A small Ohio cable operator challenged two recent Media Bureau orders that require it to delete out-of-market network programming that comes from nearby TV stations, two applications for review show. Buckeye Cablevision, which operates in Toledo, asked the commission to overturn orders removing two Detroit stations from the significantly viewed list at the separate requests of LIN’s Toledo Fox affiliate WUPW and Disney’s own Toledo ABC station WTVG. The appeals tie the question to the current issue du jour of retransmission consent policy.

Hypercube Telecom was dealt a setback and set itself back in separate actions in California and Texas. Hypercube, a competitive local exchange carrier, is in a long-running dispute with interexchange carrier Level 3 Communications. In California, a utility commission administrative law judge dismissed a Hypercube claim against Level 3. And Hypercube withdrew a complaint against Level 3 in Texas, where utility commission staff had prepared a recommendation that commissioners there dismiss Hypercube’s complaint.

Rising subscription-video rates accompanied by declining interest in linear channels and coming advancements in set-top box technology augur increased viewer interest in online video viewed on TV sets, said outgoing FCC broadband plan initiative head Blair Levin. “Over-the-top video will eventually emerge” as a competitor to multichannel video programming distributors and “everyone is both excited and scared” by that prospect, he said. Since the technology is “a big bandwidth hog,” those with more capacity will do better, Levin told an American Cable Association conference.

The FCC decided not to adopt a new high-cost support mechanism for non-rural insular carriers in Puerto Rico. “Telephone subscribership in Puerto Rico is not yet at the same level as in the mainland United States, but the data before us indicate that the gap is closing rapidly and may well be eliminated entirely in the near future,” the commission said in its order. The commission also pointed to increased wireless service as a factor in its decision. Low-income customers in Puerto Rico “increasingly are served by wireless competitive eligible telecom carriers (ETCs),” it said. “Customers of wireless carriers received more than one-third of the total low-income support disbursed to Puerto Rico in 2008."

Wall Street has had a mixed view of the National Broadband Plan since it was unveiled by the FCC last month, Simon Flannery of Morgan Stanley said at a New York Law School symposium Monday. Blair Levin, who headed development of the plan, said it’s important that universal service reform did not emerge as a major issue of debate during last week’s Senate hearing on the plan.

Cisco closed its acquisition of video company Tandberg for $3.3 billion, executives said during a conference call Monday, saying the deal marks the launch of Cisco’s open source effort. The company is also looking at 3D opportunities, they said.

The FCC won’t undertake Universal Service Fund reform specifically for the non-rural high cost support mechanism, it said in an order. The commission decided it has met its statutory obligation to provide sufficient support, it said late Friday. The FCC also found that “rural rates are reasonably comparable to urban rates if they fall within a reasonable range of the national average urban rate. … The current non-rural high-cost support mechanism comports with requirements of Section 254” in the Communications Act.

Politicians will increasingly use “augmented-reality” smartphone applications and the mobile Web in election campaigns, said Hill and industry officials. Interactive mobile apps are a novel tool to engage potential voters, but compelling content is still critical, they said Monday at the Politics Online Conference. “People buy the shovel, but they want the hole,” said Will Hurley, chief architect of open source strategy at BMC Software.

A deluge of cable encryption waiver requests at the FCC that some had anticipated never materialized. That doesn’t mean cable operators besides Cablevision, which won the first exemption (CD Jan 11 p10) , won’t seek waivers in the future as more systems go all-digital so service can be turned on and off without sending trucks and technicians to people’s homes, industry lawyers and executives said. Potential waiver seekers seem busy for now with other technical and policy issues, such as the FCC’s examination of CableCARDs, said commission and industry officials.

Washington’s Utilities and Transportation Commission conditionally approved the purchase of Verizon’s landline network by Frontier, the agency said late Friday. The transaction has been approved by regulators in Arizona, California, Nevada, Ohio, Oregon and South Carolina. “We're pleased the Commission has acted and approved the transaction,” said Tim McCallion, president of Verizon’s West region. “We are now evaluating the order and the unique circumstances underlying the conditions."