The still-open Title II reclassification docket saw a filing Wednesday (http://bit.ly/1j4FdHZ), as the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission refiled comments first made in 2010. “The PaPUC reiterates those filings” in the wake of the Verizon v. FCC decision that threw out much of the FCC’s net neutrality rules, it said. In the 2010 filings, the PUC said it supported it a “modified common carriage approach” for broadband ISPs “that preserves joint jurisdiction and the mandate of non-discrimination for broadband access to telecommunications and communications facilities and services.” It’s important for the FCC to not preempt state law or impose forbearance results “that prevent state commissions from resolving real ‘on the ground’ issues” like intercarrier compensation, interconnection between competing carriers, and protection of consumer interests, it said.

The FCC moved up the date of its April meeting a day, to April 23, said a public notice released Wednesday (http://bit.ly/1j7JKoK). An FCC official said the change was tied to scheduling and would mean a commission-meeting free day April 24, which is unofficially “Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day."

NAB urged the FCC to deny Cricket a waiver of protection criteria to deploy a lower 700 MHz A block license in the Chicago basic economic area. The carrier failed to satisfy the legal standard for a waiver of the commission’s rules, NAB said in a reply in docket 14-17 (http://bit.ly/OCos99). The association also asked the FCC to reject T-Mobile’s recommendation that TV licensees should negotiate in good faith with a wireless licensee interested in exploring operations near TV and DTV stations transmitting on channels 51-68 (http://bit.ly/1d0Oiib). The current rules impose no obligation on a broadcaster to negotiate with a wireless carrier seeking to short-space its operations, NAB said. A broadcaster’s refusal to negotiate “causes no hardship to the wireless carrier seeking to short-space its operations,” it said. What T-Mobile seeks isn’t merely a grant of the waiver Cricket requested, but “for the commission to treat Cricket’s request as a blueprint for widespread future waivers for operating outside the parameters” of the current rule, it said. The Competitive Carriers Association urged the commission to grant Cricket’s request. Granting the waiver would facilitate the deployment of unutilized wireless spectrum “when the demand for wireless services is at an all-time high and only expected to become more acute,” CCA said (http://bit.ly/1hCskzs). The broadcasters would have the commission completely ignore the interests of American consumers “who are clamoring for additional wireless capacity,” it said. Cricket makes a compelling showing “that even assuming a successor carrier has greater coverage and more subscribers, the interference potential is, at most, de minimis,” CCA said. NAB’s and 21st Century Fox’s Fox Television Stations’ misrepresentations of the purpose of DTV protection requirements reflect an unreasonable expectation of absolute interference protection “for broadcast signals that the commission has previously acknowledged is not the intent of the rule,” Laser said on behalf of itself and the successor in interest of Leap and Cricket (http://bit.ly/1gR2eXU). AT&T this month got FCC approval to buy Cricket and Leap, and completed the deal (CD March 14 p5). The parties haven’t effectively rebutted the strong evidence that only a de minimis number of viewers in Chicago are likely to be affected by enabling 700 MHz A block operations, it said. The Fox stations’ use of the Longley-Rice prediction model in its interference study isn’t applicable to wireless operations, Laser said. The FCC has long understood that the model was designed for that static environment of broadcast transmissions, “and does not accurately predict interference by mobile wireless transmitters or distances of less than one kilometer,” it said.

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler supports “a reinvigorated Tribal consultation process” to address communications issues in Indian country, he told the National Congress of American Indians. “From a policy point of view, my experience is that there’s generally no shortage of awareness around Tribal issues,” said prepared remarks by Wheeler, released by the FCC Tuesday (http://fcc.us/1cWwYLb). “But when it comes to closing the gaps in opportunity and infrastructure that plague many Tribal communities, there’s a persistent deficit of meaningful achievement.” Wheeler listed as his top concerns improved access to “world class” broadband, spectrum and ensuring a “diversity of voices” in tribal areas.” There “are of course other important issues that we will also work on together, but these are the priorities we have heard from you,” he said to the group March 12.

The FCC Public Safety Bureau plans a workshop on technology transitions and public safety, it said in a public notice Friday (http://bit.ly/1impmSg). The 1.5-day workshop is scheduled for April 17 and 18, and representatives from public safety agencies and other stakeholders will “explore the impact of the technology transition on key public safety, emergency response, and national security functions,” the notice said. “The workshop will seek to identify the conditions, rebuttable presumptions, and relevant factors that are needed to ensure that core public safety values are supported in the transition to an all IP-based infrastructure.” The workshop will focus on day-to-day public safety operations in an all-IP world, disaster preparations, and additional risk factors from “cyber exploits” on commercial and public networks. Deadline for registration is April 11.

Seventeen computer and data scientists, mostly academics, filed an amicus brief Thursday to the U.S. District Court in New York on behalf of the American Civil Liberties Union in its lawsuit against government intelligence officials over their phone metadata collection program (http://bit.ly/1fx9Aie). “It is not just metadata,” they said. “Telephony metadata reveals private and sensitive information about people.” Government assurances it’s not listening in on telephone calls “is cold comfort,” they said. The ACLU filed its lawsuit last year after NSA contractor Edward Snowden revealed a trove of documents detailing government surveillance programs, according to an ACLU release (http://bit.ly/1dWxS8S).

A dynamic and competitive broadband market will keep the Internet open “regardless of whether there is government regulation,” said Matthew Berry, chief of staff to FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai, at a Broadband Cable Association of Pennsylvania event in Harrisburg Thursday, according to prepared remarks (http://bit.ly/1furxxT). “Let’s say, with a tip of the hat to Billy Joel, that you're living in Allentown, you're a Service Electric broadband customer, and the company decides to shut down your access to lawful content. You might switch to Verizon. Or, suppose that you're a Frontier customer in Breezewood, and the company prevents you from running applications of your choice. There’s a good chance that you'll switch to Comcast.” The federal government is “all too slow to recognize competition” and “too quick to impose regulation” while dismissing the harms caused by “too much meddling in the marketplace,” Berry said. He criticized the FCC’s renewed attempt to regulate ISPs with net neutrality rules. A broadband connection is not and should not be merely a “dumb pipe,” Berry said. “We should aspire to connect all Americans with smart networks,” which private enterprise is accomplishing, he said. Determining whether a particular network management principle is reasonable is “not an area conducive to government micromanagement,” Berry said. “We should want network operators to be focused on innovating and providing the best service possible to their customers rather than guessing how the FCC might respond to a particular network management practice. A rule based on amorphous and subjective value judgments will inevitably breed caution and chill progress.” Berry praised the ability of two-sided markets to bring needed funding from both consumers and content providers to pay for network upgrades to come, rather than simply relying on consumers to foot the bill.

Correction: The European Parliament’s Wednesday affirmation of a revamp of data protection rules came in a separate vote that warned a U.S. trade deal could be scrapped if NSA mass surveillance doesn’t end (CD March 13 p15).

The FCC Media Bureau will “closely scrutinize” pending and current transactions that involve sharing arrangements and deals to give one station right of first refusal purchase rights over another, the bureau said in a public notice Wednesday evening (http://fcc.us/1gaJJwk). “This is not a change in our underlying rules or the policies on which they are based,” said bureau Chief Bill Lake in a news release (http://fcc.us/1glEAGt). Commissioners Ajit Pai and Mike O'Rielly objected to the notice being issued on delegated authority. “This abuse of delegated authority is all the more unfortunate because it is entirely unnecessary,” said Pai in a statement (http://fcc.us/1iC9sWv). “Our policy has been changed without a commission vote. That’s not the way we should do business.” O'Rielly said (http://fcc.us/1lXAOGX) that “this guidance presupposes the media ownership item [is] to be voted later this month and may deter future transactions that could increase local news and other beneficial diverse programming for communities."

The proposed USF contribution factor for the second quarter of 2014 will be 16.6 percent, the FCC Office of Managing Director said in a public notice Wednesday (http://bit.ly/On0Zsp). That’s slightly up from the first quarter factor of 16.4 percent. It’s also more than a full percentage point higher than the 2013 second quarter contribution factor of 15.5 percent. But it’s down from a 2012 second quarter factor of 17.4 percent. The proposed contribution factor will automatically take effect within 14 days unless the FCC takes action to intervene, the notice said. Carriers may not recover through a federal universal service line-item an amount that exceeds 16.6 percent of the interstate telecom charges on a customer’s bill, the notice said.