More than 200 public TV executives will spend Feb. 13-14 lobbying Congress to spend more on digital content and warning viewers of the analog shut-off. With their infrastructure now digital, public stations want more federal money for digital content, Assn. of Public TV Stations (APTS) Pres. John Lawson told us in a briefing on APTS Capitol Hill Day.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Cal. -- A group working on architecture matters for an international standard on IPTV has a long week’s work ahead of it, speakers said here Mon. at the opening of a week long meeting of the IPTV focus group of the ITU’s telecommunications standardization sector (ITU-T). The Alliance for Telecom Industry Standards was ready to help fill the breach with documents supporting standards based on Next Generation Network (NGN) architecture and, in a compromise, supporting data from both the Web and IP Multimedia System (IMS) networks, said Dan O'Callaghan of Verizon, chmn. of ATIS’s IPTV Interoperability Forum.

A Mo. state lawmaker -- forced to pull a statewide video franchising bill last year because of discord among lawmakers, cable and telecom interests -- is back with a new franchise reform proposal that he says represents compromises among major Mo. cable and telecom providers. State Sen. John Griesheimer (R) introduced SB-284, which would shift video franchising authority from municipalities to the PSC. The measure would give the PSC 30 days to review video franchise applications for completeness. Those with all the required information would be granted. In a crucial 2007 compromise, major cable and phone providers agreed on language obligating large phone companies to make their video services available to at least 25% of households in their service areas within 3 years and to 50% within 6 years, including a specified percentage of homes in low-income areas. New video entrants could meet buildout demands with any type of cable, wireline or terrestrial wireless technology to provide video services, but couldn’t use satellite services to meet buildout duties. Municipalities would be barred from imposing any other deployment requirements. In another compromise, existing municipal franchises automatically would terminate and the incumbent cable operator automatically convert to state franchise terms when a state-franchised competitor enters a market. The bill would cap local franchise fees at 5%, imposing a 5% gross receipts tax on satellite video services to be distributed among municipalities based on population. It would set uniform requirements for public access channels and dispute resolution processes. All video service providers would have to follow FCC emergency alert system regulations by the end of 2007. Officials with the Mo. Cable Telecom Assn. and AT&T said they spent “hundreds of hours” since the end of last year’s session negotiating franchise reform compromises. They said the bill may not satisfy all interests but called it a fair measure for franchise reform. AT&T last year promised to invest $100 million in Mo. if the video bill passed, and a spokesman said he expects that promise to be reaffirmed if this year’s bill passes.

SAN JOSE -- It’s “tragic” that 911 is left out of efforts for interoperable emergency communications -- but one such bid ignited a “firestorm” showing the explosive potential of moves to redirect govt. money first responders want, said panelists at a Homeland Defense Journal conference here. “Current policies don’t consider 911 a critical component of public-safety interoperability,” said Evelyn Bailey of L. Robert Bailey & Assoc. consulting.

A Hawaii emergency communications committee said the state needs to revise its emergency communications procedures to take into account the likelihood that telephone communications may be impaired or not be available during disasters and emergencies. The panel formed by Gov. Linda Lingle (R) last year said that while Hawaiian Telecom’s landline service was unaffected by the quakes that hit the Big Island, cellphone providers lost about 1/2 their cell sites in the quake-affected areas. The cell sites that stayed up, the report said, labored under call volumes more than double normal levels, and phone networks statewide experienced sharp increases in traffic volume. Cellular carriers’ efforts to restore service, said the report, were hampered by traffic jams. The report noted wireless text messages often got through even when voice service wasn’t working, and suggested that the state study use of text messaging to transmit emergency notices to responders or to the public. The report urged the state to improve communications between emergency management agencies and the major media outlets through dedicated phone links, call-in numbers or dedicated websites. The report also recommended further study of using the broadcast Emergency Alert System, now used to warn TV and radio audiences of dangerous weather conditions, for disseminating other emergency alerts and warnings.

The FCC fined KWRD(AM) Henderson, Tex., $8,000 for not ensuring its ability to provide emergency alert system notifications, said an Enforcement Bureau forfeiture order.

Don’t burden the Emergency Alert System (EAS) with overly prescriptive, one-size-fits-all solutions, wireless firms told the FCC Commercial Mobile Service Alert Advisory Committee at its inaugural meeting Tues. Carrier sources said afterwards they have few fears because the WARN Act, which created the committee, makes mobile alerts voluntary and carriers can opt out if solutions aren’t practical.

Democrats on the House Commerce Committee Wed. joined a chorus of critics urging NTIA to drop its rulemaking proposal restricting eligibility for DTV converter box coupons to households relying exclusively on over-the-air signals. The demand, in a letter not seeking legislative changes in the coupon program, strongly urged NTIA to make sure the program periodically informs Congress and the public on how many coupons are being requested and redeemed to prepare for any changes that may be needed later.

The timeline for granting AWS spectrum licenses depends on Wireless Bureau resources, a bipartisan panel of wireless advisors to FCC commissioners said Thurs. at an FCBA Telecom Practice Committee lunch. The 3 advisors -- 2 of 5 originally enlisted bowed out -- described wireless issues expected to be primary for their bosses in the coming year: AWS, early termination fees, 800 MHz rebanding, the WARN Act and preemption.

GENEVA -- National delegates will draft a resolution on a common alerting protocol (CAP) for public warning systems, and on the wider issue of information and communication technology standards for public warning, they agreed here last week. The resolution will go to ITU member countries to consider at a Nov. policy-making conference.