The FCC and Justice Department likely will soon begin working out ways to cooperate on sharing information given to them by Comcast and NBC Universal as part of those companies’ merger of cable and broadcast networks, government and industry officials predicted. DOJ said earlier this month that it, not the FTC, will review Comcast’s agreement to buy control of NBC Universal (CD Jan 8 p6). The agencies are expected by the companies and observers to take a year to review the transaction before approving it (CD Dec 14 p2).

Three changes in a draft FCC Media Bureau program access order (CD Jan 13 p9) that’s scheduled to be voted on Wednesday are being considered by FCC members, and further tweaks are possible, commission officials said. An unexpected change was the addition of a standstill provision to the order, whose first draft was circulated Dec. 16, they said. The provision would allow pay-TV companies whose contracts with a cable-affiliated programmer expire to ask the commission to order carriage to continue while a complaint is being handled, FCC officials said.

The three judges who heard Fox. v. FCC oral arguments expressed varying degrees of skepticism that the agency can effectively or constitutionally find unscripted curse words indecent under certain circumstances. Judges Rosemary Pooler and Pierre Leval asked the most questions and appeared the most skeptical on the three-judge panel of the 2nd U.S. Appeals Court in New York. Judge Peter Hall homed in on the commission’s exception to its fleeting indecency policy for news.

Proposed changes in the Media Bureau’s program-access order about the types of situations in which cable operators can withhold their programming from competitors hadn’t circulated on the FCC’s eighth floor by Monday afternoon, commission officials said. Commission and industry officials had expected changes in the Dec. 16 Media Bureau draft order to circulate by Friday or Monday (CD Jan 8 p4). They may have circulated late Monday or be sent around on Tuesday, commission officials said. A bureau spokeswoman declined to comment.

A draft order would allow deals giving some subscription-video providers exclusives to serve entire apartment buildings and other multiple-dwelling-unit complexes, FCC officials said. The Media Bureau item would allow multiple-dwelling units (MDUs) to make exclusive deals with private cable operators -- companies that aren’t owned by major cable operators and that often serve apartments -- and direct broadcast satellite providers, they said. Under the draft, circulated Dec. 23, other pay-TV sellers could enter into more limited exclusive arrangements with apartment and other residential buildings, they said.

Cablevision won an FCC waiver to become the first cable operator allowed to encrypt basic-cable channels. The company and supporters have said the action will reduce pollution by allowing the cable operator to turn service on and off without sending technicians to homes (CD Oct 26 p3). The CEA and Public Knowledge had some qualms about the ruling, made by the Media Bureau and released Friday. The order requires Cablevision to make good on its promise to give CableCARDs or set-top boxes without charge to subscribers who don’t have either.

FCC staffers are working on revisions to the program access order that remains slated for a vote at the Jan. 20 meeting, commission and industry officials said. Some changes could expand what the rules would cover and others would shrink it, they said. Media Bureau staffers are believed to be close to finishing some revisions to the draft order first circulated Dec. 16 (CD Dec 16 p7). The revisions may address changes sought by Time Warner Cable and other companies and come after some commissioners discussed such tweaks, commission officials said.

Regulators should impose “meaningful conditions” on the purchase of control of NBC Universal by Comcast so they can’t withhold broadcast or cable programming from subscription-TV rivals, 25 consumer and industry groups wrote legislators and President Barack Obama. “A merger of this size and scope will have a devastating impact on the media marketplace. It will result in less competition, higher consumer costs and fewer content choices.”

FCC bureau-level staffers appear to be continuing to work on wrapping up a program carriage complaint heard by an administrative law judge, the last such case pending at the agency, commission officials said. Representatives of the Media Bureau and Office of General Counsel have talked about how to address the recommended decision from the judge, they said. The judge recommended WealthTV’s case against Bright House Networks, Comcast, Cox Communications and Time Warner Cable be dismissed (CD Oct 16 p6). Meanwhile, Comcast is the subject of a new complaint this week by the Tennis Channel, alleging the cable operator discriminates against the channel over programming it owns.

Comcast’s buy of a controlling stake in NBC Universal will be reviewed by the Justice Department, a department spokeswoman confirmed late Wednesday. That had been expected (CD Dec 14 p2). Justice and not the FTC will review the deal, which the companies expect to be scrutinized by regulators for as long as a year. Comcast and NBC Universal representatives declined to comment.