Cable companies and TV stations spend fortunes on gear mandated by FCC emergency alert system (EAS) rules whose use is limited by poor communication between broadcasters and the govt., EAS officials said. One-year EAS waivers granted by the Enforcement Bureau to almost 40 companies last week (CD July 6 p10) will cut their costs, cable companies said. But exemptions won’t improve industry-govt. coordination near term, said 2 state emergency communications committee chmn. we spoke with.

The FCC will stand by findings that 4 TV shows were indecent if the U.S. Appeals Court, N.Y., grants the Commission’s request to remand the Fox case (CD July 6 p9), predicted broadcast executives. Chmn. Martin would catch flak from conservative groups that pushed for the FCC indecency crackdown if the Commission reversed itself, said 4 industry sources we spoke with.

Pressing for a fast FCC nod on the Adelphia deal, Comcast and Time Warner told Comr. Adelstein that all pay TV providers can get Comcast’s PBS Kids Sprout VoD nationwide service. Some on the FCC want to tweak Chmn. Martin’s order approving the $17 billion deal so it mandates that Comcast can’t withhold programming including Sprout (CD July 5 p11). “Comcast underscored that Sprout is available for distribution by all multichannel video program distributors,” said a Mon. ex parte filing on the meeting with Adelstein. RCN fears Comcast would “preclude anyone from receiving critical must-have content such as… PBS-Kids VoD,” RCN Senior Vp Richard Ramlall told us late Mon. Some Comcast rivals want Martin to set conditions barring Comcast and Time Warner from discriminating in selling their programming to competitors. In an April letter, Commerce Committee Chmn. Stevens’ (R-Alaska) requested such antibias conditions. “A very good guide to what we hope the FCC will do is contained in Senator Stevens’ letter to Chairman Martin,” said Ramlall. Adelphia’s suitors told Adelstein they will expand VoD if the deal is approved. Comcast Chmn. Brian Roberts told Comr. Copps in a Fri. phone call that there’s a “need for the Commission to act expeditiously to approve the pending transactions,” said another ex parte filing.

The July 13 FCC agenda meeting may be delayed by last- minute negotiations on the $17 billion Adelphia deal, industry sources said. “The Commission has a substantial amount of control over when it has meetings, and if the chairman believes he will be able to get a more reasoned and more thoughtful result by delaying the meeting a short amount of time, he will try to do that,” lawyer Michael Hazzard said. Snags include defining the circumstances under which Chmn. Martin’s order approving the deal would mandate arbitration between regional sports channels and cable rivals, said sources. Alternatives to rescheduling include a vote on a term sheet at the July 13 meeting, Hazzard said. In that scenario, 8th floor staff would work out details of the final Adelphia order after the meeting, he said. Some commissioners worry that the order would impose arbitration only where the market share of either Comcast or Time Warner, Adelphia’s suitors, would rise 5% or more, said a source. Another worry is that Comcast could withhold channels from RCN, including sports programming in Philadelphia and PBS Kids Sprout VoD content nationwide. RCN’s deal with Comcast to carry the sports networks expires later this year, sources said. A Comcast official didn’t respond to a request for comment. “Given Comcast and Time Warner’s nationwide market power, we hope the Commission will address this potential for anti-competitive behavior throughout their respective markets,” said RCN Senior Vp Richard Ramlall. He told us he fears the firms could exploit the terrestrial loophole to withhold PBS, sports and other content from RCN.

Verizon sued a wealthy D.C. suburb over inability to reach a deal to sell fiber video service and the municipality’s insistence it pay taxes on broadband service. The Bell, in a complaint filed late Thurs. in U.S. Dist. Court, Greenbelt, Md., is seeking an injunction against a 1982 law it said gives Montgomery County, Md., officials nearly complete discretion over franchise awards. Many provisions of Montgomery County Code violate the Telecom Act, said Verizon. The county said its Code “is in full compliance with federal law and has been tested in the courts.”

The FCC probably won’t impose many more programming restrictions on the sale of Adelphia than Chmn. Martin has proposed, said industry sources. Another good augury for the sale is a bankruptcy court approval this week of the company’s reorganization. EchoStar, RCN and America Channel lobbied commissioners in the past week to make buyers Comcast and Time Warner arbitrate a wide array of programming disputes, ex parte filings show. Chmn. Martin’s order circulating on the 8th floor puts such stipulations only on local sports channels (CD June 28 p2).

A broadcaster-activist deal on kid TV ad limits may be a model for compromises, said FCC Comr. Tate. “I'm hoping we're going to move forward on that,” she said of the proposal under FCC review (CD March 20 p12). “That’s such a great example of what can happen,” Tate told us after an FCBA luncheon at which she spoke, mainly giving advice to high school grads accepting college scholarships from media and telecom firms. Tate declined comment on the benefits and problems of media consolidation. She said, as she has before, that media should teach kids about problems including childhood obesity, saying: “Broadcasters, as I've said many times, have been given a national resource, and a finite resource.” On a recent trip to China, Tate said, she found regulators there want to address issues like those their U.S. counterparts have in their sights, such as DTV and net neutrality. “They're rewriting their telecom act right now,” Tate said. “I don’t know if it’s going to take them or us longer to pass,” she added, to laughter.

Broadcasters and activists, poised to battle on ownership rules, agree it will take a year and possibly 2 for anticipated FCC changes in media caps to take effect. Last week’s Commission vote to open a long-awaited rulemaking on cross ownership, TV and radio station limits and duopoly restrictions (CD June 22 p11) will take at least a year to complete, said 5 broadcast executives, lawyers and activists we surveyed. Ownership tweaks will likely be delayed another 6-12 months by court appeals that they said are all but certain.

FCC Chmn. Martin won approval for a media ownership cap review, but caught flak from FCC Democrats because the inquiry, while wide-ranging, insufficiently addresses local broadcast obligations. In a concession to Comrs. Adelstein and Copps (CD June 21 p2), the ownership docket will include a summary of filings from a 2003 localism notice of inquiry. Even so, the 2 partially dissented.

FCC Chmn. Martin may address local broadcast obligations to get a media ownership rulemaking he’s long championed (CD June 15 p13) approved by all fellow commissioners, said sources. Some last-min. 8th floor communications have focused on a 2003 notice of inquiry on localism that has since lain fallow, said a Commission source and lobbyists familiar with the item. Martin’s further notice of proposed rulemaking, set for a vote today (Wed.), seeks public comment on lifting cross ownership restrictions and loosening broadcast property caps without addressing localism.