Proponents of eliminating the FCC sports blackout rule (SBR) pointed to the Communications Act of 1996 and the Satellite Home Viewer Improvement Act (SHVIA) to show that the agency can do away with the rule, in replies due Tuesday in docket 12-3. NFL, the Office of the Commissioner of Baseball and other sports leagues said the FCC doesn’t have authority to end the rule. Then-acting chairwoman Mignon Clyburn on her last business day before Tom Wheeler became chairman circulated a rulemaking notice to ask about ending the rule.

Senate Judiciary Committee lawmakers zeroed in Wednesday on possible problems with the retransmission consent regime and accompanying retrans dispute blackouts. At a brief hearing, they questioned direct broadcast satellite and broadcast executives on the nature of the disputes and how they should or should not factor into the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act reauthorization process.

The FCC wants as many carriers as possible to take part in the upcoming major auctions, FCC acting Wireless Bureau Chief Roger Sherman said Wednesday at the Competitive Carriers Association (CCA) spring conference in San Antonio. Sherman made clear that the FCC is giving strong consideration to spectrum aggregation limits for the TV incentive auction, which have been opposed by Verizon and AT&T.

TV station owners, which initially lagged new-media rivals in aggressively targeting website, mobile and streaming-video ads, are starting to become more competitive, said analysts and executives in interviews this week and last. An aspect of Media General’s agreement Friday to buy LIN Media for about $2.6 billion (CD March 24 p6) is online ads, said the companies and experts. LIN has by far the most online ad sales of any pure-play U.S. TV broadcaster, with revenue there expected to rise 72 percent this year from last to $123 million, said analyst Edward Atorino of Benchmark. “That’s sort of the kicker in the deal.”

The Senate Judiciary Committee appeared close to reaching agreement Wednesday on language for a compromise version of the Patent Transparency and Improvements Act (S-1720), but had not yet circulated the compromise language, stakeholders told us in interviews. The committee is scheduled to begin considering S-1720 Thursday at an executive business meeting, but under committee rules all new bills up for consideration are automatically rescheduled for markup at least a week after first coming before the committee, putting a markup of S-1720 no earlier than April 3. A committee spokeswoman would not confirm where negotiations stand on S-1720, but said in an email that Leahy and committee staff “continue working with other offices on a bipartisan agreement.”

The Utility Reform Network (TURN)’s emergency motion to the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) last week (CD March 20 p15) is just the latest shot being fired at Verizon before local authorities. Echoing a complaint filed with the D.C. Public Service Commission (DCPSC), the CPUC motion alleges the company, in its zeal to make the IP transition, has been letting its copper network deteriorate and is being overly aggressive in moving customers from copper to FiOS or wireless Voice Link without their consent.

The FCC defended its request for about $36 million more in funding for FY 2015 compared to current funding. The White House unveiled its proposed 2015 budget in early March and recommended Congress approve $375.38 million for the FCC (http://fcc.us/1hNuRs2). The House Appropriations Financial Services Subcommittee scrutinized the proposed budget during a hearing Tuesday, and FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler and Commissioner Ajit Pai testified on behalf of the agency.

Leading up to Wednesday’s closed-door meeting of the North American Numbering Council (NANC) to discuss the local number portability administrator (LNPA) contract (CD Mar 21 p5), Neustar and its allies tried to convince regulators the process has gone awry and needs to be retooled. It’s a continuation of a monthslong campaign to convince the FCC to step in and order NANC to mandate another round of bids for the contract (CD Feb 26 p5), which belongs to Neustar until next year. There’s no way to transition to a new LNPA in less than two years, Neustar said. Ericsson’s Telcordia, which has expressed interest in the job, responded to several Neustar arguments, in a blog post Monday.

TVs, Blu-ray players and videogame consoles will likely be the first products to deploy the Digital Living Network Alliance’s new Commercial Video Profile-2 (CVP-2) platform, enabling in-home streaming of cable, satellite and telco content across various devices, DLNA Vice President Amol Bhagwat told us.

Associations that represent smaller carriers joined with Dish Network, the Computer & Communications Industry Association and major public interest groups to ask the FCC Tuesday to impose spectrum aggregation limits before the incentive TV auction. The FCC is expected to take up both auction rules and spectrum aggregation rules at its May meeting. The letter was also signed by Sprint, T-Mobile, C Spire Wireless, the Competitive Carriers Association (CCA), Rural Wireless Association, NTCA, Public Knowledge, Free Press and Writers Guild of America-West.