The FCC got lots of advice on process reform (CD Dec 6 p3), as part of an initiative being overseen by Diane Cornell, special counsel to Chairman Tom Wheeler. How much progress Wheeler will be able to make and what might come out of reform efforts is a big question mark, said industry sources including numerous former FCC officials. The full FCC is slated to get an update from Cornell at Thursday’s meeting.

Lawmakers pressed government officials on proposed changes to U.S. intelligence programs, in two Senate hearings Wednesday, focusing on the legal underpinning of the program and where the phone metadata will be stored. U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said President Barack Obama wants to change surveillance programs, which Holder emphasized are constitutional but may shift in terms of tightened controls, transparency and scope as updates are being implemented and considered. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper emphasized his own willingness to take on changes, in a separate hearing.

A voluntary agreement in the cable industry would be a better replacement for CableCARD rules vacated by the EchoStar decision than new regulations, said Davis Wright cable attorney Paul Glist at the Practising Law Institute’s Broadband and Cable Industry Law conference Tuesday. Glist, a longtime opponent of CableCARD who has represented several large cable companies, said an agreement similar to one recently reached on energy efficiency standards for set-top boxes (CD Dec 24 p1) would be better able to keep up with the pace of new technology than would new rules. Reinstating CableCARD rules would “repeat the old mistake that the federal register can handle the pace of technology,” he said.

The year 2014 “may well be a watershed year for the multistakeholder model of Internet policy making,” and the U.S. plans to continue to continue defending the model while encouraging it to evolve, said NTIA Administrator Larry Strickling during a speech Tuesday. Strickling and U.S. Coordinator for International Communications and Information Policy Daniel Sepulveda said at the State of the Net conference that multistakeholder bodies that have governed Internet processes need to evolve to become more inclusive of stakeholders in the developing world.

CTIA and Los Angeles TV stations KLCS and KJLA unveiled plans Tuesday for a pilot project to test the “technical and legal arrangements” necessary to put in place successful channel sharing. Channel-sharing could potentially free up more spectrum in the TV incentive auction, since TV stations that share channels could sell part of their spectrum for use by carriers. The two TV stations must get FCC permission to do tests, which are expected run through the first quarter of the year, CTIA officials said Tuesday.

The framework for the IP transition trials, which the FCC is set to vote on Thursday (CD Jan 27 p7), will place certain conditions on any proposed trials, said FCC and industry officials in interviews this week. They said there would need to be a TDM backup system in case the trial doesn’t work. It will also be crucial to maintain access to 911 in any trial, they said. In addition to trials looking at switching from TDM to IP services, the FCC will also encourage trial participants to think about ways of getting broadband to rural areas, said agency and industry officials.

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler is ready to act if he spots anticompetitive behavior by ISPs, he said at the State of the Net conference. During the half-hour Q-and-A session Tuesday, Wheeler walked the line between encouraging experimentation in online business models, and cautioning that the commission will step in where necessary to protect consumers. Wheeler also expressed a desire to monitor peering arrangements -- which he said are not the same as net neutrality, but definitely related -- and potentially step in if there are disputes.

Apple results in Q1 ended Dec. 28 were a mixed bag in which revenue grew from a year ago and iPad sales were strong, but profit was flat and iPhone sales, despite growing from a year ago, were weaker than some analysts had expected. Its North American business also “contracted somewhat” from Q1 last year and that “weighed” on its results, said CEO Tim Cook on an earnings call Monday. Apple shares closed 8 percent lower Tuesday at $506.50.

The effort to rewrite the Communications Act should “build from the ground up,” said Verizon Senior Vice President-Federal Government Relations Peter Davidson on a panel at the Practising Law Institute Broadband and Cable Industry Law conference Monday. The conference also touched on the competitive effect of over-the-top video on multichannel video programming distributors and the Aereo case. Several panelists repeatedly compared applying dated communications regulations to the current video market to fitting a round peg into a square hole. “Why are we doing all these gymnastics?” asked Davidson. “Why not start over?"

All federal Internet security legislation is likely “on hold for the time being,” said Commerce Department General Counsel Cameron Kerry at a Practising Law Institute panel Monday. The long-promised White House consumer protection proposal (CD Dec 2 p1) and updates to the Electronic Communications Privacy Act are both in a holding pattern, he said, while the White House continues to do background work with its big data task force (CD Jan 27 p1) and NTIA-facilitated codes of conduct (CD Dec 5 p11). Other panelists said a federal data breach notification law is potentially useful for consumers, businesses and U.S. trade relations with Europe, but could have a negative impact on data security if the law defangs state attorneys generals enforcement power (CD Jan 3 p5).