Small cable operators are split on whether they would sell channels individually if they had the chance, which Cablevision supports. Mediacom and Cable One officials said they're open to considering a la carte programming. Bresnan Communications joined larger operators, including Charter and Cox (CD Jan 27 p5), in opposing a la carte. “If you look at all the research that has been done, a la carte will lead to decreased choices for consumers and increased prices and less diversity,” said Steven Brookstein, Bresnan exec. vp- operations: “We are not a supporter of a la carte for that reason.”

Opposition to the proposed takeover of Adelphia cable systems has increased with the formation by pay TV firms and media activists of a group seeking FCC and FTC curbs on the deal. Members of the consortium include DirecTV, EchoStar and RCN, which have previously expressed concern to the FCC about the potential to snuff out competition in the market for programming for local networks. The companies want the FCC to impose a wide array of restrictions on Comcast and Time Warner, seeking Commission approval for the $17.6 billion deal. They want to ensure the 2 largest U.S. cable operators don’t limit the availability of programming.

Colleagues of former Tenn. regulator Deborah Tate described the FCC’s newest commissioner as a mediator, problem solver and consensus builder who prefers to settle matters through voluntary agreements among conflicting parties.

News from Washington Post Co.’s flagship newspaper will be available on radio broadcasts in the D.C. area by April 1. The owner of The Washington Post is working with Bonneville International in what one media critic said was the first arrangement of its type. Washington Post Radio will be carried on Bonneville’s 107.7 FM and 1500 AM. As part of a rejiggering of the broadcaster’s frequency allocations in the city, all-news station WTOP will be moved from those 2 locations to 103.5 FM, and all- classical WGMS will replace a popular music station on 104.1 FM, all owned by Bonneville. The “experiment” is “wonderful,” said Andrew Schwartzman, exec. dir.-Media Access Project, an activist who’s often critical of large media firms. “If they can successfully leverage Washington Post content onto radio, they are spreading their costs,” he said. He said the paper may also be able to boost circulation, at a time of declining readership of many large metropolitan dailies.

The FCC hasn’t acted on an indecency complaint backlog, despite late Sept. remarks by Chmn. Martin that the Commission would rule quickly on several such items. A stack of rulings that staffers and industry officials expected commissioners to approve hasn’t made the 8th floor rounds, an aide to Comr. Adelstein said. There was no immediate explanation, but one observer suggested blaming a politically split Commission, noting that in all of 2005 the FCC hasn’t levied a single indecency fine.

Representatives of think tanks and public interest groups gave straightforward answers when asked about their funding at a Wed. FCBA lunch. Ray Gifford, Progress & Freedom Foundation pres., said PFF is corporate-funded, sometimes a “perilous mechanism for a think tank.” PFF and kindred groups “need to have personal integrity and be willing to lose support” from financial backers to guard against moving from a “free market think tank to a corporatist think tank,” Gifford said. PFF occasionally has alienated supporters on specific issues, he said. Kenneth DeGraff, Consumers Union policy analyst, said CU is mainly subscriber-funded and, while not taking corporate money, will work on specific projects with corporations that share CU’s views. DeGraff said he likes the flexibility of working with Verizon one day and “blasting” the firm another. Andrew Schwartzman, Media Access Project exec. dir., said MAP is foundation-funded. Jerry Ellig, senior research fellow at George Mason U.’s Mercatus Center, said Mercatus separates its fund-raising and research; most funds come from individuals and foundations rather than corporations. Panelists described how they gauge their policy debate success. Emergence of “a diversity of perspectives” is a merit badge, especially if “agency proclivities can be altered by the record,” in other words where agencies or individuals with known positions on an issue “go the other way based on the merits,” Schwartzmann said. Ellig said success is when “decision makers are making better decisions because of what we've done.” That could happen when policy makers “think through issues differently” or “do something differently,” Ellig said. DeGraff said “getting our views out” and reflected in FCC orders and congressional actions is the ultimate success. “Success is if decision makers are treating issues as if ideas matter,” said Gifford. Asked if they strongly disagreed on specific issues, DeGraff criticized PFF for not backing municipal broadband and network neutrality. Gifford said both are “bad ideas.” He said studies show “no municipal broadband play is able to cover its costs” while at the same time such efforts drive off private capital. Network neutrality can do “long-term damage to the broadband converged future,” he warned. Perhaps good in a monopoly situation, amid competition it can discourage bundling, Gifford said. For example, it could discourage the offering of a family- oriented broadband package that blocks objectionable web sites, he said.

A fight against pending FCC limits on kid commercials was moved to the U.S. Appeals Court, Cincinnati, by D.C. judges. Parties to the lawsuit said it’s shaping up as a battle over regulation of Web addresses on children’s TV shows. The decision by the U.S. Appeals Court, D.C., to transfer Viacom v. FCC also denied Viacom’s bid to fend off rules set to take effect Jan. 1. While the new venue could still issue a stay of new rules stemming from the Children’s TV Act of 1990, broadcasters, including Viacom and Disney, are likely to try to return the case to D.C., participants in the case told us. Officials from the companies declined to comment on prospects for such a motion.

A fight against pending FCC limits on kid commercials was moved to the U.S. Appeals Court, Cincinnati, by D.C. judges. Parties to the lawsuit said it’s shaping up as a battle over regulation of Web addresses on children’s TV shows. The decision by the U.S. Appeals Court, D.C., to transfer Viacom v. FCC also denied Viacom’s bid to fend off rules set to take effect Jan. 1. While the new venue could still issue a stay of new rules stemming from the Children’s TV Act of 1990, broadcasters, including Viacom and Disney, are likely to try to return the case to D.C., participants in the case told us. Officials from the companies declined to comment on prospects for such a motion.

Broadcasters and cable, battling on a variety of fronts, agree on at least one issue: The FCC shouldn’t expand closed captioning requirements. In comments to the Commission, MPAA, NAB, NCTA, RTNDA and other groups said imposing standards such as technical benchmarks on captions would be an unnecessary burden, fixing a non- existent problem. Groups representing hard-of-hearing consumers and captioning firms are seeking some standards and better monitoring of caption quality.

Media activists are trying to block license renewals at 20 TV stations, including all major stations in the Chicago and Milwaukee markets, because they carried little state and local political news. The first petition of its kind, filed by Media Access Project (MAP) on behalf of local groups, said less than 1% of news broadcasts in the 2 markets focused on local political issues such as candidates and referendums in the 4 weeks preceding last year’s general election. “The amount of programming on state and local races of programming we monitored amounted to a rounding error,” said MAP Exec. dir. Andrew Schwartzman: “This is the first time that anyone has filed a petition like this one.”