Pushing for passage of telecom legislation, Sen. Commerce Committee Chmn. Stevens (R-Alaska) said he’s unlikely to compromise on net neutrality with groups pushing for it as part of the panel’s bill. Stevens and others opposing anti-bias mandates said many rules already keep cable and telcos from blocking Web content. Their recalcitrance could hurt chances of Senate passage for the wide-ranging telecom bill (HR-5252), said Free Press’ Craig Aaron. The bill has been given low odds of passing in 2006 by some analysts and executives.

The FCC began a broadcast ownership inquiry that may ease limits on the number of radio and TV stations a firm can own in a city and end a ban on broadcast-newspaper cross ownership. The further notice of proposed rulemaking asks respondents to provide a reason for setting caps. The FCC response to a 2004 appeals court remand asks if it should lift some limits. The inquiry, released late Mon., was voted on more than a month ago (CD June 22 p11). A wholesale lifting of limits is unlikely, but TV limits probably will be eased, said a broadcast lawyer.

A long-awaited public service ad (PSA) campaign by broadcasters, cable and DBS started with the launch of a website Tues. to educate parents about channel blocking amid legislative and regulatory indecency concerns. Thetvboss.org is part of an 18-month campaign in which CEA, MPAA, NAB, NCTA and firms including ABC and DirecTV will donate $300 million in ad time. The website’s slogan is “Make the Rules. Know the Ratings. Use Parental Controls.” It includes information on using V-chips, set top boxes and DBS remotes to filter inappropriate shows. The website’s 2 ads “can be aired immediately” on TV, said a spokeswoman for the Ad Council, helping coordinate the campaign. In one spot, a mother tells 3 tough-guy characters in her living room, “I'm going to have to block you” because they had hit someone with a shovel. More TV spots may be distributed, said the Ad Council official. MPAA ex-Pres. Jack Valenti is scheduled to discuss the PSAs at a Senate Commerce Committee hearing Thurs. The campaign was criticized by FCC Chief Economist Leslie Marx in a D.C. appearance with Valenti as not doing enough to fight indecency or offering subscriptions to individual channels (CD May 11 p8).

Arbitration methods in the FCC Adelphia order won praise from 2 industry executives as a model the agency might use in programming spats between independent networks and pay TV firms. Conditions on the $17 billion deal apply mediation only to regional sports networks (RSNs) and leased access channels (CD July 24 p2). Doing likewise in other cases would be good policy, said the executives -- though the FCC isn’t expected to write such a rulemaking soon.

Two stations wanting DTV waivers from the FCC filed their requests a week or more after a deadline. Asking to stay at reduced power 6 more months, PBS station KTCA-TV St. Paul-Minneapolis July 19 cited pending FCC review of a request to change a construction permit. A July 7 “use it or lose it” deadline spurred 189-plus other stations to seek extensions (CD July 18 p1). The 2nd late filer, Media General’s WCBD-TV Charleston, S.C., said July 14 it was acting “out of an abundance of caution,” noting it had begun full DTV operation July 6. Also on July 14, the station sought a DTV license, as the FCC requires. When switching to DTV, stations often measure the gear’s signals for about a week before they apply for that license, which requires such data, an industry lawyer said. Attorneys for KTCA-TV and WCBD-TV declined comment. In other filings to the DTV docket, WPXT Portland, Me., and WGFL High Springs, Fla., told the FCC their earlier waiver requests are moot because they finished building DTV facilities whose laggard construction had spurred the waiver requests.

The FCC and broadcasters, fighting in court on indecency, may have to wait weeks for the 2nd U.S. Appeals Court, N.Y., to rule on a Commission request for the court to send the agency back a network challenge to an indecency order, said people close to the case. The FCC sought but didn’t get voluntary remand by July 12 (CD July 6 p9). “The realities of court administration have intruded” in the timing, said a lawyer involved in the case. Also wanting a quick resolution, broadcasters back the FCC request for speedy action, lawyers said.

AT&T’s IPTV service in San Antonio can carry emergency alert system (EAS) messages by “retransmitting the alerts provided by local broadcasters,” according to a summary of its presentation last week to FCC officials. The telco will add EAS capabilities to nationwide channels and VoD, PVR and other content by the end of 2007, AT&T said in an ex parte filing. Verizon’s FiOS fiber TV product follows all EAS rules that apply to cable rivals, the firm said in another FCC filing this year. “This is a public safety issue we take seriously,” a company spokesman told us: “Verizon is compliant with EAS rules.”

The FCC probably will grant a slew of DTV waivers to broadcasters seeking 6 more months to transmit digital signals at full power, said 3 lawyers at firms handling such requests. The Commission has fielded at least 189 petitions for waiver of the July 1 “use it or lose it” DTV deadline since the Media Bureau reminded the industry of the date, our review found. Bureau officials couldn’t give us the total number of requests in the docket (05-13), but 300-plus filings have been received since a notice on the subject (CD June 15 p18).

FCC Chmn. Martin and colleagues got a list of suggestions to prevent radio payola, compiled with contributions from programming executives and music labels, said Don Rose, acting pres.-American Assn. of Independent Music. The compendium of best practices from his organization aims to give more musicians airtime and make relationships between major labels and broadcasters more open, Rose told us. He said the recommendations will be publicized today (Mon.). That would be more than a month behind schedule (CD May 31 p11). “We had some radio programmers involved in the development process” working on their own behalf and not representing their employers, he said: “We aren’t directly looking for broadcaster compliance. That’s the job of the FCC, if they agree our proposals are good ones.”

The FCC approved the $17 billion Adelphia deal in a rare split vote under Chmn. Martin. The order avoided net neutrality rules while agreeing to a leased access rulemaking backed by Comr. Adelstein. Adelstein issued a partial dissent to the order approving the deal. He raised concern that it lacked a net neutrality condition, on which sources had expected the FCC to punt (CD June 28 p2). Comr. Copps voted against approval. The Commission set broad mandates on sports programming arbitration in cases involving networks owned by buyers Comcast and Time Warner and channels seeking carriage on their systems.