Heeding the comments of dozens of non-profit broadcasting advocates, the Federal Communications Commission has set a limit of ten applications per group for the upcoming non-commercial, educational (NCE) radio license application window, set to start on Friday.

"Our examination of the record confirms our concern that failure to establish a limit on the number of NCE FM applications that a party may file in the window would lead to a large number of speculative filings, creating the potential for extraordinary procedural delays," the FCC ruled today.

After the years of waiting, the FCC will begin accepting competitive applications for hundreds of medium range to big signal educational FM licenses available across the country. The filing period begins on Friday and concludes at the end of the following Friday, October 19th.

"It's now or never," the Web site of one group that helps organizations with the application process warns, since the window is probably the last shot that non-profits looking for a full power station will get in years.

The FCC's cap is now set. If the Commission's Media Bureau determines that an applicant has "an attributable interest" in more then ten NCE applications, the agency will consider only the first ten and dismiss the rest.

Everybody had something to tell the Federal Communications Commission about so-called "white space" or "unlicensed" devices last week, including Cox Communications and the "Open Mobile Video Coalition."

The chatter culminated in Friday's decision by the FCC to initiate a new round of tests of the machines: cognitive receivers that can tap into unused television frequencies, or "white space," and use them for broadband purposes: video, streaming audio, extended LANs or "community mesh networks."

"The Commission is committed to working with all parties to continue the process of investigating the potential performance capabilities of TV white space devices in an open and transparent manner," the agency announced on October 5th. "To that end, the Laboratory will be conducting additional laboratory and field testing of prototype devices."

The prototypes come from Microsoft and Phillips, big boosters of the technology and leaders of the "White Space Coalition," which also includes Google, Hewlett-Packard, and Intel.

Their FCC filings promise that "unlicensed devices operating in the TV band will offer longer transmission ranges using the same power, less risk of signal attenuation or harmful interference, and less power consumption at the same range than Wi-Fi."

Invasion of the TV snatchers? Specially deputized FCC
official Kevin McCarthy inspects "unlicensed device"
found on road.

The debate over "white space" just got a bit more colorful.

On September 19th, a small battalion of state broadcasting association reps met with the Federal Communications Commission to express their opposition to so-called "unlicensed devices"—receivers that can pick up temporarily unused TV spectrum, or "white space," and use it for broadband purposes.

Why, they asked, "would the FCC consider allowing millions and millions of these interference causing devices, like 'germs,' to spread throughout America with the ability to attack the TV receivers in people's homes, apartments, hotel rooms, hospital rooms, dormitories, etc., with no way for the owner of the TV set (the 'victim') to determine who was causing the 'illness' to his or her TV set?"

The Federal Communications Commission has extended to October 22nd the window for public comments on its ten new media ownership studies. That's three weeks more for the public to respond to the surveys, which media reform groups charge have not received adequate peer review.

The proposal for an extension received strong opposition from the Media General company, which owns newspapers, radio, and TV stations in the southwest, and often calls for the relaxation of the FCC's media ownership rules.

"While we agree with Media General that undue delays in this proceeding should be avoided when possible, here we find that a brief extension of the filing deadlines is warranted," the FCC ruled today. "We believe that the public interest and our goal of assembling a full record in this proceeding would be best served by granting an extension of the comment and reply comment filing deadlines so that parties will have additional time to review the studies and underlying data."

For weeks, Freepress, the Consumers Union, and the Consumer Federation of America have argued that the studies, which survey media ownership patterns in the United States, run afoul of the Data Quality Act, because not enough of the information they used has been disclosed so that other scholars can duplicate the various reports' conclusions.

A source close to the working committee of groups that advises the Federal Communications Commission on consumer matters has told LLFCC that the FCC instructed its participants "not to have contact with the press" about their latest vote on the digital or "DTV" transition.

On September 27th, the FCC's Consumer Advisory Committee CAC approved recommending a variety of broadcaster requirements to educate consumers on the impending switch from analog to digital broadcasting. Congress has set February 17th, 2009 as the last day for analog transmission. Starting on January 1st, the government will offer $40 coupons to consumers to defray the cost of buying a set top box that can convert older analog TVs into digital ready receivers.

Millions of Americans still own analog TV sets and know little if anything about the transition.

But industry and advocacy groups on the CAC are at odds over whether the FCC should require broadcasters to run public service announcements (PSAs) on the program. The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) opposes the requirement. Most public interest groups favor it.

Over half of all households in Puerto Rico may use over-the-air television and should be alerted quickly about the coming digital or "DTV" transition, the self-governing U.S. territory's telecommunications board has warned the Federal Communications Commission.

"It should also be pointed out that the average income per capita of Puerto Rico households is considerably lower than the average income per capita of U.S. households," Puerto Rico's Telecommunications Regulatory Board wrote to the FCC on September 17th. "Therefore, acquiring DTV sets or subscribing to cable television or satellite services not necessarily will be feasible alternatives to a substantial number of these consumers in Puerto Rico."

Congress has designated February 17, 2009 as the last day of analog TV broadcasting. Millions of Americans do not have digital TV sets. Starting on January 1st, 2008, all Americans will be eligible to receive two $40 coupons good towards converter set-top boxes that will make analog TV sets digital ready.

But Puerto Rico's telecom board warns that the income disparity between many Puerto Ricans and mainland Americans needs to be taken into consideration by the FCC. While an estimated 528,304 Puerto Rican households have cable or satellite television, many or most of the rest of the region's 1,261,325 homes depend on conventional analog TV. Many may not have the income to replace their older sets with brand new digital models.

Read CMD's charges about
"Nelson's Rescue Sleep"

If you watched a Comcast CN8 show called "Art Fennell Reports" a little over a year ago, you may have seen a feature about "non-prescription sleep aids." Actually, the program focused on only one such product: "Nelson's Rescue Sleep," and included the comment that "If you are one of the estimated 70 million Americans who have trouble sleeping - Rescue Sleep may be what you're looking for."

What Comcast did not tell its viewers, the Federal Communications Commission charged today, is that Comcast based much of that feature on a Video News Release (VNR) commissioned by Nelson's Rescue Sleep. The cost of the omission: $4,000, the FCC declared.

"Commission rules are clear: viewers have a right to know who is trying to persuade them so they can make up their own minds about what they are presented," Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein said in a press statement released right after the decision.