Work by career FCC lawyers is picking up steam on making all TV stations post almost all of their public inspection files online, agency and industry officials told us. They said staffers in the Media Bureau are intensifying work toward a final order to require the files now kept on paper in TV stations’ main studios to be given electronically to the FCC to put on its website. Commissioner Robert McDowell Friday slammed the agency for moving toward a fix to a problem that appears to be “non-existent,” by imposing unnecessary burdens on industry. Broadcasters, meanwhile, continued to oppose a notice of inquiry in another proceeding that would make them file quarterly standardized forms about the types of local programming they air.

An FCC committee won’t likely reach complete consensus on all items to be covered in three upcoming reports to the agency on implementing parts of the 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act, participants said. Some areas where consumer electronics firms and other companies may not agree with advocates for those with vision or hearing problems were pointed out during Thursday’s meeting of the Video Programming Accessibility Advisory Committee (http://xrl.us/bmhahx). One such area deals with the quality of video descriptions, describing aurally on-screen action sequences that aren’t captioned, when programming is transmitted by CE apparatus, industry and nonprofit officials said. A commission official discussed the limits on lobbyists’ participation in preparations for the forthcoming reports, and how VPAAC members could get input from those officials under current rules.

An online news company may avoid the public furor that two piracy bills saw last month by signing licensing deals with major websites that aggregate content, its CEO told old- and new-media executives and lobbyists in Washington. NewsRight’s David Westin said the debate over the Stop Online Piracy Act and the PROTECT IP Act -- which led the bills to be put on hold -- doesn’t apply to his company. That’s because the consortium of 29 media companies hopes to pursue contracts with websites and not seek legislation or file lawsuits to get content aggregators to stop carrying news without paying the creators. Westin said last month that he wouldn’t “rule out” litigation (CD Jan 10 p8). Claims that SOPA or PIPA would lead to censorship were overblown, Westin told a Media Institute luncheon Wednesday.

Two draft FCC items move the agency closer to implementing legislation signed into law in January 2011 letting the agency license low-power FM stations closer on the dial to full-power radio. Agency and industry officials said a draft rulemaking asks about technical provisions for second-adjacent separation, which would require LPFM outlets to be two notches on the dial away from full-power stations versus the current third-adjacent limit. The rulemaking also asks about waivers for second-adjacent rules, the officials said.

Making all TV stations report quarterly on the types of local programming aired is an impractical change to the issues/program lists now required and raises First Amendment concerns, many broadcasters told the FCC. Some backed a more limited reporting requirement to replace the now-junked Form 355, while nonprofit groups sought more expansive documentation. Nonprofits representing the disabled said in comments posted Monday in docket 11-189 (http://xrl.us/bmp9v5) on a commission notice of inquiry about a successor to Form 355 that stations ought to report the extent to which their shows have captions.

Wi-Fi, including that available from cable operators, isn’t competitive yet with wireless carriers’ offerings, FCC Wireless Bureau Chief Rick Kaplan said Monday. Unlicensed broadband could yet pose a competitive threat, and shows there are ways to offload traffic onto other networks, he said at a Practising Law Institute seminar in New York. But the current state of the technology’s deployment in the U.S. means the frequencies it uses are not suitable to be included in the spectrum screen the FCC uses to review deals, Kaplan said.

Work at the FCC is intensifying on changing the Lifeline program that funds phone service for poor people, commissioners from both parties said Friday. A new draft of the Lifeline order circulated Tuesday night, prompting Commissioner Robert McDowell to return to Washington from a World Radiocommunications Conference in Geneva, he noted. Both McDowell and Commissioner Mignon Clyburn told a panel at the Minority Media and Telecom Council conference that the order tries to address waste and other inefficiencies in the subsidy program. Clyburn voiced support for the idea of broadband pilot tests, while McDowell said increases in one part of the Universal Service Fund mean all phone customers must pay more in USF fees unless there are other cuts.

The FCC isn’t poised to finish work on reviewing retransmission consent deals between TV stations and multichannel video programming distributors, agency and industry officials told us. That’s despite continued MVPD requests during a webinar on the deals Thursday for the agency to issue an order on retrans. Panelists from the broadcast and MVPD industries debated the significance of the small number of blackouts this year and last.

It’s time to kill a 1976 rule that radio and TV stations must disclose on-air all material terms of their contests when promoted during programming, the owner of 112 radio stations told the FCC. Entercom asked it to start a rulemaking to let any broadcaster -- and in particular radio stations -- instead disclose all contest terms on their websites. If the commission seeks feedback on the proposal, all radio stations filing comments are likely to back it, industry lawyers and an executive said. Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa, owner of several radio stations, filed in support of Entercom’s petition, less than a day after it was posted online.

Career FCC staff is working out details of rules allowing scrambling basic cable programming (CD Nov 30 p10). That would let cable operators cut down on the need to send out technicians and their energy-consuming, carbon-dioxide-emitting vehicles to turn on and off service. Media Bureau staffers have been devoting attention in recent weeks to work toward a draft order that will allow encryption of the basic tier, agency and industry officials said. They said the order may be one of the next major media decisions released by the commission.