Cable channels, wireless devices, online video and other broadband products offer opportunities for minorities to provide services to large communications companies and their subscribers, Comcast, Google and Verizon executives said Monday at a Minority Media and Telecommunications Council conference. They said their companies probably won’t apply for broadband stimulus money, but some said the awards may create opportunities for them to work with recipients.

The only remaining DTV problem for a significant number of viewers is reception of digital broadcasts because of signal propagation changes from analog and the need to reposition antennas, our survey of industry and government officials found. The nationwide end of what was called nightlight service -- broadcast of informational messages about DTV on an analog signal -- didn’t bring new problems or cause consumer confusion, said all 10 officials we spoke with. Respondents said they had heard of no lack of digital converter boxes or antennas, despite earlier fears of regional shortages.

More thorough FCC ex parte filings with disclosure of who’s being represented were sought in a draft rulemaking notice circulated by Commissioner Michael Copps before he stepped down as acting chairman, commission officials said. The draft notice seeks comment on requiring that ex partes be more detailed than mentioning who attended a meeting and which rulemaking was discussed, they said.

Preparing clients to seek federal broadband funds has helped many communications law practices offset stagnation in other areas, as the recession continues and FCC-related work proves elusive, a Communications Daily survey found. Ten of the 11 communications practices responding said they were getting more business advising parties on whether and how to pursue some of the $7.2 billion in grants and loans. Those billings helped make up for an ebb in work on takeovers and regulatory submissions found in an earlier survey (CD July 1 p3) as well as lessened demand for interactions with an FCC between permanent chairmen Jan. 20 to June 29, many respondents said.

The FCC Enforcement Bureau sided with four cable operators in program carriage complaint cases (CD July 9 p11) alleging favoring their own programming over that of an upstart channel. Chief Administrative Law Judge Richard Sippel, who heard the cases brought by WealthTV, should recommend that commissioners find none of the defendants discriminated against the channel on the basis of not owning it, said a Wednesday filing signed by Bureau Chief Kris Monteith. It said Sippel shouldn’t recommend that the commission require the cable operators carry WealthTV, as the programmer sought.

Verizon escalated a fight by major telcos against exclusive cable programming (CD June 5 p2) by asking the FCC to force Cablevision to let it distribute two HD channels with professional New York sports teams. In a program access complaint, the telco said the cable operator seeks to circumvent the so-called terrestrial loophole. Cablevision’s MSG unit transmits on Earth in HD the same programing it uses satellites for in standard definition, Verizon said.

Broadcasters and direct broadcast satellite providers, in talks on cost-sharing for satellite uplink facilities for at least several weeks, remain far apart on paying for them (CD June 24 p2), said several industry officials. Broadcasters want to pay little if anything for DBS terrestrial facilities to receive the signals of nearby TV stations so they can be beamed up to satellites for relay to subscribers, they said. But conversations are said to be continuing, with the NAB taking the lead for broadcasters and Dish Networks heavily involved.

Nine of 15 comments in the FCC’s inquiry on Arbitron devices (CD July 2 p11) to measure radio audiences said Portable People Meter methodology was flawed and/or that the commission should examine the methods, our review of docket 08-187 found. Four filings said no investigation was called for and/or that PPMs were OK. Two filings, one from the Media Ratings Council and another supporting that organization’s work, took no stance on those core issues. “Arbitron, the monopoly provider of radio audience measurement, has stopped measuring representative samples of minority audiences,” said the PPM Coalition, a group of minority radio organizations and broadcasters that sought the commission inquiry. “In its headlong rush to deploy its lucrative new product,” the company found “that accurately measuring minority audiences is too expensive,” it said. Even if the FCC had authority over PPMs, which Arbitron said it doesn’t, the devices “more reliably” measure listeners’ exposure to stations than paper-and-pencil diaries, the company said. “Congress has considered on multiple occasions whether to put media audience measurement services under federal government regulation, and just as often has rejected doing so,” Arbitron added. “The Commission itself has concluded that it lacks jurisdiction over services such as Arbitron’s.” Though the PPM system “can and should be improved,” Emmis said it believes rollout without delay is “vital” for the radio industry to compete with digital media. In any case, the commission lacks authority, the radio broadcaster added. Entercom, another owner of radio stations, said PPMs are the “best electronic radio audience measurement system” available and necessary to use because “many of our important customers” are “demanding” it. Section 403 of the Communications Act gives the regulator authority over PPMs, said the Media Access Project: “Were it necessary, the Commission has the power to compel Arbitron to submit information essential to the inquiry.”

Boosting power levels isn’t always the right fix for DTV signal propagation problems, though it helps sometimes, FCC officials said late Wednesday. (See separate report in this issue.) Cities including Philadelphia, with WPVI-TV, and Chicago with WLS-TV have unique situations, said an agency spokesman. WLS poses a “tricky situation because they are somewhat lower on the power scale but they'll interfere if they go up in power,” he added. “We want to make sure we identify what the issues are.” The FCC is “working to find better solutions” in a few markets, said another spokesman. Because “some pretty strenuous things happen to those signals” between the broadcast transmitter and the viewer’s TV or set-top box, “sometimes power helps, and sometimes it doesn’t,” said an industry engineer who works with DTV stations. “It’s certainly the case that you need more power inside buildings than if you're using an outdoor antenna.”

Contrary to what some industry and government officials believe (CD June 30 p3) many FM translator stations allotted in a 2003 FCC auction, No. 83, that netted some 13,000 applications can be used for cross-band radio service, agency data show. There are about 2,800 FM translators licensed from that auction, said a commission spokesman Wednesday. Including those broadcasters, a total of 4,320 FM translators are operating in the non-reserved band and are usable by AM commercial stations, he said. An FCC order Monday allowed for such cross-band use (CD July 1 p7).