A promised FCC overhaul of program-carriage disputes between cable operators and independent programmers (CD Sept 27 p8) isn’t being worked on by most of the commissioners, said industry sources. Blocking additional programmers besides the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network and America Channel from trying to force Comcast and Time Warner Cable into arbitration in sports disputes, the commission said in September it would review the matter broadly. A carriage dispute between MASN and Time Warner Cable seems ready to go to the FCC in several months, after a final arbitration hearing. Time Warner Cable will appeal to the FCC the arbitrator’s initial finding against it (CD Jan 23 p2).

A carriage dispute between Time Warner Cable and the network carrying Orioles and Nationals games will move to the FCC, now that the company plans to appeal an arbitrator’s finding for the independent channel. Mid-Atlantic Sports Network on Monday released the arbitrator’s Jan. 7 interim award in its favor. In his decision, Jerome Sussman sharply criticized Time Warner Cable’s refusal to place MASN on the company’s expanded-basic tier, reaching more than 1 million subscribers in the Tar Heel state. The award paves the way for Sussman to order Time Warner Cable to carry MASN there, where it’s the largest cable operator.

FCC aides highlighted the commission’s efforts in 2007 to educate consumers about the DTV transition and increase competition for video and other communications services, at Thursday’s meeting. DTV.gov, the FCC Web site on the transition, has had more than 6 million visits, said Cathy Seidel, Consumer & Governmental Affairs Bureau chief. The site was revamped with information on the transition for government agencies and other organizations to use in their education efforts, she said.

The FCC has a tougher job overseeing companies bought by leveraged buyout firms that are less transparent than publicly traded media and telecom companies, said Commissioner Michael Copps. Assets purchased by buyout firms may be especially vulnerable in a U.S. economic downturn, since buyers often heap on debt, he said. The agency must look broadly at private equity and not “just stick your head in the sand and pretend the world has not changed,” Copps said in an interview. He was expanding on comments he made at Thursday’s FCC meeting. But others in and out of the commission said they're not concerned.

The Parents Television Council asked members to file indecency complaints with the FCC over ABC’s airing of a curse word on Good Morning America, a council release said Tuesday. During the 8 a.m. hour that day, actress Diane Keaton told Diane Sawyer she wished she had the host’s “fucking personality.” The PTC called that “inappropriate and offensive” and President Tim Winter said Keaton and Sawyer “appeared to be amused by the profanity, making no sincere effort to apologize to the viewers.” Jeffrey Schneider, ABC News senior vice president, said both women had dealt with the matter on air. “It was very regrettable that Diane Keaton said that word, but I think it was clear to our viewers that Diane Sawyer was a little shocked by that and Keaton made an apology forthwith,” Schneider said in an interview. Sawyer did say that Keaton’s mother should wash her mouth out with soap. As a news show, Good Morning America airs without tape delay, Schneider said. Such a delay could have kept Keaton’s expletive off the air. ABC excised the utterance from rebroadcasts of the show outside the Eastern time zone, he said. FCC Chairman Kevin Martin told reporters Tuesday that he didn’t know enough about the incident to say whether the agency could issue a fine. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York last year sent back to the FCC a policy allowing it to fine a broadcaster for airing a “fleeting expletive.”

The first digital-only station in the U.S. asked the FCC to order that Comcast immediately restore it to the company’s systems in the West Palm Beach area, after Comcast pulled the station without telling subscribers or the broadcaster. On Oct. 11 Comcast stopped showing WHDT Stuart without explanation, displaying a message in the former channel slot that WHDT “is not transmitting at this time,” the station said in a complaint filed Tuesday with the commission. Comcast denied the allegations, said a spokeswoman.

The digital TV transition will be the FCC’s top media issue in 2008, said industry lawyers, predicting that the big shift will eclipse a half-dozen other broadcast, cable and consumer electronics issues on commissioners’ menus. Chairman Kevin Martin believes DTV and the 700 MHz auction are among the commission’s top near-term priorities, he told reporters Tuesday. “The main focus of the DTV transition needs to be focusing on consumer education,” he said. Martin has items on the FCC’s top floor concerning the transition, he said, declining to be more specific. His priority is “making that transition as seamless as possible with minimal consumer disruption.”

Clear Channel sought Justice Department approval of its $26.7 billion takeover, said a spokeswoman. Monday, the broadcaster filed Hart Scott Rodino paperwork, allowing the department to review the deal, she said. But the company isn’t making the documents public. Hart Scott Rodino rules give the DoJ 30 days to decide if a merger violates antitrust regulations and let the agency request more information to extend the period, wrote Bear Stearns analyst Victor Miller. A 5-0 FCC vote last week for the company’s purchase by two leveraged buyout firms (CD Jan 10 p5) likely prompted Clear Channel’s filing, said Miller, though the FCC hasn’t released the order approving the deal. Miller said Bain Capital and Thomas Lee likely will complete their purchase of the broadcaster between mid-February and mid-March.

The FCC wants comments on what’s acceptable broadband network management, the agency said in two public notices unveiled late Monday. Chairman Kevin Martin was spurred to step up scrutiny of the practices by complaints from public- interest groups including Free Press and online video distributor Vuze, agency and industry officials said. They said the other commissioners are also considering whether broadband network operators ought to be allowed to block or slow bandwidth-intensive peer-to-peer applications such as BitTorrent. But the commissioners seem divided on how to handle the complaints, agency and industry sources said.

The FCC won’t act quickly on two-way plug-and-play rules (CD Dec 21 p3), judging by Chairman Kevin Martin’s comments at the Consumer Electronics Show and other evidence, a number of industry officials said. In his CES appearance Tuesday, Martin defied months of industry speculation that he would outline his stance on the controversial issue, saying little about it, according to people who heard him. In a Q-and-A session with CEA President Gary Shapiro, Martin highlighted efforts by the cable and consumer electronics industries to deploy plug-and-play devices. The chairman didn’t get into policy specifics.