Sen. Dorgan (D-N.D.) may offer a media ownership amendment to the telecom bill, an aide told us. Details weren’t available Mon. because it wasn’t yet drafted, the aide said. Dorgan has pressed FCC Chmn. Martin for an open media ownership rulemaking (CD March 17 p15). Free Press may support Dorgan’s effort, said Communications Dir. Craig Aaron: “It sounds good as advertised, but we're still waiting to see what he has in mind.”

Senate passage of a stripped-down indecency bill appears likely after Republicans gave it their backing when the legislation was “hotlined” (CD May 18 p2), said Hill and industry sources. Senate GOP members had no objections to (S-193), introduced last year by Sen. Brownback (R-Kan.), after Senate Majority Leader Frist (R-Tenn.) told his colleagues he wants a unanimous consent vote, said 2 Senate sources. Brownback wants to hike maximum fines to $325,000 per instance, from $32,500 now (CD May 17 p1).

Three Fla. mayors asked the FCC to quickly approve the nearly $17 billion sale of Adelphia systems to Comcast and Time Warner so their constituents can get services, including VoIP and broadband, not currently available from the bankrupt cable operator. The letters to Chmn. Martin from Boca Raton Mayor Steven Abrams, Pembroke Pines Mayor Frank Ortis and S. Palm Beach Mayor Maurice Jacobson used language similar to that in the companies’ May 18 filing seeking FCC approval (CD July 25 p5). Jacobson told us he wrote the letter on his own “volition” and wasn’t asked to do so by the firms. Abrams and Ortis didn’t immediately comment.

The FCC’s defense of the July 1, 2007, cable set-top integration ban took hits from judges Thurs. hearing oral arguments in cable’s petition at the U.S. Appeals Court, D.C., to have the order vacated.

Cable firms shouldn’t choose which channels to carry because the U.S. market for video programming isn’t competitive, said FCC Chief Economist Leslie Marx. And cable and broadcaster efforts to fight FCC and Hill indecency concerns with parental education (CD Jan 20 p1) don’t go far enough because pay TV customers can’t choose what networks they want to buy, Marx told a Cato Institute forum. “Programming should have to compete on its own in the marketplace,” and industry shouldn’t decide what channels to “subsidize” by bundling them with other programming, she said.

The Senate Commerce Committee plans to mark up an indecency bill (S-193) introduced in Jan. 2005 by Sen. Brownback (R-Kan.) some time this month, according to a committee staffer. The bill would set fines of $325,000 for each violation under broadcast bans on “obscene, indecent or profane” language with a maximum penalty of $3 million. Broadcasters would be more amenable to such a bill because it would exclude controversial provisions like a “three strikes and you're out” stipulation in a House bill (HR-310) that could put stations out of business, said industry sources who asked not to be identified. The House bill would boost indecency fines more than 10-fold to a maximum $500,000 per instance (CD March 1 p1).

Google is negotiating preferred access with cable operators, said Mediacom Pres. Rocco Commisso, even as he criticized content providers seeking network neutrality rules. Commisso and Cable One Pres. Tom Might told an American Cable Assn. panel that broadcasters and programmers aren’t playing ball with smaller cable operators on retransmission consent and a la carte. Net neutrality remarks from Commisso, known in the cable industry as one of its most outspoken executives, were the most controversial remarks at the conference.

Cable and phone firms spend nearly $1 million weekly on ads lobbying for video franchise and other issues related to broadband and fiber video, consultant Gary Arlen said. That is about 4 times spending for Tauzin-Dingell bill ads, Arlen told us: “This is a phenomenal sum.” Except for NCTA, which Arlen expects to run through $50,000 weekly for a year, most outlays will occur in less than 2 months, he said. AT&T is burning $600,000 weekly, outspending any entity Arlen studied. The figures, mostly on D.C.-area broadcast TV ads, came from Arlen’s talks with ad executives and analyses of broadcast data. USTA spending is 2nd, at about $250,000 weekly. TV4US is spending $75,000 weekly, Arlen said. NCTA wouldn’t discuss its spending, but a spokesman said: “The volume of advertising clearly shows the Bells are spending significantly more.” Officials at TV4US and AT&T didn’t comment. A USTA spokeswoman said Arlen’s figures were wrong, but declined to comment on its spending. A study funded by that group found telco entry into video markets will up payments to municipalities for video services as much as 20%. AT&T and Verizon fiber TV products, by getting people to spend more on “wireline video services,” would boost such payments $249 million-$413 million annually, said Brookings economists Robert Crandall and Robert Litan. Meanwhile, a group of state legislators urged what it calls “model legislation supporting video franchise reform” to make it easier for Bells to sell video while making them pay cities to use public rights of way. The American Legislative Exchange Council also would require new entrants to provide public access channel capacity. Details of the plan weren’t given by the group, representing 2,400 lawmakers.

Bells and cable, which continue fighting over video franchise rules (CD May 2 p1), jointly oppose net neutrality rules which they said would stifle online innovation and competition. NetCompetition.org, unveiled at a press briefing Tues., said members include AT&T, Comcast, CTIA, NCTA, Time Warner Cable and Verizon. It added few new arguments to the debate on whether govt. should bar network operators from being paid to give priority to content.

A spate of FCC indecency complaints has delayed renewals of TV licenses because broadcaster requests can’t be granted while a station is under investigation, said industry officials. Hundreds of renewal requests from ABC, Fox and NBC affiliates have been hung up at the Commission because of active complaints, an industry source said. “There is a significant number” of such cases, said an FCC official, but detailed statistics aren’t available. Some of those cases stem from a backlog of complaints that Chmn. Martin wants to clear up through orders like the recent indecency fines of about $4 million (CD March 17 p1), said another FCC official.