AFL-CIO decided against complaining to the SEC about Comcast financial disclosure policies, said Brandon Rees, the union’s asst. dir.-investment office. AFL-CIO and CWA, which has had labor disputes with Comcast, were considering a complaint after company executives briefed a Wall Street analyst without also publicly releasing the information (CD Oct 20 p5). “The company had been made aware of the issue, and it was our hope that they would be more careful in the future,” Rees told us Tues. “To my knowledge, there haven’t been any other omissions or failures to properly disclose material information.” Comcast has said it followed all securities rules.

Comcast’s employment of politicians’ family members drew concern from a union critical of the firm’s corporate governance. The cable operator paid an undisclosed amount to the wife of Md. Gov. Robert Ehrlich (R) to host a VoD talk show, The Washington Post reported Tues. “We have been concerned about the employment of Ehrlich’s wife,” said Tony Daley, a CWA economist who follows the firm. “This is like Comcast paying to play in Maryland.” Comcast also hired 2 sons of former state Sen. Bromwell (D-Baltimore County), who was involved in cable legislation, said the Post. The report comes amid investor concern about companies’ ties to politicians. “The public wants assurance that these kinds of employment arrangements don’t compromise public officials’ independent judgment about policy matters,” said Carol Bowie, vp-Institutional Shareholder Services. “It can be difficult to judge when an employment arrangement raises conflicts,” she said, adding that corporate political contributions have drawn sustained investor scrutiny. A Comcast spokesman said all hiring was done “in accordance with customary hiring practices” and consultants were hired “based on their areas of expertise and ability to deliver on specific work requests.”

BellSouth, lagging in video deployment, likely will move faster on its IPTV plans if AT&T’s takeover gets approval from the FCC and other regulators, said industry observers. The firm largely has sat out the pay TV wars, but it has spent extensively on fiber that would allow it to scale up quickly, said executives from both Bells Mon.

A family TV hour -- FCC Chmn. Martin’s latest decency proposal -- (CD March 2 p2), is drawing mixed reaction. Sen. Brownback (R-Kan.) told us he supports the idea and would like legislation on it. But he said a bill to boost fines more than tenfold for programming judged inappropriate has a better chance than content regulation of passing the Senate. The Senate Commerce Committee plans soon to take up a House bill that would raise maximum fines to $500,000 from $32,500 for each occurrence (CD March 1 p4). Brownback isn’t a member of the committee. Broadcasters are wary of Martin’s latest salvo on programming decency, said people familiar with the industry who asked not to be identified. NAB and companies including CBS wouldn’t comment.

Charter is among the cable operators that manage Internet traffic to ensure it doesn’t bog down, said CEO Neil Smit: “We do manage our network,” he said when asked about net neutrality: “We're going to ensure that our service is reliable and consistent.” The company, like other cable operators, supports voluntary net neutrality but not govt. intervention, he said: “I think there needs to be room to innovate in the market, and frankly the market forces will dictate the innovation… We need to be careful about continued development by rule which could stifle innovation.” Asked about Charter’s stance on charging content providers such as Google for prioritizing delivery of bandwidth intensive applications such as streaming video, the former AOL executive demurred: “I think there is an opportunity around what we used to call in the Internet space ‘preferred placement.’ Whether that model could work here I'm not sure.” Cable operators are open to charging content providers for such prioritization, industry sources have said (CD Feb 15 p7).

House Commerce Committee members are nearing agreement on video franchise buildout by new entrants into the pay TV market, said Rep. Pickering (R-Miss.). “I think we're getting closer on the video buildout issue,” he told reporters after an NAB speech. The committee vice chairman, echoing cable and telecom industry sentiment, said there’s a slim chance of passing comprehensive telecom reform this legislative session. “There will be limited ability to get a lot done,” Pickering told TV station officials: “We will try to pick out 3 or 4 areas and get something done.” Action on broadcast flags and artist “performance rights” issues are unlikely, he said.

Comcast, which just settled a rate case, may see additional charges challenged by franchising authorities, said a lawyer who represents the LFAs and a cable accountant involved in the latest deal. A settlement unveiled this month ended a spat between cities and the company over charges for gear such as DVRs and remotes, said attorney Ken Fellman. But the accord didn’t involve rates that will soon be disclosed for 2006, said Fellman, who represents 31 Denver area cities and counties. More than a million cable customers in those localities and about 70 more will get $2.6 million under the arrangement (CD Feb 21 p10).

Network officials are wondering about a rumored batch of FCC indecency complaints that’s been long awaited by the broadcasters but hasn’t been released. Complaints about inappropriate content on CBS, Fox and NBC may be released as soon as this week, Bloomberg News reported early Wed. The Commission will find that “the common word for excrement” cannot generally be used, said the report, without citing any sources. FCC officials declined to comment. Broadcast industry executives said the report took them by surprise because they weren’t expecting such complaints to be publicized yet. Chmn. Martin said in mid-Dec. he hoped to soon issue complaints after the agency issued none last year (CD Dec 16 p1).

Lack of data from Comcast on its deal with Adelphia is unsettling officials in industry and at the FCC, now reviewing the $17.6 billion proposal. The main worry is lack of access to e-mails on regional sports networks, an FCC source said. A DirecTV gripe stoked that concern (CD Feb 16 p13), this person said. Media Access Project (MAP), which wants curbs on the deal, is upset at Comcast’s reluctance to allow it entree to flowcharts and other data on the number of subscribers attributed to the cable operator.

FTC Comr. Jon Leibowitz praised a report that seeks to speed up merger reviews when the agency requests additional information from companies (CD Feb 17 p2). The report, from Chmn. Deborah Majoras’s office, wasn’t subject to commission vote, said a person familiar with the document. A guideline that an experienced FTC attorney must discuss 2nd requests for information with companies is among the most useful reforms, said John Wyss, a Wiley Rein & Fielding antitrust specialist. That hasn’t always happened, Wyss said: “By making sure there will be someone with some experience negotiating these things on these 2nd requests, it is going to be helpful for everyone.”