CTIA continues to have major concerns about an administration policy bent on sharing instead of making more exclusive use spectrum available for carriers, CTIA President Steve Largent said in a letter to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). AT&T suggested an independent federal commission to examine disagreements between carriers and government agencies on the future use of spectrum.

State attorneys general are likely to try to play a major role in the proposed Comcast/Time Warner Cable merger through seeking conditions on any deal or block it altogether, legal observers say.

Broadcasters in the AM band and broadcasting engineers continued to push for an FM translator filing window, elimination of the so-called ratchet rule and a revision of the geographic limits on FM translators that rebroadcast AM station signals in reply comments on revitalizing the AM band. Some commenters suggested opening the FM translator window to AM and FM station licensees and engineers called for prompt adoption of technical proposals. Reply comments in docket 13-249 were due last week.

An Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) conference to convene Monday is likely to be dominated by discussions on how oversight of the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) may evolve following NTIA’s announcement that it would begin transitioning its oversight of IANA to the “global Internet community,” parties told us. The Singapore conference will be ICANN’s first public meeting since the NTIA announcement, which called for ICANN and other stakeholders to reach a consensus on a transition plan before the current contract between NTIA and ICANN expires Sept. 30, 2015. The contract allows ICANN to administer IANA on NTIA’s behalf. Debate over the IANA transition is also likely to color how stakeholders discuss Internet governance issues at several other international forums this year, stakeholders said.

Opponents of a draft order to make joint sales agreements (JSAs) attributable have zeroed in on Commissioner Mignon Clyburn as their best chance for limiting the effects of the eventual JSA rule, set for the FCC’s March 31 (CD March 18 p5) agenda, several broadcast attorneys told us. There’s a widespread industry perception that Clyburn is torn between limiting abuse of sharing arrangements and keeping them alive as a tool for encouraging minority ownership. Industry attorneys and public interest officials said the order was likely to be passed in some form by a 3-2 vote, with Clyburn’s support.

Standardizing copyright infringement and takedown notices is the first topic for stakeholders during government-backed talks on tweaking the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) notice-and-takedown process, said Patent and Trademark Office officials at the conclusion of a daylong workshop Thursday.

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler continues to view the incentive auction as important to his priority of making more spectrum available for commercial use, but recent progress on development of the AWS-3 auction is also a “big deal,” said Renee Gregory, his wireless adviser, during an FCBA event. Industry observers have said the FCC slowed its work on incentive auction rules while simultaneously steaming ahead on rules for the AWS-3 auction, which must be wrapped up later this year (CD Feb 27 p1). The commission is to consider some of the AWS-3 rules, along with an order on Wi-Fi use on the 5.1 GHz band -- also known as the Unlicensed-National Information Infrastructure-1 (U-NII-1) band -- at its March 31 meeting. Wireless aides to the other FCC commissioners also noted during Thursday’s event that the commission continues to view the incentive auction as its main priority. The FCC remains “on track” to issue a report and order on the incentive auction rules this spring, Gregory said.

The FCC Communications Security, Reliability & Interoperability Council formally launched a new working group, Working Group 4, to take on cybersecurity, with a focus on best practices. FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler opened Thursday’s CSRIC meeting with brief remarks, stressing the importance of cybersecurity and calling for the council to develop a new “regulatory paradigm” for the future.

The House Small Business Subcommittee on Health and Technology dug into questions of rural broadband deployment Thursday at a field hearing in New York and found grave accuracy problems with broadband mapping, its head lawmaker told us. The hearing was at the Orleans County Legislature in Albion, N.Y. Written testimony released Thursday and interviews revealed plenty of scrutiny about what government problems participants believe may impede industry from deploying broadband infrastructure.

A rare closed-door meeting of the North American Numbering Council is heightening tensions between Neustar and Telcordia as the Local Number Portability Administrator vendor selection draws near. The group will discuss “confidential procurement information obtained by members” about LNPA selection, said an FCC public notice. Neustar has been waging a public battle against a perceived lack of openness and transparency in the selection process (CD Feb 26 p5). Neustar President Lisa Hook said in its latest letter, sent Wednesday to NANC Chairwoman Betty Ann Kane, that the closed meeting “gives urgency” to its concerns. “It is not too late to fix this process,” she said. Ericcson’s Telcordia said Neustar is wrong.