Any AT&T buy of DirecTV could pass muster with federal regulators, though there are no guarantees, analysts said Thursday. AT&T is talking to DirecTV about a possible deal, for the carrier to buy the satellite TV company for $40 billion, or $1 billion more than AT&T was prepared to pay for T-Mobile three years ago, reported The Wall Street Journal Wednesday (http://on.wsj.com/1miSJct). Neither AT&T nor DirecTV would confirm or comment on the report.

NAB CEO Gordon Smith should “withhold final judgment” on the FCC’s treatment of broadcasters in the TV incentive auction rules “until he sees what the final rules are and he hears from his own members and others in the broadcast industry” about the order, said CTIA Vice President-Government Affairs Jot Carpenter on an upcoming episode of C-SPAN’s The Communicators. The interview will be available online Friday and will run on C-SPAN2 Monday. Smith said during a speech at the NAB Show in April that “ours is the only industry the auction can actually harm,” saying later “it is at best an open question” whether the FCC has balanced the aims of freeing up more spectrum and protecting the broadcasters.

Complaints filed at the FCC Thursday allege 11 TV stations failed to publicly disclose information about sponsors of political ads that aired this year. The Campaign Legal Center (CLC) and the Sunlight Foundation filed the complaints against stations owned by CBS, Gannett, Hearst, Scripps and others. Those groups cautioned that enforcement in this area is critical as smaller stations will have to comply with the political file rule July 1 (CD April 8 p5).

T-Mobile closed Wednesday on its purchase of 700 MHz A-block spectrum from Verizon and is ready to deploy its first major chunk of low-band spectrum, T-Mobile US CEO John Legere said on a call with investors. T-Mobile reported record subscriber growth, adding 1.3 million postpaid subscribers in the first quarter, but Legere warned that T-Mobile is still much smaller than Verizon and AT&T, the nation’s two dominant wireless carriers.

LOS ANGELES -- Aides to FCC Commissioners Ajit Pai and Mignon Clyburn said they themselves were encouraged by aspects of Chairman Tom Wheeler’s proposed net neutrality NPRM (CD May 1 p3), they said on a panel at the Cable Show. Clyburn aide Adonis Hoffman, clarifying that he was speaking only for himself, said he is “encouraged” that Wheeler’s plan is designed to prevent a “haves and have nots scheme.” Though Pai aide Matthew Berry said those in his office believe net neutrality “is a solution in search of a problem,” he said Wheeler’s plan is more palatable than other net neutrality proposals. “We need to recognize there’s some progress being made here,” Berry said. “The ball is moving in our direction.”

To realize the potential of telehealth services, Congress must help set a definition, solve restrictive licensing procedures, protect the privacy of data transfers and alter outdated payment and reimbursement language of Medicare, witnesses told the House Subcommittee on Health Thursday. Within the decade, “telehealth will simply become healthcare,” said Kofi Jones, vice president-public affairs of telehealth company American Well. Congress can aid the process through encouraging research and by crafting legislation to ensure the entire population -- urban dwellers, not just rural residents -- can receive telehealth treatment, said Ateev Mehrotra, a professor of healthcare policy at Harvard Medical School.

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler is reassuring net neutrality advocates that Title II reclassification of broadband remains an option if proposed net neutrality rules aren’t enough. Industry observers said in interviews that Wheeler’s latest comments (CD April 30 p4) probably aren’t an idle threat, though it remains a big question whether reclassifying broadband is even possible in the remaining 33 months of the Obama presidency. Wheeler circulated a revised version of his net neutrality NPRM Tuesday, agency officials confirmed.

LOS ANGELES -- Cable industry opponents of net neutrality should put away their “party hats,” FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler told the NCTA’s Cable Show Wednesday. It was a speech several attendees described as having an angry or scolding tone. Echoing a blog post Tuesday (see separate story in this issue), Wheeler warned the cable industry that his net neutrality proposal has been mischaracterized as favorable to net neutrality opponents, and that cable has an obligation to uphold the “availability, security and openness” of the Internet. The cable industry’s “limited regulation” in the broadband world is “an unusual situation,” Wheeler said. “The only way to maintain this situation is to uphold your responsibilities."

Concerns about the future safety of the root zone file and ideas about a judicial body for Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers in regard to NTIA’s transition of the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) functions were raised at an Internet governance conference Wednesday. The event was sponsored by the Internet Society’s Washington chapter and George Washington University’s Institute for International Economic Policy, where the meeting was held.

There is support among cable companies and AT&T for making video programmers liable for closed captioning production compliance, while content companies, like CBS and The Walt Disney Company, urged the FCC to reject such a “burden-shifting” model proposed by Comcast in reply comments on closed captioning requirements. Comments on the further notice of proposed rulemaking (FNPRM) were due this week.