The FCC Wireline Bureau Connect America Cost Model order provides too much support to price-cap LEC territories, said the American Cable Association in an application for review (http://bit.ly/1jJQCI3) posted Monday in docket 10-90. The order is “erroneous” because it presumes too high a cost and too low of a “take-rate” -- revenue from users -- in calculating the funding, ACA said. The commission should have instead used figures suggested by ACA, the group said. It said that would let support be provided “more efficiently, enabling many more unserved locations to be supported in the Connect America Fund (CAF) Phase II."

AT&T’s voluntary commitment to offer wireless broadband service to 13 million new customers as a result of planned DirecTV acquisition “precedes any election it might make to access Connect America Fund Phase II support to make broadband service available in high cost areas,” the American Cable Association told FCC Wireline Bureau officials Wednesday, an ex parte filing posted Friday in docket 10-90 said (http://bit.ly/1oPdbTy). AT&T has said it’s one of the concessions it will make as part of its DirecTV acquisition (CD June 18 p5). The FCC should be ready for issues that might arise if it turns out some locations included in the merger commitment might also be high-cost areas where AT&T is eligible to receive support, ACA said. The association commended the bureau for making “great strides” in developing a cost model that accurately estimates the cost of a modern network, but criticized insufficiently precise inputs for the cost of money and the take rate to estimate revenue.

How much money the FCC should devote to the rural broadband experiments -- and which criteria it should use to judge applications -- were debated in reply comments posted Monday and Tuesday. The agency received more than 1,000 “expressions of interest” in participating in the experiments. Other sticking points include whether incumbents should get right of first refusal; how to ensure high-cost support mechanisms like Connect America Fund (CAF) II still get the attention ILECs say they deserve; and whether to run experiments in areas that already see extensive broadband service.

If the FCC plans to revise “core elements” of the Connect American Fund Phase II program -- such as the cost model or the challenge process -- it should reopen all core elements to eliminate aspects that are not competitively neutral, the American Cable Association said in meetings with aides to Commissioners Mignon Clyburn, Ajit Pai and Jessica Rosenworcel Thursday (http://bit.ly/1ijdiBs). For CAF Phase II competitive bidding to be successful, the maximum number of qualified providers need to participate, ACA said. Many of ACA’s small and mid-sized cable operators want to participate, but will only do so if “unreasonable barriers are eliminated,” ACA said. That’s why they're “heartened” to hear the commission is considering streamlining the eligible telecom carrier designation process, ACA said. ACA recommended several changes to CAF Phase II: non-ETCs should be able to apply to become an ETC after winning a bid, and groups that participate in the competitive bidding process should need only one ETC. ACA recommended a 60-90 day shot clock should be instituted for state decisions, and that states be prohibited from imposing requirements in addition to those adopted by the commission.

Lawmakers remained dubious of the proposed Comcast/Time Warner Cable merger Wednesday at the first Capitol Hill hearing on the deal. It needs FCC and Justice Department approval. The full Senate Judiciary Committee held the hearing, which lasted just under three hours, and House Judiciary announced a hearing May 8 at 9:30 a.m. in 2141 Rayburn. Comcast filed its long merger application with the FCC Tuesday.

The FCC Media Bureau requested financial information from Sinclair about its relationship to the companies with which it will have sharing arrangements as part of its proposed purchase of Allbritton’s TV stations, said a filing by Sinclair Tuesday (http://bit.ly/MZrO5A). Though the financial details are redacted under a pair of protective orders issued by the bureau Friday (CD Feb 24 p23), the submission includes financial results going back to 2010 for stations involved in the transaction, the details of performance bonuses paid to Sinclair by companies with which it has sharing arrangements and information about Sinclair’s guarantees of bank debts for those companies.

The American Cable Association doesn’t oppose collection of data to examine special access markets, but certain aspects of the proposed data collection “are excessive for smaller cable operators” and violate the Paperwork Reduction Act, ACA told an aide to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler Thursday, an ex parte filing said (http://bit.ly/MBf8Br). ACA proposed that the collection only require those operators to provide data they collect in the normal course of business. On Phase II of the Connect America Fund, ACA said the program shouldn’t provide support to price-cap LECs in areas where unsupported competitive providers have built qualifying broadband service. Competitive providers should also “be given the opportunity to receive support in eligible areas in states where price cap LECs refuse support since competitive providers often can deploy broadband service more efficiently and effectively than the price cap LECs,” ACA said.

Opposition is building among multichannel video programming distributors to high-technology companies’ renewed request for rules on video device interoperability. Verizon joined the American Cable Association and DirecTV in telling us it, like NCTA (CD Feb 7 p3), opposes recent moves by an alliance that has included heavyweight makers of consumer electronics and Internet companies for an FCC NPRM on the topic. Some told us they're skeptical FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler will want to engage in what’s sure to be a contentious proceeding, because of opposition from most MVPDs. They think the agency will continue holding off on moving beyond a previous notice of inquiry on requiring a universal way for CE devices purchased from companies other than MVPDs’ set-top boxes to connect to pay-TV content.

An FCC move to make TV joint services agreements (JSAs) attributable at the same level they are in radio would be unpopular with broadcasters but is unlikely to cause widespread divestitures or end the practice of using pacts like JSAs to get around ownership rules, said broadcast attorneys in interviews Friday. Such a rule “would be a good first step” for the public interest groups that oppose such sharing arrangements, said Free Press Policy Counsel Lauren Wilson. “We wouldn’t see that as the end."

The Department of Justice should ensure that the terms of a settlement between federal prosecutors and tobacco companies direct advertising dollars to black-owned broadcasters, said the National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters (NABOB) in a newsletter to members Friday. A proposed consent order in the fourteen-year-old U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia case requires the tobacco company defendants to fund commercials informing the public of the harmful effects of smoking, and includes a list of TV networks and newspapers where the campaign must run. However, the settlement doesn’t require the companies to “place any commercials on Black owned media, or even media targeting the African American community,” said NABOB. That’s irksome to NABOB because the DOJ case “demonstrated that the tobacco companies had specifically targeted African American communities, particularly young people, with advertising and promotions designed to increase smoking,” said the newsletter. NABOB, the National Newspaper Publishers Association and the NAACP filed amicus briefs asking the court include black-owned media in the consent decree. That request came too late, said the tobacco companies in a response. “It has been more than seven years since this Court first specified the newspapers and television networks in which Defendants would be required to place corrective statements,” said the tobacco company filing. The companies also said changing the list of stations to receive the advertising would nullify the settlement agreement, “leaving the parties back at the negotiating table to see if a revised agreement can be reached.” The ability of the corrective advertising to “reach all affected Americans” is one of the concerns about the proposed settlement raised by the federal judge who would need to approve it, NABOB said. “The settlement can be set aside and the parties can be forced to consider adding Black owned media to the advertising plan if the Department of Justice tells the judge that it agrees with her that the plan needs to be amended to target Black consumers,” said NABOB. To make that happen, NABOB wants all black-owned broadcast stations to publicize the matter on their airwaves. “The DOJ will only change its position and oppose the current advertising plan if there is a vocal outcry from the African American community,” said NABOB. A similar NABOB effort to get advertising dollars from publicity efforts connected to the Affordable Care Act to go to black-owned broadcasters (CD Oct 4 p1) was stymied by the “disarray” of the ACA, said NABOB Executive Director Jim Winston. The association is still pursuing the matter, he said.