public has not had a chance to fully participate?"

The public advocacy group Free Press asserted that FCC Chairman Kevin Martin is holding a localism hearing "without giving the local community time to find out it is happening." An FCC spokeswoman declined comment.

**Democratic Bill Takes Aim At FCC Proceedings

(Monday, October 22) The top Democrats on the House Energy and Commerce Committee introduced legislation to correct what they dubbed a "procedural failure" regarding "forbearance" proceedings at the FCC.

Under such requests, telecommunications carriers can seek relief from statutory requirements, but due to a loophole, requests are automatically granted if no decision is made within a year.

"It is clear that the current statute authorizing the use of regulatory forbearance has significant flaws," wrote Massachusetts Democratic Rep. Edward Markey, chairman of the Telecommunications and the Internet Subcommittee. He offered the legislation with Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., chairman of the full committee.

The bill won praise from XO Communications, one of several competitive local carriers opposed to pending forbearance requests made by dominant telephone firms.

"This action by congressional leadership is just one of many changes that must be undertaken to rectify the controversial forbearance statute," XO spokeswoman Heather Gold said in a statement.

**FCC: No Evidence Of Document Suppression

(Friday, October 5) The FCC announced that its inspector general cannot substantiate allegations that senior managers suppressed draft reports on media ownership in 2003 and 2004 during the chairmanship of Michael Powell.

In a report, the IG’s office said the investigation was its largest ever and involved sifting through 150,000 pages of documents. The current FCC chairman, Kevin Martin, was a GOP commissioner at the time and previously has said he was unaware of the reports.

Martin ordered the investigation after Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., and other lawmakers raised concerns in 2006 that the FCC destroyed the documents because the findings did not conform with Powell's deregulatory stance.

"The inspector general found no evidence that there had ever been a pattern or practice of suppressing research at the commission," the agency said in a statement Friday.