VoIP provider magicJack is blocking some calls to its customers, in what is apparently a dispute over special access, said news reports and an industry source. Callers to magicJack customers get a recorded message: “Your phone carrier has routed this call improperly. This call is being identified as a local call, and it should be identified as a long distance call. To complete this call, please call your carrier’s customer service number.” Alternatively, the message says customers can call into a conference line to reach their party.

The FCC International Bureau extended the comment period Friday on a request by LightSquared for modification of its ancillary terrestrial component (ATC) license, after CTIA raised timing concerns Wednesday. The bureau had asked for input in a public notice that “was not available until late in the day” Nov. 19, said CTIA. The association said it asked for the extension in light of the Thanksgiving holiday and the brevity of the original 10-day comment period.

Broadcast and cable industry groups remain opposed to stricter standards for closed-captioning quality, monitoring and technical, they said in comments filed with the FCC last week. But advocates for people who are hard of hearing or deaf said industrywide standards would help improve the quality of captioning. The commission sought to refresh the record in its proceeding on closed-captioning quality (CD Oct 27 p13) to take into account technological advances since it last addressed the issue, in 2005.

The FCC should not impose an in-store testing requirement as part of its hearing-aid compatibility rules, the Consumer Electronics Retailers Coalition (CERC) said in reply comments on an FCC further notice of proposed rulemaking. CTIA, meanwhile, urged the FCC to base its rules on a collaborative process between carriers and the public. Groups representing the deaf and hard of hearing did not file reply comments.

Media companies are working on new apps to run in Web browsers and on devices such as Internet-enabled TV sets, Internet industry executives said. They said part of their motivation is the prospect of charging for content currently available free on the Web. Media companies are working on new apps to run in Web browsers and on devices such as Internet-enabled TV sets, the executives said. They said part of the motivation is the prospect of charging for content currently available free on the Web.

Pay-TV distributors have been buying back stock at high rates in recent years, and more companies are taking up the strategy. The reliably high levels of free cash flow generated by the pay-TV industry, and lack of opportunity and desire for companies to spend their cash on large acquisitions is leading more companies to invest in their own stock, analysts said. Buying back stock can also make it easier for a company to go private, they said.

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski seems to prefer not to reclassify broadband transport as a telecom service and instead to keep it as an information service, as part of enacting the net neutrality rules he seeks, according to a high-ranking commission official who has been briefed about the recent stakeholder meetings on net neutrality and to other officials who have been represented at those gatherings or also been briefed. Genachowski appears to prefer to stick with the current Title I information service regime for broadband, especially if he can get ISP support for net neutrality rules that don’t include reclassification, commission, industry and nonprofit officials said.

If the FCC imposes net neutrality rules without reclassifying broadband as a Title II service, carriers could come away at most nicked instead of badly injured, industry and FCC officials said. The bigger threat to carriers and their stock prices is reclassification and a fundamental change in the way they are regulated, they said.

The House plans to vote next week on the CALM Act, which would require lowering the volume of TV commercials to that of regular programming. The House also plans to consider another continuing resolution to maintain funding for federal agencies until regular appropriations are approved, amid pleas from state regulators to provide additional funding to federal agencies charged with overseeing the broadband stimulus program under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

The FCC will vote on a notice of inquiry at its December meeting designed to push 911 into the broadband age, Chairman Julius Genachowski said Tuesday. The announcement answers in part the question of what will be on the agenda for December, the last open meeting of the year. The FCC also said the meeting is delayed from Dec. 15 to Dec. 21, amidst growing speculation that the main order of business will be a vote on net neutrality rules (CD Nov 22 p1).