The FCC told at least three of the dozen recipients of $8.4 million in DTV education contracts about the awards (CD Jan 8 p2) after or just before the deals were publicized Tuesday evening, they said. The AARP was the only contractee among those we surveyed that learned of the awards beforehand, being told by the FCC Tuesday afternoon, officials said. Officials at Communication Service for the Deaf learned of the contract on Wednesday, and representatives of WXXI Public Broadcasting heard about an hour after the FCC issued a press release, officials said.

FCC commissioners and members of a commission advisory committee are upset about being largely left out of decision- making on how to spend the $20 million Congress gave the regulator for digital TV education. Commissioners first learned of $8.4 million in contracts awarded to 12 groups around 7 p.m. Tuesday, when the FCC issued a news release, agency officials said. Members of the Consumer Advisory Committee, recently reappointed by Chairman Kevin Martin with the goal of concentrating on DTV (CD Jan 2 p8), said their advice on how the commission can smooth the transition has been largely ignored and they had little involvement in the contracting process.

The FCC’s chief administrative law judge bucked the Media Bureau in an order that reasserts his authority over three cable carriage complaints taken back by the bureau, industry lawyers said. Judge Richard Sippel’s order Tuesday said deadlines for discovery and other procedures in the case set by him Dec. 12 require compliance. Late last month, the bureau said Sippel’s authority over cases by three independent programmers against four cable operators lapsed when he failed to act by the bureau’s deadline. Cable operators Bright House, Comcast, Cox and Time Warner Cable asked Sippel to hew to the schedule in the cases, as they asked the full commission to stay the bureau’s orders (CD Jan 5 p5).

The FCC proposal to let stations continue to broadcast analog educational programs about DTV, plus emergency information, for 30 days after the transition (CD Dec 24 p1) drew widespread support. All 16 comments on the agency’s notice supported it or said filers were seeking or likely to seek to run such operations after Feb. 17. (See separate report in this issue.) The NAB and others sought an FCC order to let participants get sponsorship for the programming. Public broadcasters asked for money to support the operations, while state broadcast groups noted that their national organization wants commission funds for phone banks.

An FCC administrative law judge was asked last week to take back control of cable carriage complaint cases that the Media Bureau deemed to have expired because a 60-day deadline passed (CD Jan 2 p7, Dec 29 p2). The cable operator defendants said the judge still has authority over the three batches of cases because the bureau lacked power to impose the deadline in its hearing designation order sending the disputes to the ALJ. A motion for reaffirmation by Time Warner Cable on behalf of itself and Bright House, Cox and Comcast and other filings asked Chief ALJ Richard Sippel to hew to the schedule he had set. Independent programmers Mid- Atlantic Sports Network, NFL, and WealthTV are the plaintiffs.

The FCC issued at least two additional requests for quotations related to the switch to DTV, a review of recent RFQs found. One batch of such contracts, to outsource FCC call-center operations for inquiries on the transition, may be worth $7 million, Chairman Kevin Martin said Tuesday (CD Dec 31 p2). A second RFQ seeks “outreach support personnel” to organize functions on the switch in Houston, New York and 11 other markets. An agency spokeswoman declined to say when that contract might be awarded. Martin said this week that contracts related to a fall RFQ (CD Oct 9 p2) for community and other groups to run their own call centers and help consumers hook up digital converter boxes will be awarded soon.

The most ambitious digital multicast must-carry plan was roundly criticized by the cable industry and largest U.S. satellite-TV operator, while small broadcasters offered some support. The request by Ion Media and media billionaire Robert Johnson for the FCC to grant Urban TV guaranteed pay- TV carriage for 42 multicast stations they'll run separate from the broadcaster’s existing properties (CD Nov 28 p6) also drew some support from Common Cause. Eleven minority groups, in joint comments late Monday, were the only filing we reviewed that gave unqualified support to the plan, which would start a network aimed at African-American and other minority viewers. Officials at Ion Media and RLJ Cos., Johnson’s company, told us their plan would boost media diversity.

A rumored FCC order to excuse the movie industry from some TV plug-and-play rules (CD Nov 28 p3) won’t come to fruition during Kevin Martin’s tenure as chairman, he said Tuesday. Some at the commission and in the consumer electronics and communications industries had expected a selectable output control waiver, with heavy conditions, to be granted by Martin, approving the May request by the Motion Picture Association of America. But in perhaps his last briefing with reporters to go over items for the next monthly public FCC meeting, Martin dashed those hopes.

The FCC Media Bureau took back control over at least two batches of cases pitting cable operators against independent programmers that alleged they were discriminated against. An order by bureau Chief Monica Desai, adopted on Christmas Eve and released Monday by the FCC, said the office of the administrative law judge exceeded its authority by setting a date for a hearing after the 60-day deadline the bureau gave it to act. Since no decision was rendered by an ALJ by Dec. 9 on the cases, that office’s authority expired that day and the bureau will resolve them “without the benefit of a recommended decision from” a judge, it said.

FCC reports on stations that stand to gain or lose potential viewers after the DTV switch likely undercount affected people in some markets and overcount them elsewhere, said three broadcast lawyers and an engineer. The reports, released late Tuesday (CD Dec 24 p1), show that the majority of the 1,749 full-power broadcasters in the U.S. will be able to be watched by more people in digital than in analog. Digital transmissions of several hundred stations will be able to be seen by fewer potential viewers than in analog because of changing signal contours or technical differences in their digital signals, the commission reports said.