Some FCC members would like to act on the sports blackout rule proceeding soon, agency officials said in interviews last week. There’s been no change in position from where the commission previously stood, officials said, referring to the interest of some commissioners in ending the rule. Chairman Tom Wheeler has said he asked the Media Bureau to provide recommendations on the proceeding by early fall (CD July 1 p11). The officials didn’t say whether commissioners had a preference for deciding on the rule on circulation or during a public meeting. The bureau had no comment.

A spate of petitions from companies has thrust the FCC into the middle of a number of ongoing class-action lawsuits nationwide over whether the companies have been violating the Telephone Consumer Prevention Act by sending unwanted advertising by fax. Companies including Carfax, Merck and UnitedHealth Group are seeking clarification on whether the 2006 rules passed by the commission to implement TCPA require faxes contain an opt-out notice even when the ads are faxed with the prior consent of the recipient, in filings in docket 05-338.

The FTC’s enforcement action against Apple represents the commission’s diminished reliance on economic cost-benefit analyses and is a shift in FTC strategy, said FTC Commissioner Josh Wright and other former FTC officials at an event Thursday organized by the libertarian-leaning TechFreedom. “I do think Apple, as a case, is a first impression of a shift,” said Wright, who was the only commissioner to dissent in the settlement over unauthorized in-app purchases through the Apple store (CD Jan 16 p9). And in these areas, particularly the Apple case, “the methodology adopted by the commission is problematic and concerning if continued or applied in other contexts,” Wright said.

Journal Communications and E.W. Scripps will combine their broadcast operations into one company and spin off and merge their newspapers into another, they said. The all-stock transactions will result in Scripps owning 34 TV stations and 35 radio stations while newly created Journal Media Group will cover 14 markets with the combined newspaper properties, the companies said. Though there are no “market ownership conflicts” between the two companies according to Scripps CEO Rich Boehne, Journal has existing TV and radio duopolies in some markets and may brush up against FCC radio ownership limits in others. Though Boehne said the stations involved were “immaterial” to the deal, he said the companies would try to work with the FCC to hold on to them: “We hope we'll prevail and keep them all."

House Republicans launched an investigation into the FCC’s limited waiver of certain designated entity (DE) rules for Grain Management, a private equity and telecom infrastructure firm, prompting outcry from House Democrats. Politics of the waiver exploded in recent days, with Republican FCC commissioners questioning the merits of the waiver (CD July 25 p5), while speakers at a Minority Media and Telecom Council conference this week defended Grain as the one designated entity trying to participate in the AWS-3 spectrum auction (CD July 29 p1).

Sprint officially has competition to buy T-Mobile. French operator Iliad said it’s submitted a $15 billion cash bid for 56.6 percent of T-Mobile. In France, Iliad has been an aggressive competitor, offering service in some cases for less than $3 a month.

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler sent Verizon Wireless CEO Dan Mead a letter Wednesday asking about the carrier’s announcement it would slow some customers’ data speeds on its LTE network starting in October. Wheeler told Mead he was “deeply troubled” by the development. The letter is unusual in that such queries customarily are sent by FCC staff rather than by the chairman himself.

The Patent and Trademark Office is “thriving,” reducing patent application backlog, addressing information technology deficits and expanding patent examiner training, Acting PTO Director Michelle Lee said Wednesday at a House Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property and the Internet hearing. Lee acknowledged, backed by several lawmakers, that the House-passed, Senate-stalled Innovation Act (HR-3349) could further empower the agency to continue its work. Rep. Blake Farenthold, R-Texas, also pressed Lee about the agency’s response to a Department of Commerce Office of the Inspector General (OIG) report released Tuesday, revealing $5 million in wasted expenses.

Sprint reported its best performance in seven years, with Q2 earnings of $23 million. The carrier also trimmed its customer losses, reporting a net loss of 220,000 customers in the quarter, down from 383,000 lost in the same period last year.

Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., took a strong shot at carriers Wednesday, blaming them for years of wireless cramming. He released an 82-page staff report on a two-year investigation into the practice on the same day he held a hearing on the issue, featuring officials from CTIA, the FCC and the FTC.