Shaw Communications had net loss of $33.1 million (Canadian) in first quarter ended Nov. 30, vs. $39.9 million profit year earlier, despite big jump in revenue to $345.6 million. Canadian MSO blamed earnings decline on $70 million gain from sale of investments year ago and increase in amortization costs this year from its Cancom and cable acquisitions. Shaw said it signed up 17,000 more customers for digital cable service to end quarter with 148,000. It said it signed up 38,000 more cable modem subscribers and picked up another 26,000 from Rogers to reach total of 372,000. MSO also added 73,500 customers for its DBS service, Star Choice, boosting its total to 508,800. Shaw said it added another 15,705 high-speed data and 22,000 DBS subscribers in Dec.

FCC “strongly admonished” Disney and its outside law firm, Verner, Liipfert, Bernhard, McPherson & Hand, for breaching confidentiality of documents associated with AOL-Time Warner deal but declined to impose any sanctions. In 8-page order adopted Fri., Commission’s Cable Bureau concluded that “principals of Verner Liipfert and Disney were not sufficiently diligent in complying with the protective order” issued by agency on merger documents. Calling breach “significant violation” of its protective order, Commission said actions of Disney and its law firm “have not reflected the standard of conduct the Commission expects of parties in our proceedings.” But, finding “no evidence that the violation was intentional or that it reflects a pattern of noncompliance,” agency said no further action was needed. It said parties already had suffered “substantial penalty” when they were barred from inspecting confidential documents during critical phase of Commission’s merger review in fall. In future, FCC said it would consider banning parties and their counsel from access to confidential documents beginning from time it discovers their violation of protective order until one or 2 business days after they have notified agency and submitting party of violation.

In comments filed with FCC, CTIA called draft agreement on streamlining wireless antenna colocation review procedures “a step in the wrong direction.” Nationwide program agreement (NPA) was drafted by staffs of FCC, Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP), National Conference of State Historic Preservation Officers. Point is to try to streamline reviews involving whether proposed transmission facility may affect historic properties. CTIA pointed out that if licensee determines after review that proposed facility doesn’t affect historic property, FCC isn’t required to conduct further processing. But under draft, “any person, whether qualified or not, at any time can allege at the FCC that the proposed colocation has an adverse effect on historic properties,” CTIA said. As result, Sec. 106 process under National Historic Preservation Act could be invoked to delay proposed antenna siting “based on nothing more than a mere allegation of an adverse effect,” CTIA argued. Draft proposal would allow colocations on wireless towers constructed on or before Dec. 31, 2000, without further review unless certain exceptions apply. Draft stipulates that attaching antenna can’t result in major increase in tower size. CTIA is calling on NPA to recognize that “colocations are generally in the public interest and are categorically unlikely” to adversely affect historic properties. Group said that would limit cases subject to review to scenarios where facility increases substantially in size, prior finding of unmitigated impact on historic properties or pending environmental review. Otherwise, CTIA said burden should be on ACHP and state or tribal historic preservation officers to provide evidence of impact on historic property. Late last year, issue of how to craft interim proposal for colocation generated disagreement among some state historic preservation officers, who have been addressing increased loads of applications for proposed colocations. MG

Mich. PSC fined 2 interexchange carriers for slamming, with one also fined for cramming. PSC fined Accutel Communications $43,600 for slamming residence and real estate business office of suburban Detroit customer, with victim getting $2,000 of fine. PSC fined Advantage Plus Telecom total of $105,000 for slamming customer and cramming unauthorized services onto customer’s bill. Victim will get $4,000 of fine. PSC also directed companies to change their business practices to prevent repeat offense.

Administrative law judge (ALJ) for Pa. PUC recommended agency reject all alternatives to full structural separation proposed by Verizon and other parties. In recommended decision Fri., he urged PUC to implement within 12 months its Sept. 1999 decision to split Verizon (formerly Bell Atlantic) into separate retail and wholesale business operations. ALJ Wayne Weismandel said PUC in April gave Verizon opportunity to provide detailed proposal for structural separation, with cost analysis, but company used ensuing 8 months to try to convince agency that full structural separation would be prohibitively expensive and cause massive confusion in both retail and wholesale markets, without attempting to describe specific problem elements or proposing how those problems might be mitigated in separation plan. He said Verizon also used time to promote “unacceptable” alternative of splitting off just its advanced digital and high-speed Internet access services. Weismandel said Verizon’s alternative was mere line-of- business split that “didn’t mitigate the anticompetitive impact of Verizon’s dominant market power over its base of legacy monopoly customers,” which he said was driving force behind PUC’s separation order. He said other alternative proposals put forth by various parties couldn’t be evaluated because they lacked any cost study or analysis. He said PUC would need to address key policy issues raised in other alternative proposals, including retail unit’s universal service responsibilities, whether retail unit should have significant independent minority shareholder interests, how migration of existing Verizon customers to retail affiliate should be handled. He said case record compiled to date offered little, if any, guidance for addressing those issues. Weismandel urged PUC to reject all alternative proposals to full separation, give Verizon one year to complete structural separation, and require company within 30 days to file detailed transition program. Verizon said ALJ was wrong in dismissing its “compelling” evidence of prohibitive costs and market chaos from structural separation, and resulting harm to wholesale and retail customers. Verizon Pa. Pres. Daniel Whelan said structural separation of Verizon’s Pa. operation could have dire consequences for Pa. telecom markets, as 1996 structural separation of Cal. electric utilities was having in current Cal. energy market.

Verizon Senior Vp Thomas Tauke told reporters Thurs. that company was seeking lobbying support from cable industry for new deregulated form of broadband policy that both telcos and cable could live with. He emphasized that no formal coalition had been formed, although 2 sides have had “discussions.” Tauke said he envisioned 3rd “basket” of regulations, separate from traditional cable and telephony models, that would apply only to broadband services. Under that scenario, broadband networks would be lightly regulated, along wireless telephony model, he said.

Without broad audience guaranteed by cable carriage of digital signals, PTV stations will face additional difficulty raising money from local, state and national sources for digital transition, heads of 3 public broadcasting organizations said in response to FCC’s decision to require cable operators to carry only one multicast digital channel in rulemaking on digital must- carry (CD Jan 24 p3). In joint statement, CPB Pres. Robert Coonrod, PBS Pres. Pat Mitchell and APTS Vp-Policy & Legal Affairs Marilyn Mohrman-Gillis said carriage of only one digital channel, if allowed, would undermine PTV stations’ plans to provide wide range of multicast educational services to their communities. Millions of school children and 70% of nation’s TV viewers get PTV through their local cable system, they said, and for entire public to benefit from “our comprehensive array of digital education and local public affairs content, these cable systems must deliver all the educational noncommercial services that each station provides.” Thanking Chmn. Powell and Comrs. Ness and Tritani for “recognizing the potential impact of this decision on PTV,” they said they would work with them for “ a resolution of this issue that is faithful to the statute as well as to the public interest.” They said they would use opportunity in further notice to provide information to Commission to demonstrate that dual analog and digital carriage requirements during digital transition won’t burden cable operators’ First Amendment interests.

LAS VEGAS -- Programming for children under FCC’s 3-hour mandate is “a terrible financial business for broadcasters… and we don’t think the government should tell us to run 3 hours of kids programming,” Madelyn Bonnot of Emmis Communications told NATPE panel here on “Kid-Friendly TV.” With exception of Tom Lynch of program company bearing his name, other panelists seemed to agree with Bonnot. “We have to be in there [kid programming],” Lynch said. “It’s a public service. They're public airwaves.” All that’s needed, he said, is a hit children’s show.

FCC Chmn. Powell appointed Marsha MacBride chief of staff, and named his core transition team and his personal staff. MacBride, 10-year veteran of FCC, is returning to Commission after being vp at Disney’s Washington office. During years at FCC, MacBride has been Legal Advisor to then-Comr. Powell for mass media and cable and exec. dir. for FCC’s Y2K conversion effort. MacBride has been in Political Programming Branch of Mass Media Bureau, Cable Bureau, and Office of Engineering and Technology. She was also Legal Advisor to Comr. James Quello in 1997. Transition team includes Jane Mago, Enforcement Bureau, who will oversee the Office of Gen. Counsel, David Fiske, who will oversee Office of Media Relations, Paul Jackson, special asst. to chmn., who will oversee Office of Legislative and Inter-governmental Affairs. Powell’s current personal staff will move to Chairman’s Office -- Peter Tenhula continuing as senior legal advisor, Kyle Dixon and Susan Eid as legal advisors, Toni McGowan as confidential assistant and Dorothy Clingman as senior staff asst. Other staff appointed to Chairman’s Office include: Tommi Greely, Betty Freeman and Kim Anderson-Collins.

W.Va. state govt. may owe 3 phone companies $5.6 million in unpaid phone charges for services over last 3 years because of “gross negligence” by former manager in state Div. of Communications & Information Services who was in charge of internal system for billing bulk phone charges to state’s 570 individual agencies. State’s new Secy. of Administration, Greg Burton, estimated state could owe Verizon $4.1 million, Citizens Telecom $1 million, AT&T $500,000. But Burton plans meetings soon with companies to pin down actual amounts. Problem arose because former manager apparently didn’t want responsibility of verifying and distributing monthly bills and just kept recycling past statements. Manager resigned last fall when persistent carrier inquiries about state underpayments prompted administrative investigation. Problem for state and carriers is that back bills from 1998 and 1999 can’t be paid from current state budget without special act of legislature.