Ovation asked the FCC to intervene just before Time Warner Cable (TWC) stopped carrying it at the end of 2012 (CD Jan 3 p10), filings show. The cable network filed an emergency petition with the commission Dec. 19, saying TWC failed to give proper notice to subscribers about the coming channel lineup change that would result from no longer carrying Ovation. The pleadings from last month were posted Thursday in docket 03-15 (http://xrl.us/bob6vs).

As the FCC weighs whether to relax a ban on mergers between newspapers and TV stations in the same market, it must heavily consider the public interest and the status of media ownership, officials watching the agency’s proceeding on new rules said Thursday at a New America Foundation event. Those with differing views on how much deregulation, if any, should be allowed agreed that minority ownership of media properties is low. The Internet hasn’t helped expand the amount of news covered, some agreed, and others said the commission needs to allow for innovation in promulgating new rules.

Telcos and carriers could soon face a mandatory data collection to determine the extent of the rural call completion problem, FCC and industry officials told us. They said a Wireline Bureau notice of proposed rulemaking that circulated Jan. 14 proposes to require the first facilities-based originating interexchange carrier to track certain information about when calls to rural areas are completed, versus when calls to urban areas are completed. The NPRM proposes banning “phantom ringback” tones, which falsely lead a caller to believe the call is being connected, FCC and industry officials said. Rural phone associations have been pushing for action since it became clear that last year’s declaratory ruling on the importance of call completion wasn’t having the effect they had hoped for (CD April 16 p3). Last month, 34 senators urged FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski to investigate why some calls to rural areas calls are delayed, have poor quality or fail to connect altogether.

Major changes in the U.S. telecom marketplace in the 15 years since passage of the 1996 Telecom Act highlight the need for reforms to that legislation, said Free State Foundation President Randolph May Wednesday during an event. The pro-deregulation think tank was promoting its new book, Communications Law and Policy in the Digital Age, which focuses on how U.S. telecom law and policy should change over the next five years. Reforms should reflect changes to the marketplace since 1996 -- the switch from analog to digital, the switch from narrow-band to broadband networks and the switch from a mostly monopolistic marketplace to one that’s highly competitive, May said. “Those changes call for a new communications law, and certainly, absent waiting for the new law, changes in the direction of communications policy,” he said.

The FCC’s proposed “preferred” band plan for an incentive auction of broadcast-TV spectrum is raising big concerns among both carriers and broadcasters, lawyers representing both said. The issue is expected to arise in comments filed by NAB, Verizon Wireless, AT&T, Qualcomm and others, which are due at the FCC Friday. Concerns over the band plan and the lack of international coordination could lead to delays in the start of the incentive auction, which Chairman Julius Genachowski has predicted would get underway next year, industry and agency sources said.

House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., told reporters Wednesday that the subcommittee’s first hearing of the 113th Congress will investigate Internet regulation on Feb. 5. Also on tap are subcommittee hearings on the development of FirstNet, the FCC’s incentive auction and the reauthorization of the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act (STELA).

The waiver request that’s believed to be the basis for a draft order on public files that the FCC Media Bureau staff have been working on is for KTBS-TV Shreveport, La., said industry and agency officials. The request seeks forbearance so TV stations need not post in their online public files materials from past license renewal cycles. The draft hasn’t circulated for a vote or been approved on delegated authority, industry and agency officials said. Some industry lawyers said work on the draft appeared finished or nearly finished, but approval was held up.

The Internet can be severely harmed when governments, rather than stakeholders, attempt to regulate it, said Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., Wednesday at the State of the Net conference. Scalise, chairman of the Republican Study Conference and member of the House Communications Subcommittee, pointed to the ITU’s World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT) as an example of government interference harming an open Internet. The ITU has expertise in traditional telephone policy, he said: “Those are not the same kinds of rules that we want to apply to the Internet."

Dish Network “intentionally concealed” AutoHop when negotiating with CBS on a retransmission agreement the parties signed Jan. 5, 2012, the broadcast network said in an amended complaint Tuesday in its ongoing legal battle over the DBS company’s commercial-skipping feature. The amended complaint in U.S. District Court in Manhattan adds “fraudulent concealment and inducement” allegations against Dish for failing to disclose AutoHop during the retrans negotiations, CBS said. The network meanwhile was the subject of a letter a nonprofit that seeks changes to FCC retrans rules sent the agency. Public Knowledge linked the issue to the broadcaster’s directing its CNET news website to pull Dish’s new Hopper with Sling DVR from consideration for its Best of CES awards (CD Jan 14 p14).

The FCC should “stay the course” on hearing aid compatibility rules for wireless phones and not impose new rules or make big changes to the current rules, CTIA told the FCC in response to a November public notice. The Telecommunications Industry Association made similar comments, but the Hearing Industries Association (HIA) and groups representing the deaf and hard of hearing said more needs to be done to make better HAC phones readily available.