A company whose sole assets are two Western U.S. TV stations can move them without an auction to the top and No. 4 U.S. markets, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled Friday. The D.C. Circuit reversed the FCC’s denial of the one-of-a-kind cross-country DTV community of license change (CD June 17/09 p6). A three-judge panel ruled the agency’s reading of a statute added to the Communications Act in a tax bill in 1982, from legislation by a New Jersey senator meant to allocate a commercial station to his state, was wrong. Judges Merrick Garland, Brett Kavanaugh and David Tatel also didn’t like the interpretation of Section 331(a) by PMCM, owner of KVNV Ely, Nev., in U.S. market No. 33 and KJWY Jackson, Wyo., in No. 162. So they interpreted the section in a way different from either litigant in PMCM v. FCC.

SAN FRANCISCO -- A three-hour hearing in federal district court Friday examined questions Judge Jeffrey White still had after reading the briefs on cross-motions for summary judgment and to dismiss cases challenging the government’s alleged warrantless online surveillance program. The cases, Carolyn Jewel v. the National Security Agency (NSA) and Virginia Shubert v. George W. Bush, were brought after Mark Klein, a one-time AT&T engineer in San Francisco, raised allegations that AT&T was diverting Internet traffic to an NSA-controlled room in AT&T’s San Francisco facilities.

Addressing Internet Protocol interconnection must be a priority, and the FCC should monitor the market and stand ready to act in the case of market failure, commissioners Mignon Clyburn and Jessica Rosenworcel said Thursday at the Practicising Law Institute telecom policy conference. Clyburn applauded the creation of the Technology Transitions Task Force (CD Dec 11 p5), and proposed that it recommend addressing the IP interconnection issues raised in last year’s USF/intercarrier compensation order, and “fully evaluate” the framework to ensure voice traffic continues to be exchanged between providers. Rosenworcel said the commission “must monitor IP-to-IP interconnection and stand ready to act to ensure that network providers negotiate in good faith."

Partisan strife flared in a House Communications Subcommittee hearing Wednesday over the FCC framework for the spectrum incentive auction. Republican lawmakers and FCC commissioners sparred with Democrats over how the government should acquire and reallocate some of the nation’s most valuable airwaves. Partisan differences over how much spectrum should be preserved to protect licensed spectrum and be used for lower-power unlicensed activities played out in recent days in commissioners’ prepared testimony (CD Dec 12 p7). Democrats separately expressed disapproval of a draft order that would relax media cross-ownership rules (CD Dec 12 p5), which they said would have a negative impact on media diversity and localism.

Republicans and Democrats on the House Communications Subcommittee are likely to spar Wednesday over two particular issues raised by an FCC September notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM): the allocation of unlicensed spectrum and bidder eligibility requirements, according to planning memos. The subcommittee’s majority memo, published this week, said the FCC runs the risk of “short changing” first responders if the commission decides to give away much of the spectrum that is cleared in connection with the forthcoming broadcast incentive auctions. The memo also urged the commission against “picking winners and losers” by excluding parties from the auction. Subcommittee Democrats shot back Tuesday with a minority memo that said Republicans are seeking to “reopen issues that were resolved in the legislation.”

The FCC runs the risk of “short changing” first responders if the commission decides to give away much of the spectrum that is cleared in connection with the forthcoming broadcast incentive auctions, said a House Communications Subcommittee majority memo published Monday (http://xrl.us/bn5pww). And if the commission does so it would violate and squander the broadcast incentive auction provisions of the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act, the memo said. The subcommittee has scheduled a hearing with all five FCC commissioners for Wednesday at 10 a.m. in 2123 Rayburn. The FCC’s proposal would provide unlicensed spectrum in a handful of areas -- TV white spaces in some markets, Channel 37, except for in protected areas of the country, the guard bands separating broadcasters from mobile broadband and the spectrum used by wireless microphones. But the Republican commissioners, Robert McDowell and Ajit Pai, said they thought the commission’s September notice of proposed rulemaking allocates too much spectrum to be set aside for unlicensed use (CD Oct 1 p1). The agency cannot afford to give away spectrum if it expects to pay for the public safety network, state planning, research and development and next-generation 911, the Republican memo said. “In the current fiscal climate the FCC should also be striving to raise additional revenue to offset potential budget cuts or reduce the deficit,” it said. The subcommittee majority argued against “artificially increasing” the size of guard bands to accommodate unlicensed use because it is unnecessary and would “reduce revenues and do less to meet broadband demand.” The memo also urged the commission against “picking winners and losers” by excluding parties from the auction, something which the majority said would be a violation of the Communications Act, could hinder broadband objectives and reduce auction proceeds, it said. CALinnovates, a West Coast technology advocacy group, urged the committee to promote actions that will bring more wireless spectrum to the commercial market as quickly as possible. The appeal came in a letter sent Monday to House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., and Ranking Member Anna Eshoo, D-Calif. “The government controls approximately 60 percent of the available spectrum, and that amount of control is simply too high in light of escalating consumer demand for commercial mobile services,” wrote the group’s executive director, Mike Montgomery.

The legislation introduced Dec. 7 by House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-Texas) to modernize CBP and other customs-related agencies would set a minimum standard for the amount of information customs brokers would be required to collect about an importer.

The federal government suspended construction by one of its largest stimulus grant recipients last week. It ordered the $100.6 million EAGLE-Net Alliance to cease construction immediately, in a letter dated Thursday. The infrastructure grant is part of the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) and is the fifth-largest grant out of more than 200 total awarded in 2010. EAGLE-Net spent $74.3 million as of 2012’s third quarter, with $64.4 million of those funds coming from the federal government, its latest report shows (http://xrl.us/bn5b5h).

House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-Texas) introduced Dec. 7 long-awaited legislation meant to modernize CBP and other customs-related agencies.

The European Commission plans to deal with troublesome online content issues starting next year, it said Wednesday after an “orientation debate” called by President José Manuel Barroso. With Europe’s digital economy predicted to grow seven times faster than its overall gross domestic product in the next few years, the EC wants to ensure that copyright rules work in the digital context, it said. Parallel tracks will deal next year with several issues where quick progress is needed, with decisions coming in 2014, it said. The EC hasn’t really tackled those matters until now, focusing instead on studies and limited topics such as collective licensing and orphan works, EC sources said. But the Digital Agenda mid-term review, due Dec. 19, is expected to name copyright reform as a top priority, and government leaders want concrete acts to spur the digital single market. There wasn’t enough work being done on the critical issues, and then the polarized focus on enforcement in the context of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) made things worse, they said.