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).

According to a report issued Thursday by the Communications Workers of America, West Virginia’s utility commission should not approve Verizon’s proposed sale of landlines to Frontier Communications. West Virginia is the only state left among 14 where Frontier wants to acquire Verizon networks in which the transaction still needs utility commission approval to proceed.

The Rural Utilities Service opened the window Friday for applications for broadband stimulus funds for projects using satellites to increase the reach of broadband. The request for proposals (RFP) was printed in Friday’s Federal Register and outlines the application process for rural library broadband and technical assistance projects as well. The satellite broadband funds are part of the second round of broadband stimulus fund distribution through RUS’s Broadband Initiatives Program (BIP). The agency will accept applications for funds through June 7, it said.

The departing head of FCC’s broadband work crew said the agency doesn’t need a permanent czar to ensure that the commission stays focused on high-speed Internet service even after execution of the National Broadband Plan wraps up. Blair Levin sees changes to the Universal Service Fund and intercarrier compensation as linked and thinks they need to be done together, he said in an exit interview Friday. He remains confused why broadcasters are publicly resisting the plan’s recommendation to create a market for other uses of TV spectrum and said that, despite much speculation about what he'll do next, he himself doesn’t know.

STANFORD, Calif. -- “A lot of back and forth, a lot of angst” resulted inside the FCC from dealing with the Comcast decision, said Sherrese Smith, aide to Chairman Julius Genachowski. Trying to keep regulating Internet access under Title I could create uncertainty for investors and consumers throughout long court fights, and “Congress probably did not intend for broadband to be under” a Title II common carrier framework, she said Friday. Genachowski’s “third way” calls for “reclassification under Title II” with forbearance on the “very onerous” obligations in the title, Smith said at the Legal Frontiers in Digital Media conference. Asked about coverage of wireless broadband, Smith said only, “I think we'll be working on that."

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.

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 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.

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.