TV manufacturers intend to make caption display settings accessible “through several methods including a button on the remote or access through the first level of a menu,” CEA said in an ex parte letter in docket 12-108 reporting the results of an informal poll it did of TV manufacturers on the interface used for accessibility features such as closed captions. No TV manufacturers that responded plan to provide access to closed captions and video description via only voice or gesture control, CEA said. Manufacturers are instead using buttons and icons to provide access to those features, and some are incorporating voice or gesture commands as “additional access mechanisms,” CEA said.

Connected TVs moved past Blu-ray players on the list of most-used TV app platforms, to become the third most prominently owned device that delivers apps to TVs in the U.S., said the NPD Group. In Q4, 22 million connected TVs were installed and accessing the Internet in the U.S., said NPD, up from 13 million in the year-ago quarter, while Internet-connected Blu-ray Disc players numbered 20 million. By 2017, 47 million connected TVs in 30 million U.S. Internet homes will be delivering content through apps, said NPD, saying usage trends led the TV to become a more prominent connected device ahead of forecast. Availability of apps from top TV networks will be key to the future success of connected TV as HBO and Showtime join CBS in becoming available to consumers this year without the need for a cable or satellite pay-TV subscription, said analyst John Buffone. The most-used TV app platforms are video game consoles, followed by streaming media players, said NPD.

The FCC should reject NAB’s assertion that the interservice interference methodology is too complicated, CTIA said in comments filed in docket 14-14 Friday. Though NAB asked the FCC to abandon the current interference methodology, CTIA said the current plan and its support of market variation is “the best available means of addressing this highly complicated issue.” The FCC should also use the F(50,10) statistical measure supported by Sprint and broadcasters, CTIA said. Sprint officials meanwhile asked the agency to revise the F(50,50) statistical measure (see 1502270028).

Comments on the rulemaking on creating FCC registration numbers (see 1502120066) that don’t require users to give the agency their Social Security information are due March 30, said a commission notice in Thursday's Federal Register. Replies on the item, in docket 07-294, are due April 13.

The FCC Media Bureau asked several programmers for information on their dealings with online video distributors, as part of bureau’s review of Comcast's planned buy of Time Warner Cable, said letters posted in docket 14-57 Thursday. The companies queried include all those currently embroiled in a court challenge against the FCC over the proposed release of their contract information: CBS, Discovery Communications, Disney, Scripps Networks, 21st Century Fox, Univision and Viacom. The companies have until March 13 to submit the data about their dealings with Comcast and information about any limitations imposed on distribution of their programming.

Information and comments for the FCC Media Bureau to use in preparing a required Satellite Television Extension and Localism Reauthorization Act report on designated market areas and “considerations for fostering increased localism” are due May 12, the bureau said in a public notice Wednesday. Replies are due June 11, and the report itself is due to Congress June 3, 2016, the PN said.The bureau wants comment on the appropriate methodology for analyzing consumer access to broadcast stations outside their designated market areas (DMAs), the PN said. The bureau also wants comment on alternatives to DMAs and how they would affect localism, and how to increase localism in counties served by DMAs outside their own state, the PN said.

Accessibility rules for user interfaces on digital devices used to view video programming that required additional approval from the Office of Management and Budget took effect Jan 26, the FCC Media Bureau said in a public notice Thursday. The rules involved have to do with information collection connected with the rules, the PN said. The remaining rules in the user interfaces order took effect Jan. 21.

Broadcasters need to become more aggressive in meeting consumer demand, FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai told the North American Broadcast Association in a speech Thursday. "Internet streaming and podcasts are good examples of radio broadcasters reaching out to meet listeners where they are," Pai said. “Broadcast and broadband are complements, not substitutes.” That most cellphone FM chips aren’t activated is “perplexing,” Pai said. Activating them would preserve spectrum, he said. “Streaming FM stations on consumers’ smartphones using cellular networks just doesn’t make much sense. All of that data is unnecessarily using spectrum and contributing to network congestion.” But Pai said he wouldn't support mandatory activation of the chips. “If there is consumer demand for activating FM chips -- and I believe that there is -- I am optimistic that we will continue to see progress on this issue as a result of commercial negotiations and competitive pressure in the private marketplace,” said Pai, known for his role in championing radio and AM in particular. The role of government in radio is to get rid of obsolete regulations, such as those preventing cross ownership, he said. The FCC should take action on AM revitalization because it has broad support, Pai said. “It’s no secret that the FCC has been deeply divided on many key issues recently,” Pai said. “AM revitalization is one area where we could come together to advance the common good.”

The FCC has implemented four provisions of the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Reauthorization Act, it said in an order released Thursday. As required by the act, the order extends the sunset dates for some retransmission consent rules by five years, expands the prohibition on joint retransmission consent negotiation to any same market stations not commonly owned, eliminates the sweeps week protection, and stops stations from preventing pay-TV companies from importing significantly viewed distant signals. The FCC legally was able to adopt the order without a notice and comment period because the rule changes were congressionally mandated, said Fletcher Heald broadcast attorney Dan Kirkpatrick in a blog post on the rules. The FCC implementation doesn’t make any significant changes from the STELAR language, Kirkpatrick told us.

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler hopes the commission's new Disability Advisory Committee will look into applications that can sync video description to smart devices used while watching video programming, he said in a blog post Friday. Wheeler also praised CBS, Fox and PBS for “going above and beyond current FCC rules” in offering programming with video description, highlighting a Stevie Wonder performancebroadcast on CBS Monday as the first musical performance program to use video description. Wonder visited the FCC months ago to discuss raising awareness for video description, Wheeler said.