An NAB-backed study contending there’s no spectrum shortage gets many points wrong, said the FCC and several groups seeking to repurpose airwaves used by TV stations for wireless broadband. A spokesman for the commission emailed reporters with a long list of shortcomings the agency contends are contained in a report by industry consultant Uzoma Onyeije. Within hours, the CEA and Wireless Communications Association joined in on the criticism. Broadcasters, an “infrastructure dinosaur,” incorrectly try to downplay the coming growth of wireless data usage, CEA Vice President Julie Kearney said.

Broadcasters jousted with wireless carriers and the CEA as the FCC took in a last round of comments on its proposal to “repurpose” parts of the TV band. NAB filed a report, written by former FCC official Uzoma Onyeije, questioning whether there really is a spectrum “crisis.” CTIA and CEA fired back, arguing that all the evidence shows a growing need for more spectrum for wireless broadband. Five nonprofit groups said the commission needs to collect data on whether TV stations fully use their spectrum, with commenters “deeply divided on this question."

Many Tennis Channel advertisers also buy spots on Comcast’s sports networks, the administrative law judge overseeing the network’s case against the cable operator was told Tuesday. There’s a large overlap between top advertisers on the channel and those who also buy ads on Comcast’s Golf Channel and Versus, Tennis Channel Senior Vice President Gary Herman testified. He said the independent channel’s growth in ad dollars and subscribers has been curtailed by Comcast’s refusal to move it to a more widely purchased tier of cable service (CD April 26 p6). A lawyer for Comcast asked Herman about a dozen questions on other channels not owned by the cable operator that have even more advertiser overlap.

Much of the start of a program carriage hearing against Comcast dealt with whether an independently owned sports channel seeking broader distribution on the company’s systems is similar to other networks owned by the cable operator. Chief FCC Administrative Law Judge Richard Sippel heard from both sides Monday in Tennis Channel v. Comcast. He agreed to our request to make as much as possible of the hearing open to the public, after much of past program carriage cases were held in private, and said he'd try to release documents more quickly to the public, after some delays.

White spaces rules waivers are likely to be given by the FCC to many or all of the several dozen TV stations that sought protection from interference for outlets far away from the antenna of the broadcaster that originates the content, industry officials predicted. Those who have filed the requests, which were due April 5 but continued being posted last week to docket 04-186, and engineering officials said they're hoping the waivers won’t be controversial. Under last year’s white spaces order, those with sites receiving the TV signals of other stations, and located more than 80 kilometers (50 miles) from the protected service area of the originating station, can seek such waivers.

The FCC offered clarity on how utilities can show their poles are full and so can’t be used by cable operators, telcos or others to attach equipment at low rates. An order approved by the commissioners and released Wednesday sided with four cable operators in a challenge to an administrative law judge (ALJ) ruling that was brought by a utility in Florida. It resolved a case dating to a 2000 complaint the operators filed against a unit of Southern Co. over whether the company’s Gulf Power utility can charge rates above what cable companies usually pay to use space on thousands of poles in the state. A 2007 ruling by Chief FCC ALJ Richard Sippel, in favor of the cable operators, was upheld by the commission.

"Count on me to be that cop on the beat,” FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn said Tuesday on monitoring Comcast’s compliance with FCC conditions on its purchase of control in NBCUniversal. “I expect to hear from you of anything that escapes my attention,” she told the American Cable Association. “Operators like you needed certain protections in place and available remedies to utilize,” including baseball-style arbitration with Comcast over access to its programming, she told the conference. A curb that she pushed for requires the dispute resolution, in which an arbitrator chooses one of the sides’ final offers.

States have concerns about a revamp of the Universal Service Fund, Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission member Larry Landis said Tuesday. The Republican supported the FCC’s undertaking a USF overhaul that could reallocate some money to broadband service. Some states are worried about how companies that rely on the high-cost part of the fund will be affected by a revamp, Landis said at an American Cable Association conference. Some providers get a large chunk of their revenue from that part of USF, he noted. “The one concern that would be shared by many of my colleagues” is that whenever intercarrier compensation and USF overhauls are done, “you are bound to have some unexpected challenges that come up,” Landis said.

Commissioner Michael Copps took aim at the FCC on media issues, adding to his previous calls for the agency to act on more issues in that area and to do so quickly. In a speech Saturday at the National Conference for Media Reform, and in an interview Monday with Communications Daily, he expressed disappointment the regulator hasn’t done more. Having acknowledged this will be his last year on the FCC (CD April 11 p6), Copps said his priority for the remainder of his tenure is for it to move ahead on “media reform."

BOSTON -- Commissioner Mignon Clyburn said she’s paying close attention to wireless competition. Remarks by Clyburn prepared for delivery Friday to the National Conference for Media Reform dealt only with the wireless industry. She said she'll review AT&T’s proposed $39 billion purchase of T-Mobile with an eye toward encouraging competition. The comments came the day after the FCC approved data-roaming requirements, 3-2 (CD April 8 p1).