The scope of proposed waivers for videogames and Web-enabled TVs and DVRs is too broad, say some advocates for people with hearing problems who plan to oppose the advanced communications services (ACS) exemption requests when the FCC takes comments. National Association of the Deaf, and Telecom for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Inc. officials said they're among the groups concerned about what the CEA and Entertainment Software Association seek. Exempting the wide array of consumer electronics from ACS disabilities’ access rules the commission is implementing under a 2010 law would hurt the deaf too much to warrant OK, and they're not specific enough about the need, NAD and TDI lawyers said. The CEA said the waiver it wants for Internet Protocol-enabled TVs and DVRs isn’t broad.

TV stations and cable operators have differing views on whether an FCC rulemaking notice asking whether to extend viewability rules for another three years signals that the commission’s stance has long been settled. The 1992 Cable Act’s viewability provisions are at stake, the NAB said, in the agency’s forthcoming order on whether operators must continue to carry HD and standard definition versions of broadcasters guaranteed cable carriage in systems not all digital. Bright House Networks was among NCTA members that voluntarily committed to three years of what the industry terms dual carriage, and the association noted that period has ended. They said the NAB is trying to force the industry to treat that commitment as if it has no expiration.

DVRs, TVs and videogames with Internet access or other advanced communications services functions aren’t primarily ACS devices and shouldn’t be subject to new FCC disabilities accessibility rules, two trade associations said. The CEA sought a waiver from ACS rules under the 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act for models of Internet Protocol-enabled sets and IP-enabled digital video players that are first made anytime before July 1, 2016. The Entertainment Software Association wants an exemption under the same section of the CVAA covering at least eight years of videogames and services, under provisions of an October order (CD Oct 12 p8) from the agency implementing CVAA and setting up a waiver process.

Fans and foes of retransmission consent rules framed it as a diversity issue, while an aide to a House Commerce Committee member said Congress seems unlikely to change the law anytime soon. Getting paid by multichannel video programming distributors like Time Warner Cable lets Univision add to its Spanish-language programming, General Manager Alberto Mier y Teran of the broadcaster’s Los Angeles stations said. Multichannel video programming distributors have less capacity for non-English programming because retrans and related rules require stations to be on the basic tier, Time Warner Cable Vice President Fernando Laguarda told a panel Wednesday at a U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce legislative conference.

An FCC advisory panel is the latest entity to back text-to-speech emergency alert system warnings (CD March 14 p8). All levels of government can trigger EAS in a format that starts June 30 without sending audio files that take bandwidth and time for broadcasters and pay-TV operators to download, the Communications Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council said. It voted unanimously Thursday to recommend the commission rework an order on the new Common Alerting Protocol format to OK text to speech.

The FCC wants to know if 19-year-old procedures need updating for how the agency processes pay-TV complaints that a rival withheld a channel. A rulemaking notice released late Tuesday -- in time to avoid a vote at Wednesday’s commissioner meeting (CD March 21 p17) -- asked how or whether to consider allegations of volume discounts or across-the-board cost hikes for programming meant to price all but programming the cable operator owns out of the market. The item contained a few proposals. It recommended a 45-day period for various types of anti-exclusivity complaints made under the 1992 Cable Act to be answered, and to the extent types of programming like regional sports networks (RSN) can’t be withheld, the HD version must be provided to a multichannel video programming distributor.

The FCC cleared the way for more than 1,000 FM translator stations to go on-air in two items that also start work on an upcoming opportunity for tribes and community groups to seek new low-power stations on that band. An order and a rulemaking notice released Monday night appeared to largely track with drafts the Media Bureau circulated for a vote (CD Feb 9 p6), which commissioners approved as also expected (CD March 8 p12) before Wednesday’s agency meeting. The items said new rules for a 2003 application window for translators will expand the pool of construction permits issued from Auction 83 by 29 percent to 4,500 and possibly more. The next window for LPFM seekers to get permits for those stations may be the last, the commission said, asking about changes to some ownership rules.

Many low-power TV stations likely will be forced off-air by FCC actions meant to clear the way to auction full-power broadcast spectrum, LPTV executives and lawyers predicted. Fears are mounting about low-power stations losing channels altogether because there’s no space for them after the voluntary broadcast incentive auction the commission has 10 years to hold, or because they can’t afford to move to new spots on the TV dial, they said in interviews. Those concerns increased after President Barack Obama signed spectrum auction legislation Feb. 22 (CD Feb 24 p10) to pay for relocation costs for one class of low-power station that doesn’t protect most others from being moved against their will, executives said.

The FCC isn’t disrupting an online video distributor (OVD) arbitration condition for OVDs to get programming from Comcast and its NBCUniversal when an Internet video company already has deals from other broadcast, cable or film content owners, a Media Bureau spokeswoman confirmed. Ex-bureau Chief Monica Desai, who met Thursday with current Chief Bill Lake and other bureau staffers, reported they told her that last week’s public notice (CD March 14 p14) on the Comcast/NBCUniversal deal condition won’t interrupt ongoing arbitration. Six of the biggest U.S. programmers and Desai’s client -- Project Concord Inc., which has sought arbitration -- had objected to the change Comcast and NBCUniversal sought.

The NAB added the largest TV station owner that’s never been a member. Sinclair joined March 1, a company executive and association spokesman told us. The association’s leadership under President Gordon Smith “is intent on guiding the industry in a way that certainly the prior leadership under” President David Rehr, which “was a train wreck,” wasn’t doing, Sinclair Vice President Mark Aitken said. Spectrum issues, which loom large as the FCC last month got authority to auction TV frequencies with broadcaster permission and share proceeds with stations, were among the reasons Sinclair joined, he said. Much “progress” has been made “at really bringing NAB together around consistent messaging,” having more “technical leadership” with the hiring last year of a chief technology officer, and efforts at the NAB’s lab, Aitken said.