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.

The FCC paused its clock on consideration of Comcast’s agreement to buy control of NBC Universal, because staffers want additional information from the companies. Comment deadlines on the deal are on hold until Comcast, NBC Universal and NBCU’s parent, General Electric, provide the information, said a Media Bureau order released Friday. A report will take up “the claimed benefits from the transaction” and another its effect on video distribution online, said the ruling signed by bureau Chief Bill Lake.

The American Public Communications Council said the FCC should act with care on a seemingly “innocuous” request by Virgin Mobile to be allowed to sign customers up for the federal Lifeline program online or through automated voice response, without talking to a sales representative for the prepaid mobile provider. The District of Columbia’s Public Service Commission expressed similar concerns about risks of Universal Service Fund fraud. Comments on the petition were due at the FCC last week.

Smaller carriers have fought what appears to be a losing battle against “factors” included in an order eliminating the in-market exception approved as part of the commission’s automatic roaming rules in 2007. The order is a win for carriers other than Verizon Wireless and AT&T, because it removes the exclusion and creates a presumption in favor of roaming, FCC officials said. It does provide a list of nonexclusive factors to be considered by the FCC only when a formal complaint is filed. Some smaller carriers want the factors to be removed because of fears that they could be used by AT&T or Verizon to reject roaming requests. The factors are not the same as those sought by Verizon (CD April 12 p5).

The U.S. State Department’s focus on keeping the Internet open is much bigger than just Google and China, said Alex Ross, senior adviser on innovation to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, on C-SPAN’s The Communicators, in an interview to be broadcast this weekend. But Ross also said he sees signs that Clinton’s stand in favor of Internet freedom made in a Jan. 21 speech is bearing fruit.

A draft FCC media ownership inquiry asks questions on a wide array of areas including the touchstones of localism, diversity and competition without preliminary conclusions or recommendations, agency officials said. The notice of inquiry asks how to define various terms related to ownership in the congressionally-mandated 2010 review, they said. In so doing, it gives no sense of whether the commission ultimately will move toward tighter or looser rules, agency officials noted.

The House Commerce Committee approved by a 47-0 roll-call vote a cybersecurity bill that would amend the Federal Power Act to enable FERC to quickly address security threats to the electric grid. The committee approved by voice vote a manager’s amendment that included tweaks requiring notification of Congress whenever the president determines a grid security threat exists, and to require FERC consultation with the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC). Democratic and Republican members agreed the bill (HR-5026) would improve national security and saluted friendly work between parties.

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski repeatedly deflected senators’ questions Wednesday on how the commission will respond to the recent net neutrality decision by the D.C. Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals. At a Senate Commerce Committee hearing, Genachowski said the FCC has all the authority it needs to carry out proposals in the National Broadband Plan. Democratic senators seemed open to reclassifying broadband under Title II of the Communications Act, at least as a stopgap before a new law. Republicans sharply disagreed. “The legitimacy of the agency would be seriously compromised” if the FCC reclassifies broadband as a common-carrier service without instructions from Congress, said Ranking Member Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas.

The House passed caller ID spoofing and spectrum inventory legislation, in votes under suspension of the rules Wednesday. It also passed a tax reform bill (HR-3994) that would remove a requirement that companies and employees keep track of personal calls on employer-supplied cellphones. All the bills had bipartisan support, but the inventory bill faced a roadblock on its first presentation when a single representative objected, forcing a recorded vote later in the afternoon. A suspension vote prevents amendments and requires a two-thirds majority.

LAS VEGAS -- Three FCC commissioners told NAB they support studying retransmission consent in the wake of a petition from pay-TV operators to modify the commission’s approach to broadcast carriage disputes. But they didn’t all take a position on how the agency should move forward. “I think it’s important to study the issue,” Commissioner Mignon Clyburn said. But it’s also important to get a sense of the true scope of the problem, she said: “It’s always the 1 percent or 5 percent of the issue that draws the policy and decisions and that doesn’t always work in our best interest."