The biggest cable provider in the United States says that it may offer a "family tier" of programming in response to concerns about decency on television.

Reuters news service reports that Comcast Vice-President John Alchin''s remarks came at a UBS Global Media conference in New York City yesterday. "If there''s a need for a family tier and it could be accommodated with programing contracts, we can meet those concerns," he told the conference during a keynote presentation.

The Federal Communications Commission has asked Time-Warner and Comcast to submit what the Wall Street Journal calls an "unusual" amount of data about their proposed takeover of Adelphia Communications and its assets. The Journal reports that the FCC wants details on at least six aspects of the deal, including reports of e-mail blocking, limiting data to Internet customers, and ownership of sports teams. Speculation continues that FCC Chair Kevin Martin is using this issue to pressure the two giants to provide "a la carte" cable programming, in which consumers could choose individual channels rather than whole packages.

U.S. emergency radio spectrum system flunks 9/11 preparedness report

Yesterday's "Final Report on 9/11 Preparedness Recommendations," issued by the 9/11 Commission, gave the U.S. an "F" for providing "adequate radio spectrum for first responders" in a terrorist attack. "It is scandalous that police and firefighters in large cities still cannot communicate reliably in a major crisis," 9/11 Commissioners Thomas Kean and Lee H. Hamilton declared in their official statement.

Wireless competition in cable leading to deregulation across the country

Citing competition from Verizon wireless, Cox Communications has petitioned the FCC to deny Fairfax County, Virginia, the right to set its basic cable and equipment rates.

The Washington Post reports that the agency has already deregulated 255 communities in response to petitions from cable providers. Verizon, a wireless company, has been offering video in parts of Fairfax for a week. "Lifting [Fairfax] regulations would give us more flexibility ... to respond to our competitors," a Cox spokesperson explained.

Risk analyst accuses state and local governments of ducking responsibilities for emergency communications support

In a C-Net op-ed piece, Lee M. Zeichner suggested that, in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, state regulators were "heading for cover" rather than address emergency communications issues. "The new mantra is that consumers must fend for themselves in the first 72 hours—which shrewdly shifts responsibility away from state and local support."

Two key media groups—The Consumer''s Union (CU) and Parent's Television Council (PTC)—have issued statements supporting FCC Chair Kevin Martin's "a la carte" proposal for cable television.

Martin called for the unbundling of cable packages at yesterday's forum on decency held by the Senate Commerce Committee. He urged broadcasters to "allow consumers to choose a specific number of channels from a menu of available programming for a fixed price — e.g., 10 channels for $20, 20 channels for $30 etc. Parents then would be able to receive — and pay for — only that programming that they are comfortable bringing into their homes."

The Consumer''s Union praised Martin's suggestion on their Web site. "Cable companies and broadcasters have fought a la carte pricing for years, hiding behind the fallacious argument that popular and unpopular programming had to be bundled together to keep all programming afloat ... " declared the group''s spokesperson Gene Kimmelman. "Today, Chairman Martin has blown a huge hole through this fortress of deceit."

A consortium of civil liberties groups, corporations, libraries, and universities will challenge a Federal Communications Commission ruling that they must make their Internet infrastructures easier to penetrate by the police.', 'Sun Microsystems, the American Library Association, and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, among others, will take the FCC decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit. They argue that the FCC is wrongly applying the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA) to the Internet.

"CALEA was drafted specifically to regulate phone networks, which are designed to be closed systems . . . " the Electronic Frontier Foundation''s briefing argues. "If CALEA is misapplied to the Internet, the results will be disastrous. The privacy of innocent people is likely to be violated, innovation will certainly be stifled, and the current and future functionality of the Internet will be crippled."