LOS ANGELES -- Consensus among the interests on net neutrality would be good, and both political parties would seem to agree, said Majority Chief Counsel Roger Sherman of the House Commerce Committee. Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif., welcomes a legislative approach “that everyone can get behind and can become law,” but the FCC “can’t sit still waiting for Congress to act,” Sherman said at an NCTA lunch. “The door is open, and I'm sure [Minority Counsel] Neil [Fried] would agree we'd love to hear suggestions.”

Public Knowledge and the Consumer Federation of America called on the FCC to prohibit private meetings between representatives of groups and companies, on one hand, and commissioners and their aides on the other. The groups made the suggestion in comments on a notice of proposed rulemaking about changing the FCC’s ex parte rules. The commission approved the notice at its February meeting (CD Feb 19 p2).

Online news aggregators and search engines are hurting older news organizations, the Newspaper Association of America told the FCC in comments in its Future of Media proceeding. The sites copy or summarize newspaper content and often sell their own ads on the traffic that content generates, the association said. “This exploitation of the extensive investments that newspapers make in original local, in-depth, and investigative journalism is taxing the limited resources of newspaper publishers,” it said. And the profits the sites make aren’t plowed back into turning out journalism, the association said.

The FCC Consumer & Governmental Affairs Bureau said it’s seeking comment on ways to help cellular customers avoid “bill shock.” Under a notice of inquiry, the bureau is considering ways to alert subscribers to charges before they add up. Bureau Chief Joel Gurin told reporters Tuesday that consumers should get better information “when it comes to all kinds of communications services."

LOS ANGELES -- Comcast needs to take a page from the programmers’ playbook by better promoting itself and emphasizing content, and from companies including Apple in having easier-to-use devices, CEO Brian Roberts said. Apple’s iPad is the type of device Comcast wants cable services to work with, he said, indicating there will be more to come on that subject Tuesday at the NCTA show. “The iPad looks to us to be a fabulous bridge between the TV and the computer,” he said. Speaking in a Q-and-A with ex-News Corp. President Peter Chernin at the show Monday, Roberts said cable has to do a better job promoting itself.

Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., and FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn rallied supporters of Title II reclassification of broadband Internet services Tuesday at the Free Press Summit. It’s a “big lie” that the government wants to take over the Internet, Dorgan said. Clyburn urged the audience to dispel that and other myths she said lobbyists for big businesses in the industry are spreading. She also said the FCC needs to involve consumers outside Washington more in the Comcast-NBC Universal deal and other matters.

TORONTO -- Despite new efforts by federal TV regulators to jump-start Canada’s digital TV transition, a growing number of industry experts are questioning the likelihood that the government’s Aug. 31, 2011, deadline for making the switchover from analog in larger markets will be met.

The 700 MHz band “has reached a crucial juncture,” and the FCC needs to impose rules requiring that handsets operate across multiple parts of the band, Sprint Nextel, T-Mobile, U.S. Cellular, MetroPCS and other carriers said in a paper filed at the commission by Wireless Strategies. The paper said support of a common band for the upper 700 MHz blocks won’t lead to interference issues that the FCC will have to address later.

As Cox Communications rolls out a new “Trio” interactive program guide (IPG)designed to tie together search of linear, on-demand and broadband content, it will continue to seek to have CE manufacturers deploy it in products, the company said. The IPG, which Cox jointly developed with NDS during the past two years, will be deployed in Cisco 8642 tru2way set-top and 1642 client boxes starting in two markets this month and expanding system-wide by year end, said Steve Necessary, vice president of video product development and support. Trio will replace Rovi’s Passport and Cisco’s Sara IPG in digital boxes. Rovi also is unveiling a version of its TotalGuide targeting cable operators at the NCTA convention in Los Angeles this week.

Limited writing by Elena Kagan, nominated Monday to the Supreme Court, about telecommunications, media and intellectual property law means there are few clues about how she would deal with these matters as a justice, lawyers said Monday. “There really isn’t much out there, and most of her articles are descriptive,” said Marvin Ammori, professor at University of Nebraska College of Law. “She discusses different ideas, versus arguing ‘here are the outcomes that should be achieved.’ You can’t really pin her down on which cases she approves of and which cases she doesn’t."