The National Institute of Standards and Technology is working to release the preliminary version of the Cybersecurity Framework “as soon as possible,” with the hope it can go public this week, an agency spokeswoman told us. President Barack Obama’s cybersecurity executive order had required that NIST release the preliminary framework by Oct. 10. The framework was put on hold because of the government shutdown, which ended Thursday (CD Oct 9 p7).

The fundamental problems with retransmission consent remain and will continue to get worse, Time Warner Cable said in a letter to the FCC (http://bit.ly/16g5vRt). The deal between CBS and TWC “illustrates almost everything that is wrong with the regulatory process applicable to retransmission consent -- and how far the commission’s implementation of the statute has strayed from congressional intent,” TWC said. The cable company and CBS ended a month-long retransmission consent dispute last month (CD Sept 4 p2). The FCC has abdicated its responsibility to ensure reasonable rates, “to police bad-faith negotiating tactics, and to safeguard the public interest more generally,” it said. That retransmission consent deals generally get done without blackouts “does not show that the commission’s retransmission consent rules are achieving Congress’s objectives,” TWC said. The FCC should preclude broadcasters from pulling their signals during retrans consent disputes and preclude broadcasters from using sharing agreements to collude with competing stations in negotiating retrans consent agreements, it said.

EU telecom regulators have “significant concerns” about the evidence and analysis underlying the proposal for a single telecom market, the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC) said in a paper (http://bit.ly/19WuR7N) made public Thursday in Europe. While national regulators strongly support targeted harmonization of rules, the European Commission-proposed legislative package risks creating unnecessary complexity and more legal uncertainty, and could hamper investment and competition, it said. The EC hasn’t adequately shown that its proposals would generate value in European communications markets, and some of its ideas could be counterproductive, it said. The package must be based on an accurate diagnosis of market problems, and some parts of it “represent a significant shift in policy orientations, without proper consideration of its far-reaching consequences,” BEREC said. Regulators criticized the analysis for, among other things, overlooking that actual average broadband download speeds in the EU are much higher than in the U.S. across technologies, and for failing to refer to the dynamics of next-generation networks, which are being rolled out at an increasing pace. The EC also claimed that Europe trails other regions on 4G deployment when the main operators are investing heavily in very high-speed mobile networks, and when Western Europe has more operational LTE networks than any other region, it said. Although it shares EC high-level objectives, “the unbalanced picture of the EU market situation and the unsound assessment of problems allegedly stemming from the current regulatory framework make for a set of proposals which BEREC considers to be disproportionate, and in some cases counterproductive to their stated aims,” it said. Concerns included: (1) The proposal signals a fundamental shift in the balance of power between the EC and governments, BEREC and national telecom regulators. (2) The proposed EC veto power over competition conditions set by national authorities is unjustified and detrimental. (3) The plan to synchronize spectrum assignment procedures to enable operators to bid for spectrum in all or many EU countries could make it harder for players to take part in several spectrum auctions at the same time, given the capital and resource commitment involved, and could give large operators a competitive advantage. (4) The idea to convert national telecom regulators’ duty to “promote end users’ rights to access content” into a “hard-wired users’ right ’to access'” needs a rethink because it raises concerns about enforceability, given the number of actors involved in the process. Any net neutrality legal obligation imposed on ISPs should be based on a reasonable interpretation of the quality expected for the transportation of applications. (5) The proposed “unpicking” of the carefully negotiated roaming regulation within a year of its adoption and only a few months before one of its key provisions comes into effect “substantially undermines regulatory certainty.” Moreover, there’s nothing to stop mobile operators from boosting prices elsewhere to compensate for the proposed “roam like at home” pricing, potentially leaving consumers no better off overall, BEREC said.

The Verizon Wireless, Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks joint venture to integrate cable and wireless technologies “has been terminated,” Verizon Communications Chief Financial Officer Fran Shammo said Thursday during a call with investors. The partnership formed as part of the larger Verizon/SpectrumCo spectrum deal (CD Dec 5/11 p5). A Verizon spokeswoman said the partnership dissolved in late August, just before Verizon announced it was buying Vodafone’s 45 percent of Verizon Wireless for $130 billion (CD Sept 2 p1). Although the companies are “moving in our separate ways” on the partnership, Verizon will continue its bundling and other joint-marketing deals with the cable companies, Shammo said. The Verizon Wireless buyout was at least part of the reason the partnership ended, he said, saying the telco can now concentrate on “bringing to the customer the best products available between wireline and wireless.” Verizon filed a proxy statement with the SEC last week related to the deal, Shammo said (http://bit.ly/19UJ98O). Verizon Wireless added a net 927,000 postpaid subscribers during Q3, in line with analysts’ expectations. Verizon had a net $2.2 billion profit for the quarter, up from a $1.6 billion net profit during the same period last year. The telco had total quarterly revenue of $30.3 billion. Verizon Wireless activated 10.2 million mobile devices during the quarter, including 7.6 million smartphones; about 3.9 million of the smartphones were iPhones. Verizon added a net 173,000 FiOS Internet subscriptions and 135,000 net FiOS television connections during the quarter.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation filed a formal challenge to a podcasting patent it claimed a patent assertion entity used to “shake down” podcasters for licensing fees, EFF said in a Wednesday news release (http://bit.ly/1bCU1FK). It presented a petition for inter partes review to the Patent and Trademark Office that day (http://bit.ly/1bCUFDt). Personal Audio LLC is suing podcasters and sending demand letters based on U.S. Patent No. 8,112,504 (http://bit.ly/1bCUIyS), said EFF. “Because Personal Audio’s business model is entirely based on leveraging its patents and it does not do any podcasting itself, the company fits the definition of a ‘non-practicing entity.'” Personal Audio didn’t invent the podcasting technology and shouldn’t be “demanding a payout,” EFF said. EFF was able to conduct the campaign after raising $76,160 to fund the fees and costs associated with the petition. It raised twice what it originally requested from donors, it said, and remaining funds will go to EFF’s ongoing patent reform work. Personal Audio had no comment.

Comcast and Cox tied for first-place operators in Women in Cable Telecommunications’ ranking of “The Best Companies for Women in Cable,” WICT said in a press release Thursday. NBCUniversal was ranked as the best programmer for women in cable. The rankings are based on a 2013 WICT survey of pay equity, opportunities for advancement and resources for “work/life support,” the release said. Twenty-five companies participated in the survey, 59 percent of the cable workforce, WICT said. “The data over time shows gains for women in several key areas, including a higher percentage of women at the executive and senior levels,” said WICT Chief of Staff Parthavi Das in the release. “However, promotion rates are lower for women as compared to men and departure rates are higher, and the concern is that if the trend continues the number of women in management will decline over the next five years.” In the “Best Operators” list, Bright House came in second behind Cox and Comcast, Time Warner Cable was third, Midcontinent Communications was fourth, and Suddenlink was fifth. Behind NBCU, Discovery was listed as second-best programmer, followed by Disney ABC Television, Scripps Networks Interactive and Turner Broadcasting.

The New York Public Service Commission authorized ExteNet Systems to borrow up to $260 million to expand its distributed antenna systems business, at the PSC’s monthly meeting Thursday (http://bit.ly/19UliUU). The wholesale wireless telephone service provider will receive the additional capital it needs to maintain and expand existing facilities, and to complete some of the new networks by February, said the PSC. Also at the meeting, the commission didn’t grant Time Warner Cable Information Services a waiver for the hours and days it can disconnect telephone customers who are not paying their telephone bills (http://bit.ly/1gnQ5Pr). TWC needs to follow existing rules on disconnecting customers only during normal business hours, said the PSC. “The Commission’s rules applicable to Time Warner are consistent with the hours of operation of the Commission’s consumer call center which receives consumer complaints’ [sic] and requests for assistance,” said PSC Chair Audrey Zibelman in a statement. “To ensure telephone consumers’ rights are protected, especially core customers such as the elderly and disabled, it is essential customers are afforded the opportunity to contact our call center if their telephone service is threatened with a potential suspension or termination.” The PSC said it authorized TWC to apply the full amount of a partial payment to basic local telephone service charges, and the payment can applied to nonbasic services upon satisfaction of basic local service charges. The PSC conditionally granted TWC’s request to limit its monthly quality reporting requirements to reports on consumer trouble report rates and timeliness of repair performance because the need for regulatory action to “ensure timely repairs for voice service has diminished” due to competitive alternatives, said the PSC. TWC will file complete reports for six months before the PSC decides whether the waiver of service quality reporting requirements will take effect.

NATPE and CEA commissioned a two-part research study on consumers using “second screen” devices to view video content, the organizations said in a news release (http://bit.ly/1fGa0HW). The study will measure “how the use of companion devices to interact in real time with TV programming affects both the consumer experience and the creative process of the content universe,” they said. The study also “marks the beginning of a mutually beneficial relationship between NATPE and CEA,” said NATPE President Rod Perth. The first phase of the research will be an online quantitative study of U.S. TV viewers who use tablets, smartphones, laptops, gaming consoles or other electronics devices “to get information or content for TV programming before, during or after viewing,” the organizations said. Findings will be presented at CES in January. The second phase will be qualitative research with TV producers and showrunners on how second screen viewing affects the way they create content, and the “advertising opportunities that exist as a result of this evolution,” they said. Those results will be presented during NATPE Miami in January, they said.

The FTC has no plans to delay its November Internet of Things conference and is examining its other events and public comment periods to see if any extensions are needed as a result of the government shutdown, an FTC spokesman said Thursday. The agency could not yet determine if its website is receiving an increased number of consumer complaints or other submissions, the spokesman said. The FTC’s website was one of a few government sites completely pulled down during the government closure. Although the agency continued to accept hard copies of premerger filings during the shutdown, it completely closed its consumer complaints function, causing a former FTC chief of staff and several lawyers to wonder whether people would store up their complaints for when the government reopened. The FTC Twitter account returned with this tweet: “If a biz doesn’t make good on its promises or cheats you out of $$$, the FTC wants to know. How to file a complaint: http://go.usa.gov/Dz5z.” At our deadline, the FTC website had not been updated since the government reopened. The agency’s Internet of Things conference, set for Nov. 19, is the only upcoming workshop listed on the FTC’s site. The event will feature academics, industry stakeholders and consumer advocacy groups discussing the privacy issues the increasing connectivity of devices presents.

Raycom has deployed LiveU video-over-cellular products in all of its news-producing markets, said LiveU in a press release Thursday. LiveU supplies Raycom with laptop software, mobile apps and special backpacks containing a live video uplink system, the release said. Raycom picked LiveU because of its “proprietary antenna arrays” and the construction of its equipment, said the release. LiveU’s app for smartphones has become a popular tool at Raycom stations, said Raycom Chief Information Officer David Burke in the release. “With LiveU, we can originate and produce more live and original content."