A Supreme Court decision on videogames may have limited import for broadcasters in an indecency case before the high court, Entertainment Software Association CEO Michael Gallagher said Tuesday. June’s Brown ruling striking down California’s ban on the sale of violent games to kids may help broadcasters some in the consolidated FCC v. ABC and Fox case, he said. But, because TV stations use public airwaves, the videogames ruling may not foretell a clearcut win for broadcasting, Gallagher said in response to a question from a TV executive at an industry lunch in Washington. Gallagher told us it may take time for the commission to approve ESA’s separate waiver request from disabilities accessibility rules for all videogames.

FCC video accessibility committee subgroups continue work with staff of the commission on three forthcoming reports required under last year’s communications disabilities legislation, participants said. They said efforts similar to those between career commission staffers and members of the Video Programming Accessibility Advisory Committee on the panel’s first report on Internet programming, released in July (CD July 15 p1) are underway on the forthcoming reports. The VPAAC reports will cover video description for multichannel video programming distributors and TV stations, user interfaces on consumer electronics and conveying emergency information.

The FCC delayed for a second time emergency alert system rules for traditional media to get and pass on to viewers and listeners EAS warnings that the government distributes online. The commission Friday delayed by nine months to June 30 the date when all multichannel video programming distributors and radio and TV stations must be ready for the Common Alerting Protocol format. That’s longer than the four-month compliance delay sought (CD Aug 8 p3) by CAP’s developer, the Federal Emergency Management Agency. It released the new standard in September 2010, and CAP is part of the integrated public alert and warning system (IPAWS).

Seven major ISP and Web companies engage in de facto “censorship” because of policies against hate speech, and some have banned certain Christian content, a group representing religious broadcasters said. The National Religious Broadcasters said the companies decide what’s so shocking as to not be allowed on their websites. Its 41-page paper said Twitter was the only major Internet player whose policies it reviewed that didn’t censor speech on those private companies’ sites. Apple, AT&T, Comcast, Facebook, Google, MySpace and Verizon all have policies that could let them engage in such discrimination, NRB said. Those companies had no comment.

There’s muted interest among lawmakers and policymakers on retransmission consent deals. That’s even with a blackout (CD Sept 2 p3) between a broadcaster and multichannel video programming distributor entering a third week, executives from both industries said in interviews. They said the FCC and members of Congress haven’t been very active on the issue, and there’s no indication that soon will change. The founder and head of Mediacom, one of the companies in the current dispute, said more blackouts would garner additional attention on the Hill. Mediacom CEO Rocco Commisso also said he’s frustrated the government isn’t doing more to level the field between MVPDs and TV stations.

The no. 2 U.S. radio broadcaster is starting to test an FM transmission technology that backers say may improve reception for analog listeners in areas with hills, mountains, skyscrapers and other obstructing terrain. The supporters and an executive who’s sitting out the test said the single sideband (SSB) suppressed carrier technology may eventually help reception of digital radio. There’s skepticism among some executives that the type of modulation will help get HD Radio chips in more consumer electronics.

Scripps Networks for the first time will have a lawyer working mostly in the Washington area, company executives said. Chief Legal Officer A.B. Cruz said he'll spend more time in the Chevy Chase, Md., office of the company’s Travel Channel and less time commuting to Scripps’ corporate headquarters in Knoxville, Tenn. The change is part of focusing more on federal regulatory and legislative issues, including at the FCC and on Capitol Hill, after Scripps Networks split in 2008 from broadcaster and newspaper publisher E.W. Scripps, Cruz and a company spokeswoman told us Monday. “Very recently we have started accelerating our attention here, because certainly pre-split under my tenure here we very infrequently lobbied” in Washington, Cruz said. “This certainly opens the door to more coordinated efforts.” He declined to say on what issues Scripps will be active on and said it hasn’t been decided if the company will hire a less-senior lawyer to also work in the Chevy Chase office. “It just makes sense to have a better finger on the pulse” in Washington, Cruz said: He already lives in the area.

Time Warner Cable avoided a program access complaint by Hawaii’s largest telco (CD Aug 11 p6), because the two sides agreed to a distribution deal. The cable operator let Hawaiian Telcom distribute a regional sports network, a spokesman for the telco told us. Other multichannel video providers meanwhile asked the FCC to continue or at least look to continue RSN conditions expiring next year. The agency placed the curbs on Time Warner Cable and Comcast in 2006 as part of letting them buy Adelphia Communications.

The FCC likely will soon approve a $2.4 billion radio deal to form a larger No. 2 company in the industry. The Media Bureau is expected by agency and commission officials to be nearly ready to issue, as soon as this week, an order letting Cumulus Media buy Citadel Broadcasting.

An upcoming rulemaking notice asks about an FCC advisory group’s recommendations (CD July 15 p5) on putting online captioned programming from traditional sources, agency and industry officials said. They said the draft notice seeks to implement definitions of and rules for such captions once they go into Internet Protocol format. Many commissioners haven’t voted on the item, but are expected to do so soon, agency officials said.