Comcast-NBC Universal still may face FCC field hearings even after the Media Bureau denied a request to pause review of the deal until holding the sessions (CD April 6 p10), agency and public interest officials said. Commissioners Mignon Clyburn and Michael Copps have expressed support for the idea, and colleagues may not object if the hearings are scheduled, they said. The commission hasn’t made a decision, they said.

The FCC’s long-awaited changes to an ownership form for radio and TV stations (CD April 9 p9) and their investors to fill out offer a mixed bag for industry and public-interest advocates, our survey of both sides found. The version of Form 323 unveiled by the Media Bureau earlier this month ought to make filing information about those who own more than 5 percent of each station or broadcast company easier because Excel spreadsheets can be uploaded to the commission’s Consolidated Database System where the documents will be filed, industry lawyers said. And the document ought to be searchable by keywords, making for an easier job when public interest groups and others want to do research on who owns what, some of those advocates said.

The provider of radio ratings and representatives of more than 400 stations settled a years’ long dispute over the sampling methodology of portable devices whose implementation led to declines in some broadcasters’ audience share estimates. Thursday’s settlement between the PPM Coalition and Arbitron, provider of Portable People Meters, came after the FCC encouraged both sides to settle, as did a judge overseeing a related case, participants said. Another turning point was said to be the installation of William Kerr as Arbitron CEO in January after Michael Skarzynski resigned suddenly because he mischaracterized testimony on PPMs before the House Oversight Committee (CD Jan 13 p3).

CableCARDs didn’t meet the goal of Congress in Section 629 of the Telecom Act because they failed to create much of a market for consumers to buy devices from retailers that they could use to get pay TV, all five FCC members agreed Wednesday. Some expressed hope that newer gateway devices letting cable, telco-TV and DBS subscribers get online and subscription video using devices other than set-top boxes will gin up the retail market while boosting broadband use. A rulemaking on fixes to CableCARDs and an inquiry on setting standards for gateway devices to be used by all pay-TV providers was approved at Wednesday’s meeting, where Commissioner Meredith Baker voted remotely to approve all six items because of a death in her family. (See obituary in this issue.)

Rising subscription-video rates accompanied by declining interest in linear channels and coming advancements in set-top box technology augur increased viewer interest in online video viewed on TV sets, said outgoing FCC broadband plan initiative head Blair Levin. “Over-the-top video will eventually emerge” as a competitor to multichannel video programming distributors and “everyone is both excited and scared” by that prospect, he said. Since the technology is “a big bandwidth hog,” those with more capacity will do better, Levin told an American Cable Association conference.

A deluge of cable encryption waiver requests at the FCC that some had anticipated never materialized. That doesn’t mean cable operators besides Cablevision, which won the first exemption (CD Jan 11 p10) , won’t seek waivers in the future as more systems go all-digital so service can be turned on and off without sending trucks and technicians to people’s homes, industry lawyers and executives said. Potential waiver seekers seem busy for now with other technical and policy issues, such as the FCC’s examination of CableCARDs, said commission and industry officials.

The FCC Future of Media report shouldn’t be narrowed because of First Amendment restrictions or the commission’s lack of jurisdiction over subjects involved, the head of the effort said. Steve Waldman told skeptical fellow members on a panel Friday organized by the Free State Foundation that he shares concern about free speech. “It’s enough of an issue that you'll be sensitive to it” in putting together the study, he said. Former Republican Commissioner Deborah Tate and ex-Media Bureau Chief Donna Gregg, who worked under Kevin Martin, expressed worries that the project is overstepping the FCC’s authority and may lead to regulation.

The FCC paused its clock on consideration of Comcast’s agreement to buy control of NBC Universal, because staffers want additional information from the companies. Comment deadlines on the deal are on hold until Comcast, NBC Universal and NBCU’s parent, General Electric, provide the information, said a Media Bureau order released Friday. A report will take up “the claimed benefits from the transaction” and another its effect on video distribution online, said the ruling signed by bureau Chief Bill Lake.

A draft FCC media ownership inquiry asks questions on a wide array of areas including the touchstones of localism, diversity and competition without preliminary conclusions or recommendations, agency officials said. The notice of inquiry asks how to define various terms related to ownership in the congressionally-mandated 2010 review, they said. In so doing, it gives no sense of whether the commission ultimately will move toward tighter or looser rules, agency officials noted.

A draft FCC rulemaking notice about CableCARDs probably will be changed before a vote scheduled for April 21 to deal with large cable systems’ use of HD-only set-top boxes, commission officials said Monday. The draft Media Bureau notice that’s circulating proposes exempting systems with 552 MHz or less activated capacity from a requirement that boxes use separate security and navigation functions for devices that can handle HD but not more advanced functions (CD April 6 p2). The NCTA and large cable operators sought a wider HD box exemption in recent ex parte meetings, filings in docket 97-80 show.