Broadcasting&Cable

House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Rick Boucher (D-VA) said Thursday that he continues to work toward network neutrality legislation and remains solidly behind a free and open Internet.

The Comcast/NBCU merger has drawn its first petition to deny from self-described "Pan-Asian" group called the Mabuhay Alliance.

Comcast Chairman Brian Roberts has told Senate Judiciary Committee members that his company will not to challenge the Federal Communications Commission's tightening/closing of the terrestrial exemption last fall, either at the FCC or in the courts.

It looks like the satellite blanket license might have to continue to be a temporary tag.

Larry Sidman, president of the Association of Public Television Stations, is resigning, effective April 1.

Rep Ed Markey (D-MA), who was responsible for inserting the requirement for a national broadband report into the stimulus bill, has already introduced a bill to mandate to elements of that plan. The bill's aim is to insure accessibility to and privacy of energy data, and to develop national standards for accessibility.

National Association of Broadcasters spokesperson Dennis Wharton says broadcasters Broadcasters would be willing to work with the FCC if its spectrum reclamation proposal is voluntary, but that is an important "if."

The Federal Communications Commission is proposing that the cable industry to adopt an open-standard, "gateway" device to replace current set-tops by the end of 2012.

Once a sector in so-called "secular and cyclical decline," broadcast networks are suddenly as welcome on Wall Street as the first crocuses of spring.

Federal Communications Commission staff on Friday briefed Congressional staffers on the National Broadband Plan. Apparently, the FCC will propose levying spectrum fees on broadcasters and government users alike as a little incentive to clear off some of their spectrum.