It’s been difficult for many stations to anticipate DTV problems because factors traditionally linked to broadcast signal propagation and penetration of buildings with sets using indoor antennas don’t consistently apply, industry officials told us. Eight broadcast lawyers, executives and engineers among the dozen-plus we surveyed about their experience with DTV since the analog cutoff June 12 said they knew of problems among some viewers getting DTV. “That’s the problem, is we don’t have a direct pattern in every place” among tower height and power level, geography and channel location and reception, said an executive.

An FCC radio order among the last items approved under the interim chairmanship of Michael Copps allows for the creation of cross-band translators (CD May 13 p3) so AM stations can fill in their coverage areas, said agency and industry officials. Approved 3-0, it was among the last items Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein voted on and didn’t need approval from Julius Genachowski because he hadn’t been sworn in yet when it was adopted, said an agency official.

The nomination of Julius Genachowski to become FCC chairman and the renomination of Commissioner Robert McDowell were expected to clear the Senate on Thursday night. Sen. Jim DeMint, R-Texas, has dropped his reported hold on Genachowski, allowing a Senate vote to proceed, we've learned. Meanwhile, the White House announced late Thursday that Meredith Baker, who ran the NTIA in the George W. Bush administration, will, as expected, be nominated to serve on the commission. President Barack Obama has now named three new commissioners. If they're approved by the Senate, as expected, the FCC will be back to its full five members. The Senate Commerce Committee may hold a nomination hearing for Baker and Mignon Clyburn in mid-July, lobbyists said. Jonathan Adelstein must leave the commission as soon as Genachowski is confirmed.

More U.S. ISPs likely will begin metered bandwidth consumption pricing -- though a large cable operator recently stepped back from such testing -- said executives of a large vendor of network management equipment and a Canadian cable operator. The executives and a lawyer for a group opposed to some bandwidth charges floated in the U.S. agreed that the pricing steps alone won’t relieve network congestion. Skype doesn’t mind metered broadband plans run on a “neutral basis,” an executive of the company said. The companies expanded in interviews on comments they had made at a Toronto conference this week (CD June 18 p13).

Chris Murray, Consumers Union senior council until last week, will again represent a telecom interest in Washington. He'll become the vice president of external affairs for Clearwire, of Kirkland, Wash., in early in July. Murray said he'll do regulatory, strategic advising and government relations work. Joel Kelsey, a senior analyst at Consumers Union, will take over the media and communications matters that Murray handled, he added. Before joining the group, Murray ran Vonage’s Washington office. In April, Gene Kimmelman left Consumers Union for the Justice Department (CD April 22 p14)

Two western stations want to move to East Coast cities now that the DTV transition is complete. They say Congress gave the FCC authority to approve moves like this. The only TV station licensed to a town in Nevada and a Wyoming broadcaster want to move to New Jersey and Wilmington, Del., they said in commission filings Monday. Broadcast lawyers not involved with the plans called them among the few to cite the Communications Act section they rely on.

Proposed DTV fines against seven large cable operators and telcos, circulating at the FCC since September, won’t be issued before Friday’s analog cutoff, and may not come soon after, said several commission officials. As chairman, Kevin Martin circulated an omnibus notice of apparent liability totaling about $11 million to companies in their roles as pay-TV providers or recipients of government money to provide phone service to poor people. The FCC commissioners held off on approving the fines while some companies discussed settlements with the Enforcement Bureau (CD Dec 9 p3), commission officials said.

Fewer stations than the FCC estimated last week won’t switch to DTV (CD June 4 p2), with some stations dropping off the agency’s “silent list” and at least one other set to continue digital broadcasting thanks to its buyer. The FCC’s latest estimate is that 31 stations won’t broadcast in digital, 11 percent fewer than it said last Wednesday. Most of those stations are owned by Equity Media Holdings, a bankrupt company that industry dealmakers said wasn’t representative of other ailing TV station owners.

David Rehr’s last day as NAB president is Friday, and he’s going to work at a public relations firm, Crosby Volmer, said industry officials. “After David told me of his resignation, I offered him an office to use as he is transitioning to his next endeavor,” said Robert Volmer, president of that firm. Rehr will be a member of Crosby Volmer’s advisory council, Volmer said. Meanwhile, the NAB hasn’t settled on who to use to find a replacement for Rehr, who resigned suddenly last month (CD May 7 p1), said industry officials. NAB directors may decide next week which executive search firm, if any, to hire, said one. An NAB spokesman declined to comment.

Five Fox affiliates and two PBS stations will stop broadcasting June 12, we found by going over FCC figures. A Fox affiliate and four public stations have already stopped broadcasting -- gone “silent” in commission terminology. Mississippi, Montana, Puerto Rico, New York and Washington are each losing three stations and Arkansas four. Under FCC rules, stations that stay off the air longer than a year lose their licenses, a commission spokesman said Wednesday. Nexstar is the only publicly traded company that owns a station ending all broadcasting: KARZ Little Rock, Ark., a myNetworkTV affiliate that’s now silent. Some of the 35 stations that won’t make the digital transition (CD June 4 p2) will continue as multicast channels of other stations in their markets, Media Bureau Associate Chief Eloise Gore told the FCC at Wednesday’s meeting. In total, 974 stations will go all-digital June 12, commission officials said.