Federal Communications Commission

President-elect Barack Obama has pledged to create a Cabinet-level chief technology officer, signaling the priority he places on high-tech issues. But a more important decision may be Obama's choice to lead the Federal Communications Commission. Although the current chairman, Republican Kevin J. Martin, has made some smart choices, the FCC needs fresh ideas on how to encourage competition and promote broadband Internet access.

The Federal Communications Commission has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review the indecency case over Janet Jackson's breast-baring "wardrobe malfunction" incident at the 2004 Super Bowl. The FCC this week appealed a ruling by the U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia, saying that court was wrong to throw out the case and a $550,000 fine against CBS Corp. in July. The appellate court cited the FCC practice of not considering objectionable images indecent if they are "fleeting."

Universal Internet access sounds great. But not the way the head of the Federal Communications Commission envisions it. FCC Chairman Kevin J. Martin is proposing that free wireless Net access be made available to everyone as part of a sale of public airwaves. At the same time, he wants filters put in place so that no smut slips through to impressionable young Web surfers.

Deborah Taylor Tate, one of three Republicans on the five-member Federal Communications Commission, will be leaving the agency when her term expires early next month. Tate, a former telecommunications and public utilities regulator from Tennessee, joined the FCC in January 2006. During her time on the commission, she played an active role in efforts to overhaul the Universal Service Fund, the federal program that subsidizes telephone service in rural and low-income communities.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin is dropping a requirement that the provider of a proposed free Internet network block adult content from the service. Martin's plan calls for the FCC to sell 25 megahertz of airwaves and then require the buyer to use a quarter of that spectrum to provide free wireless Internet access. Originally, he wanted the winning bidder to install filters that would block children under 18 from accessing pornography.

The Federal Communications Commission will decide this year whether to limit fees that mobile-phone carriers charge customers who cancel service before their contracts expire, FCC Chairman Kevin J. Martin said. "We need to look at whether it's something that can be regulated at the state level or if it should be done at the interstate or federal level," Martin said. Separately, the agency ruled that Comcast Corp.

Congress could authorize the regulation of excessively violent television shows without violating the Constitution, according to a draft of a long-awaited report by the Federal Communications Commission, which also found that increased blood and mayhem on TV has at least short-term effects on children. Violence could be treated similarly to broadcast indecency, with its airing prohibited during times when children might be watching, an FCC official said Thursday.

Sex Mob, a New York band that records for a small music label, was good enough to nab a Grammy nomination last year for best contemporary jazz album. But it wasn't good enough to be heard on commercial radio. That now may change. Four of the nation's largest radio-station chains have agreed to air thousands of hours of music from independent record labels and local musicians.

Because of problems with its electronic filing system, the Federal Communications Commission is giving people another chance to weigh in on Tribune Co.'s request to continue operating KTLA Channel 5 while owning the Los Angeles Times. The FCC said it was allowing a new 30-day comment period, which began Tuesday, because "malfunctions" last summer may have caused some people to miss its original Nov. 1 deadline.

Comcast Corp., the nation's largest cable operator, would be effectively barred from buying any other large cable company under a new ownership rule the Federal Communications Commission is considering. The rule would block companies from owning systems that reach more than 30% of cable TV subscriber households. Philadelphia-based Comcast reached about 27% after buying systems from Adelphia Communications Corp. and Time Warner Cable Inc. FCC Chairman Kevin J.