The administrative law judge overseeing a FCC program carriage complaint against Comcast may recommend that commissioners find for the cable operator and against the sports network that made the case, after the Enforcement Bureau sided with the cable operator, said industry officials not part of the case. They cited past precedent in which the ALJ pays close attention to bureau comments, and the fact that defendants in general have a hard time winning such cases. An MASN spokesman said its case is “especially compelling.”

A deal Tuesday for a cable overbuilder to distribute broadband-connected TiVo DVRs may prompt other pay-TV companies to make similar arrangements, executives and analysts told us. RCN said it will provide TiVos starting early next year to video subscribers who order DVRs. Unlike TiVos used by other pay-TV companies, these will allow customers to search RCN VoD titles and online content from companies such as YouTube and to buy pay- per-view applications using a remote control, said Jason Nealis, RCN senior director of video operations.

Comcast and the network that carries Baltimore Orioles and Washington Nationals baseball games are scheduled to meet Tuesday, to try to settle a program-carriage complaint by the network (CD July 20 p11), said commission documents and a spokesman for the sports network. In an order that the commission released late Thursday, Richard Sippel, who’s the FCC’s chief administrative law judge and is handling the case, called the news that executives, lawyers and experts from the companies will meet to discuss a settlement “an excellent development.” He heard testimony in Mid-Atlantic Sports Network v. Comcast in May.

The FCC’s work with unlikely partners during the DTV transition helped prepare it for outreach on broadband, Commissioner Michael Copps said in an interview Friday with Communications Daily. The national broadband plan is “probably the greatest challenge we've been given in the history of the FCC,” he said. Reflecting on his five-month tenure as acting chairman, Copps told us that he’s “optimistic” morale at the commission has been on the mend since January, under his leadership and that of Chairman Julius Genachowski, who took over in late June. With the commission about to get back to its full complement of five members, Copps said, he wants action on several wireless and media items.

The FCC has been picketed this week by the owner of a company awaiting approval to sell TV stations for about $20 million, said people monitoring the proceeding. Norm Shapiro of Weigel Broadcasting and his daughter were said to be the people outside the commission’s 12th Street SW entrance holding a sign saying “FCC Please Decide” and listing the application numbers for three low-power stations in South Bend, Ind., that Shapiro has agreed to sell to Schurz Communications. The bottom of the sign reads, “By July 31st. Thank you.” That’s the deadline for FCC approval that the companies set in a contract to transfer WMYS, a MyNetworkTV affiliate, WCWW (CW) and WBND (ABC), said lawyers including Media Access Project President Andrew Schwartzman. He’s representing Free Press, which asked the commission to block the deal because it would give Schurz stations in addition to a full-power TV station, two radio stations and the daily newspaper in South Bend that it already owns. “Grant of these applications would give one company an unprecedented degree of power over viewpoints and advertising in any market in the United States,” Schwartzman said. He said he hasn’t heard from the FCC whether it will approve or deny the transaction by today, as Shapiro seeks. Shapiro didn’t reply to a message seeking comment. “The commission is studying carefully all the issues raised in this transaction and is working to reach a decision as expeditiously as possible,” said an FCC spokesman. “As in all transactions, the parties can extend the termination date in their sales contract if they so choose.” The FCC, he added, has “no objections to lawful picketing.”

Dish Network and the big two U.S. carriers continued to express concern about video competition. They made their views known in filings in an FCC inquiry to prepare a report to Congress on the subject. An early filing by a group representing small and rural telcos had raised fears that cable programmers will strike exclusive deals with large operators for online subscription video content (CD July 30 p7). Most filings Wednesday concentrated on linear-video competition. AT&T, Dish Network and Verizon said cable operators have plenty of incentive to keep programming to themselves. But the NCTA said prices have fallen as services bundles have multiplied, and competition has increased with telcos’ entry into pay TV.

A group representing small telecom companies fears that exclusive online deals between programmers and large pay-TV companies for subscription programming could make it harder for its members to remain competitive as content continues moving to broadband. The worry was spelled out in a filing Wednesday by the Organization for the Promotion and Advancement of Small Telecommunications Companies in the FCC’s review of the video programming market. OPASTCO wants to make sure that new projects including Time Warner and Comcast’s TV Everywhere -- which has already draw concern that access will be restricted (CD June 25 p2) -- are “open and non-exclusive,” the filing said.

It may be a while before the FCC finishes dealing with a request for wide-ranging changes to radio rules made last week (CD July 21 p1) by a group representing minority- and women-owned stations, agreed six communication lawyers we surveyed. Four said several of the 17 points in the request may face opposition from some full-power broadcasters, such as a request for an FCC advisory committee to evaluate other uses for TV channels 5 and 6. Other parts of what the petition seeks may be politically controversial, including a section on Cuba. All surveyed said they think the actions requested by the Minority Media and Telecommunications Council, if approved, would help the radio industry, as ad sales are forecast by industry researcher BIA to fall 15 percent in 2009 to $14 billion and credit is hard to get.

Chairman Julius Genachowski asked for a wide-ranging review of the kinds of information that the FCC relies on, as he seeks to revamp how the commission makes decisions (CD July 22 p1). The “top-to-bottom review of the agency’s systems and processes for data collection, analysis, and dissemination” should be completed within 60 days, he wrote Paul de Sa Wednesday, de Sa’s first day as chief of the Office of Strategic Planning. (See separate report in this issue.)

Two news trade groups are talking about having a combined convention in fall 2011, leaving uncertain the question of what the Radio-Television News Directors Association will do at that year’s NAB show. The RTNDA and Society of Professional Journalists’ joint convention -- if they agreed to hold one -- would be in addition to the first group’s annual exhibition at the 2010 NAB show in Las Vegas, the RTNDA said late Friday. No decision has been made on what to do at the 2011 NAB show, a RTNDA spokeswoman said Monday. “Our relationship with NAB is very strong and always will be.” It’s uncertain when the RTNDA and SPJ may decide whether to combine conferences for 2011, since negotiations are “at the very beginning stages,” she said. Regardless, “I'm sure we'll always have a presence at NAB,” she added. The NAB will have “discussions with RTNDA executives about the status of our two events going beyond 2010,” when RTNDA’s convention is “co-locating” with the NAB show, said a spokesman for the broadcasters’ group.