Software and IT industry groups hailed the administration’s Joint Strategic Plan on IP enforcement Wednesday, reiterating the need for stronger IP protection in the U.S. and abroad. Five industry groups spoke at Wednesday’s House Committee on Small Business hearing to evaluate the impact of intellectual property on entrepreneurship and job creation. They said the administration’s plan was a positive step toward protecting small business from losses incurred by online piracy.

The FCC stood by media ownership deregulation, excusing in five instances licensees from restrictions on owning a daily newspaper and radio or TV station in the same market and allowing such cross-ownership in large cities approved on a party-line vote in December 2007 during Chairman Kevin Martin’s tenure. That was spelled out in a filing Wednesday afternoon to the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia, which is considering industry challenges seeking further deregulation and media consolidation opponents’ requests for stricter rules. Commissioner Michael Copps, who along with then-Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein voted against the congressionally mandated quadrennial review report, slammed the filing, which Chairman Julius Genachowski said he supports because the FCC acted within its discretion.

The FCC’s Sixth Broadband Deployment Report, released late Tuesday, said only a small percentage of Americans don’t have access to broadband -- 14-24 million in a population of almost 310 million (CD July 21 p1) -- but almost one third of U.S. counties are unserved. Broadband “have nots” live in the smallest, most rural parts of the country and tend to be poorer than average, it said, and Native Americans remain largely unserved.

Internet accessibility legislation cleared the House Commerce Committee by a unanimous voice vote Wednesday. The committee reported the bill (HR-3101) to the full House with amendments addressing industry concerns, expanding video description requirements, and establishing an annual $10 million fund to subsidize equipment for the deaf-blind. Committee Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif., reaffirmed he wants to see the bills on the House and Senate floors next week in time for the 20th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act. The Senate Commerce Committee passed its own version of the bill (S-3304) last week (CD July 16 p5).

Draft FCC rulemakings propose changing how DBS providers must deal with carriage of TV stations to subscribers who live in a different market and in some cases wouldn’t be able to watch the station over-the-air by antenna, agency officials said. They said the two drafts respond to this year’s Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act (STELA) and are expected to be approved by FCC members soon, perhaps this week, and then publicly released for comment. Quick turnaround of the items which circulated Friday is likely because the agency must take final action on distant signal carriage and DBS subscriber signal measurement, subjects of the pending items, by Nov. 23 under STELA, agency officials said.

Telcos and consumer advocates are squaring off in California over SB-1375, a “warm line” 911 emergency service bill. Passed 35-0 by the State Senate June 1, the measure was approved 14-0 by the Assembly Policy Committee June 28. When the Legislature reconvenes Aug. 4, the Assembly Appropriations Committee will take up the bill. Sponsored by Sen. Curren Price (D), the bill proposes to update a 1995 mandate that carriers give all landlines permanent access to 911 services even if no account exists or service has been cut off for non-payment. California and other states imposed the requirement at a time when customers might lose access to 911 between shutting down and restarting service -- a circumstance revolutionized by deregulation and alternative technology.

The FCC concludes in its sixth broadband deployment report that 14-24 million Americans still can’t get high-speed access, and the immediate prospect for deployment to the unserved Americans is “bleak.” As expected (CD July 19 p1), commission Republicans Robert McDowell and Meredith Baker issued vigorous dissents from the report and its finding that the FCC can’t conclude that broadband is being deployed to all Americans in a “reasonable and timely” manner.

Washington, New York, Boston, San Antonio and other local governments that received FCC waivers to build wireless networks using 700 MHz spectrum provided the commission with updates on their efforts. In May, the agency approved 21 waiver requests on file at the commission. Meanwhile, industry commenters offered advice to the FCC on rules for a 700 MHz network that would ensure nationwide interoperability, addressing critical issues including roaming and priority access.

The Office of Management and Budget’s IT Dashboard needs more frequent updates and standardized milestones before it can accurately measure the federal government’s IT investments, the GAO said in a report Tuesday. OMB began the IT Dashboard website in June 2009 to improve the accountability of federal IT spending, expected to total $79 billion in FY 2011, said GAO. It’s supposed to measure near-real-time performance of IT investments made by federal agencies, but falls short, the study found.

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski continues to be alarmed by the gap in home broadband access between whites and minorities and said the agency is taking several steps to address that issue and enhance opportunities for people of color and small businesses seeking to enter media and telecom. With fast Internet service at home for 59 percent of African-Americans, 49 percent of Hispanics and probably around 10 percent for Native Americans, “you already know the numbers,” he told a Minority Media and Telecommunications Council conference Tuesday. “The digital divide is seriously troubling. More troubling now than in the past, because the costs of digital exclusion are rising.”