Google Fiber TV customers can now stream ESPN and Disney content on their smartphones and tablets, said the subsidiary of Google in a news release Wednesday (http://bit.ly/1bWIghS). The WatchESPN app provides live access to eight networks including live events and all of ESPN’s sports and studio shows, said Google Fiber. It said the Watch Disney app provides live access to Disney Channel, Disney Junior and Disney XD networks. Live access on both apps has no additional cost for Google Fiber customers, it said.

Wilcon completed the acquisition of Freedom Dark Fiber Networks to expand its fiber footprint by nearly 3,000 route miles in southern California, said the companies in a release Wednesday (http://yhoo.it/GRgswW). The deal will provide access to nearly 1,000 additional enterprise buildings, wireless communications sites, data centers and Internet hubs, said the companies. They said Freedom Dark Fiber Networks has been renamed Freedom Telecommunications, as planned (CD Aug 16 p8).

Germany-based mecom will deploy the Hughes HX broadband satellite system. The system is a “fault-tolerant” satellite solution, which will be used to power mecom’s “scalable and efficient digital network needed to meet growth plans,” Hughes said in a release Wednesday (http://bit.ly/H4eTf0). The solution will be rolled out over the next 12 months and will include two Hughes HX central hubs and broadband satellite terminals at 600 sites in mecom’s network, Hughes said. The second hub “will provide fully automatic redundancy as a backup,” it said.

The U.K. Office of Communications wants feedback on proposals for awarding licenses for 190 MHz of spectrum being released by the Ministry of Defense (MoD), Ofcom said Wednesday. The spectrum being made available is 40 MHz in the 2350-2390 MHz band, and 150 MHz above 3410 and below the 3600 MHz band, it said in a consultation document (http://xrl.us/bpy69t). In addition to seeking stakeholder views on how the bands might be made available, the regulator also wants input on specific proposals for the 3.4 GHz band as well as early indications of interest from those likely to want licenses, it said. The plan is to award the licenses as soon as practical, with the earliest assignment likely in the 2015-2016 financial year, it said. The document sets out two proposals: (1) Adopt an unpaired, time division duplex band plan for the 3.4 GHz band in the U.K. Ofcom said its analysis of this band within the context of global developments and its current understanding of stakeholder views suggests this would enable the most efficient use of the spectrum. Ongoing European harmonization plans for the band include paired and unpaired use, but there appears to be growing momentum toward the latter, Ofcom said. (2) Amend UK Broadband’s existing license so that the 150 MHz of MoD spectrum in the 3.4 GHz band is in a single contiguous block. This would make it easier to accommodate a range of different demands within the spectrum and cut down the number of inter-operator frequency boundaries, the regulator said. Ofcom is also working with existing users to consider the potential impact of new deployments on them in the release bands and adjacent bands, it said. Coexistence issues will be the subject of another consultation, it said. Comments are due Nov. 27.

The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court is no “rubber stamp” for government surveillance requests, said Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., based on a letter from the FISA court to top senators last week (CD Oct 16 p6). “This statement from the presiding judge of the FISA Court makes it clear the court does not ‘rubber stamp’ requests for surveillance of terrorism suspects,” said Feinstein in a statement Tuesday. “In fact, one in four applications undergo substantial revision during the court’s review process and others are withdrawn entirely. The FISA Court is tasked with conducting careful legal analysis of all administration requests, and these data reinforce my belief that the FISA Court is taking that mandate seriously.” Feinstein has plans to propose legislation to make U.S. surveillance practices more transparent but has largely defended U.S. intelligence agencies, calling their surveillance methods vital to national security.

Iridium successfully completed a critical design review of the complete Iridium Next satellite network system, it said. The CDR demonstrates that its design is valid and on schedule for first launch in early 2015, Iridium said in a news release Wednesday (http://bit.ly/1bys9mc). It said the review “represents an important transition from the network design to the fabrication and testing phase of Iridium’s next-generation constellation.” The satellite company said Iridium Next will offer substantially more bandwidth, improved data speeds and global coverage “enabling Iridium and its vast ecosystem of partners to support more powerful new devices and applications.”

The FCC’s Oct. 22 meeting has been postponed, the agency said Tuesday on its otherwise mostly nonoperational website. “In light of the continuing lapse in appropriations and the resulting closure of the FCC, the Commission is unable to issue a Sunshine Notice today and hold an Open Meeting previously scheduled for October 22,” the “Shutdown Update” said. “As soon as the Commission resumes normal operations, we will promptly issue a Sunshine Notice and announce a new date for the October Meeting.” Acting Chairwoman Mignon Clyburn had scheduled three items for a vote at the October meeting: The 700 MHz interoperability agreement, an order adopting technical rules for the 700 MHz broadband spectrum licensed to FirstNet and an order and NPRM on rural call completion (CD Oct 2 p3).

Disney shareholders should reject an “unsolicited mini-tender offer” from TRC Capital Corp., said Disney in a news release Tuesday. TRC is offering to buy up to 2 million shares of Disney common stock -- one-tenth of one percent of the company’s outstanding shares -- at $61 per share, a price that Disney said is about 4.7 percent below its closing price of $64 on Oct. 8, the day before the offer began. “Disney recommends that shareowners not tender their shares because the offer price is below Disney’s current share price,” said the release. Disney said TRC’s offer is subject to the satisfaction of several conditions, “including the absence of any decrease in the market price of Disney shares from the price on the date of the offer.” If the market price of Disney shares falls or TRC can’t get financing, TRC can terminate the offer and not buy any shares, Disney said. The Securities and Exchange Commission has warned investors that bidders making mini-tender offers are doing so at below market prices in order to catch investors who don’t check the market price “off guard,” the release said.

Silicon Valley-based law firm Cooley will acquire Dow Lohnes, effective Jan. 1, the law firms said Tuesday. Cooley will add 54 attorneys to its Washington office. Dow Lohnes has about 77 attorneys in D.C., according to its website. Dow Lohnes’s Atlanta office, with about 20 lawyers, won’t remain with Cooley, closing at the end of the year, firm officials said. “We were the firm in search of a big new platform,” said Dow Lohnes partner John Feore. Cooley is particularly interested in Dow Lohnes’s communications practice, media practice and higher-education practice, Feore said. Dow Lohnes had been in discussions with several law firms throughout the country, looking for “the right fit, the right firm, the right energy, the right platform,” he said. With its multiple U.S. offices and its clients in cutting-edge technological areas, Cooley is the “perfect matchup,” he said. “Around D.C. there was intense competition for this outstanding group of professionals, who have carefully positioned themselves with a view to joining a broader platform,” said Cooley CEO Joseph Conroy in a statement (http://bit.ly/1cSFcTv). “They share a common vision of how our clients’ industries are changing, and we are thrilled to partner with them and shape a stronger future together.” Dow Lohnes had lost more than half of its attorneys in the past three years amid “a spate of lateral defections,” reported American Lawyer Daily last month. “What you saw,” Feore told us regarding Dow Lohnes’s dwindling attorney staff, “was a law firm getting ready to make the kind of step forward that we made with Cooley.” Work on cutting the staff had begun prior to merger discussions with Cooley, said Erin Dwyer, director-strategic initiatives at Dow Lohnes. “Those departures reflect our strategic plan.”

Global cloud traffic will more than quadruple from 2012 to 2017, predicted network manufacturer Cisco in its annual Global Cloud Index, released Tuesday (http://bit.ly/19L4iAB). Total global data center traffic will also triple in that same timespan, reaching 7.7 zettabytes, or the equivalent of the entire 2017 world population’s streaming 2 1/2 hours of HD video each day for a year, the report said. Most of the growth will stem from cloud traffic increases. Currently, cloud traffic accounts for 46 percent of total data center traffic, but will climb to 69 percent by 2017, estimated the report. The Middle East and Africa will drive the cloud traffic growth, but North America and Asia Pacific will still generate the most cloud traffic of any region in 2017, the report said.