FCC International Bureau Chief Mindel De La Torre expects the bureau to move forward on several spectrum related issues in the coming months, she said at the Washington Space Business Roundtable in Washington Thursday. Broadband, as in the rest of the commission, is the focus for the bureau, and two items recommended in the National Broadband Plan will be acted on relatively quickly, she said.

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski may lack a way to avoid reclassifying broadband while still requiring net neutrality, said numerous commission and industry officials not involved in internal deliberations on Comcast v. FCC. Losing the case at the U.S. Appeals Court for the D.C. Circuit on statutory grounds Tuesday (CD April 8 p1) leaves Genachowski with few choices that appear palatable to him, they said. One likely outcome if the FCC doesn’t appeal is deeming broadband a common carrier and not an information service.

The FCC is circulating a proposed order in response to a remand by the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, an FCC official said. In 2001 and 2005, the court called the commission’s current non-rural high cost support mechanism unlawful, and reversed and remanded the rules. The commissioners will vote on the order by April 16, the official said. The FCC agreed to the deadline after Qwest and three state regulators filed a mandamus petition last year, the FCC official said.

FCC staffers are thought to be reviewing two batches of program access complaints against cable operators in light of how a January order on the subject that became effective Friday affects the cases, industry and commission officials said. The Media Bureau seems to be taking the lead in reviewing complaints by AT&T (CD April 7 p12) and Verizon against Cablevision for withholding HD versions of two regional sports networks, they said. It’s also believed to be involved in reviewing an AT&T challenge to the bureau’s 2009 dismissal of the telco’s complaint against Cox Communications for withholding access to a channel featuring San Diego Padres baseball games.

The FCC announced Wednesday the launch of a small business broadband adoption public-private partnership, linking Score, the Small Business Administration’s volunteer arm and “private partners” including AT&T, Google, Microsoft, Cisco, Best Buy, Constant Contact, HP, Intuit, Skype, and Time Warner Cable.

A court decision that the FCC lacked authority to regulate Comcast network management could fuel arguments for a legislative approach to Universal Service Fund reform, said Hill and industry officials. The ruling may not spur the Hill to action on USF this year, given an uninterested Senate and tight legislative schedule (CD April 7 p4), they said. The National Broadband Plan outlined a way for the FCC to revamp USF on its own, but House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Rick Boucher, D-Va., has voiced skepticism the agency can do a USF overhaul without Congress.

The Comcast decision on net neutrality resonates in Europe, several sources said Wednesday. The ruling (CD April 7 p1) is a “nice reminder” that there’s a limit to what regulators can do, even in Europe, said Hogan & Hartson (Paris) telecom attorney Winston Maxwell. It could spark confusion over the connection between broadband and net neutrality regulation, said Innocenzo Genna, a Brussels telecom consultant. The issue of net neutrality is proving so important that French telecom regulator ARCEP plans a day-long conference on it this month. Among key topics is how to define it.

More than a year after the financial meltdown, the credit markets for broadcast deals have yet to thaw. But some industry officials said they see light at the end of the tunnel as ad sales continue to rebound and stations begin to develop new revenue streams through digital products. For now, lenders appear to be waiting for several consecutive months of ad sales growth before funding station transactions, said Mark Fratrik, vice president of BIA/Kelsey, a media consultancy. “I think banks want to see three to four months, maybe even two quarters worth, of strong or positive overall economic news and strong or positive ad revenue numbers,” he said.

Ohio’s Public Utility Commission rejected telecom union demands to rescind an order approving Frontier’s proposed acquisition of Verizon landlines and convene a new set of hearings on the matter. Ruling Tuesday, the commission said it found no merit in arguments for a rehearing advanced by the Communications Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. The unions claimed the commission wrongly and unlawfully approved the proposed transactions.

Motorola asked the FCC to impose only minimal conditions on waivers granted to local governments and public safety agencies seeking to make early use of 700 MHz spectrum. TIA said the FCC should assure any systems built using a waiver are interoperable. The Public Safety Bureau last month requested comment on the report of the National Public Safety Telecommunications Council’s Broadband Task Force (BBTF), as well as the response of the Public Safety Spectrum Trust to the report. The bureau also asked for comments on the role of the report in moving toward a national interoperable public safety broadband network in the 700 MHz band.