Universal Service Fund revamp legislation recently introduced by House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Rick Boucher, D-Va., and Rep. Lee Terry, R-Neb. (CD July 23 p1) doesn’t offer much for satellite broadband providers, said industry executives. The legislation, which would create a fund to help extend Internet to the most rural regions, leaves out the technology that could expand broadband the furthest at the lowest cost, they contend.

Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes continues to endorse broadcasters’ view on retransmission consent, he told investors Wednesday. That keeps him at odds with the company’s former Time Warner Cable unit, the lead petitioner for reforms in how the FCC handles contractual disputes between TV stations and subscription-video providers. “We think on the whole it’s desirable” for broadcast networks to build up a second revenue stream, Bewkes said on a conference call to discuss earnings.

HOUSTON -- The FCC is showing more willingness to consider the reallocation of the 700 MHz D-block as an alternative to the commission’s proposed plan for a national wireless broadband network for public safety, APCO President Richard Mirgon told us as the group’s national meeting neared its end. Public safety’s focus has shifted from the FCC to Capitol Hill, where legislation that would give public safety the D-block appears to be gaining support, he said. Mirgon noted that legislation by Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., in the House and Sens. Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., and John McCain, R-Ariz., would reallocate the key band. Plus, Sen. Jay Rockefeller, chairman of the Commerce Committee, appears committed to offering legislation.

HOUSTON -- A major question the FCC must work through with the advice of the public safety community is how people will be able to send text messages seeking help to 911 call centers nationwide, said Jeff Cohen, senior legal counsel to the FCC Public Safety Bureau. “Certainly one important thing I hear about … is the inability to send texts to 911,” he said at a town hall meeting at APCO on the regulatory framework for a next-generation 911 service. “We need to figure out what’s the best way to support real-time texting, and it’s especially important for the safety community."

An FCC request for comment on whether to expand outage reporting requirements to VoIP and broadband and if so how generated little enthusiasm from telecom and Internet companies and groups. Providers from Vonage to the major wireless carriers said in comments late Monday that mandatory requirements would impose unnecessary burdens on the industry. Current outage reporting obligations apply to voice and/or paging communications over wireline, wireless, cable and satellite communications services.

HOUSTON -- Congress would have to broker any deal on the 700 MHz D-block and the future of public safety communications and not the FCC, Public Safety Bureau Chief Jamie Barnett told reporters late Monday at the APCO annual conference. The D-block is the only area of real controversy between the FCC and public safety, he said. Others at APCO questioned how much good such discussions would do. Ex-Office of Engineering and Technology Chief Ed Thomas suggested last month that the FCC should lock all parties in a room, “slide pizza under the door” and not let anyone out until an agreement has been reached. The FCC largely brokered an agreement on 800 MHz rebanding six years ago and in recent weeks has sought an agreement on broadband reclassification. Thomas suggested a similar push on a public safety broadband network.

HOUSTON -- APCO played a major role in restoring emergency communications in Haiti following January’s massive earthquake, President Richard Mirgon said Tuesday at the group’s annual conference. A major side effect of the earthquake was the destruction of Haiti’s land mobile radio system, with its transmitter in the presidential palace. An estimated 10,000 emergency calls were made and not answered after disaster struck, Mirgon said.

Revamping the Universal Service Fund should be an FCC priority, said Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va. In a letter Tuesday to the commissioners, he asked the agency to “proceed with urgency” to fix problems in rural communications infrastructure exposed by the recent mining disaster in his home state. Rockefeller didn’t mention comprehensive USF legislation introduced July 22 by House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Rick Boucher, D-Va., and Rep. Lee Terry, R-Neb. (CD July 26 p3).

Program access disputes are now drawing industry attention, not FCC action, commission and industry officials said. They said some pay-TV companies are discussing carriage deals to avert further complaints to the FCC, and the commission is awaiting filings from defendants in filed cases. Cablevision and spun-off subsidiary Madison Square Garden, the subject of complaints by AT&T and Verizon, continue trading filings with the telcos on procedures for the FCC to handle the cases (CD Aug 2 p9) and don’t seem near a settlement, said communications lawyers monitoring the disputes and not involved in them. They said Comcast could reach carriage deals with direct broadcast satellite providers for its Philadelphia sports channels and so could Cox Communications for a San Diego network.

FCC Public Safety Bureau Chief Jamie Barnett opened remarks to the APCO conference Monday by recognizing a simple fact about the 700 MHz D-block. “We have a disagreement,” he said. “We are committed to a public debate, public dialogue on the network."