Federal Communications Commission

The Supreme Court this week may reopen for the first time in more than 30 years the debate over what qualifies as an "indecent" broadcast. The media environment has changed dramatically since 1978, when the court last ruled on this issue: Today's viewers and listeners are exposed to the more freewheeling cable TV, Internet and "shock jocks" on satellite radio.

Preserving Net neutrality ? that is, preventing the companies that provide the Internet's infrastructure from picking winners and losers among websites and online services ? may sound like the tech-industry equivalent of protecting motherhood and apple pie, but policymakers in Washington can't seem to agree on whether to do it, let alone how. This week, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski laid out another proposal, this time using an ill-fated bill drafted by Reps.

Two years after a rise in Moorpark's cable TV charges set off protests among residents, the Moorpark City Council on Wednesday took a first step toward regulating local cable television companies. The council voted 4 to 0 to apply to the Federal Communications Commission for authority to set the basic rates that cable television companies impose on local residents, making Moorpark the second Ventura County city, after Thousand Oaks, to opt for regulating cable service.

Federal regulators are giving up efforts to negotiate a compromise between Web companies and Internet service providers over so-called net neutrality rules intended to prevent discrimination in the way online traffic is treated. The Federal Communications Commission said Thursday it would no longer try brokering a deal among various phone, cable TV and Internet companies, saying that weeks of talks had not "generated a robust framework to preserve openness and freedom of the Internet."

Shortly after his appointment last year as chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Michael K. Powell surprised and delighted a cable trade show audience by performing a somersault on his way to the podium. The spontaneous stunt--a spoof of the acrobatic act that had preceded him onstage--was classic Powell, symbolizing the energy that industry leaders hoped the new FCC chief would bring to the stodgy but powerful agency. At this year's trade show, Powell avoided the circus acts.

* Thursday, Federal Communications Commission considers changes in media ownership rules and proposal to establish a do-not-call list for telemarketing calls and faxes.

The Federal Communications Commission again rejected BellSouth Corp.'s plan to offer local and long-distance services in Louisiana.

* Covington, Ky.-based Jacor Communications Inc. said it will buy KDIF-AM in Riverside from Hispanic Radio Broadcasters for $2.65 million. The deal is subject to approval by the Federal Communications Commission.

U.S. regulators may consider limiting fees that telephone and cable companies can charge subscribers who cancel their service before contracts expire. The Federal Communications Commission, which already is examining early-termination fees for wireless service, should also investigate cancellation charges for land-line phone, Internet and cable TV contracts, FCC Chairman Kevin J. Martin said.

Federal regulators want to know just how fast you're surfing, and they're looking for 10,000 volunteers to submit to a speed check. Four out of five high-speed Internet users don't know how fast their home connections are, according to a survey released Tuesday by the Federal Communications Commission. That leaves those consumers unsure whether they're getting what they're paying for, and it hinders them in shopping for better service from competing Internet service providers, agency officials said.

A battle is about to erupt between federal regulators and telecom companies, and nothing less than the future of the Internet could be on the line. At issue is a seemingly benign question: Is the Net an information service or a telecommunication service? As it stands, high-speed Internet service is classified by the Federal Communications Commission as a "Title I" information service in the same way that Google is an information service. This means broadband providers such as phone and cable companies are only lightly regulated by the agency.

Allegations that Fox's shelved game show "Our Little Genius" might have been rigged has prompted an inquiry by the Federal Communications Commission into possible violations of federal rules that govern quiz shows. Revelations of the FCC probe follows the News Corp.-owned network's decision last month to yank the highly promoted program from its schedule only a week before it was supposed to premiere. Fox took the unusual step after reality-show titan Mark Burnett, who was producing the program, informed the network that there was a problem with how the young contestants had been coached for the competition.

The Federal Communications Commission asked the nation's major telecommunications firms and Google Inc. to explain to the agency the industry's often unpopular practice of charging consumers to end their cellphone service early, a penalty known as an early-termination fee. The agency sent a set of questions -- including asking why the fees are needed at all -- in letters to AT&T Inc., Verizon Wireless, Sprint Nextel Corp., T-Mobile USA and Google. "This is an essential step to ensuring that consumers have the information that helps them make informed choices in a competitive marketplace," the FCC said.

The Department of Justice, in a major antitrust review for the Obama administration, will join the Federal Communications Commission in reviewing Comcast Corp.'s deal to take control of General Electric Co.'s NBC Universal. The decision settles a tug of war between the department and the Federal Trade Commission, each of which sought to weigh in on the $30-billion deal announced in December. But other recent big media mergers have been swung to Justice Department lawyers, so the decision did not come as a surprise to regulatory insiders.

Facing a major regulatory issue, AT&T Inc. has unleashed the kind of lobbying blitz that makes it one of the grand corporate players of the great Washington game. And yet, for all the money AT&T and other old-line telecom and cable companies have spent pushing their cause, they are poised to lose a key vote to a bunch of newer tech companies that never had anything to do with Washington until recently. If the Federal Communications Commission votes today in favor of crafting rules to let the government oversee access to the Internet, it could be a sign of a fundamental shift of power under the Obama administration.

The Federal Communications Commission is looking into complaints by AT&T Inc. that the Google Voice phone service blocks some calls within the United States to avoid a high connection fee. The FCC sent an inquiry to Google Inc. on Friday seeking information about the software's functionality, the number of users and the identity of its partners. Google Voice allows users to consolidate their home, office and cellphone numbers by routing the calls through a central Google number.

The nation's chief telecommunications regulator on Wednesday reiterated the Obama administration's call for rules to ensure the free flow of Internet traffic, regardless of whether the data traveled over wired Internet connections or over wireless cellular networks. Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski, in a speech to wireless-industry executives attending the CTIA conference here, said the administration's goal in creating rules would be to eliminate "confusion" over the nation's so-called net neutrality policy, which has existed as a guideline rather than a mandate.