Cable rates increased at a rate higher than inflation again in 2009, an FCC survey of cable operator prices during that year found. Basic cable rates increased at a higher rate than rates for expanded tier service, the survey found. On a per-channel basis, rates didn’t increase as quickly.

The question of if the FCC should make all TV stations put political ad information on the commission’s website (CD March 2 p7) changed focus at least briefly to shine on another agency. The question is if 2002 campaign finance legislation solely makes the Federal Election Commission the place for such disclosure, or whether the FCC also has a role. The NAB said the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (BCRA) doesn’t give the FCC authority to implement the FCC proposal to move political-ad files and much of the rest of public-inspection files from TV stations’ main studios to the Internet. A longtime advocate for such disclosure said the BCRA -- often referred to as the McCain-Feingold bill after its main sponsors -- doesn’t preclude the commission from acting, and few details about political TV spots are available in FEC filings.

Broadcasters haven’t seen the last of a Democratic amendment requiring more disclosure regarding political ads. House Communications Subcommittee Ranking Member Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., said in an interview Friday that she plans to offer it again when FCC reform legislation (HR-3309) reaches the House floor. Broadcasters oppose the amendment due to liability concerns, and separately have been opposing proposed FCC rules to require all TV stations’ political-ad files to go online. (See separate report in this issue.)

It is “absolutely essential” for Congress to encourage better cybersecurity protection for America’s critical infrastructure sectors, Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Ranking Member Susan Collins, R-Maine, told C-SPAN’s The Communicators in an interview scheduled to air Saturday. Committee Chairman Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., a co-sponsor of the Cybersecurity Act (S-2105), said on the same program that critical infrastructure protections must be included in Congress’s approach to cybersecurity.

The FCC Thursday ordered Verizon Wireless, the SpectrumCo partners and Cox to file mostly unredacted versions of the marketing agreements they signed as part of a broader deal that includes the sale of AWS licenses to the carrier. The letter (http://xrl.us/bmxh5j) was signed by Wireless Bureau Chief Rick Kaplan and outlined a ruling that had been sought by opponents of the spectrum deals. He asked Verizon Wireless and the cable operators for the documents by the end of Monday.

Verizon Wireless’s plan to buy AWS licenses from SpectrumCo and Cox is likely to be rejected, or conditioned in a way that will make it far less attractive to the companies involved, in the wake of the death of the AT&T/T-Mobile deal, ex-FCC Chief Economist Alan Pearce said Thursday. Now at Information Age Economics, he said during a Law Seminars International AT&T/T-Mobile teleconference that the days when the FCC won’t stand up to oppose industry consolidation are clearly over.

Closing the gender gap in communications and technology companies is a goal that Commissioner Mignon Clyburn plans to focus on closely in the coming months, she said at an FCBA luncheon Thursday. “Many of you have heard me speak about the staggering imbalances that exist between men and women when it comes to senior and leadership positions in the communications and technology space,” she said. “If there is any place where the benefits of full inclusion and economic and workplace parity should be organic, where the strength, and majestic beauty that makes our nation so envied by the rest of the world, should be reflected in all its glory, it is in our media, technology, and telecommunications companies, at all levels, including inside of the C-Suites and on governing boards."

Changes in the Universal Service Fund are throwing many rural carriers into confusion about how to keep afloat once the USF spigot is turned down starting July 1. Companies that invested heavily in rural broadband say new rules limiting reimbursable capital and operating costs mean they won’t be able to repay loans. Others question the “safety net additive” reforms that they say unexpectedly eliminated promised financial support. The end result, rural carriers say, will be decreased investment in broadband, and an inability to maintain the phone lines currently in place.

Privacy laws “need to change to keep pace” with technology, Microsoft General Counsel Brad Smith said at the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP) summit. Companies opposing broad privacy laws said legislation is unlikely this year, but Smith said new privacy law is inevitable: The question is whether it will be “good law.”

The FCC is seeing little in the way of lobbying from anyone, with a vote slated for March 21, on a 700 MHz interoperability rulemaking notice that’s been a long-time priority for small wireless carriers. There have been only two ex parte filings on the NPRM this month, though a few smaller carriers active in the proceeding have been in this week to make their case for an interoperability mandate, an industry lawyer said. The rulemaking, which is on the tentative agenda for the commission’s March meeting, has been fiercely contested in the past.