Attendees said a closed-door Hill meeting Friday was a productive starting point as Congress pursues an update to the Telecom Act. It was more a listening session than a negotiation over any specific proposal, they told us afterward. But some cited a preference in the room for narrowly targeted network neutrality legislation. The two-hour session was moderated by Bruce Wolpe, senior adviser on the House Commerce Committee, and included 31 participants representing ISPs, Internet edge companies, think tanks, labor and public interest groups. More meetings are planned next month, with the next set for July 2.

Advances in audio-visual compression technology and the advent of distributed transmission systems will not help the FCC reclaim spectrum from the TV band without significant hurdles, such as a second major DTV transition, executives from Fox and CBS said at an FCC engineering forum on the TV band Friday. HDTV sets and DTV converter boxes receive MPEG-2 encoded signals, and no further gains in MPEG-2 efficiency are anticipated, said Andrew Setos, president of engineering at the Fox Entertainment Group.

Tech and Internet companies breathed a sigh of relief after learning that financial industry revamp legislation agreed upon Friday by the House and Senate did away with provisions they didn’t like (CD May 24 p2). Several groups said they were especially glad the FTC’s authority would not be expanded. The bill now goes back to the House and Senate for final floor votes.

Voting 2-1 late Thursday, the Maine Public Utilities Commission approved a regulatory settlement FairPoint proposed as part of its bankruptcy reorganization. The commission approved both FairPoint’s application for change of control, required in its restructuring, and the settlement negotiated by the company, the Office of the Public Advocate and a representative of the utility commission. “These approvals will allow FairPoint to continue to move forward with plans to emerge from Chapter 11 by early fall,” the company said in a statement.

The FCC and other federal agencies will be among the few missing at Friday’s planned closed Hill meeting to discuss an update of the Telecom Act, a Senate aide told us Thursday. Representatives from ISPs, edge companies and public interest groups are among the 32 that so far have confirmed attendance, the aide said. The groups plan to meet behind closed doors at 11 a.m. in Room 2322 of the Rayburn House Office Building.

Innovative wireless health technologies can overcome healthcare barriers for veterans in rural areas, speakers said Thursday during a House Health Subcommittee hearing. “For the three million veterans living in rural areas, access to health care remains a key barrier, as they simply live too far away from the nearest VA medical center,” said Chairman Michael Michaud, D-Maine. Given certain barriers, “it is no surprise that our rural veterans have worse health outcomes compared to the general population.” If wireless technology is utilized effectively, “it can be a tremendous benefit, especially for rural veterans,” said Rep. Gus Bilirakis, R-Fla.

The FCC plans to complete a USF overhaul next year, said Commissioner Meredith Baker at a Senate Commerce Committee hearing Thursday. Baker and her two FCC colleagues on the Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service -- Commissioners Mignon Clyburn and Michael Copps -- agreed USF was broken. But they disagreed whether they could revamp USF without first reclassifying broadband transport under Title II of the Communications Act.

The Senate Homeland Security Committee marked up a comprehensive cybersecurity defense measure that critics claim gives the president a “kill switch” to shut down the Internet if the president declares a national emergency. But that’s not accurate, say the bill’s authors, who say it actually limits presidential power that already exists to halt Internet traffic. The bill, S-3480, would establish a national cybersecurity center and a formal cybersecurity czar appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate (WID June 11 p1). It also requires owners of infrastructure deemed critical to the nation to adopt a range of security measures that they would choose to meet security requirements.

The FCC’s broadband policy continues to actively encourage investment in broadband and innovation, said Chairman Julius Genachowski at the Future of the City forum late Wednesday. Staffs at the FCC are running a consultation process with many broadband stakeholders on an ongoing basis, he said in an interview after his speech. The Comcast decision is something that everyone’s interested in so it’s important to consult with stakeholders, he said, regarding FCC’s closed-door meetings on broadband rules (CD June 23 p1).

Viacom said it will appeal a federal judge’s order granting Google’s motion for summary judgment in their long-running YouTube copyright litigation. “We believe that the ruling by the lower court is fundamentally flawed and contrary to the language of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, the intent of Congress and the views of the Supreme Court expressed in its most recent decisions,” Viacom said. “After years of delay, this decision gives us the opportunity to have the Appellate Court address these critical issues on an accelerated basis.” Google called the judge’s ruling a win.