The three legislators most likely to be the next House Commerce Committee Republican leader have been active on telecom in the Communications Subcommittee. Current Ranking Member Joe Barton, R-Texas, could have to relinquish his post after the November election due to a House GOP caucus rule limiting Republicans to three two-year terms at the top of committees, whether the party is in the majority or minority. Communications Subcommittee Ranking Member Cliff Stearns, R-Fla., wants the job, his spokesman said. Telecom industry lobbyists said Reps. Fred Upton, R-Mich., and John Shimkus, R-Ill., may have a better shot.

SAN FRANCISCO -- “The fall is the target” for the Federal Trade Commission to release a report based on its three privacy roundtables in Washington and Berkeley, Calif., from December to March, an official said. Commission officials had been quoted as saying they were aiming for June or July. But the FTC is still reviewing the comments, which have taken a long time to transcribe, said Loretta Garrison of the Division of Privacy and Identity Protection late Tuesday at a Practising Law Institute seminar. The commission is still trying to decide what kind of report to produce, she said.

Any conditions that regulators could impose as part of approving the CenturyLink-Qwest merger would be nominal, said CenturyLink Executive Vice Chairman Tom Gerke in an interview. The combined company plans to stay focused on the core telecom market and more video-based services are expected as a result of the deal, he said. The deal is likely to be approved by regulators with attached conditions like obligations to expand broadband access or to provide it at certain prices, some analysts have said (CD April 23 p1).

In an order Tuesday, the FCC extended the jurisdictional separations freeze for another year to June 30, 2011. This is the third time the commission has ordered a freeze on Part 36 category relationships and jurisdictional cost allocation factors adopted by the FCC in the 2001 Separations Freeze Order. The extension will “provide stability to carriers that must comply with the commission’s jurisdictional separations rules while the commission and the joint board undertake reform,” the order said. The FCC said lifting the freeze would “create undue instability and administrative burdens” while the commission considers an overhaul.

Though time is quickly running out for the 111th Congress, Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., told us Tuesday he intends to push forward with a proposal to examine whether the Telecom Act needs to be rewritten. Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., conceded in a separate interview that time is short.

The FCC wants to know if consumers are satisfied with media they use, and how to measure that satisfaction. Those are among the more than 100 questions on online, print, radio and TV media asked in a notice of inquiry on the 2010 quadrennial review. It was released Tuesday afternoon, with questions largely along the lines of what had been anticipated (CD May 18 p4). Some questions about measuring the extent to which broadcasters serve their community raised the hackles of Commissioner Robert McDowell, who, like some industry and public interest officials (CD April 2 p1), suggested a rulemaking would have been possible without an inquiry.

Nearly a year after the analog TV cutoff, some consumers who made the switch to DTV with a government-subsidized converter box have complained their device suddenly stopped working. Reviews for some boxes still being sold online vary, with some buyers claiming certain brands of boxes broke down within six months of installation. Overall, more than 50 million boxes were sold during the switchover period, and they have worked well, a CEA spokeswoman said. “We've talked to manufacturers and tried to stay in the loop on this,” she said. “We're not getting the calls. These are not devices that were intended to be used for six months and tossed."

Progress toward a single European telecom market is “disappointing,” Digital Agenda Commissioner Neelie Kroes said Tuesday. The 15th annual European Commission report on the state of the electronic communications sector showed consumers and businesses are missing out on the benefits of a unified and competitive market because telecom rules are applied inconsistently, the EC said. There are also questions about the independence and effectiveness of some national regulators and major differences in wholesale and retail prices across Europe, it said.

West Virginia’s Public Service Commission should reconsider its approval of the deal between Frontier and Verizon, the commission’s Consumer Advocate Division said in a motion for reconsideration filed late Monday. Soon after West Virginia, the last state among eight whose approval was needed for closing, gave its assent, the FCC approved the 14-state transaction, which Frontier hopes to close by June 30 (CD May 21 p11). Consumer Advocate Division Director Byron Harris was vocal in opposing the transaction before the state regulator acted.

The president needs to order the departments involved to develop a national strategy for dealing with cyberattacks, Michael Chertoff, a former Homeland Security secretary, said at a Bipartisan Policy Center briefing Monday. The challenge was raised by the Cyber ShockWave exercise (CD Feb. 17 p4), said Stewart Baker, a former assistant secretary for policy at Homeland Security. The plan should identify issues like authorities, capabilities, consequences and attributions, Chertoff said. And coordinating with other countries, especially those with advanced cybersecurity capabilities, is critical, he said.