LOS ANGELES -- The scope and speed of the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) transition remained a point of contention among stakeholders as ICANN 51 drew to a close Thursday. The conference saw an increase of community consensus around the IANA transition’s corresponding accountability process (see 1410140062), but the substantive work of those proposal processes is just beginning. We asked ICANN’s leadership what course they might take if Congress were to interfere with the IANA transition, assuming the IANA Coordination Group submits its final transition proposal to NTIA by June 30 (see 1410160057).

Modified FCC confidentiality orders protecting documents in the AT&T/DirecTV and Comcast/Time Warner Cable transactions aren’t enough for sensitive contract data, said CBS, Viacom and other content companies in a joint application for review (http://bit.ly/1voV5ZV) and a request for an emergency stay (http://bit.ly/1rJO7bt) posted Friday. “The Orders were promulgated in the face of both substantial public comment opposing disclosure and the Commission’s historical recognition that disclosure of these programming contracts would cause substantial competitive harm,” said the emergency stay, also filed on behalf of Disney, Discovery Communications, Scripps Networks, Time Warner Inc., TV One, 21st Century Fox and Univision. A similar application for review from a group of broadcasters objecting to the orders is likely to be filed soon, an attorney connected with the proceeding told us.

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) will receive the same information the FCC receives on the Comcast/Time Warner Cable (TWC) deal and associated transactions following a legal hearing at the CPUC Thursday, but other aspects of the commission’s review remain undecided pending further action at the FCC, industry stakeholders who attended the hearing told us. The hearing, led by Administrative Law Judge Jean Vieth, was meant to clarify the scope of allowable discovery requests in the CPUC’s review of the deals and set a new schedule for the commission’s review (see 1410150092). The CPUC didn’t webcast the hearing and a transcript wasn’t available at our deadline.

President Barack Obama signed an executive order Friday to address controversy and concerns swirling around a series of high-profile data breaches over the past several months. He plans to hold a cybersecurity summit later this year, with an eye on mobile payments and devices, he also said, and he called on Congress to pass data breach and cybersecurity legislation.

While mobile service operators are exploring broadcast LTE as an option for enhancing and expanding services to customers, consumer demand for such technology has yet to explode, some wireless and mobile services industry executives said in interviews. It’s unclear how or whether the use case for deploying broadcast LTE will move beyond events at live venues, they said.

The FCC voted 5-0 in an order not to adopt a cap on the amount of aggregate interference that broadcasters can receive after the post-incentive auction repacking (http://bit.ly/1sRxY97). The item had been set for the commission’s Friday open meeting, but was deleted from the agenda after being approved, officials said. Along with declining to adopt the cap requested by numerous broadcast commenters (see 1407080021), the item included an order adopting a methodology – called the ISIX methodology -- for calculating the interference broadcasters would receive from wireless carriers after the auction, and a Further NPRM seeking comment on that methodology once the FCC has learned from carriers how their networks will be deployed.

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said he and President Barack Obama have “always agreed about the importance of an open Internet” and reiterated that he’s always been opposed to creating “two, three, or four tiers.”

The failure of a single system, the result of a software glitch, led to a 911 outage in April that affected seven states and left more than 6,600 emergency calls unanswered, FCC officials said Friday. The effects were felt in nine states (see 1405200051). The FCC launched an investigation in May (http://bit.ly/1n1PvID) and commissioners received a briefing Friday at their open meeting.

FCC commissioners, despite partisan divisions, approved as expected (see 1410160055) issuing a Further NPRM Friday, seeking comment on a number of inmate calling services (ICS) reforms. Republicans Ajit Pai and Mike O’Rielly concurred in part, and questioned whether the agency has the legal authority to enact rate caps and other reforms.

The FCC approved on a 5-0 vote Friday an order designed to speed deployment of distributed antenna systems, small cells and other wireless facilities. In a late change negotiated by Commissioner Mignon Clyburn, the FCC reduced from 90 to 60 days the period of review before a collocation application can be deemed granted. In return, CTIA and PCIA agreed to work with local jurisdictions on streamlining the approval process. Commissioners noted that infrastructure buildout is as important to deployment as spectrum for robust wireless networks. The FCC also approved, 5-0, a notice of inquiry examining new developments in technology that could increase the viability of operations in bands above 24 GHz.