The FCC will have to be lithe as a circus performer to pull off Chairman Julius Genachowski’s so-called “third way” for regulating broadband, said officials from industry and a free-market think tank at a Progress & Freedom Foundation event Friday morning. And the approach would create significant market uncertainty if applied, they said. Genachowski revealed his plan to seal the commission’s broadband Internet authority on Thursday (CD May 7 p1).

The public interest benefits of allowing the major studios to use selectable output controls (SOC) to beam first-run movies to pay-TV homes before their release on DVD or Blu-ray, “outweigh the limited impact on consumers who rely on unprotected outputs on the set-top box,” the FCC’s Media Bureau said Friday. It granted the MPAA’s request for waiver of SOC rules with conditions, as had been expected (CD Dec 1 p1). “We believe that providing consumers with the option to view films in their homes shortly after those films are released in theaters will serve the public interest,” the bureau said.

An upcoming FCC order on pole attachments leaves some industry officials worried and others hopeful about the fate of pole attachment rates. The items are circulating at the FCC and will focus on “ensuring nondiscriminatory, just and reasonable access to utility poles,” the commission said when the May 20 meeting preliminary agenda was released. “We need a regime that is essentially going to set pole rates that are as low as possible, while still providing appropriate rental costs from pole owners,” NCTA Executive Vice President James Assey told us.

The Title II sections of the Communications Act the FCC would apply to broadband under Chairman Julius Genachowski’s reclassification plan could still burden operators with cumbersome rules and expose them to costly legal challenges, communications attorneys said Friday. Statements from Genachowski and FCC General Counsel Austin Schlick Thursday indicated Sections 201, 202, 208, 222, 254 and 255 would remain in place after a substantial forbearance from other Title II elements (CD May 7 p1). Sections 201 and 202 “are the key provisions of the Communications Act that have sort of kept behavior in check for almost 80 years,” said telecom lawyer Glenn Richards of Pillsbury Winthrop. “Anything that folks do, they're always thinking about it in terms of ‘Will it cause a 201 or 202 issue?'"

Monthly FCC meetings are running longer, partially due to the intricacies of the National Broadband Plan, but also because of additional time spent on Haitian earthquake relief efforts earlier this year and bureau chiefs going over items also discussed in staffers’ presentations. The 10 meetings under Chairman Julius Genachowski lasted an average of 2 hours 13 minutes, our research found. That’s 33 percent longer than the last 10 meetings under Kevin Martin, though meetings now start on time. It’s also longer than the last five meetings whose video we could access under two previous chairmen. Before items were approved on circulation, meetings sometimes would last all day.

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski’s “third way” on broadband isn’t a compromise at all, reclassification opponents said Thursday. Several predicted the Genachowski proposal faces the same legal challenges as would reclassification. It also faces strong opposition from FCC Republicans Robert McDowell and Meredith Baker, who released a joint statement. Genachowski has avoided questions in recent weeks on his stance on reclassification. A vote on a public notice is expected within the next few weeks, FCC officials said. It’s expected to be approved 3-2, likely with dissents from the two Republicans, they said.

Speakers expressed general support for an FCC proposal to move to a Consolidated Licensing System (CLS), during a workshop Thursday. Mary Beth Richards, special counsel to the chairman for FCC Reform, said the commission will release a rulemaking notice on the CLS and plans additional workshops. “The CLS system is really an ambitious project,” Richards said. “It’s part of our overall reform efforts to make the agency more efficient and effective, easier to use our systems.”

Democrats and Republicans in Congress divided sharply on FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski’s plan to cement the commission’s broadband authority. (See separate story in this issue.) Democrats stood by the FCC chairman, while Republicans accused him of partisanship. The GOP called reclassification -- even lightly applied -- a mistake. House and Senate Commerce Committee Chairmen Henry Waxman, D-Calif., and Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., urged Genachowski on Wednesday to pursue “all viable options,” including reclassification (CD May 6 p1).

The perceived industry impact on proposed FCC reclassification of broadband transport as a common carrier service subject to six sections of the Communications Act may fall most heavily on cable operators, investor interviews and stock prices Thursday show. Cable operators largely aren’t regulated under Title II and putting their broadband services under it means the companies will be more heavily regulated, some investors and analysts said. Telcos have always had wireline operations subject to Title II, though their financial outlook is also affected by regulatory uncertainty, analysts and industry officials said.

Subscription contributions for telecom companies that sell DirecTV services are slowing as TV competition intensifies and reliance on land lines declines, the company said in its Q1 earnings call. Generally sold as part of a bundle with telephone services and/or Internet, contributions have fallen to under 20 percent from about 25 percent, said DirecTV Chief Financial Officer Patrick Doyle. The continued roll out of Verizon’s FiOS and AT&T’s U-verse have contributed to the slide, he said.