Industry and callers urged caution, in FCC comments on a July Further NPRM on robocalls (see 2007160045) in docket 17-59. The rules offer companies two safe harbors from liability for the unintended or inadvertent blocking of wanted calls, and the FCC sought comment on other ways to protect consumers from robocalls and inform them about blocking efforts. Comments were due Monday on the NPRM, aimed at implementing the Telephone Consumer Protection Act and Pallone-Thune Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence Act (Traced Act).

The Wireless Bureau denied ACA Connects' request for a stay on the C-band lump sum election deadline (see 2008140033). By saying the stay would give the FCC more time to revise the lump sum payments amount, ACA is assuming, without proof, the agency or court will side with it on the amount issue, said Monday’s order. It rejected ACA arguments that integrated receivers/decoders should have been included. The cable association didn't immediately comment. ACA also saw wireless and satellite interests opposed to its ask that the FCC review its C-band final cost catalog (see 2008170003), in docket 18-122 postings Monday. ACA's disagreement "does not warrant a reversal of the lump sum determination," and changing the lump sum amounts now could delay the accelerated transition, Intelsat said. SES said the cost catalog reflects the Wireless Bureau "reasonably exercis[ing] its discretion," and the underlying methodology and assumptions were fully explained. AT&T said ACA's argument isn't about fair treatment but about trying to get C-band licensees to cover big costs of a technology transition for earth station operators, even though that doesn't promote the FCC goal of a fast, seamless move. Verizon agreed ACA is trying to turn the spectrum proceeding "into a fiber subsidy plan for its members, or at least maximize their opportunity to profit from the relocation." CTIA also commented. Discovery, Disney, Fox and ViacomCBS said the bureau sensibly excluded costs of integrated receiver/decoder equipment from lump sum payments by concluding that's an expense for transitioning satellite operators, but installing them is a cost for moving earth stations. CenturyLink backed ACA, saying staff "clearly erred" by excluding integrated receiver/decoder costs.

ACA Connects is "once again seeking handouts" from the FCC with its application for review of the C-band final cost catalog (see 2008170003), NAB said in an opposition Friday to be posted in docket 18-122. It said ACA arguments that the cost of integrated receivers/decoders should be included in the C-band lump sum are unconvincing, and the record's clear that selecting and buying such equipment should be seen as part of the satellite transponder transitions and guided by satellite operators and programmers, not MVPDs. ACA didn't comment.

Numerous C-band earth station operators, especially small broadcasters, will likely opt for the lump sum option in the C-band clearing, we were told by industry and law experts. Sept. 14 is the deadline for lump sum election. ACA Connects, protesting the lump sum's not including integrated receivers/decoders, asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to stay that deadline (see 2008270052).

Not including the cost of integrated receivers/decoders (IRD) from the C-band lump sum amount available to earth station operators is contrary to regulatory plain text and common sense, ACA Connects said in a writ of mandamus application Thursday asking the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to stay the Sept. 14 C-band lump sum election deadline. Lawyers involved in the C-band proceeding said ACA's ask faces an uphill challenge at the D.C. Circuit, but the cable group had seemingly no other option given the rapidly approaching deadline. The FCC didn't comment.

Vertix Consulting isn't likely to challenge the FCC legally if the agency opts not to override a search committee, even though the firm opposes the team chosen as C-band clearinghouse to manage and distribute the relocation payments (see 2008190045), Vertix Partner Greg Weiner told us. "We will have spoken our piece," he said, adding if the agency agrees with its challenge about the CohnReznick team, the agency's choice apparently will be between the Vertix team and a third one. The FCC didn't comment.

ACA Connects, which asked for a response by Aug. 20 to its request that the deadline for C-band earth station lump sum elections be stayed (see 2008170003), now is amending its ask to an Aug. 26 deadline. It said in a docket 18-122 post Monday that without a decision by then, it will seek a stay of the Sept. 14 deadline from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. The FCC moved the deadline from Aug. 31 to Sept. 14 last week, but never addressed ACA's petition (see 2008200052). T-Mobile officials told Wireless Bureau and Office of Economics and Analytics staff T-Mobile doesn't oppose a brief deadline extension, but other deadlines leading up to and including the C-band auction start need to remain the same. It said satellite operators also need adequate time to update their C-band transition plans after all the lump sum elections are made.

C-band incumbent earth station operators got more time to choose whether to take the lump-sum reimbursement option as part of the FCC's band-clearing, as some had expected. The Wireless Bureau's moving the lump sum election deadline to Sept. 14 in response to a Society of Broadcast Engineers (SBE) extension request left hanging a stay sought by ACA Connects and thus ACA's possible legal challenge to the FCC's lump-sum formula, we were told. ACA didn't comment.

The FCC's local franchise authority (LFA) order 12 months ago (see 1908010011) opened the door for cable operators to renegotiate their cable LFA agreements to account for the expense of in-kind services they provide, but few have done so, lawyers and localities interests told us. Some expect cable operators will try to come up with valuations for such services as institutional networks (I-Net) and free service to public buildings, while others wonder if the industry isn't that interested in getting into what could be protracted fights with local communities over cable franchise fee amounts.

Aug. 19 is the deadline for comments on an ACA Connects' request or a stay of the Aug. 31 deadline for earth station operators to make C-band clearing lump sum elections (see 2008140033), the FCC Wireless Bureau said in a public notice in Monday's Daily Digest. ACA asked for the stay pending resolution of its application for review of the C-band final cost category public notice's exclusion of the cost of integrated receivers/decoders, bureau said, it said Friday in docket 18-122.