Chairman Julius Genachowski voiced hope that the FCC will get data on broadband availability from small cable operators to help the agency direct money to fast-Internet projects in areas unserved by any ISP. The commission is “committed” to not funding broadband projects in areas that are already served and needs help from American Cable Association members in providing relevant information, he told the ACA’s convention Wednesday. He pledged the FCC will be careful to seek only what it needs so as not to overburden small companies with requests, and he hopes they'll deliver the needed documents. Genachowski also said the FCC wants to work with industry to keep a lid on viewer complaints about loud TV ads and will keep small operators in mind in reviewing whether to extend viewability rules for stations guaranteed cable carriage.

The push to use terrestrially the S-band and other mobile satellite services spectrum around the world may be a precursor for efforts in other bands, said Rupert Pearce, CEO of Inmarsat. “The risk is: Is this the thin edge of the wedge,” he said. “As pressure builds to free up spectrum, MSS bands look like really low hanging fruit” due to the number of consumers per bit, especially compared to terrestrial service. It will be important for the industry to work together to convince regulators of the services’ importance, said Pearce.

A two-day FCC workshop on receiver standards ended Tuesday with no obvious answers in sight. Office of Engineering and Technology Chief Julius Knapp closed the workshop saying the answer may or may not require new regulations from the agency. “It’s going to take some time, I think for the commission staff to digest it all and think about where do we go from here,” Knapp said. “The overall sense here is that something needs to be done. We don’t know what that is. … That does not necessarily mean we're moving to regulation.” In the final analysis, receiver standards are about stability “for incumbents who need certainty” and for newcomers “so that they know when they're investing in creating a new service that there aren’t going to be unforeseen problems down the road,” Knapp said.

T-Mobile joined the Rural Cellular Association, they said Tuesday. Sprint Nextel is already an RCA member. With the addition of the two, RCA now has as members virtually all of the nation’s top 100 carriers, except for AT&T and Verizon Wireless.

A service bringing broadcast TV to devices continues to fight allegations it breaks copyright laws and that its legal arguments present nothing more than what plaintiffs call a “gimmick.” Aereo, launching Wednesday, will hold antennas the size of a dime in centers which the company calls “antenna farms” and rent those antennas to customers. Broadcasters who sued Aereo said it allegedly obtains programming through these antennas, transforms it to be accessible through the Internet and transmits it to customers’ devices. For $12 a month, customers in New York can access the programming and record it for later using a “cloud DVR.” Aereo is backed by IAC/Interactive CEO Barry Diller, who used to run Paramount and Fox.

Broadcasters and cable operators debated analog video’s popularity, commenting on whether so-called FCC dual-carriage rules should sunset June 12 or be extended three years. The NAB and NCTA cited analog subscriber figures, with the first association saying viewability rules for cable carriage of must-carry TV stations’ HD signals ought to be extended because there are still many analog viewers and the second saying they should lapse given the shrinking size of that customer segment. Both associations backed an exemption for small cable operators, though they and the American Cable Association differed on what it should entail.

The satellite industry made some short-term regulatory strides this year at the World Radiocommunication Conference, though problems remain on the horizon, said Romain Bausch, CEO of SES. Growing concern from smaller nations over their access to spectrum and orbital slots may need to be addressed in coming years, he said Tuesday at the Satellite 2012 conference.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency said an FCC order’s “unintended consequences” could make some emergency alert system messages originated in a FEMA-designed format useless. The agency petitioned the commission to revisit a January order (CD Jan 12 p8) on the new Common Alerting Protocol format to reverse its ban on text-to-speech EAS warnings. By not allowing such warnings where government agencies originating alerts send scripts of the warnings without also transmitting audio, some transmissions may not go through at all and others may only have warning tones and no actual message, the petition said. “No EAS Participants transmit the full detail alert message and the public is left to make life saving decisions based upon a 90-character” alert from participating wireless carriers “alone,” under one scenario.

A revised ethics handbook from NPR may reaffirm the organization’s mission to achieve and uphold journalism standards, but it may not be enough to satisfy its critics, some executives said. The public radio programmer began revising its ethics guidelines shortly after the scrutiny that ensued after Juan Williams, former senior news analyst, was fired (CD Oct 25/10 p3). An incident where former NPR Foundation President Ron Schiller was filmed making negative statements about NPR funding prompted some lawmakers to question the organization’s agenda (CD March 10 p6).

A Colorado bill seeks to modernize the state’s telecom law by phasing out subsidies in competitive areas of the state and investing in broadband in unserved areas, among other things. The bill targets CenturyLink customers in rural, hard-to-serve areas and could result in their loss of service, said CenturyLink, the largest provider in the state. Rural providers in the state support the bill, saying it might help them offset some of the revenue loss resulting from the FCC’s USF reform.