There’s the equivalent of a mini-DTV transition occurring through Nov. 9 by radio and TV stations and multichannel video programming distributors seeking to get the word out about a first-of-its-kind emergency message test set for 2 p.m. Eastern that day. Some executives, who along with the FCC and Federal Emergency Management Agency are ramping up public outreach (CD Oct 14 p15) about the nationwide emergency alert system test, compared those EAS efforts to what occurred before the 2009 DTV transition. The extent of work among the FCC, FEMA, other government agencies and broadcasters and MVPDs resembles other cooperative efforts before the full-power analog broadcast cutoff, executives and government officials told us.

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski’s proposed universal service order lacks a “clear vision or roadmap,” leaders of the largest rural telecom associations said in meetings with FCC staff last week. Leaders from OPASTCO, NTCA, the Western Telecom Alliance and the National Exchange Carrier Association, along with executives from rural telcos, said the proposed overhaul isn’t comprehensive enough. “Such ambiguity, together with the imposition of new near-term constraints and the overhang of additional constraints or reductions in support to be considered in a further notice of proposed rulemaking, would only chill investment by RLECs and deter lenders and outside investors by perpetuating regulatory uncertainty,” the rural leaders said, according to an ex parte notice posted on docket 10-90.

The FCC, CTIA and Consumers Union unveiled “Wireless Consumer Usage Notification Guidelines” as an alternative to bill shock rules proposed by the agency last year. The announcement Monday as expected (CD Oct 17 p10) was in keeping with the Obama administration’s broader move away from regulation where possible. But FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski warned that rules are still possible if voluntary guidelines don’t work. Other members of the commission were not given advanced notice of the agreement, agency officials said.

Public safety may be in striking distance of winning the 700 MHz D-block in the House Communications Subcommittee, after the subcommittee looked likely to say no. Communications Subcommitee Ranking Member Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., said Friday she expected Democrats would file an amendment to reallocate the D-block to public safety (CD Oct 17 p6). If all 12 of the subcommittee’s Democrats support reallocation, as some expect, public safety would only need three of 16 Republicans votes to have the amendment adopted. Some subcommittee Republicans said Monday that they are undecided on D-block. And the Public Safety Alliance is “feeling confident” it will have Republican votes, said spokesman Sean Kirkendall.

Congressional leaders have revived notions of raiding the Universal Service Fund to help close the nation’s budget deficit, telecom lobbyists told us Friday. The lobbyists were told that House GOP leaders are still weighing whether to use universal service cash to help balance the nation’s books once the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction completes its work.

The FCC asked how it might let cable operators encrypt their basic tiers of service on all-digital systems without putting undue financial pressure on low-income cable subscribers. The questions come in a notice of proposed rulemaking released Friday. As expected (CD Oct 3 p8), the commission tentatively concluded in the NPRM that letting cable operators encrypt the basic tier won’t hurt compatibility between cable systems and consumer electronics devices for most subscribers. And it said the bulk of consumers wouldn’t be affected much either.

Verizon won round one in the next stage of its fight to overturn the FCC’s net neutrality rules when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit was picked in a lottery as the court that would hear a consolidated challenge. The next key question is which panel will hear the case. Verizon hopes for review by the same judges that vacated the FCC’s order in Comcast v. FCC in April 2010, industry officials agree. In January, in a pleading filed with the court, Verizon asked that the same panel that heard the Comcast case hear its appeal.

Rate-of-return carriers would be subject to recovery caps on capital and operating expenses from July 1, 2012, under FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski’s universal service reform order, a telecom official told us Friday. The commission would use a regression analysis to come up with a formula for the caps initially, but will publish a further rulemaking notice seeking comment on how to structure cap formulas, the official said. A revised draft of the order was expected to circulate among commissioners and their aides late Friday.

Two of the three judges who heard ICO Global Communications v. FCC focused on the issues of definition of band entry and sunset date to seek reimbursement as they considered ICO’s appeal of an earlier FCC declaratory ruling intended to clarify several rules on broadcast auxiliary spectrum relocation expenses. The declaratory ruling (CD Oct 1 p2) helped Sprint Nextel’s lawsuits against DBSD, then owned by ICO Global, and TerreStar seeking reimbursement of the expenses or relocating BAS spectrum. In a U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit hearing Friday, judges also questioned if reimbursement requirements were clearly explained.

House Democrats will likely offer an amendment to reallocate the 700 MHz D-block when the House Communications Subcommittee marks up spectrum legislation, said Ranking Member Anna Eshoo, D-Calif. Eshoo and Rep. John Shimkus, R-Ill., co-chairs of the Congressional E-911 Caucus, also advocated their next-generation 911 bill (HR-2629) during a visit Friday morning to Washington’s 911 call center. The legislators hope their bill to fund NG911 will be included in the comprehensive spectrum bill, Eshoo said.