A deluge of cable encryption waiver requests at the FCC that some had anticipated never materialized. That doesn’t mean cable operators besides Cablevision, which won the first exemption (CD Jan 11 p10) , won’t seek waivers in the future as more systems go all-digital so service can be turned on and off without sending trucks and technicians to people’s homes, industry lawyers and executives said. Potential waiver seekers seem busy for now with other technical and policy issues, such as the FCC’s examination of CableCARDs, said commission and industry officials.

Cisco closed its acquisition of video company Tandberg for $3.3 billion, executives said during a conference call Monday, saying the deal marks the launch of Cisco’s open source effort. The company is also looking at 3D opportunities, they said.

The FCC is moving fast on the public safety network and quick actions in areas like interoperability and the emergency communications system are expected, Public Safety Bureau officials said during an FCBA lunch Friday. The agency is also seeking to increase its involvement with cybersecurity and critical infrastructure survivability where it doesn’t have much of a track record, they said.

Politicians will increasingly use “augmented-reality” smartphone applications and the mobile Web in election campaigns, said Hill and industry officials. Interactive mobile apps are a novel tool to engage potential voters, but compelling content is still critical, they said Monday at the Politics Online Conference. “People buy the shovel, but they want the hole,” said Will Hurley, chief architect of open source strategy at BMC Software.

The FCC decided not to adopt a new high-cost support mechanism for non-rural insular carriers in Puerto Rico. “Telephone subscribership in Puerto Rico is not yet at the same level as in the mainland United States, but the data before us indicate that the gap is closing rapidly and may well be eliminated entirely in the near future,” the commission said in its order. The commission also pointed to increased wireless service as a factor in its decision. Low-income customers in Puerto Rico “increasingly are served by wireless competitive eligible telecom carriers (ETCs),” it said. “Customers of wireless carriers received more than one-third of the total low-income support disbursed to Puerto Rico in 2008."

Wall Street has had a mixed view of the National Broadband Plan since it was unveiled by the FCC last month, Simon Flannery of Morgan Stanley said at a New York Law School symposium Monday. Blair Levin, who headed development of the plan, said it’s important that universal service reform did not emerge as a major issue of debate during last week’s Senate hearing on the plan.

Florida’s oversight of telcos and other utilities would undergo significant change if legislators pass either of two rival bills, officials said. S-1034, by Sen. Mike Fasano, a Republican, would impose tighter controls on ex parte communications. A competing House measure, HB-7209 by GOP Rep. Steve Precourt, would address ex parte communications but also put the regulatory agency through a drastic reorganization that would include putting its staff under the control of the governor’s office. Fasano’s bill was passed March 3 by the Senate 39-1. Precourt’s bill got its final committee approval Wednesday.

Washington’s Utilities and Transportation Commission conditionally approved the purchase of Verizon’s landline network by Frontier, the agency said late Friday. The transaction has been approved by regulators in Arizona, California, Nevada, Ohio, Oregon and South Carolina. “We're pleased the Commission has acted and approved the transaction,” said Tim McCallion, president of Verizon’s West region. “We are now evaluating the order and the unique circumstances underlying the conditions."

FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz can promise advertisers he won’t regulate behavioral targeting under expanded authority in a House-passed financial bill (CD March 19 p4). But that’s not the same as locking down the wide-ranging commission’s authority in law, former FTC staffers told a Progress & Freedom Foundation event on the Hill Friday. The commission’s most successful rulemakings, from the Do Not Call list to the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), came from specific legislative authorizations and that’s a good pattern to retain, they said.

The FCC Future of Media report shouldn’t be narrowed because of First Amendment restrictions or the commission’s lack of jurisdiction over subjects involved, the head of the effort said. Steve Waldman told skeptical fellow members on a panel Friday organized by the Free State Foundation that he shares concern about free speech. “It’s enough of an issue that you'll be sensitive to it” in putting together the study, he said. Former Republican Commissioner Deborah Tate and ex-Media Bureau Chief Donna Gregg, who worked under Kevin Martin, expressed worries that the project is overstepping the FCC’s authority and may lead to regulation.