FCC Chairman Ajit Pai is to testify April 26 at a House Appropriations Financial Services Subcommittee hearing on the agency's FY 2019 budget request, a committee GOP aide told us. House Appropriations hadn't officially noticed the hearing. The commission didn't comment. The proposed budget for FY 2019 was about $322 million, down more than $21 million from the $343 million allocated in FY 2018 continuing appropriations but the same as the Trump administration’s proposed budget for the agency for that year. The Office of Inspector General’s budget would remain largely steady at $11 million (see 1802120037). The FCC reauthorization and spectrum legislative package (HR-4986), which Congress enacted as part of the $1.3 trillion FY 2018 omnibus spending bill (HR-1625), allocates the same combined amount to the FCC and OIG for FY 2019 and increases their combined budget by about $6.5 million for FY 2020 (see 1803210068, 1803220048 and 1803230038).

FCC efforts to mitigate storm damage to communications networks in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands are inadequate and lacked transparency, commented Free Press and the National Hispanic Media Coalition in Wednesday in docket 17-344. Closing of public comments on FCC hurricane response before basic utilities were restored to storm victims prevented “those with the most at stake from participating in this proceeding,” the filing said. Free Press and NHMC unsuccessfully asked to extend the comment period (see 1802200042). "Barriers to participation in this proceeding have been far too high,” they said. The FCC didn’t do “proper outreach” in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, the groups said. “Surprisingly, the Commission failed to publish its request for public comment in Spanish, Puerto Rico’s dominant language.” The regulator should “deeply analyze” the effects of the storms, as it did by holding field hearings after Hurricane Katrina, the filing said. Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel repeatedly says the agency should hold field hearings in Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands. “These events should be easy for those impacted by the storm to attend and participate in, in terms of language, location, accessibility and other necessary accommodations,” the filing said: The agency should also create a story collection tool and do outreach to make victims aware of it, increase transparency about the Hurricane Recovery Task Force, publish a report on its findings, and re-open the San Juan, Puerto Rico, field office. Free Press and NHMC criticized FCC proposed cuts to the Lifeline program. The cuts would “disconnect the Lifeline services of hundreds of thousands of hurricane victims,” they said.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai invited Commissioner Mike O'Rielly's ideas and proposals on the USF budget and rural telco funding. Pai responded Wednesday to our questions after speaking at a rural broadband event at the Department of Agriculture (see 1804180023), including about O'Rielly's recent suggestions at an NTCA conference that rural telco high-cost USF support could be increased somewhat (see 1804160043). While Pai said he hadn't read about O'Rielly's comments, he looks forward to hearing more about his colleague's ideas and any specific proposals. O’Rielly’s office didn’t comment Wednesday but noted he's scheduled to speak at the American Enterprise Institute Thursday. In a statement on a recent rural USF order and notice, O'Rielly voiced interest in setting an overall USF budget and concern about aspects of the notice, particularly the possible removal of capital and operating expense limits (see 1803230025).

Citing Comcast/NBCUniversal using NBC content as a competitive cudgel to whack broadband competition, RCN CEO Jim Holanda testified in U.S. v. AT&T and Time Warner that he fears New AT&T doing likewise. Turner content is "significantly viewed" by RCN subscribers, with three of its networks among the 10 most watched, judging by set-top box data, he said. A DOJ attorney asked Holanda about an RCN offering that pairs broadband with a video tier of only TV stations and public access, and how his company can't offer that to its entire subscriber base because Comcast contracts prohibit it in some areas without selling the entire cable giant's bundle of content due to penetration requirements. He said those limits came up after Comcast bought NBCU, and the operator has since come into some RCN markets with a roughly analogous offering. He worries New AT&T would similarly use Turner programming as competitive leverage against RCN when competing for double- and triple-play customers in markets where it overlaps with AT&T. RCN programming costs have been going up five to eight times the rate of inflation over the past five years, Holanda said. He said major MVPDs have a 25 to 40 percent price advantage for programming due to their size, which puts RCN at a $10 to $15 a month cost disadvantage. Also Tuesday, DOJ's lawyer and an AT&T/TW expert witness -- UCLA economics professor Peter Rossi -- locked horns repeatedly as Justice challenged Rossi's criticisms of research that played a big role in the government's model (see 1804160030). DirecTV filed a docket 17-2511 motion (in Pacer) Tuesday in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia asking that it be dismissed from the DOJ suit, as expected (see 1803190023). It said government failed to state a claim against it, since it's not a party to the challenged deal.

Google Fiber further criticized NCTA's make-ready pole-attachment proposal, calling it "not very different from the status quo." NCTA's defense of its "Accelerated and Safe Access to Poles plan" (see 1804050056) "raises numerous points that are essentially red herrings, and distract from the core issues," Google filed, posted Friday in docket 17-84. It noted the FCC Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee's "one-touch, make-ready" recommendation to improve the pole-attachment process. "What NCTA’s proposal does is double-down on the existing, multi-party process," the company said. "Stakeholders agree that the current make-ready process is untenable. ... Proposals that do nothing more than reduce timeframes without changing the fundamental approach to preparing poles for new deployments do almost nothing to resolve those problems. One-touch make-ready, on the other hand, represents an efficient use of resources speeds deployment, makes costs lower and more predictable, and reduces the opportunity for injury and property damage." NCTA emailed that its "proposal accelerates the timeline for all parties to attach while still preserving the rights of existing attachers. Unfortunately Google continues to pursue an extreme agenda that would deprive existing providers of control over their facilities while failing to hold new providers accountable for any harm that they cause.” The Fiber Broadband Association (here) and AT&T (here and here) discussed their proposals last week.

The latest FCC media deregulation got a 5-0 vote, and Friday was taken off the agenda (see 1803270052) for Tuesday's commissioners' meeting. Members without issuing their own written public comment changed rules to require only DTV stations that sold fee-based or provided supplementary services to file Form 2100, Schedule G. The order may be the only media-related item for the meeting to get a vote on circulation, said agency officials. Still on the agenda is a draft NPRM to no longer make cable operators keep at local offices listings of the pay-TV channels each system delivers. That item might also get a 5-0 vote, said officials. A Media Bureau representative declined to comment. "In conjunction with our Modernization of Media Regulation Initiative, parties have urged us to amend this provision because it imposes pointless burdens on a substantial number of broadcasters," said the DTV form order. "This action advances our efforts to modernize our regulations and eliminate outdated or unnecessary rules." Commissioners at last week's NAB Show sought further media deregulation (see 1804100028).

Local number portability operations in the Southeast appeared to be running normally Friday, after iconectiv took over administrator duties in its region from Neustar April 8 (see 1804090028). "All is going well as we complete the first week," emailed an iconectiv spokeswoman. North American Portability Management had no new updates posted on its LNPA transition page Friday by late afternoon. Others we contacted weren't aware of any significant problems or didn't comment. "Planning and preparation continue for the next cutover weekend," said iconectiv's spokeswoman. The incoming LNP administrator is to take over in the Mid-Atlantic, Midwest and Northeast regions May 6, and in the Southwest, Western and West Coast regions May 20. Heading into the Southeast cutover, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said NAPM and its transition oversight manager, PwC, did "extensive preparatory work and testing to ensure a smooth transition," including a March 18 "successful 'dry run' of critical components." Pai responded April 6 to a letter from Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Bill Nelson, D-Fla., seeking an update (see 1803230070), in an exchange posted Friday in docket 18-19.

Comment deadlines were corrected on FCC proposals to implement Section 7 of the Communications Act and speed review of new technologies and services. Comments are due May 21, replies June 20 in docket 18-22, said a correction Wednesday in the Federal Register that said an earlier notice (see 1804040021) inaccurately reflected shorter deadlines than the 45-day and 75-day deadlines in the NPRM. Three other FR notices said Paperwork Reduction Act comments are due: May 11 at the FCC and Office of Management and Budget on revised video relay service certification information collection requirements in docket 03-123 (here), and on third-party disclosure obligations under Section 17.4 rules, requiring "the owner of any proposed or existing antenna structure that requires notice of proposed construction to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to register the structure with FCC," among other duties (here); and June 11 at the FCC on truth-in-billing and anti-cramming requirements in dockets 98-170 and 04-208 (here).

Telco and cable entities updated a request for FCC actions against "access stimulation," with CenturyLink this week joining proposals building on a November letter from AT&T, Frontier Communications, NCTA, NTCA, Verizon, Windstream, WTA and USTelecom (see 1711170063). A revised proposed rule "follows up on our letter and would require carriers that are engaged in access stimulation to bear the financial responsibility for all terminating switched transport costs (including both flat-rated and usage-sensitive charges) between their end office (or remote or functional equivalent) and the tandem switch to which the terminating carrier requires inbound calls to be routed," said the parties' filing posted Thursday in docket 01-92. Another filing cited a meeting with Wireline Bureau officials.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai will open a Friday FCC workshop on identifying the communications information needs of government and consumers and improving preparation for crises. Three roundtable discussions will follow -- on federal information requirements, state/local/territorial requirements and consumer requirements, said a Public Safety Bureau notice. The workshop takes place at FCC headquarters starting at 9 a.m.