FCC Chmn. Powell is expected to start circulating draft UNE rules among commissioners today (Wed.) so they can have input on the item before the rules are placed on the agency’s Dec. 15 agenda meeting. Lobbying has stepped up as various industry segments attempt to push their views in the much-contested proceeding. One 8th floor aide reported having 9 meetings with industry lobbyists Tues. “It’s already starting and the schedule looks pretty solid” the next week or 2, he said.

Despite a high-profile launch and national distribution through Sears, Rainbow DBS’s Voom HD satellite service has attracted less than 10% of its 26,000 subscribers through retail, parent Cablevision said in an SEC filing. In addition to Sears, which has 1,600 stores, Voom is being marketed by distributor O'Rourke Bros., which gives it access to another 800 outlets. Voom also has relied on direct sales of the service, which launched a year ago and delivers 36 HD and 80 SD channels in programming packages that carry $49-$89 monthly fees.

Price caps remain the dominant form of retail rate regulation for large and mid-sized incumbent telcos in the U.S. They are employed by 38 states plus D.C., Communications Daily’s survey of state regulatory schemes showed. In the other states, regulation ranges from rate- of-return (ROR) to full retail rate deregulation. Regulators in 4 states and D.C. are considering new price regulation plans for their largest incumbents, while 2 other states are considering major modifications to existing regulatory regimes. Most small incumbents remain under rate of return regulation, while CLECs operate under minimal regulation across the country.

Members of the House got some of what they wanted and a little of what they didn’t want when the Senate approved a broadcast decency amendment Tues. as part of the Defense Dept. (DoD) Authorization bill (S-2400). The Senate overwhelmingly approved a 9-fold fine increases for indecent broadcasts, but it also approved a stay on the FCC’s media ownership rules -- a provision strenuously opposed by House leadership -- and controversial restrictions on violent broadcasts. Much, but not all, of the contents of Sen. Brownback’s (R-Kan.) S-2052 were approved by a 99-1 vote for the amendment to the DoD bill. NAB said it opposed the amendment.

The National Emergency Number Assn. (NENA) is pushing a new angle in efforts to get stalled Enhanced 911 (E911) legislation through Congress. Seizing on the interest in new services like VoIP, NENA is presenting the case that E911 legislation is essential because it would establish a National Coordinating Office in the federal govt. That office would help integrate 911 services to VoIP and other new services, like Wi-Fi and Blackberries, said NENA Govt. Affairs Dir. Stephen Seitz. The national coordination office was the top priority cited in a document NENA delivered to Congress last week, ahead of funding.

The FCC plans a 3rd meeting of its E911 Coordination Initiative on April 27, 11 a.m.-5:30 p.m. and April 28, 9 a.m.-1:45 p.m. It will be in the Commission meeting room at FCC hq.

NTIA, the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office and the Commerce Dept.’s Technology Administration plan a forum April 1 on wireless sensor technologies. The half-day forum will cover the future market for sensor technologies, including current and prospective uses by industry and govt. The forum will address public policy issues such as spectrum use, privacy and security and intellectual property. It will be 9 a.m.-1:15 p.m. at the Commerce Dept. auditorium, 1401 Constitution Ave. NW.

The House Commerce Committee voted overwhelmingly Wed. to raise FCC fines for “indecent” broadcasts to a level even higher than previously proposed. HR-3717, which was completely rewritten, gives the FCC authority to levy fines up to $500,000 for each violation, vs. the $275,000 previously proposed. The rewritten bill, called the Broadcast Decency Enforcement Act of 2004, will require the FCC to hold a license revocation hearing for a 3rd offense and create a 180-day time limit (or so-called shot clock) for the FCC to determine whether broadcasters have violated the indecency statutes.

State regulators remain tangled with vexing procedural questions that must be settled before they can come to grips with the market impairment analysis cases required by the FCC’s Triennial Review Order (TRO), officials said. In actions in the last week, states were considering whether they had enough evidence to conduct cases, deciding on splitting cases into phases and ruling on discovery issues.

Qwest, AT&T and WorldCom proposed a uniform batch hot- cut process for all 14 states in Qwest’s territory. Some states said they would be willing to entertain the idea as they continued with their dockets to address competition impairment issues from the FCC’s Triennial Review Order (TRO). Elsewhere, N.M. and Ark. regulators decided there was no need for 90-day TRO cases on enterprise switching, and a W.Va. Task force recommended against such a case.