Liberty Media will weigh other options for helping Charter Communications make another run at cable consolidation if Time Warner Cable’s proposed sale to Comcast collapses, Liberty CEO Gregory Maffei said Friday on an earnings call. Comcast could face “onerous” conditions for its proposed $158.82-per-share offer for TWC from the FCC and the Department of Justice, said Maffei, whose company bought 27.3 percent of Charter in March 2013 for $2.62 billion. Charter had proposed buying TWC for $132.50 per share and announced plans to nominate a new slate of directors prior to Comcast unveiling its bid in February.

CableLabs, the cable industry’s research and development body, has stepped up outreach to consumer electronics makers, interindustry standards bodies, small cable operators and other organizations that aren’t members, said the CEO and other stakeholders in interviews last week. The organization demonstrates that a lot of communications and Internet standards and technical work happens among those disagreeing on policies, said some stakeholders. Small cable operators disagree with some big ones on access to programming amid industry consolidation, as Comcast agreed last month to pay $45 billion for Time Warner Cable (CD Feb 14 p1), said American Cable Association CEO Matt Polka. And CE companies disagree with operators on video device interoperability rules (CD Feb 7 p3), said CEA Senior Vice President-Research and Standards Brian Markwalter.

Several academics bemoaned what they see as the FTC’s opaque authority and lack of economic analysis, while others encouraged Congress to further empower the commission through legislation, during a House Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade Subcommittee hearing Friday. But they all said the FTC is one of the more effective federal agencies. The hearing was sparsely attended by lawmakers and cut short after about 75 minutes for a floor vote.

The definition of Internet of Things governance is a murky concept that’s hard to pin down, several speakers told us ahead of a March 3-4 IoT Europe summit in Brussels. In addition, opinions differ on whether and what standards may be needed for the technology, they said. But there appears to be agreement that governments should guide, but not dictate, the IoT, they said.

Global cybersecurity rules and standards are needed to counter the “bad, scary world out there,” said Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) CEO Gottfried Liebrandt Friday. He and other industry and EU speakers at a Brussels conference reviewing progress on the EU cybersecurity strategy backed more coordinated efforts in fighting cyberthreats. Several said they have learned lessons from Edward Snowden’s revelations about National Security Agency spying. For Digital Agenda Commissioner Neelie Kroes, the lesson is that “technology and democracy have to talk to each other,” she said. Snowden’s insights can be used to ensure a more secure online world and a more competitive environment for European industry, she said.

The FCC is seeking proposals to bring advanced services to rural America, said Alexander Minard, Wireless Bureau Telecommunications Access Policy Division acting deputy chief. Non-binding expressions of interest are due March 7, and it’s “not really a high threshold,” to apply Minard said at an FCBA brown-bag lunch Thursday. “We want to see who raises their hand."

Broadcasters are balking at details of House Republicans’ Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act (STELA) draft, unveiled to industry Wednesday. Multiple industry officials, both those connected and not connected to the broadcast industry, told us the draft looks like a gift to the cable industry. Lobbyists and observers said that, given the uproar, parts of the staff draft may have to change. Communications Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., had previously stressed a desire for a clean reauthorization of STELA, which expires at the end of 2014 and is considered must-pass legislation, but the description of the staff draft appears to have many tweaks on issues ranging from joint sales agreements (JSAs) and shared services agreements (SSAs) to the integration ban.

Expect plenty of digging in on a Communications Act overhaul this year, House Commerce Committee Majority Chief Counsel David Redl said Thursday at a Minority Media and Telecommunications Council event on the topic hosted by Wiley Rein. House Republicans have said they want to hold hearings and issue white papers in 2014 and embark on legislation in 2015.

The FCC H-block auction closed Thursday after 167 rounds and 24 bidding days, with total bids of $1.564 billion across the 176 Economic Area licenses. The FCC won’t provide results for a few days, but most analysts have long seen the most likely outcome as Dish Network buying almost all of the licenses (CD Feb 24 p12, Jan 28 p4). The money raised will pay part of the $7 billion startup cost of FirstNet, to be paid out of auction proceeds, industry observers said.

The legal parameters of copyright ownership may have changed dramatically due to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeal’s ruling in Garcia v. Google, which was released Wednesday (http://1.usa.gov/1hV5Dvg), said copyright advocates and academics in interviews and blog posts. The court ordered Google to remove all copies of the Innocence of Muslims -- a film associated with the attacks on the U.S. Embassy in Benghazi, Libya -- from Google-owned YouTube, after Cindy Lee Garcia asked Google to take down the video once she began receiving death threats due to her minor acting role in the movie.