House Communications Subcommittee ranking member Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., led a bipartisan letter Tuesday from House lawmakers to European Parliament officials cautioning them about a resolution to stem cross-border data flows. The resolution is "troubling" and "would deter continued innovation and investment from U.S. based Internet companies," said Eshoo. along with Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, and others such as Reps. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., and Darrell Issa, R-Calif. "We support healthy competition and a fair playing field for Internet companies in the U.S. and around the globe and we believe these goals can be accomplished through the traditional regulatory process."

The FCC soon will convene a working group to set up a successor standard in light of Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act reauthorization legislation which is to repeal the set-top box integration ban in a year. Both chambers of Congress passed STELA reauthorization last week (see 1411210036). "Recognizing the near-term enactment of STELAR [the STELA Reauthorization Act], I plan to direct the Commission staff to establish the Working Group as quickly as possible, consistent with the requirements of the Federal Advisory Committee Act," Wheeler told Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., in a letter Monday. "Once established, the Commission will provide assistance to the Working Group to promote as best we can a successful outcome of its collaboration and, upon receiving its report, will assess quickly the best path forward for implementing a new standard." The legislation included a provision telling the FCC to form such a working group. Wheeler praised Markey's "long-standing leadership" on the issue. Markey and Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., had initially opposed STELA reauthorization that included the integration ban repeal. “We appreciate Chairman Wheeler’s commitment to moving as quickly as possible to put in place a new standard in light of the upcoming repeal of the existing integration ban rule," they said in a joint statement Monday. "We believe we need to protect competition and choice in the set top box marketplace. Consumers should not have to pay high monthly fees to lease cable boxes forever." The legislation is awaiting President Barack Obama's signature.

House Republicans touted progress in the FCC AWS-3 spectrum auction (see 1411200041). It's "been a remarkable success -- a boon for American taxpayers," said Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich., in a statement Monday. "The auction has already raised enough money to cover the expenses to upgrade and relocate government spectrum users, pay for a nationwide first responder broadband network, and provide $20 billion to reduce the deficit." Communications Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., agreed. “Our bipartisan work with the Pentagon, FCC, and NTIA helped identify solutions to free this valuable spectrum without harming the Defense Department’s ability to train the men and women that work every day to keep Americans safe,” Walden said. “With the first-of-their-kind incentive auctions up next, the FCC has an opportunity to continue America’s leadership in wireless.”

Colorado’s Democratic senators are pleased with what resulted from the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act reauthorization process, they said. The House approved STELA reauthorization Wednesday and the Senate approved the measure Thursday (see 1411210036). “Coloradans in La Plata and Montezuma counties have waited a long time for the opportunity to access local Colorado broadcasts,” said Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., in a news release Friday. “The current system doesn’t make sense for Southwest Colorado, but this bill will finally give folks a path forward to fix this problem. The President should quickly sign this bill.” Sen. Mark Udall, D-Colo., also urged a quick White House signature and claimed credit for the bill’s provisions “to give the people of Durango and Cortez access to the news, weather and emergency information most relevant to them.” Bennet and Udall have united to introduce legislation focused on such TV access items this year. The National Religious Broadcasters also issued a favorable reaction to the final product. “Thankfully, the final legislation passed without alterations to rules establishing the responsibility of pay-TV providers to carry local TV stations on their base platforms,” NRB Vice President-Government Relations Aaron Mercer said in a blog post. “NRB has been vocal in its concern that Congress not abandon the decades-old commitment to ‘Must Carry’ rules for local television, particularly religious television.”

​RFD-TV, a pay-TV network, “highlighted” a concern about rural focused programming in two acquisition proceedings, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler told Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb. Program carriage is one of the issues raised in those proceedings, Wheeler said, referring to Comcast/Time Warner Cable and AT&T/DirecTV. Those views of RFD-TV will be given “careful consideration,” Wheeler said in the letter, released Friday.

The bipartisan phone scam legislation (S-2956) that Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., introduced last week (see 1411210026) is not an exact companion to the Anti-Spoofing Act (HR-3670) that the House passed earlier this year, a Nelson spokesman told us. The legislation is eight pages long and says its goal is preventing caller ID spoofing, according to a copy provided over the weekend. It was not available Friday. The Nelson legislation does what the House version does but also adds a “whitelist” provision to let consumers ask for 10 numbers that ring directly to the phone rather than voicemail, the spokesman said. “One key to stopping this fraud is providing a mechanism for consumers to know that a call is actually originating from the person or entity that shows up on the Caller ID screen,” a Nelson one-page description of the bill also said. “The Phone Scam Prevention Act of 2014 seeks to address this critical issue by directing the [FCC] to develop authentication standards within 5 years to ensure caller-ID information is accurate, or warn consumers when such information cannot be verified.” The bill “provides the impetus to speed that process up,” directed at the Secure Telephone Identity Revisited Working Group, the summary page said. Nelson is expected to lead Democrats on the Commerce Committee in the next Congress and currently chairs the Special Committee on Aging.

​FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler reassured Senate Communications Subcommittee Chairman Mark Pryor, D-Ark., about the agency’s work on wireless 911 location accuracy concerns. “We hope to move forward with a decision soon,” Wheeler said, citing comment on proposals it sought in February and “input we expect to receive” from the Communications Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council. Wheeler on Nov. 4 sent the letter, which the agency released Friday.

Chairman Tom Wheeler touted FCC efforts to curb call completion problems. “The false ring signaling rule is already in effect, while the record retention and call completion performance reporting requirements will need OMB [Office of Management and Budget] approval before going into effect,” Wheeler said in a letter, released Friday and dated Nov. 4, to senators including Commerce Committee ranking member John Thune, R-S.D. “Recently, I circulated an Order to my fellow Commissioners to address five petitions for reconsideration that were filed in response to the Rural Call Completion Order. Once that Order is adopted, we will promptly make the necessary submissions to OMB.” Wheeler sent a similar letter to Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D. Wheeler emphasized the enforcement actions that the agency has been taking on this front and said the commission has tackled call completion problems on “multiple fronts.”

Overhauling the Communications Act should be a key priority of the next Congress, The Washington Times said in an editorial Sunday about Capitol Hill priorities generally. “Beyond tax and regulatory reform, the outdated Telecom Act should be another top priority,” the conservative newspaper’s editorial board said. “The Act was written in 1934 and last updated in 1996 and cannot reflect the needs of modern technology. Republicans have a unique bipartisan opportunity to cast a wide net and revamp the laws governing one of the most promising economic sectors.” House Republicans announced a year ago that they wanted to overhaul the act, and Senate Republicans have said they also have an interest in doing so.

The Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA) would cost $20 million to implement, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) said Thursday. CISA’s (S-2588) annual implementation cost would be $4 million between 2015 and 2019, with part of the cost for additional staff “needed to administer the program and to manage the exchange of information between federal agencies and the private sector,” CBO said in its report. Industry lobbyists have said the Senate is unlikely to consider CISA during the lame-duck session, with its chances hinging on further action on the USA Freedom Act (see 1411070037). A Senate cloture vote on its version of the bill (S-2685) last week fell below the required 60-vote threshold, 58-42 (see 1411190044). Retiring House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Mich., urged the Senate Thursday to pass CISA, saying during a House Intelligence hearing that the committee and the Senate Intelligence Committee are "so close to an agreement" on a compromise between CISA and its relative House-passed counterpart, the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (HR-624).