An FCC proposal to tighten rules on broadcasters swapping network affiliations within a market might lead to a rulemaking but is unlikely to result in a final policy banning the practice, said attorneys who oppose the proposed rule, in interviews. FCC ownership rules already prevent a single broadcaster from owning two Big Four-rated network affiliates in a market, but the 2014 quadrennial review Further NPRM tentatively concluded in favor of extending those rules to keep broadcasters from coming into ownership of two Big Four stations in the same market through network affiliation swaps. Initial comments were recently due on the FNPRM (CD Aug 8 p7).

AT&T sharply criticized a proposal by NTCH asking the FCC to require carriers to publicly disclose roaming rates agreed to in privately negotiated commercial contracts. In July, NTCH asked the FCC rescind a decision to forbear from enforcement of the provision of Section 211 of the Communications Act requiring common carriers to file their rates and terms with the commission (http://bit.ly/1kSl8pl).

A Verizon executive said a congressional rewrite of the Telecom Act of 1996 could be a key accomplishment of President Barack Obama’s second term. The executive and several other industry observers spoke Monday at the Technology Policy Institute’s conference in Aspen, Colorado, about the prospects and challenges of an update to the Communications Act. House Republicans kick-started that effort in December, though there has been limited movement in the Senate.

NAB filed a court challenge on the use of auction software TVStudy in the FCC incentive auction order. “Broadcasters are effectively left with an auction that benefits everyone else while harming only them,” said NAB Executive Vice President-Strategic Planning Rick Kaplan in a blog post (http://bit.ly/VA7RWM).

After a longer-than-usual Office of Management and Budget review, the FCC said in a public notice (http://fcc.us/1mcTAGy) Monday it received OMB signoff to begin collecting data on special access services and will begin to to do so immediately, 20 months after the commission approved the effort (CD Dec 13/12 p5).

Most major wireless parties continued to urge the FCC to revise the rules it proposed for a new Citizens Broadband Radio Service on the 3.5 GHz band. Replies said the major faults of the rulemaking continue to be the proposed exclusion zones and the three-tiered spectrum access system (SAS) licensing framework. The comments, posted Friday and Monday in docket 12-354, repeated concerns that parties raised in July (CD July 16 p4). Commissioners Mike O'Rielly and Ajit Pai had also raised concerns about the size of the proposed exclusion zones, in which spectrum use would be restricted to protect government incumbents, when the commission approved the FNPRM in April (CD April 24 p4).

While deploying an internal content delivery network can become a viable option for large content companies, they will continue to rely on third-party CDNs, some technology experts said in interviews. Amazon and Netflix have deployed their own CDNs, and Apple’s CDN is reportedly operational. As more people turn to streaming content online, more content providers will need to figure out the best route to take to keep their networks reliable, some said.

Low-power TV broadcasters and interest groups all want deadlines for construction permits for new LPTV stations extended well beyond the FCC incentive auction. They disagree over the method the FCC should use to do so, according to comments filed Thursday in docket 03-185 in response to an Advanced Television Broadcasting Alliance petition. The FCC should deny the ATBA petition and address CPs as part of a larger rulemaking on other LPTV issues, said the LPTV Spectrum Rights Coalition (http://bit.ly/1rdZizE). “A permittee must be able to anticipate at least the near-term fate of its station before investing in construction,” said LPTV licensee CTB Spectrum Services (http://bit.ly/1vSibK).

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) said its review of Comcast’s deal to buy Time Warner Cable and associated TWC Information Services and Bright House Networks deals will focus on both the public interest aspects of the deals and the implications Comcast/TWC will have on broadband deployment in the state. The scope of CPUC’s plans, which it said Thursday in a memo will include requests for “significant factual data” from the companies (http://bit.ly/1l7IUhC), will make the commission’s review very thorough, said industry observers in interviews. CPUC said it will use its review of Comcast/TWC to seek out conditions related to California-specific effects of the deal and inform any comments the commission files as part of FCC review of the deal.

The Wireless Internet Service Providers Association urged the FCC to reject a petition from the Association of Global Automakers (AGA), which asked the agency to hold off on allowing the use of high-power, unlicensed “U-NII” devices in spectrum immediately adjacent to the 5.850-5.925 GHz band. As one of the policy calls in a March 31 order, the FCC extended the upper limit of the 5725-5825 MHz U-NII-3 band to 5850 MHz (http://fcc.us/XffL9d). The Wi-Fi Alliance and the Telecommunications Industry Association also weighed in against the AGA petition.