It was “more of the same” in the second Hill talk among House and Senate Commerce Committee staffers and about 30 outside parties interested in updating the Telecom Act, said attendee Andrew Schwartzman, senior vice president of the Media Access Project. The gathering, held behind closed doors Friday morning in the Russell Senate Office Building, was a follow up to a June 25 meeting hosted by the House (CD June 28 p1). All attendees from the previous week except Sprint Nextel and the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation returned.

Comcast’s efforts to shore up support for the cable operator’s planned purchase of control in NBC Universal bore much fruit last week, with six Latino groups supporting the deal (CD July 1 p14), now also backed by affiliates of the Big Four broadcast TV networks. Late Thursday, Comcast told the FCC it backed five conditions the affiliate groups of ABC, CBS and Fox sought (CD June 23 p3) for the cable operator to distance itself from NBC Universal-owned station carriage deals. Affiliate-group executives said they'll support Comcast-NBC Universal as long as the FCC mandates the conditions in signing off on the multi-billion dollar deal.

President Barack Obama unveiled $795 million in broadband grants and loans the morning after the House appropriators passed an amendment to take back $602 million in available broadband money. The latest batch of awards was matched by $200 million in outside investment, and will benefit 685,000 businesses, 900 healthcare facilities, 2,400 schools and “tens of millions of Americans,” the White House said.

To properly establish and enforce laws against copyright infringement, there must be a balance between allowing innovation to thrive and ensuring that piracy is deterred, speakers said at a copyright policy symposium sponsored by NTIA and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Policy makers must ensure “that online creative works generate benefits to rights holders in the broader economy and not for those who infringe on those rights,” NTIA Administrator Larry Strickling said. “The Internet must continue to be a platform for innovation and the introduction of new and dynamic services that will continue to drive e-commerce.” Policies must be “flexible enough to adapt to rapid evolution in Internet technologies, applications and content forums."

House Communications Subcommittee leaders met Thursday with ISPs and others about narrow legislation on network neutrality and the FCC’s broadband jurisdiction. Chairman Rick Boucher, D-Va., invited Ranking Member Cliff Stearns, R-Fla., and most of the companies that talked to the FCC behind closed doors (CD June 25 p8) on June 21, Boucher said. Attendees included AT&T, Verizon, NCTA, Google and the Open Internet Coalition, industry officials said.

Tribune’s planned transfer of waivers from FCC cross-ownership rules on common ownership of radio or TV stations and daily newspapers in the same market as the bankrupt company restructures was supported by a bank that will own more than 5 percent of the new company’s stock and by some unsecured creditors. The company, the official committee of its unsecured creditors and debtholder J.P. Morgan, the administrative agent under a 2007 credit deal that will own a large chunk of stock, opposed petitions to deny the transfers. Wilmington Trust Co., which holds about $1.2 billion in subordinated debt in the owner of TV and radio stations and papers, opposed the deal, along with two unions and four non-profit groups while another union sought a delay (CD June 16 p13).

Industry endorsed digital goods tax legislation introduced late Wednesday by House Communications Chairman Rick Boucher, D-Va. The bill (HR-5649) would set up “a uniform national framework for the taxation of digital goods and services,” Boucher said on the House floor late Wednesday. The bipartisan bill, co-sponsored by Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, would cover digital music, movies and games, as well as the electronic delivery of professional, educational and health care services.

A prototype set-top box chip capable of decoding two separate 3D 1080p streams simultaneously may be available this summer, Panasonic Chief Technology Officer Eisuke Tsuyuzaki told us at a New York media briefing Thursday. It won’t likely find its way into products for about two years, he said.

Hulu.com confirmed it would offer consumers paid access to an expanded offering of online content in addition to the free content it already provides. The new service, called Hulu Plus, will offer more than 120 seasons and 2,000 episodes of at least 33 TV shows from Fox, NBC, ABC and other networks for $9.99 monthly. Significantly, Hulu Plus allows consumers to watch Hulu.com’s content on their wireless devices such as Apple’s iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch.

The FCC should “take an extraordinary step” of not enforcing equal employment opportunity rules on radio and TV stations while it retools the regime, a group representing minorities said. After a year of taking no EEO enforcement actions as of Tuesday, the commission must restructure its system by moving staff overseeing the program from the Media to the Enforcement bureau, track existing cases so statutes of limitations aren’t again breached and work more with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the Minority Media and Telecommunications Council said. Broadcasters closely follow EEO rules, which they expend considerable time and attention complying with, industry lawyers and officials told us.