NEW ORLEANS -- As the Senate Commerce Committee was about to hold a hearing on the Satellite Home Viewer Improvement Act (SHVIA) and whether to extend it, 2 leading lawmakers told a national cable convention that the law deserves a full review, not just a simple extension. SHVIA gives DBS providers the right to transmit local broadcast signals and it expires this year, so many in Congress consider it “must do” legislation. But the question remains whether enough time remains this session to give the law a full review, as was intended, as opposed to simply extending the expiration date again. “I think we should make a run at a review of the entire act,” said House Judiciary Committee Chmn. Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.), speaking at a NCTA conference luncheon. If it has to be extended because of time constraints, Sensenbrenner said he would favor a renewal “short in nature.”

The Senate approved a new a moratorium on Internet access taxes at our deadline Thurs. A bipartisan group of senators beat back 2 unrelated amendments, then voted to head off a filibuster on an amendment by Senate Commerce Committee McCain (R-Ariz.) to the moratorium legislation. The Senate later approved McCain’s amendment by voice vote. Senators involved in the debate met after the cloture vote and worked out acceptable amendments to McCain’s amendment. Opponents to S-150, Sens. Alexander (R-Tenn.), Carper (D-Del.) and Voinovich (R-O.), chose not to offer their own bill, S-2084, as an amendment.

Congress should “redefine” the purpose of the Universal Service Fund (USF) and what kind of “tax” should be used to support it, Qwest CEO Dick Notebaert said Wed. at a Progress & Freedom Foundation lunch. Policy-makers should decide what they really want to fund through the USF -- for example, low income households or expanding broadband coverage -- he said. Then they can define how the money is raised because “there are better ways to do it,” he said. Regulators keep adding uses for USF and “never say, ‘We've done it, let’s move on,'” Notebaert said. USF is a tax now, whether regulators care to call it that or not, he said: “We ought to call a tax a tax.”

ILECs were pushing for “significant price increases” in negotiations with CLECs over UNE-P, a CLEC executive and representative of ALTS told the Senate Commerce Committee Tues. The increases “would not allow us to sustain our business,” said Cbeyond CEO James Geiger at the hearing on “lessons learned” from the Telecom Act: “The assumption of the incumbent is that unbundling elements are gone.” Geiger also suggested that ILECs weren’t even putting the local loop on the table, though Qwest Chmn. Richard Notebaert said he didn’t object to loops’ remaining an unbundled element.

Telecom industry representatives disagreed, in comments on the rulemaking, whether the FCC should further modify its “all-or-nothing” rule. The USTA sought complete elimination. Meanwhile, competitors asked for mandatory price cap regulations for big ILECs. The Commission this year (CD Feb 13 p8) modified the rule to permit a rate-of-return (ROR) carrier buying lines from a price cap carrier to convert those price cap lines back to rate-of-return regulation.

In an effort to show his administration is serious about broadband deployment, President Bush signed an executive memorandum Mon. aimed at streamlining access to federal land. The executive memorandum will put into effect recommendations of a federal right-of-way working group coordinated by NTIA. In a speech, Bush listed several ways he’s promoting broadband deployment in working toward his stated goal of universal access by 2007, but Senate Democrats took issue with his claims.

Hours before the Senate took up legislation seeking to ban Internet access taxes, President Bush promoted the ban as a way to stimulate broadband deployment (see separate story, this issue). The Senate late Mon. was prepared to take a procedural vote as the first step toward consideration of S- 150 by Sen. Allen (R-Va.). S-150’s main opponent, Sen. Alexander (R-Tenn.), said Senate Majority Leader Frist (R- Tenn.) has been urging compromise for months, but said talks appeared to have failed: “We simply have a difference of opinion.”

Several Neb. telecom bills died in committee when the 2004 session adjourned last week. Among the casualties was LB-793 to repeal a state law barring municipalities from competing in the telecom market. Also dying was LB-1176, which would have established a new Neb. Public Safety Communications Authority, funded by a surcharge on utility bills. Other bills failing to win passage included LB-501, to ban drivers from talking on handheld mobile phones, and LB-757 that would have exempted mobile phone providers from any participation in the state universal service fund.

A variety of consumer groups launched a campaign Thurs. to work for retention of the revenue-based Universal Service Fund (USF) collection system. The Keep Universal Service Fair Coalition, made up of senior, disability, consumer, minority and rural organizations, said moving to a flat, connections-based system would harm consumers and low-volume users. Connections-based systems would collect money through a subscriber line or per-user fee, which would mean low- volume users would “pay the same amount in USF fees as high- volume users.” The coalition includes 12 organizations such as the Alliance for Public Technology, Alliance for Retired Americans, American Assn. of People with Disabilities, Black Leadership Forum, Gray Panthers.

Verizon said it plans to add $2-$3 a month to its customers’ DSL bills to cover its universal service contributions, starting in May in eastern states and June in the West. A spokesman said Verizon’s DSL prices have dropped over the past year from “as high as $60 a month to today’s price of $34.95, or $29.95 for customers who also have Verizon local and long distance service.” The company has been absorbing the $2-$3 per line cost, but with more than 2.5 million subscribers, it has become a large expense, he said. He noted that cable modem competitors don’t pay the same type of universal service fund charge.