The FCC should speed issuance of the third periodic DTV order and act on petitions for reconsideration to the DTV table of allotments, aides to commissioners were told last week by officials from Capitol Broadcasting, CBS, Disney and the Association for Maximum Service Television. The commission soon will issue the DTV review, on the transition’s technical aspects, an FCC official said. An order on consumer education on the digital transition may be held up on the eighth floor, the official said. Commissioner Robert McDowell predicted a vote soon on the periodic review, which didn’t get action at the Dec. 18 meeting because he and colleagues needed time to review it (CD Dec 21 p3). Broadcasters fear the rules won’t allow the flexibility they want, a review of ex parte filings shows (Docket 07-91). “The complexity and rigidity in the technical and procedural rules to be established in the DTV Third Periodic proceeding could cause delays for broadcasters and the commission,” said a summary of a meeting between an aide to Commissioner Michael Copps and representatives of Capitol, CBS, Disney and Hubbard Broadcasting. “Stations face a danger of being unable to purchase and install equipment before the DTV transition date, if the commission’s process is not completed forthwith.” In meetings with aides to all five commissioners, MSTV officials said stations shouldn’t need FCC waivers to end analog service before the cutoff deadline.

Foes of media consolidation are mad at FCC Chairman Kevin Martin for saying he made last-minute changes in the media ownership order at their request, especially since the revamp didn’t address many of their concerns (CD Dec 19 p1). At Tuesday’s commission meeting approving the order, Martin said he circulated a change in the order at 1:57 a.m. after soliciting feedback from consumer and public interest groups. But Consumers Union, the Consumers Federation of America and Free Press said the change Martin made didn’t fully reflect what they sought, so he shouldn’t have claimed the rule allays their concerns. An FCC spokeswoman declined to comment.

A January FCC meeting date has not been set yet, Commissioner Robert McDowell told reporters Thursday. Late Tuesday, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin said the same at a separate briefing. One item industry and FCC officials have said may be voted on in January, perhaps at the meeting, is a two-way cable plug and play order. McDowell indicated that no such order is on the agency’s top floor, saying he looks forward to dealing with that item in 2008.

Last-minute changes to a controversial FCC media ownership order (CD Dec 19 p1) drew criticism at the agency and on Capitol Hill, with predictions that the agency soon will face appeals of its deregulation of cross-ownership. The FCC’s two Democrats said in interviews that they didn’t have enough time to review important changes made only hours before Tuesday’s meeting. House Telecommunications Subcommittee Chairman Edward Markey, D-Mass., chided the late tweaks. He joined many in Congress criticizing the order clearing the way for radio and TV stations to buy daily papers in big markets.

A split FCC approved Tuesday a media ownership order -- clearing the way for radio and TV stations to buy daily newspapers in large markets -- and reimposed a national cap on how many subscribers cable companies can have. As expected (CD Dec 18 p1), FCC Democrats voted against the order, which lets a broadcaster combine with a newspaper in any of the top 20 markets, as long as it isn’t one of the top four TV stations and eight other independent broadcasters and major papers would remain after the deal.

Split FCC votes probably will greet two controversial ownership orders set for votes Tuesday, industry and agency sources said. They expect commissioners to vote 3-2, with the Democrats resisting, for a media ownership order that in some cases would let a company own a station and a daily newspaper in the 20 largest markets (CD Dec 14 p1). An FCC official termed the outcome too distant to handicap. The official and other FCC sources also predicted a split vote on an order to cap at 30 percent the proportion of U.S. pay-TV subscribers each cable operator can serve.

FCC Chairman Kevin Martin made a late request for commissioners to vote on an order at Tuesday’s meeting to help set the process for broadcasters to complete the transition to digital TV, agency and industry sources said. Days before the commissioners are scheduled to meet, Martin asked all of them to agree to vote on the third periodic review of rules affecting the DTV transition, two agency officials said. The report and order was sent to commissioners Dec. 4, according to the FCC’s list of items on circulation. The commission voted at April’s meeting on a rulemaking notice that paved the way for the current order (CD May 22 p5).

Last week, cable operators lobbied at the last minute against an ownership cap before the Tuesday start of the so- called sunshine period barring outreach seven days before a meeting at which commissioners are scheduled to vote on it. FCC members seem likely to approve the order to cap at 30 percent the proportion of pay-TV subscribers any operator can have, an industry official said. Commissioners Jonathan Adelstein and Michael Copps have signaled they'll vote for the order, agency and industry sources said. Others say Commissioners Robert McDowell and Deborah Tate may dissent (CD Dec 3 p2). Tuesday, Advance/Newhouse Communications Chairman Robert Miron wrote each commissioner, asking them not to approve the cap, because it poses a broad financial threat to industry. “The financial markets will react negatively to any commission action here,” he wrote. “It could well affect valuations and the cost and availability of capital. It will negatively impact jobs.” Miron said if the order takes effect it will stifle broadband deployment. Cable operators sell packages of high-speed Internet, phone and digital video, he said. In meetings with Adelstein, Comcast officials cited “the unavoidable relationship of an ownership limitation and broadband deployment,” according to an ex parte filing. Cablevision wrote aides to each commissioner to oppose a cap.

Comcast sued NFL Enterprises, alleging violations of their 2004 contract for carriage of the NFL Network, already the topic of a dispute between cable operators and the league (CD Dec 14 p14). Comcast sought a permanent injunction to bar the NFL from running Web sites urging fans subscribing to Comcast to switch to a pay-TV provider offering wider carriage of the NFL Network. Comcast offers the network on a sports tier. It also wants a ban on e-mails inciting provider switches, it said in a Thursday filing to the state Supreme Court in New York City, a trial court. “NFL has embarked on what has been described as a multimillion dollar marketing campaign” to get Comcast subscribers to defect, the complaint said. It sought unspecified damages. The suit signals that Comcast is “a little nervous” about the network’s marketing, an NFL Network spokesman said. The marketing is a “perfectly legitimate” way to “make sure that consumers know all of their options for getting NFL Network,” he said. Separately, Time Warner Cable President Glenn Britt proposed that the league agree to show a coming Patriots- Giants game on a broadcast network. Britt was responding to a request by Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., to meet with the cable operator, Comcast and NFL. “We're not sure such a meeting between the NFL and two cable operators would advance our mutual goal,” Britt wrote. If the NFL won’t show the game on terrestrial TV, Time Warner Cable will consider airing it free as a one-time offer for digital subscribers, he wrote. The network seemed reluctant to consider such a deal. “When they start giving away their content for free we can talk,” said the NFL Network spokesman. Writing Thursday to Kerry, NFL executive Pete Abitante said the channel should be offered in an “easily accessible and affordable” way year- round by Comcast and Time Warner Cable. “We are prepared to negotiate immediately -- anytime and anywhere -- with Time Warner and Comcast for a long-term solution,” wrote Abitante, special assistant to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. “We are fully prepared to meet with you next week along with” the two other companies.

Commissioners have held off negotiating with FCC Chairman Kevin Martin over his media ownership draft order because they want to see whether he will yield to congressional pressure to delay the Dec. 18 vote, agency sources said. They said the chairman hasn’t told colleagues of any plans to delay action, as Commissioners Jonathan Adelstein and Michael Copps sought Wednesday (CD Dec 13 p1). But commissioners didn’t want to start revising Martin’s draft order -- which would allow common ownership of a newspaper and radio or TV station in most cases in the top 20 markets -- until they're more certain a vote set for Tuesday won’t be postponed, the sources said.