Some TV broadcasters could live without rules that allow stations to opt for mandatory carriage by pay-TV distributors, Skadden Arps attorney Antoinette Cook Bush said during a BroadbandUS.TV webcast on the FCC’s retransmission consent rules. “I think some broadcasters would say, ‘Get rid of all the rules,” Bush said. There is “a contingent of broadcasters that are very supportive of [must-carry rules] but there are a lot of broadcasters that are not and it would not matter to them if you got rid of must carry,” she said. Some broadcasters would also support eliminating network and syndicated exclusivity rules because they limit the geographic area in which stations can negotiate for exclusive programming rights, said Pillsbury Winthrop attorney John Hane.

Some public TV representatives are optimistic about the fate of funding for public television in the forthcoming federal budget plans. Many TV station professionals met with lawmakers in their regions to discuss the importance of funding and how federal funds are used at their stations. Representatives from PBS SoCal, Los Angeles and WITF, Harrisburg, Pa., said they're confident about overall support despite some opposition from some legislators during meetings. “There’s strong advocacy for PBS,” said Jo Ellen Chatham, PBS SoCal board chair. “There are some members who are philosophically opposed to funding, but I think they're in the minority,” she said in an interview. “It’s our responsibility to indicate to them that PBS isn’t a luxury. It’s not just something nice to have."

The FCC approved long-awaited data roaming requirements over strong objections by Commissioners Robert McDowell and Meredith Baker. Chairman Julius Genachowski, a Democrat, defended the standing of the commission to issue the order, over the two Republicans’ objections. “I would be surprised if no one appeals this order and even further surprised if they didn’t eventually prevail in court,” McDowell told us after the meeting.

House Communications Subcommittee leaders have different measures of success for the floor vote on the joint resolution to disapprove FCC net neutrality rules under the Congressional Review Act. House Republicans are expected to pass the resolution with few Democratic votes, but Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., and Ranking Member Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., separately claimed early victories on Thursday. The floor vote was originally scheduled for Thursday, but it was postponed until Friday due to budget negotiations. The House will meet at 10 a.m. and begin legislative business at noon, Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., said Thursday.

The FCC lowered CLECs’ pole attachment rates to match cable companies’ rates, while setting deadlines to complete attachments, giving wireless carriers the right to attach to the top of poles and giving ILECs a chance to lower their rates under an FCC complaint process that previously was only open to CLECs and cable companies. The commission also issued a notice of inquiry Thursday asking a broad array of questions about rights of way and wireless siting. The commission acted without dissent, with all five commissioners saying their action would accelerate broadband deployment.

GENEVA -- Preparatory discussions for a 2012 treaty conference focused on changing provisions in the International Telecommunications Regulations (ITR) to account for the significant shift of the industry to a modern market-oriented environment, according to submissions. At least some of the new issues raised during the 2009 World Telecommunications Policy Forum appeared to gain traction with groups of developing countries (CD April 27/09 p6). Preparatory discussions are at an early stage, executives and officials said.

BERKELEY, Calif. -- “Technology is the only way forward” to eliminate the digital divide in poorer countries, Eric Brewer, an activist computer science professor at this University of California campus, said at a forum late Wednesday. “There is no alternative.” He added that “maybe economics” offers a path, but only as “used to buy technology to close the divide.” But others disagreed.

The FCC has many tools at its disposal to tackle spectrum constraints, whether it’s improving spectrum efficiency or freeing up more spectrum, Wireless Bureau Chief Ruth Milkman said at the Wireless Communications Association conference. The commission is looking at spectrum sharing and harmonization opportunities, and is willing to work with industry to come up with a solution to better inform consumers on throughput, she said Wednesday. It takes time to bring spectrum to auction, so “we have to start now” to avoid a spectrum crunch that will result in poor quality of service for consumers, Milkman said.

The FCC issued a notice of proposed rulemaking on a proposal it let consumers use fixed and mobile consumer signal boosters, subject to restrictions designed to mitigate the risk of harmful interference. The commission, as expected (CD April 4 p5), approved the rulemaking on circulation in advance of Thursday’s meeting. “Although by one measure, 99.6 percent of the nation’s population is served by one or more mobile voice providers, and more than 98 percent of the nation’s population can now receive ‘advanced’ or ‘3G’ wireless services, coverage gaps exist within and at the fringes of those service areas and continue to pose a problem … particularly in rural areas,” the NPRM said. “Signal boosters are part of the solution to addressing coverage gaps in rural areas."

USTelecom’s proposal on dealing with phantom traffic was backed by CenturyLink Vice President Melissa Newman and NTCA Vice President Michael Romano. “It’s a great starting point,” Newman said Wednesday at the FCC’s day-long workshop on intercarrier compensation overhaul. The plan would create per-minute benchmarks for calls to signal what some in the industry call phantom traffic. “It’s all about costs and volumes and the original premise of these tariffs in rural areas was based on low volumes,” Newman said: She hopes FCC officials realize that “there’s agreement on this panel."