A group of consumer advocates and public officials urged the FCC to reject the incumbent-backed America’s Broadband Connectivity plan and the rural “consensus framework” for universal service reform. In a joint letter posted as an ex parte notice to docket 10-90 and organized by the National Consumer Law Center and the Utility Reform Network, the advocates said industry’s reform proposals should be “flatly rejected” (http://xrl.us/bmdmo8).

The FCC delayed for a second time emergency alert system rules for traditional media to get and pass on to viewers and listeners EAS warnings that the government distributes online. The commission Friday delayed by nine months to June 30 the date when all multichannel video programming distributors and radio and TV stations must be ready for the Common Alerting Protocol format. That’s longer than the four-month compliance delay sought (CD Aug 8 p3) by CAP’s developer, the Federal Emergency Management Agency. It released the new standard in September 2010, and CAP is part of the integrated public alert and warning system (IPAWS).

Parts of the jobs bill’s spectrum provisions are being given by analysts, lobbyists and others at least a fighting chance of being enacted by Congress in coming months. Observers agree that spectrum fees called for in the White House-proposed legislation face a tough fight. While giving the FCC authority to hold incentive auctions has broad support on the Hill, many Republicans continue to oppose a proposal in the jobs bill giving public safety the 700 MHz D-block in addition to the 700 MHz spectrum it already has.

FCC Wireless Bureau Chief Rick Kaplan stressed the importance of spectrum sharing in making more frequencies available for wireless broadband, at an FCBA wireless lunch Thursday. Kaplan said questions need to be answered about the 1755 MHz band, a key target of carriers. Kaplan, a former aide to Chairman Julius Genachowski, moved to the bureau in late June.

The FCC is likely to get the Universal Service Fund revamp done in 2011, panelists said during a Regulatory 2.0 workshop Thursday. Congress should give the FCC as much flexibility as possible as it considers legislation giving the commission authority for incentive auctions for broadcast and other spectrum, they said.

House lawmakers are pointing to large costs and national security concerns as reasons not to allow LightSquared to move forward with its plan to build a national network. At a hearing Thursday before the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Strategic Forces, Democrats and Republicans said the cost of testing for and implementing methods to mitigate GPS interference might outweigh the benefits. The hearing also contributed to a political firestorm over an allegedly cozy relationship between LightSquared and the White House. And Subcommittee Chairman Michael Turner, R-Ohio, berated FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski for not appearing at the hearing.

CLECs are urging the FCC to get moving on its broadband business docket. The commission issued a public notice on docket 10-188, seeking comments on “the current state of … business broadband markets.” One year later, CLECs say they're growing impatient. “Completing this docket would help safeguard competition in broadband, encouraging investment and innovation and increasing the number of businesses with access to affordable broadband services,” XO Vice President Lisa Youngers said in a statement Thursday. “By moving forward on the Business Broadband Docket, the FCC could help improve productivity and spur job creation across America."

A proposal to test a hybrid broadcast-broadband system on low-power TV stations using an alternate broadcast transmission technology again stalled at the FCC Media Bureau, executives for the company proposing the test said. LPTV operator WatchTV had asked the commission for special temporary authority to test new DTV transmission technology on some of its stations, after the bureau earlier denied its similar application for an experimental license. WatchTV executives had been confident the new tack would be successful (CD July 29 p13). Now, the executives aren’t so hopeful. “We've got a clear indication that no matter what benefit we can demonstrate, someone is deciding they have been anointed to pick winners and losers in this game,” said CEO Gregory Herman.

Seven major ISP and Web companies engage in de facto “censorship” because of policies against hate speech, and some have banned certain Christian content, a group representing religious broadcasters said. The National Religious Broadcasters said the companies decide what’s so shocking as to not be allowed on their websites. Its 41-page paper said Twitter was the only major Internet player whose policies it reviewed that didn’t censor speech on those private companies’ sites. Apple, AT&T, Comcast, Facebook, Google, MySpace and Verizon all have policies that could let them engage in such discrimination, NRB said. Those companies had no comment.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. -- LightSquared is “very confident that we'll get a positive signal” from regulators “to get our network up and running,” after giving federal agencies two prototype filters Thursday that it said prove the operation doesn’t need to interfere with precision GPS, an executive said. Interference has been a “problem for less than 0.5 percent of devices in the market and we've now found a solution to it,” said Patrick Parodi, vice president-ecosystem development.