The FCC should make Congress a list of National Broadband Plan recommendations that the commission believes can’t be carried out without broadband services’ having been reclassified under Title II of the Communications Act, said ranking member Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, of the Senate Commerce Committee. In a letter Wednesday to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, she said the FCC gave legislators “conflicting reports” on the Comcast decision’s impact. Immediately after the decision, General Counsel Austin Schlick said the ruling had no effect on most of the plan, but when Genachowski announced his proposal to reclassify, he said the ruling threatened action on several important recommendations including a revamp for the Universal Service Fund, Hutchison noted. She also said she wasn’t satisfied with Genachowski’s reply to a letter she sent him in October about network neutrality. “Your response did not provide the information requested, including the number of investigations or enforcement actions involving alleged violations of the Internet Policy Statement that are currently pending at the Commission.” The FCC declined to comment.

FCC Commissioner Michael Copps said he’s concerned the proposal for a national wireless broadband network outlined in the National Broadband Plan has not won the support of most public safety groups. Copps also said in an interview he has grown increasingly optimistic Congress will approve funding for the network, as proposed by FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski. Copps also predicted that compromise is possible among the five commissioners on comprehensive Universal Service Fund overhaul. Bringing in outsiders to oversee “every difficult issue” at the commission isn’t necessarily the way to go, Copps said when asked about the hiring of a head for the review of Comcast-NBC Universal deal. (See separate item in this issue.)

Rural telephone companies are bracing for a less sympathetic Congress in 2011, said executives from rural telco associations. They spoke with reporters at the annual legislative and regulatory conference of the Western Telecom Alliance and the Organization for the Promotion & Advancement of Small Telecommunications Companies. WTA and OPASTCO members from around the country arrived in droves to lobby Washington policymakers about their concerns with the National Broadband Plan. They heard remarks Tuesday from long-time rural advocate Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., who’s set to retire this year, as well as Sen. Mike Johanns, R-Neb., and Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Calif.

Online marketing of alcohol products delivers more bang for the buck, and more potential risk to youth, than better-regulated marketing in other media, said a report released Tuesday. The FTC and state attorneys general should investigate alcohol brands’ data collection, online profiling and targeting, including “social media data-mining technologies,” said the report. It was written by Jeff Chester of the Center for Digital Democracy, American University Professor Kathryn Montgomery, who helped write the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), and Lori Dorfman, director of the Berkeley Media Studies Group, a public-health organization.

The FCC National Broadband Plan sets an impressive example of what other countries can do to enhance and expand the availability of broadband networks, panelists said Tuesday during a Broadband Breakfast event. “It really is full of knowledge and interesting ideas for the rest of the world to take notice of,” said keynoter Pamela Miller, director general at Industry Canada.

Rural telephone companies are bracing for a less sympathetic Congress in 2011, said executives from rural telco associations. They spoke with reporters at the annual legislative and regulatory conference of the Western Telecom Alliance and the Organization for the Promotion & Advancement of Small Telecommunications Companies. WTA and OPASTCO members from around the country arrived in droves to lobby Washington policymakers about their concerns with the National Broadband Plan. They heard remarks Tuesday from long-time rural advocate Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., who’s set to retire this year, as well as Sen. Mike Johanns, R-Neb., and Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Calif.

LOS ANGELES - State PUC Commissioners debated the implications of the National Broadband Plan at NCTA’s annual show and urged the federal government not to pull rank on states.

Slow broadband speeds and insufficient access stifles small business, business owners and executives told the Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee during a round table discussion Thursday. “Broadband Internet service is the ability to open doors for small businesses that have been historically shut,” said Committee Chair Mary Landrieu, D-La. “Broadband can help some small businesses function like big businesses and increase their geographic presence by moving their operations online."

Slow broadband speeds and insufficient access stifles small business, business owners and executives told the Senate Small Business Committee during a round table discussion Thursday. “Broadband Internet service is the ability to open doors for small businesses that have been historically shut,” said Chairman Mary Landrieu, D-La. “Broadband can help some small businesses function like big businesses and increase their geographic presence by moving their operations online."

Expanding Lifeline and Link-Up programs to spur broadband adoption by those who can’t afford it should be part of comprehensive Universal Service Fund revamp legislation, said House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Rick Boucher, D-Va. At a hearing on the FCC’s adoption recommendations made in the National Broadband Plan, Boucher said he wants to work with Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Calif., to integrate her adoption-focused USF bill with his own comprehensive USF bill. Boucher urged the FCC to accelerate its process to finalize details on an intended pilot program, saying the time frame for introducing his bill with Rep. Lee Terry, R-Neb., is “fairly near term.”