Members of the Congressional Black Caucus urged the FCC to suspend its proposal to repeal the sports blackout rule. The current system “works well, especially for fans that rely on broadcast television,” CBC members said in a letter to the FCC. The letter was sent Wednesday by 13 members, including Reps. Marcia Fudge, D-Ohio, Bobby Rush, D-Ill., and Frederica Wilson, D-Fla. They're concerned about changes to broadcast rules that may negatively affect their constituents “and potentially reduce the availability or quality of television programming they can access,” the members said. Without the rule, cable- and satellite-TV providers would potentially be able to undermine contractual agreements between pro sports leagues and broadcast networks “that both support attendance at games and improve the viewing experience for fans in the stadium, as well as those watching at home,” they said. Some FCC members would like to act on the sports blackout rule proceeding soon (CD Aug 4 p6).

Verizon touted its response to Congress on the question of interconnection policy (CD Aug 20 p9). “Flexibility, innovation, investment, and competition should underpin Congress’s approach to competition policy generally, and network interconnection specifically,” Verizon lobbyist Peter Davidson wrote in a blog post Wednesday (http://vz.to/1w9WGF2), linking to full comments the company submitted to the House Communications Subcommittee. He said the regulatory backstops that some have suggested should guide interconnection agreements “should kick in only if and when there is demonstrable consumer harm. It should also be federal in nature; state-based regulation would result in myriad disputes that are resolved not by speedy technical experts, but by 50 different public utility regulators with varying ideas about what is appropriate.” He called the current model of IP interconnection very successful. The subcommittee had solicited feedback last month, framed as part of its effort to overhaul the Communications Act, and had set a comments deadline for early August. It recently posted all 44 responses online.

A Congressional Research Service report described the Do Not Call registry and how it developed on a federal level and in various states. “No single law creates the list,” said the CRS report (http://bit.ly/1uTh1Nl), authored by legislative attorney Kathleen Ann Ruane and dated Aug. 14. “Instead, it developed from a combination of statutes and regulations over time, as Congress and the federal agencies tasked with the responsibility of regulating telemarketing developed strategies to better alleviate perceived consumer harm.” The 12-page report sought to answer what it deemed frequently answered questions about Do Not Call.

Far fewer stakeholders weighed in to Congress on the topic of interconnection policy than on the previous three white papers House Republicans had issued to solicit feedback on an effort to overhaul the Communications Act. Responses to the July interconnection white paper were due earlier this month. The House Communications Subcommittee posted the 44 responses online recently (http://1.usa.gov/1pHdC0v); the previous three white papers produced an average of 85 responses per white paper, said Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., at an event last month (CD July 17 p17). In the latest responses, NASUCA told Congress to “maintain the interconnection obligations set forth in the 1996 Telecom Act” and to maintain the state role. Public Knowledge argued that “policymakers must also retain authority to ensure interconnection agreements are not being used to stifle competition or diminish service in hard-to-reach rural areas” and that state regulators “should also be able to collect information about interconnection agreements and ensure interconnection disputes do not harm consumers or competition.” The American Cable Association backs interconnection obligations of sections 201 and 251, which “recognize the key need to interconnect to further the public interest, provide for additional oversight of networks providers with market power, and enable deregulation where market power no longer exists,” in addition to granting state regulators “an important role where negotiations between incumbents and competitors break down.” The Competitive Carriers Association judged that “preserving interconnection obligations throughout and beyond the ongoing transition to all-IP networks is a cornerstone in supporting competition in the digital age,” hailing the importance of some kind of regulatory backstop.

Keep the Internet open, said Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., in a video the Internet Association posted online Tuesday. “Keep it robust, open, to keep it as a sense a free marketplace of ideas and innovation,” Booker said in the 2 1/2-minute video (http://bit.ly/1miFVhh). It featured interviews with officials from CardCash, Google, Uber, websignia and Yelp. “The more connected you are, the more opportunity that’s going to come your way,” Booker said. “It’s critical that lawmakers understand the potential and possibility.” Carley Graham Garcia, Google’s head of global industry relations, said “it’s critical that folks everywhere, especially here in New Jersey, care about the open Internet so that people have access to Internet from all corners of our country.”

Two Democrats pushed FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler to pre-empt state laws restricting municipal broadband, which Republicans have strongly questioned. Rep. Mike Doyle, D-Pa., and Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., issued a joint news release (http://1.usa.gov/1mipVMr) focusing on Wheeler’s recent response to several congressional Democrats on the issue (CD Aug 19 p8). “I strongly encourage him and the FCC to take quick and decisive action to lift restrictions that limit or prevent communities from addressing their own broadband needs,” Doyle said in a statement Tuesday after review of Wheeler’s response. Markey also issued a statement thanking Wheeler. “What the broadband market needs today are more options and greater local choice, not barriers that prevent cities and towns from participating fully in the global economy,” Markey said. “I encourage the Commission to use its authority to ensure municipalities have the power to make decisions about their broadband infrastructure.”

The FCC won’t rule on recent petitions seeking commission preemption of state laws in North Carolina and Tennessee that restrict municipal broadband projects until “after a full opportunity for comment by all interested parties in an open proceeding and a careful analysis of the specific factual, policy, and legal issues involved,” Chairman Tom Wheeler said in letters to five Senate Democrats and three House Democrats. “I respect the important role of state governments in our federal system, but I know that state laws that directly conflict with critical federal laws and policy may be subject to preemption in appropriate circumstances. I recognize that federal preemption is not a step to be taken lightly without a careful consideration of all relevant legal and policy issues” (http://bit.ly/1oKFO3y). The cities of Chattanooga, Tennessee, and Wilson, North Carolina, filed preemption petitions with the FCC in late July (CD July 28 p5). The eight Democrats -- California Reps. Anna Eshoo and Henry Waxman, Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal, New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, Minnesota Sens. Al Franken and Amy Klobuchar, Massachusetts Sen. Ed Markey and Pennsylvania Rep. Mike Doyle -- asked Wheeler in June to clarify how the FCC would eliminate barriers to community broadband.

Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., requested information from the top 10 revenue earning airlines on how they manage consumer privacy and pricing issues, said a committee news release Monday (http://1.usa.gov/1ldC61U). There isn’t a federal law governing the use of consumer travel information, and consumer advocates have stated that it’s “difficult for consumers to learn what information airlines and others in the travel sector are collecting, keeping, and sharing about them,” said Rockefeller in a letter to the airlines, which included Delta, Southwest and US Airways. Rockefeller asked the airlines a series of questions related to privacy and pricing standards and requested a response by Sept. 5.

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler assured members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) that reviews of proposed media transactions will be open and transparent “with ample opportunity for the public to voice their views and concerns,” he said in a letter to Caucus head Rep. Marcia Fudge, D-Ohio, posted Friday (http://bit.ly/Vr4Yrt). Wheeler pointed to the update of FCC rules to attribute TV joint service agreements, and other recent commission action, that may help reverse the decline of ownership diversity in the industry. Fudge and the CBC urged the FCC to incorporate guiding principles on diversity when reviewing proposed media industry mergers and acquisitions. Applicants should include within their applications the companies’ diversity goals, and how they intend to integrate diversity and minority inclusion as a part of the corporate culture, members said in a letter to Wheeler this month (http://bit.ly/Vr4Yrt). Applicants for the proposed transactions, like the Comcast/Time Warner Cable and AT&T/DirecTV deals, should detail how the deals “will create minority ownership opportunities in the sale of cable television and wireless cellular systems,” it said. They also should provide how they will include minority and women-owned real estate professionals in matters involving the acquisition and disposition of company real estate, it said.

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler assured Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., that ensuring access to high-speed broadband networks for all Americans is an FCC priority. The FCC is focused on updating the universal service program “to ensure that we are delivering the best possible voice and broadband experiences to rural America,” he said in a letter posted Friday (http://bit.ly/1uCiUhi). The letter is a response to a letter from Graham urging the FCC to be mindful of the potential impacts of proposed takeovers on rural South Carolina citizens.