Lifting nationwide cable system ownership caps might not benefit consumers, making the action hard to justify at first glance, said FCC Chmn. Martin. Speaking on a UBS teleconference, he renewed pressure for the industry to sell subscribers individual channels. Further consolidation might not reduce cable rates, which rose over the past decade while prices for other telecom services declined, he said. Many of the comments responded to investors’ questions.

Regulators and industry should educate customers about deregulation’s impact, Consumer Action Exec. Dir. Ken McEldowney told lobbyists and FCC officials, including Comrs. Copps and Tate, at an awards lunch in D.C. Bundling hasn’t cut wireline service prices, McEldowney said, accepting a Telecom Research & Action Center plaque. “I call upon the FCC to look at this,” he said. Another speaker challenged media to cover citizen, not govt. perspectives, calling broadcast coverage of Hurricane Katrina a good example. “The media did it right in that case,” Pacifica Radio’s Amy Goodman said: “For the first time, we saw what unembedded reporting was.”

AM station use FM of translators under FCC rules won’t result in interference, NAB said. The group was responding to opposition from NPR, Prometheus Radio and other parties to an NAB petition for AM broadcasters to use the translators to prevent signal loss at night. “The overwhelming majority of comments filed in this proceeding support NAB’s proposal,” a Sept. 8 NAB filing said: “Concerns over potential interference and congestion on the FM band are speculative.” Approval of the plan would boost AM station values, said a Sept. 6 filing by Minority Media & Telecom Council and National Assn. of Black Owned Bcstrs. (NABOB). Minorities would benefit, since they're likelier to own AM than FM stations, the 2 groups said. FCC approval would “breathe life into AM station owners,” a minority broadcaster told a panel of 8th floor media advisers at a Fri. NABOB panel (see separate story). Asked about agency progress, Chmn. Martin’s media adviser, Heather Dixon, said on the panel: “We're at the comment stage.” Minorities own 3.4% of U.S. broadcasters -- about 1/9 their proportion in the population -- Jessica Rosenworcel, Comr. Copps’ senior legal adviser, said at the meeting: “That’s not just a problem. That’s a national disgrace.”

The FCC should let low-power and Class A stations use newer DTV technologies with such features as the ability to send video to mobile phones, the Community Bcstrs. Assn. (CBA) told aides to Chmn. Martin and Comrs. McDowell and Tate late last week, said a lawyer for the group. CBA members want an “advanced” way to use existing method VSB to broadcast, said attorney Peter Tannenwald. Another topic: “Problems with Mexican coordination of digital applications near the border,” he said. U.S. broadcasters located near the border can’t send fully in DTV until Mexico approves a process they use called DTV flash cuts. That review is taking a long time, he said. CBA used the meetings to press for the exclusivity full power broadcasters enjoy. If the FCC doesn’t issue a notice of proposed rulemaking, as CBA asked, the agency could be sued, a Fri. ex parte filing said: “The petition asks only for the ability to enforce rights that have been privately obtained in commercial negotiations.” A court could find a laggard rulemaking is an Administrative Procedure Act violation, CBA said. Officials pressed NTIA to let set-top box makers build devices that let customers upgrade the units at their own expense, he said: “Otherwise, subsidized boxes could become obsolete in a short time, and if they are discarded, the government’s money will not have been well spent.” The value of an NTIA box subsidy program is pegged at $1.5 billion (CD Aug 8 p4).

Time Warner Cable agreed to extend carriage of NFL Network for 12 more days, setting a new cutoff deadline of 11:59 p.m. Sept. 15 if an accord can’t be reached between the firms, said a spokeswoman. The extension gives the cable operator additional time to meet an FCC emergency order (Aug 8 p10) to give customers 30 days’ notice before dropping the channel, said attorney Gerard Waldron, representing NFL Network. Time Warner needed extra time to run ads in weekly newspapers to inform customers, he told us. Prospects for a carriage deal aren’t great, said a person familiar with the negotiations. NFL hopes to reach an accord, said Waldron. Time Warner wants to carry the channel on a sports tier available to expanded-basic customers at an additional cost, while the network wants to be on the expanded basic tier, said the company official. “September 15 will be the deadline for both parties to reach a deal,” an NFL Network spokesman said: “If they don’t, it’s unlikely Time Warner will ever carry NFL Network.” The Time Warner official said: “In the event that we don’t reach an agreement with the NFL Network, we… unfortunately will have to remove that programming” on the 15th.

Spooked by recent indecency legislation and FCC fines, Sinclair Bcst. put off airing a documentary whose soundtrack includes cursing. Meanwhile, a TV watchdog group filed an FCC complaint over another show. Sinclair’s WGME-TV Portland, Me., and KGAN Cedar Rapids-Waterloo, Ia., will air CBS’s 9/11 during the so-called FCC safe harbor period, later at night than originally scheduled. Sinclair wants to avoid the risk of fines now that Congress has hiked penalties tenfold, it said, citing “the refusal of the FCC to provide guidance in advance of this program” and rules that “promote censorship.” At least one other station is weighing similar action, a broadcast lawyer told us. CBS still plans to air the show at 8 p.m. Sept. 10 on stations it owns and still will offer it to affiliates at that time, a spokeswoman told us. “Given the current regulatory atmosphere, the decision by some stations to delay or preempt 9/11 even though it aired twice before in 2002 and will include appropriate audience warnings is regrettable yet understandable,” said CBS. Separately, Parents TV Council (PTC) said it filed an indecency complaint with the Commission over NBC’s Aug. 27 Emmy Awards show because it didn’t bleep 2 actresses saying “tits over ass.” An NBC Universal official didn’t immediately comment, and an FCC official declined comment. In related PTC news, PTC founder Brent Bozell will retire as pres. Jan. 1, to be replaced by Exec. Dir. Tim Winter.

About 76% of low power, Class A and TV translator stations will get the digital channels they requested, FCC figures show. Those stations must submit Form 346 by Oct. 30, said a public notice from the Media and Wireless bureaus. There are 1,463 analog stations that will get digital channels they requested, because other broadcasters in their markets didn’t ask for them, said an FCC aide. The properties are owned by companies including Clear Channel, Entravision and NBC Telemundo, the notice said. But 452 other stations must go through a “settlement window” to seek agreements with broadcasters that seek the same channels they want, the staffer said; where deals can’t be reached, channel slots will be auctioned. “In a subsequent public notice, the bureaus will announce those proposals that are mutually exclusive,” the FCC said.

An order in an appeal against 4 indecency orders was delayed, said 2 people involved in Fox v. FCC. Judge Jose Cabranes of the 2nd U.S. Appeals Court, N.Y., had said he probably would issue an order by late Tues. (CD Aug 30 p3). No such document was forthcoming by 4 p.m. Eastern Wed., we're told. The reason was unclear, said a broadcast lawyer.

The FCC wants comments on Charter and Verizon requests for CableCARD waivers, which the companies said would speed deployment of interactive or Web services. Comments due Sept. 18, replies Sept. 28, an FCC public notice said. Some pay TV providers believe their best hope for permission to sell set-top boxes with integrated security and navigation functions lie with the FCC after a court appeal was denied (CD Aug 21 p1). “According to Verizon, waiver of the prohibition also would promote broadband deployment,” the FCC said. Charter said a waiver would speed “the digital TV transition… video on demand and other interactive services,” said the notice. Verizon officials discussed their request in a Tues. meeting with 2 aides to Chmn. Martin, said an ex parte filing. More than 100 FiOS fiber TV customers are using CableCARDs, Verizon said in another filing. The only waiver request on which the agency hasn’t solicited public comment is NCTA’s, an FCC official said.

The FCC and broadcasters agreed to an accelerated hearing schedule in an indecency case that the 2nd U.S. Appeals Court, N.Y.C., signaled Tues. in preliminary oral arguments it could hear on an expedited basis. A fast ruling in Fox v FCC would be a partial win for broadcasters complaining of increased FCC heavy-handedness toward racy programming.