Retransmission consent fees aren’t being used by TV stations to fund local content, according to research by academics, including some funded by foes of the current retrans system, several professors said Monday. The 1992 Cable Act authorizing retrans payments to broadcasters by multichannel video programming distributors was meant to preserve and promote local programming, said Prof. Philip Napoli of Fordham University. There’s a “body of literature” showing that’s not now happening, he said at an event on Capitol Hill organized by the American TV Coalition, a group of MVPDs and nonprofits seeking to change FCC retrans rules. The NAB responded that TV stations are producing more and not less news.

NBCUniversal may face an arbitration request from an upstart online video distributor (OVD). It could seek a programming deal with the company under terms of an FCC order approving Comcast’s purchase of control in NBCU that gives OVDs the rights to buy some content accords if they strike distribution deals with other programmers. Project Concord Inc.’s request may be the first such instance of an OVD intending to seek arbitration to get access to shows from Comcast’s cable channels or the NBC broadcast-TV network to distribute them online, consumer advocates who opposed the NBCUniversal deal told us. The OVD’s request was made public in an FCC filing last week. It asked the agency not to pause issuance of a protective order to keep programming contracts confidential while it reviews Comcast’s request to change a condition in the 2011 order (CD Feb 22 p4).

U.S. Internet players will abide by the spirit of net neutrality for the foreseeable future, regardless of the outcome of appeals against the FCC’s 2010 rules, the agency’s recently departed chief of staff predicted. Net neutrality has become the “norm” in the U.S., Eddie Lazarus told an Information Technology & Innovation Foundation event Thursday. The type of heated rhetoric that occurred over net neutrality and this year over legislation that’s now being debated on intellectual property rights could be the harbinger of future debates, Lazarus said. He voiced hope there will be more wireless competitors, and that LightSquared’s spectrum will eventually be put to more use, and has no regrets about how the commission handled the company’s waiver.

Debate between broadcasters and nonprofits about what information TV stations should be required to report online, by moving paper files in studios to the Internet, heated up as an FCC vote on an order nears. The Media Bureau continues work on an order to require many parts of stations’ public files to be put online, and may circulate an order in time for a vote at the March 21 meeting, agency and industry officials said. Public interest groups and broadcasters continued trading FCC filings about the merits of scaling back the commission’s proposed rules, with industry wanting fewer requirements than the commission has proposed and nonprofits urging the agency to stick with what was floated in an October rulemaking notice.

Debate intensified on whether cable operators should install radio frequency traps in all-digital systems so consumer electronics can get basic programming without using extra devices. NCTA Friday released a blog titled “it’s a trap” against the use of such technology. Meanwhile the CE company that has been most vocal against cable operators scrambling signals took aim at RCN for saying traps aren’t practical.

FCC work on making all TV stations put political-ad files online, so campaign buys of spots around the time of elections can be more closely tracked, likely will be guided by the industry’s first proposal (CD Feb 15 p20) for how to manage the files, said agency and industry officials. Officials at public interest groups that have long wanted everything in station’s public files to go online said the plan from 11 companies is a start to a dialogue with industry. Industry officials said it’s unclear if other stations and the NAB will back the proposal for broadcasters to aggregate information on ad buys without disclosing how much campaigns spent on each commercial. At first glance the proposal’s an interesting one, and may add corporate backers, industry officials said.

Several cable operators awaiting FCC approval of basic-tier encryption likely will get an order approving it industrywide, officials said. Cable, consumer electronics and nonprofit officials said the Media Bureau continues work toward an order (CD Feb 14 p7) that would OK encryption by any operator that takes certain steps to make subscribers with older TVs whole after scrambling, such as by giving them a CableCARD for free for a period of time. The coming order would let all-digital systems scramble signals of TV stations and pay networks to cut down on theft and perhaps help the environment by eliminating service calls.

The outdated retransmission consent system is worsening problems at cable operators of all sizes, executives pushing for rule changes said. They still seek FCC modifications because retrans costs are going up, said executives at the American Cable Association and Time Warner Cable. Counterparts from News Corp.’s Fox TV Stations and the NAB said Tuesday that retrans costs represent a relatively small slice of cable programming costs and customer bills, contending changes aren’t necessary except perhaps to add rules governing pay-TV notice to subscribers of potential retrans blackouts. Lawyers on both sides of the issue did agree at an FCBA panel that the outlook for regulatory or legislative action anytime soon is hard to read.

Compulsory copyrights show the need to keep an FCC rule preventing multichannel video programming distributors from using their blanket licenses to carry games in markets where they're blacked out on broadcast TV, professional baseball and football said. They cited Sections 111 and 119 of the Copyright Act, which let cable and DBS companies carry distant broadcast signals without getting the permission of leagues whose games are on TV. Like baseball and the NFL, the NAB also opposed a petition from a sports fan organization that has gotten backing from pay-TV companies and four public interest groups asking the commission to junk the 1975 rule. Five Democratic senators and nine professors said it’s time to kill the requirement.

Cable operators still will be able to scramble all channels, as FCC staff are working toward an order allowing encrypting on the basic tier, agency and industry officials said. They said work continues to be slowed by concerns that some consumer electronics wouldn’t work at all with encrypted systems (CD Feb 9 p4). But top aides in the Media Bureau and office of FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski are still believed by CE and cable officials to be inclined to circulate for a vote by commissioners an order allowing encrypting. Operators have said encrypting all broadcast and other expanded-basic channels would let them reduce carbon dioxide emissions when technicians drive to customer homes to turn on and off video, though CE companies still say those claims are overblown.