Upping minimum download speeds the FCC deems fast enough to be called broadband, as a new notice of inquiry asks about doing in the next broadband deployment report, could have practical consequences for ISPs and commission measurement, said industry executives in interviews Tuesday. Chairman Tom Wheeler’s office on Friday circulated an NOI asking about increasing the minimum download transmission speed from 4 Mbps to 10 Mbps, said agency officials. The annual FCC report measuring the availability of broadband under Communications Act Section 706 appears headed in that direction, based on the justifications presented for such a speed-threshold increase in the draft inquiry, said an agency official. The draft NOI also asks about bigger increases, to as much as a more-than 600 percent increase from the current floor, said agency officials.

An AT&T buy of DirecTV for more than $65 billion doesn’t change much for Dish Network in terms of putting its spectrum assets to use or taking advantage of other deals, said wireless and satellite industry observers in interviews. Dish Chairman Charlie Ergen said last month that a combination of his company and DirecTV would create the biggest synergies and that a buy of Dish would turn out differently for different carriers (CD May 9 p14). With DirecTV off the table as a partner for now, some observers said Dish is still an attractive buy for wireless operators. One said Dish will likely need to make a move now that it can’t partner with AT&T or DirecTV.

The FirstNet board formally launched a search for a new general manager to replace Bill D'Agostino, who left the nascent public safety network after only a year. FirstNet’s Governance and Personnel Committee agreed Monday to hire a head-hunting firm to do a nationwide search, and the full board was briefed on those plans Tuesday. Tuesday’s board meeting was the last with former Chairman Sam Ginn, who’s leaving the board, and the first to be chaired by telecom executive Sue Swenson.

Maine’s Democratic U.S. Senate challenger, Shenna Bellows, wants the FCC to reclassify broadband as a Title II telecom service to allow stronger net neutrality rules, one of many telecom and media issues that have crept into a 2014 midterm election cycle. Bellows has many priorities in telecom, from the importance of rural broadband access to phone surveillance concerns to opposition to Comcast’s proposed $66 billion buy of Time Warner Cable.

NSA Director Mike Rogers acknowledged Tuesday that the agency does use facial recognition as part of its surveillance programs. “We use facial recognition as a tool to help us understand these foreign intelligence targets,” he said during a Bloomberg Government cybersecurity event. The NSA doesn’t collect and analyze facial recognition data “on a unilateral basis against U.S. citizens,” but “in a digital age, we will encounter U.S. persons in the wilderness.” The New York Times reported Sunday that the NSA was using facial recognition technology to collect facial data from images transmitted through text messages, emails and other social media. That issue also came up at an NTIA meeting on a facial recognition code of conduct. (See separate report below in this issue.)

ICANN’s affirmation of commitments and bylaws should be strengthened to improve the organization’s accountability and transparency with stakeholders, commented companies and associations on ICANN’s accountability review process (http://bit.ly/1kBTnKV). The affirmation of commitments is a multistakeholder review process, agreed to by NTIA and ICANN in 2009, that many stakeholders regard as critical to maintaining ICANN’s accountability to stakeholders and the public. ICANN’s accountability review is being done in tandem with NTIA’s transition of the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA), which has drawn controversy and criticism on Capitol Hill (CD June 2 p8).

The FCC is leaning on wireless carriers to work with broadcasters to convince them to come to the table in the TV incentive auction, industry officials said in recent interviews. The FCC asked for AT&T’s cooperation in particular as part of a deal on the spectrum aggregation rules approved at the May 15 commissioner meeting, giving AT&T and Verizon a clear shot at buying substantial spectrum in what’s expected to be a 2015 auction, said broadcast and wireless industry officials. Other carriers have been looking to hire former broadcasters to help build support for the auction. Meanwhile, almost three weeks after commission approval (CD May 16 p5), the FCC Monday released service rules for the auction. Commissioners gave their signoff to the final version Friday (http://bit.ly/1tC9nSm), agency officials said.

The FCC offered an update Monday on its work to develop rules for carriers to file annual certifications at the agency addressing how they are following best practices for 911 connections. The FCC approved an order in December requiring the certifications (CD Dec 13 p7), a step taken in reaction to the June 2012 derecho windstorm that saw connection problems at 77 public safety answering points (PSAPs).

The NAB and Prometheus Radio Project each filed court challenges to new FCC rules on joint sales agreements (JSA) and its handling of the quadrennial review of media ownership rules, according to court documents and an NAB news release Friday (http://bit.ly/1o7ZMRY). The order barring JSAs where one station accounts for more than 15 percent of another’s ad sales (CD April 1 p4) without similarly attributing shared service agreements is “arbitrary and capricious,” public interest group Prometheus told the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The JSA rule is against the public interest because it puts broadcasters at a competitive disadvantage, NAB told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. “Ownership restrictions against free and local broadcasters are outdated in a world of national pay TV giants,” said an NAB spokesman in a written statement.

An amendment (http://1.usa.gov/1iARKx9) to prohibit NTIA’s transition of the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority, put forth by Rep. Sean Duffy, R-Wis., could be used to leverage Senate support of the relatively more moderate Domain Openness Through Continued Oversight Matters (DOTCOM) Act (HR-4342), said House Republicans last week. The Duffy amendment was approved 229-178 early Friday (http://1.usa.gov/1hjKZFd). House Commerce Committee Chairman Emeritus Joe Barton, R-Texas, was the lone Republican who voted against the amendment, while only 10 Democrats supported it. The Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies Appropriations Act FY 2015 (HR-4660), to which the Duffy amendment was tagged, passed 321-87 (http://1.usa.gov/1psuucf) a few minutes later Friday. Duffy’s amendment comes after HR-4660 had stripped NTIA’s funding for the transition, bringing its total budget down to $36.7 million from the $51 million originally requested by the executive branch. The DOTCOM Act, which would delay the transition until a GAO study, was passed by the House as an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act May 22 (CD May 23 p6).