Meredith Baker and her aides consulted with FCC lawyers at least 10 times in the three-and-a-half weeks between when the then-commissioner began considering working for Comcast and when the cable operator hired her, agency records show. Emails between Baker and FCC General Counsel Austin Schlick and ethics official Patrick Carney in the Office of General Counsel (OGC) and Baker’s calendar entries were released to Warren Communications News, publisher of Communications Daily. The records confirm the accounts given publicly by FCC and Comcast officials that Baker consulted with the OGC before the date she says she began considering a job at the cable operator, and that she recused herself from any issues at the commission affecting the company. Of the 17 documents Warren received under a Freedom of Information Act request, six were completely blacked out and two were partly redacted.

The FCC does have a role to play in speeding up broadband deployment beyond its zoning “shot clock,” Verizon and Verizon Wireless said in a filing at the commission in response to an April notice of inquiry asking for comments on improving government policies for access to rights of way and wireless facilities siting. Numerous local governments told the FCC to back off (CD July 19 p 7). But several companies and trade associations also filed, suggesting that the FCC has more to do to help industry deal with too slow zoning and siting decisions.

LOS ANGELES - Regulators need to fix video content price discrimination, tiering and tying practices, panelists said at the National Association of Rural Utility Commissioners summer meeting. Small Multichannel Video Programming Distributors (MVPD) are the victims

LOS ANGELES -- There’s no time to lose in addressing issues with call completion because public safety, homeland security and economic well-being in rural America are threatened, said panelists at the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners meeting. Meanwhile, no commitments were made during Chairman Julius Genachowski’s meeting with the USF Federal/State Joint Board and the NARUC Telecom Committee.

Republican candidates received more than Democrats in political action committee contributions from the communications industry in the early part of the 2011-2012 election cycle. The Communications and Electronics sector has made $3.2 million in federal contributions, and 57 percent of the contributions have gone to the GOP, said the Center for Responsive Politics, citing July 5 data from the Federal Election Commission. That’s a reversal from the 2009-2010 cycle, when the sector spent 53 percent of nearly $25 million raised on Democrats. A spokesman for the center cautioned that only some PACs have filed data for April and May.

Local governments essentially told the FCC to back off, in response to an April 7 notice of inquiry seeking comments on improving government policies for access to rights of way and wireless facilities siting. The National Broadband Plan last year concluded that rates, terms, and conditions for access to rights of way can have a significant impact on broadband deployment. In late 2009, the FCC imposed a “shot clock” on local zoning decisions for cell towers and other wireless facilities, which met with similar push back from local governments.

The FCC set its hard date for the last DTV switch, saying low-power stations must turn off analog signals in just over four years. The deadline is Sept. 1, 2015, for all TV stations that broadcast at lower power levels than the several thousand full-power outlets that went all-digital in 2009. All low-power stations must vacate the 700 MHz band by the end of this year. That will clear that band, “allowing for the successful deployment of wireless services” by companies and public-safety agencies,” Commissioner Robert McDowell said. Friday evening’s order seemed to have no major changes from an earlier Media Bureau draft (CD June 24 p4).

Frequent updates at the FCC by News Corp. and the addition of internal watchdogs are good ways to guard against the kind of illegality in the U.S. that continues to swirl around the company and its newspapers in the U.K., said industry executives. News Corp. closed its News of the World newspaper two Sundays ago after it was revealed its reporters hacked into the phone systems of politicians and private citizens. The FBI and Justice Department have reportedly opened investigations into the scandal after several U.S. lawmakers pushed for increased scrutiny based on potential violations of the Federal Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (CD July 14 p7). News Corp. recently hired Williams & Connolly, a prominent Washington, D.C., criminal defense firm, as the legal stakes of the scandal continue to grow.

More small and mid-size cable and broadcasting assets sales are expected, executives and brokers said. Cable systems and channels and radio and TV stations will continue to be sold, but not in the numbers of the boom times for mergers and acquisitions that the media industry saw about 10 years ago, they said. And it has become harder for some prospective buyers to borrow money for deals than it was six months ago, brokers and executives said.

LOS ANGELES -- Panelists at NARUC’s summer meeting urged the FCC to address the missing pieces in the Universal Service Fund and intercarrier compensation revamp. Those are contribution, speed and roles for small and rural phone companies, speakers said Sunday. Meanwhile, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski was expected to meet with the NARUC Telecom Committee and the Federal/State Joint Board at NARUC’s summer meeting late Monday.