TORONTO -- Canadian government officials are looking at ways to lift limits on foreign telecom and broadcast investment and attract more capital from the U.S. and abroad in response to industry complaints about the country’s restrictions. They're squabbling over how to do so without sacrificing Canadian control of the broadcast, cable, and telecom industries.

Recent claims from Artel, Globecomm Systems, CapRock and Spacenet that Intelsat engages in anticompetitive behavior were filed in the wrong FCC proceeding and should be dismissed, Intelsat said. Intelsat’s comments to the FCC responded to those filed there as part of the Open-Market Reorganization for the Betterment of International Telecommunications (ORBIT) Act, which requires the agency to provide annual reports to the House and Senate Commerce and Foreign Relations committees on the effect of the privatization of Intelsat and Inmarsat. CapRock, Artel, Globecomm and Spacenet complained Intelsat was using its size and access to its satellites to win contracts while stunting competition (CD April 12 p6). The FCC ORBIT Act report is due to Congress by June 15.

The Media Bureau denied a request by Sky Angel that the FCC let it keep carrying some Discovery Communications networks while its program-access complaint is considered. At the center of the complaint is the question of whether Sky Angel, which distributes pay-TV programming online, qualifies as a multichannel video programming distributor under federal rules.

Congress and the FCC should encourage e-care technologies by deploying “significant public resources to deliver broadband” to unserved areas, said Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., at a Senate Special Aging Committee hearing Thursday. And rural healthcare providers should receive assistance to buy broadband services if they're not affordable in their area, said Wyden, who guest-chaired the hearing on the FCC’s National Broadband Plan. The senator later talked net neutrality, asking if health care should get a priority lane on wireless broadband.

Verizon Q1 profit plunged 75 percent from a year earlier to $409 million due to a $970 million one-time health care charge. The carrier added fewer postpaid customers but still expects growth in the postpaid market, Chief Financial Officer John Killian said on a conference call Thursday.

In a surprise, CenturyLink agreed to buy Qwest in a $22.4 billion deal, including a $10.6 billion all-stock transaction and $11.8 billion debt, the companies said Thursday. The deal is expected to close in the first half of 2011. It’s likely to be approved by regulators within a year with attached conditions, such as an obligation to expand broadband access or to provide it at certain prices, analysts said.

The provider of radio ratings and representatives of more than 400 stations settled a years’ long dispute over the sampling methodology of portable devices whose implementation led to declines in some broadcasters’ audience share estimates. Thursday’s settlement between the PPM Coalition and Arbitron, provider of Portable People Meters, came after the FCC encouraged both sides to settle, as did a judge overseeing a related case, participants said. Another turning point was said to be the installation of William Kerr as Arbitron CEO in January after Michael Skarzynski resigned suddenly because he mischaracterized testimony on PPMs before the House Oversight Committee (CD Jan 13 p3).

The FCC’s scramble to find authority for ambitious programs after the Comcast decision doesn’t mean its authority over wireless services and devices should be doubted, advocates told the State of the Mobile Net conference in Washington late Wednesday. The FTC can keep its existing limited authority in wireless, mostly concerning data’s trip “back to the mother ship” from devices, without butting into crucial FCC authority over standards-oriented practices, said Harold Feld, legal director at Public Knowledge.

A rulemaking notice on data roaming concludes that even though wireless broadband is classified as a lightly regulated Title I service, the FCC has the authority to impose data roaming requirements. It was released late Wednesday and approved earlier at that day’s meeting (CD April 22 p4). Agency officials said Commissioners Robert McDowell and Meredith Baker, while not opposing the final notice or seeking to delay it, pushed to have the jurisdiction issue explored in more depth beyond the notice as circulated by Chairman Julius Genachowski.

The Illinois Commerce Commission conditionally approved the Frontier/Verizon wireline transaction, voting 5-0 Wednesday. Regulators demanded that Frontier improve service quality and expand broadband throughout its territory. “This grant of authority to Frontier will help to close the gap that still exists for many Illinoisans by giving them access to essential 21st century technologies,” Commissioner Erin O'Connell-Diaz said. West Virginia is the lone state where approval remains pending. The FCC also must approve.