Deals between pay-TV distributors and programmers are becoming increasingly complicated as content owners seek higher prices and distributors try to win broader sets of rights, executives told investors at a Goldman Sachs conference in New York this week. Sometimes TV programmers don’t always have all the rights the pay-TV operators want to license, said CEO Glenn Britt of Time Warner Cable. “The world tends to focus on the money part of these deals, but the reality is the negotiations have gotten very complicated and it’s because we want to move toward the ‘four anys'” of letting viewers watch programming on their device of choice at their place and time of choice, he said.

JetBlue Airways plans to offer in-flight broadband connectivity using ViaSat satellites and equipment, starting in 2012, the companies said. Many details are still being worked out, but ViaSat’s role marks a new stage for the company, which concentrated on the satellite equipment business before buying WildBlue last year. WildBlue will be the network operator of the service, an industry executive said.

A Senate deal on net neutrality is being discussed by Senate Communications Subcommittee leaders, subcommittee Chairman John Kerry, D-Mass., told us Tuesday. But a Senate aide said the staffs of Kerry and Ranking Member John Ensign, R-Nev., failed to reach agreement in discussions over the August recess. The House Commerce Committee is still in talks over its own net neutrality bill, said Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif.

Lack of final FCC action on petitions about how pay-TV providers handle public, educational and government (PEG) channels has resulted in additional cable operators’ moving the networks to digital tiers before all other channels have been switched, representatives of the programmers told us. That the FCC hasn’t disposed of three petitions before it since February 2009 on whether cable operators must treat the programmers the same as commercial ones was cited in a new, emergency petition filed late Monday with the commission. In it, a Texas school district asked the commission to temporarily halt such PEG channel moves by AT&T and cable providers.

There are some “rational places” for targeted legislation on net neutrality, AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson said at a Goldman Sachs investor conference Tuesday. Meanwhile, the company doesn’t see many opportunities overseas to extend the platform of AT&T services, largely because of already intense competition and regulatory hurdles, he said.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar Tuesday called for legislation that would deny federal highway dollars to states unless they approve rules against texting while driving. Klobuchar spoke at the Department of Transportation’s second distracted driving summit. Meanwhile, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said the department was proposing new rules aimed at cellphone use by truck drivers transporting hazardous materials. In June, the Senate Commerce Committee approved the Distracted Driving Prevention Act (S-1938), which gives grants to states that ban text messaging while driving and would require the Secretary of Transportation to issue regulations on the use of wireless devices by commercial vehicle drivers.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. - Changes to the E-rate program expected to be adopted at Thursday’s FCC meeting (CD Sept 21 p9) will boost economic opportunity in the U.S. and help schools access faster broadband speeds at potentially lower prices, Chairman Julius Genachowski said. “Faster networks that are more affordable -- that’s what these changes will mean for schools, libraries and communities,” he told a Common Sense Media education technology showcase at the Computer History Museum Tuesday. The order is the “most significant step yet toward implementing the [National] Broadband Plan’s recommendations … to improve education,” he said.

The House must quickly introduce net neutrality legislation if it’s to have a shot of passing this year, industry observers said Monday. The House Commerce Committee is putting the finishing touches on a bill that would give the FCC authority for two years to enforce its four open-Internet principles but not the additional two principles on nondiscrimination and transparency proposed by FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, Hill and industry officials said. “We are working hard on legislation to protect the open Internet and are actively working to develop a bipartisan consensus,” said a committee spokeswoman.

A draft FCC order that would expand a Sirius XM channel set-aside originally meant for minorities is expected to gain approval largely as-is, commission officials said. But “nothing is set in stone,” said one. The commission is expecting several meetings with interested parties in the next weeks that may produce changes, the officials said. The draft on circulation would allow Sirius XM to choose companies that don’t now have programming relationships with it to fill 4 percent of the satellite company’s channels (CD Sept 7 p2).

Finishing the DTV transition is a step closer with release of an FCC rulemaking notice on setting deadlines for low-power broadcasters, about half of which already are going all-digital, to end all analog operations. Commissioners on Friday approved an item that proposed 2012 as the transition deadline for all low-power TV (LPTV) stations not operating in the 700 MHz band, as expected (CD Sept 14 p5). The regulator proposed LPTV outlets on channels 52-69, vacated in last year’s full-power analog transition, go all-digital by Dec. 31, 2011, in other slots, and submit an application picking another channel by June 30 of that year.