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.

SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- The struggles of a planned commercial broadband service for low-end customers, and the prospect that most of T-Mobile’s network will be dismantled, raised the concern of the head of a California Public Utilities Commission’s inquiry into the proposed purchase of the carrier by AT&T. At a workshop in Silicon Valley, the two commissioners present expressed interest in the efforts and market challenges of start-up Box Top to get broadband into low-income homes including those of old people and minorities by using TV sets, cellphones and merchant subsidies. “You're going after the digital divide,” said Commissioner Timothy Simon. And Commissioner Catherine Sandoval, leading the inquiry, pressed an AT&T executive Friday into acknowledging that about two-thirds of T-Mobile’s network facilities would be “decommissioned” because the combined company would have little use for them.

Promised FCC deadlines for Universal Service Fund and intercarrier compensation regime reform have been pushed back and Commissioner Robert McDowell said he’s worried that reforms may “slip away.” In an appearance on C-SPAN’s The Communicators, he said “I get concerned when I see dates continue to slip away.” And “I've seen this movie before,” he said in the videotaped interview.

Spectrum is figuring in debt reconciliation talks, as was expected, but with a twist -- an unexpected tie-in to health care spending, industry sources closely tracking budget negotiations said last week. Republicans hope that under an eventual deal with President Barack Obama they will divvy up major budget cuts that have to be made to the chairmen of the various congressional committees, officials said.

Division over the 700 MHz D-block is the main barrier to bipartisan spectrum legislation in the House, lawmakers said at a Communications Subcommittee hearing Friday. The Commerce Committee’s top Democrats and top Republicans have signed onto separate draft bills. The Democrats want to reallocate the D-block to public safety and the Republicans seek to auction it to commercial providers. While both sides voiced optimism about reaching consensus, debt limit negotiations threaten to suck up a key component of the legislation: Voluntary incentive auctions. (See separate report in this issue.)

The FCC should expand its oversight and enforcement of some children’s TV rules to cover multichannel video programming distributors, the GAO recommended in a report on the agency’s implementation of the Children’s TV Act. Broadcasters self-report compliance with the rules, mainly by disclosing how many and what sort of ads run during kids’ programming. Cable and DBS operators aren’t required to self-report in the same way, resulting in far more fines against broadcasters than MVPDs “even though they televise much more children’s programming than broadcasters,” last week’s report said.