The FCC should quickly approve Windstream's proposed takeover of EarthLink, the merging companies said in reply comments at the FCC. Reply comments were due Friday in docket 16-393 Friday. The FTC last week cleared the $1.1 billion deal (see 1612210031). “The record demonstrates the public interest benefits of the transaction, including offering a broader portfolio of services to current and future customers and bringing more customers on-net where possible,” the companies told the FCC. “No party voiced any objection to the transaction (or even commented) in response to the Public Notice.”

The FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau sided against Kohll’s Pharmacy & Homecare in its pursuit of a favorable ruling on faxes and the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. Kohll’s had asked the FCC to say the faxes it sent on flu vaccines didn’t violate the TCPA’s prohibition on sending unsolicited fax advertisements. The bureau disagreed. “We find that Kohll’s facsimiles are unsolicited advertisements under the TCPA, and the primary purpose of the facsimiles is to market flu vaccines and not merely to inform recipients about the health benefits of flu vaccines,” the bureau said in an order.

Sorenson Communications told the FCC it's dropping an open records request for an FCC filing by rival Purple and other video relay service providers after Purple filed a non-redacted summary of its rate proposal. Purple also filed a copy of the entire ex parte report “under the appropriate protective order,” Sorenson said in a filing in docket 10-51. “Thus, the concerns that we raised in our previous December 13 letter with respect to access to confidential information and confidentiality designations have been resolved for now.” Purple said in a Tuesday filing it's offering a proposed VRS rate structure "which Purple hopes will assist the Commission in establishing a VRS rate framework that reflects all providers’ costs and is appropriate for the VRS market." The proposed rate varies from $4.82 per minute for the largest carriers to $2.82 per minute for the smallest.

The FCC Wireline Bureau authorized Alaska Plan support for 13 rate-of-return (ROR) carriers, consistent with an August order agreed to by commissioners on a 3-2 vote (see 1608310067). The August order provided a “one-time opportunity for Alaskan ROR carriers to elect to receive support frozen at adjusted 2011 levels for a 10-year term in exchange for meeting individualized performance obligations, the bureau order said. Among the carriers, the largest amount of support will go to Matanuska Telephone Association at $18.7 million per year. In comparison, Circle Telephone & Electric is to get $38,532 each year. Each carrier must agree to comply with the public interest obligations adopted in the August order by Dec. 29, the bureau said. “As directed by the Commission,” the bureau said it will review these carriers’ plans on a biennial basis “and adjust the plans based on any changed circumstances.”

Petitions to deny CenturyLink's planned buy of Level 3 are due Jan. 23, replies Feb. 7, said an FCC public notice referencing docket 16-403. Wednesday's PN said the companies filed their applications earlier this month (see 1612140047), and made a supplement Monday. Regulators are expected to greenlight the $34 billion deal, which also needs state OKs (see 1610310033).

Recent ILEC acquisitions by Consolidated Communications resulted in improved broadband services, and FairPoint Communications customers likely will see the same, the telcos said in a joint FCC application for change of control posted Wednesday. Their public interest statement said Consolidated/FairPoint will mean new services -- like over-the-top video, security and home automation -- in new markets, and combining their fiber networks will let New Consolidated offer better offer service to multilocation businesses. There are six states in which both operate -- Alabama, Illinois, Kansas, Missouri, Ohio and Pennsylvania -- but none of their territories in those states overlaps, they said. The application listed 20 FairPoint subsidiaries with Communications Act Section 214 licenses that would need to be transferred to Consolidated. Consolidated announced plans earlier this month to acquire FairPoint in an all-stock deal valued at about $1.5 billion (see 1612050030).

Sinclair's Tennis Channel will likely be blacked out on Frontier Cable starting Dec. 31, with the broadcaster's KOMO-TV Seattle and KATU Portland, Oregon, going dark Jan. 1 because of failed retransmission consent talks with Frontier, Sinclair said in a news release Tuesday. Sinclair Executive Vice President-Distribution and Network Relations Barry Faber said the effect is expected to be minimal since Frontier has low market penetration in Seattle and Portland. Frontier in a statement said it's negotiating renewal terms with Sinclair, but it "remains committed to keeping our customers first and are working with Sinclair toward a reasonable resolution [and] cannot accept unfair terms that would subject our customers to significant and unnecessary price increases."

Full Service Network filed for forbearance from the FCC Lifeline broadband internet access service requirements throughout its eligible telecom service areas. “FSN was designated as an ETC for purposes of Lifeline-Only support in portions of Pennsylvania,” the ISP said in a filing in docket 11-42. “FSN is therefore eligible for the forbearance granted by the FCC throughout its ETC service areas.”

The FCC Wireline Bureau reminded Connect America Phase I Round Two participants of deployment and certification deadlines, in a public notice in Tuesday's Daily Digest. The deployment deadlines varied by carrier but fell between the end of October and mid-March next year. A carrier receiving funding must complete deployment within three years of accepting support and certify it fulfilled Phase I obligations by July 3 with its first annual report, said the PN. Carriers that fail to meet Phase I obligations must return funding and may be subject to additional penalties, it said.

The FCC Wireline Bureau is seeking comment on the 2005 waiver that allows Sandwich Isles Communications to be treated as an ILEC for purposes of receiving high-cost USF support. The carrier faces $77 million in repayment duties and proposed fines from the FCC for violations and apparent violations of the USF high-cost program in Hawaii (see 1612060032). The Tuesday notice in docket 10-90 said as part of the earlier “Sandwich Isles Improper Payment Order,” the FCC instructed the bureau to seek comment from the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission, the Department of Hawaiian Homelands “and all other interested stakeholders on whether Sandwich Isles’ previously granted study area boundary waiver should be terminated." Comments are due at the FCC Feb. 3. The company didn't comment on the notice.