Charter Communications attacked additional conditions on its buys of Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks that were added last month by the California Public Utilities Commission. Commissioners unanimously gave the deal the green light in May, but Dec. 19 revised the order to add some conditions sought by consumer groups in rehearing applications (see 1612190021). The consumer groups claimed Charter agreed to the conditions -- on service quality, semiannual reports to Office of Ratepayer Advocates, a customer service survey and communications with customers with disabilities -- but the commission forgot to include them in its order. In an application for rehearing posted Friday, Charter said the decision “unreasonably imposes seven new conditions upon Charter in addition to the numerous conditions imposed” in the May decision. The commission already rejected the conditions sought by the consumer groups, Charter said. “The Decision’s revision, issued seven months after D.16-05-007, constitutes legal error that now should be corrected in a subsequent decision on rehearing.”

The Maine Public Utilities Commission shouldn’t fine FairPoint for failing to meet service quality benchmarks from Q3 2014 to Q2 2016, said FairPoint Maine President Michael Reed. If the commission imposes fines, they should be minimal in amount and based only on provider-of-last-resort revenue, he said in Friday testimony in docket 2014-00376. The PUC in October proposed $500,000 in civil penalties for service quality violations (see 1610170011). Reed blamed service-quality failures on reasons out of FairPoint’s control. The telco still would have missed benchmarks for network troubles not cleared in 24 hours and installation appointments not met due to company reasons “even during normal operating conditions due to how the benchmarks for those metrics were derived during the rulemaking process,” he said. “Taking into consideration the cyber-attacks, labor strike and extreme winter weather, performance under those benchmarks worsened, and also resulted in [FairPoint] not meeting the Average Delay Days For Missed Appointments and Network Trouble Report Rate for the four quarters of 2015." FairPoint last month promised better service if regulators approve its acquisition by Consolidated Communications (see 1612210016).

The Vermont Public Service Board added an electronic filing and case management system as part of a website redesign for Jan. 1. The new look aligns the site with other Vermont agency websites, the board said.

The FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau selected the Perkins School for the Blind for certification to participate in the National Deaf-Blind Equipment Distribution Program (NDBEDP) for the state of Ohio, effective Sunday, said a Friday order. In its NDBEDP pilot program order, the FCC determined it would certify one entity per state as eligible to receive support for the local distribution of equipment to low-income individuals who are deaf-blind, the bureau said.

Oklahoma lawmakers will take up a bill next year that would ban handheld use of cellphones and other electronic devices while driving. Texting while driving already is illegal in the state. Sen. Ron Sharp (R) filed legislation last week that would toughen state law aimed at preventing distracted driving. “Drivers are still getting distracted by their phones and other electronic devices and there’s no reason to be using them while driving except in emergencies,” Sharp said in a news release.

Tough new restrictions on cellphone use while driving start in California Sunday as Assembly Bill 1785 is slated to take effect. People will no longer be able to check their iTunes playlist or check for directions on a smartphone while driving without violating the law. “Technology has improved so rapidly, and our cell phones are more capable of much more than just calls and text messages,” Assembly member Bill Quirk, a Democrat, said in a news release when the bill became law in September. “Smartphones have an abundance of available features that demand a driver’s attention, leading to very dangerous driving behavior. However, such activities are not clearly prohibited by law.”

Pointing to numerous affidavits signed by Missouri residents attesting they were on the National Do Not Call Registry and yet received violative telemarketing calls from Charter Communications or one of its telemarketers, the state filed a motion (in Pacer) for summary judgment Wednesday in U.S. District Court in St. Louis. Charter on Wednesday filed a separate motion (in Pacer) asking the judge to strike requests for damages and penalties in the Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR) lawsuit, arguing the state isn't entitled to penalties under federal law and wouldn't disclose any calculation of compensatory damages. In the summary judgment motion, Missouri said on a finding of Charter's liability, it "will seek a substantial penalty appropriate to the severity of Charter's misconduct," saying the court should "set an example to others in the industry that compliance is the profitable path." It also said the state Attorney General's Office received more than 370 complaints, but it submitted to the court 15 affidavits establishing 315 TSR violations "for purposes of clarity and simplicity and to establish liability only." The state called it indisputable the company is liable for telemarketing calls placed by vendors on its behalf. Charter in its motion to strike said TSR doesn't permit state attorneys general to recover civil penalties and limits recovery to compensatory damages. It also said Missouri resisted Charter efforts to conduct discovery on compensatory damages issues, and therefore it should be precluded from introducing any evidence of damages at trial. Neither Charter nor Missouri commented Thursday.

Being taken over by Amalgamated Telecom will give American Samoa telco/underwater cable company Bluesky and its affiliates more financial and managerial resources, and would have no anticompetitive effects because ATH provides no telecom services in American Samoa now, Fiji-based telco ATH said in an FCC International Bureau filing Tuesday on the public interest benefits of the proposed deal. ATH said the transaction would require transfer of Communications Act Section 214 authorizations, commercial mobile radio service licenses, and common carrier and non-common carrier Bluesky earth station licenses, plus transfer of control of the cable landing license associated with Bluesky affiliate American Samoa-Hawaii Cable.

Richard Beverly was sworn-in as a D.C. public service commissioner Wednesday, the regulator said. The D.C. Council unanimously confirmed his appointment the previous day, for a four-year term ending June 30, 2020. He had been the agency's general counsel (see 1612200037).

The District of Columbia Council voted unanimously to confirm Richard Beverly to the Public Service Commission. Beverly currently is general counsel for the commission and has worked there since 1997. He will replace Commissioner Joanne Doddy Fort, whose term expired June 30. Beverly “possesses both the public service and the experience to properly serve on the commission,” Councilmember Charles Allen (D) said at the Tuesday confirmation.