Content creators and distributors would both have duties when it comes to captioning pay-TV and broadcast programming that goes online, under a draft FCC order set to be issued shortly. Video programming distributors (VPDs) like cable, DBS, telco-TV companies and TV stations, and video programming owners (VPO) like studios and other content creators, both have roles. The draft order implementing Internet Protocol captioning rules under the 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act requires VPOs to deliver captioned shows to VPDs, said industry and commission officials. They said the order would give programmers and makers of consumer electronics time to come into compliance.

President Barack Obama’s announcement Wednesday he was installing Richard Cordray as head of the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau through a “recess appointment” could have big implications for the FCC. Industry and government officials said the resulting blow up over the Cordray appointment could provoke Senate Republicans to hold up votes on other nominees, and FCC nominees Jessica Rosenworcel and Ajit Pai could get caught in the crossfire.

Comcast never planned to build out its AWS spectrum licenses, which it won at auction along with some other cable operator members of SpectrumCo, Comcast CFO Michael Angelakis told investors at a Citigroup conference Thursday. He was asked about SpectrumCo’s recent deal to sell that spectrum to Verizon Wireless with Comcast and Verizon then marketing each other’s products. “We never really intended to build that spectrum, so therefore it’s a really good use of that spectrum,” he said. “We always said the spectrum had to be financially optimized and strategically optimized and I think with Verizon we were able to do that,” Angelakis said.

Low-power radio has little economic impact on full-service stations in the same market, an FCC study for Congress said. The study of all 835 “active” U.S. low-power FM stations -- which compares to 6,468 full-service commercial stations -- pointed to LPFM outlets’ low listenership figures. It also found low LPFM revenue figures and listed regulatory obstacles that limit coverage areas. Half the portion of LPFM stations have websites as do commercial full-power FM broadcasters, which are three times more likely to stream their audio online, the Media Bureau analysis said.

The FCC understands that some companies may not be able to meet newly imposed deadlines for auditing their books under new Universal Service Fund rules, Wireline Bureau Deputy Chief Carol Mattey said Thursday. “We are well aware of the challenges of companies that have not been able to submit to a financial audit,” Mattey said in a webinar hosted by USTelecom. “I do very much appreciate the time-sensitivity of it and I think we will be able to give some guidance on the timing of that. We recognize that certain things may not be able to be implemented by the deadline of this year.”

AT&T has no regrets and “no second guesses” about its failed $39 billion T-Mobile deal, said John Stankey, CEO of AT&T Business Solutions. The carrier will now focus on a different strategy and evaluate its spectrum opportunities as it always does, he told investors Thursday. AT&T meanwhile is ahead of schedule in LTE deployment and expects to complete national deployment by 2013, he told the Citi conference in San Francisco.

Clearwire is training its sights again on T-Mobile in an eager search to sign a second wholesale customer to join Sprint Nextel on its 4G network, said Chief Financial Officer Hope Cochran. The failure of T-Mobile’s sale to AT&T “did free up a lot of conversations,” she said late Wednesday at Citi’s investors conference in San Francisco. T-Mobile needs “capacity, they need spectrum, and they need an LTE path,” Cochran said. She left unstated Clearwire’s sales pitch that it can meet those needs, and she declined to discuss any communications between the companies.

MetroPCS will begin offering the Mobile Content Venture’s Dyle mobile DTV service to customers this year on a new Samsung 4G LTE smartphone, the companies said Wednesday. The deal makes MetroPCS the first cellular carrier partner for the TV broadcasters’ fledgling mobile DTV service. Each of MetroPCS’s 14 major markets includes at least one MCV member station that will be broadcasting mobile DTV services this year, the MCV said. And some markets, such as Los Angeles, will have mobile DTV programming from as many as six stations, said Erik Moreno, co-general manager of the MCV. “We will be encouraging additional broadcasters to light up their stations in that core MetroPCS footprint,” he said.

Vonage will launch a wireless application that will allow users to text or call -- domestically or internationally -- without relying on obscure user names, CEO Marc Lefar said Wednesday. Speaking to an investors conference sponsored by Citi, Lefar said Vonage will formally launch its new wireless app within weeks. “It’s our belief that the mobile user experience still has room for improvement,” he said.

The FCC violated the plain language of Section 224 of the 1996 Telecom Act when it passed its pole attachments order, power companies said in court documents filed late Tuesday. American Electric Power Service and its allies filed their brief laying out their challenge to last April’s order (CD April 8 p3) and the Edison Electric Institute filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.