Acting FCC Chairwoman Mignon Clyburn is among the FCC officials set to speak Tuesday at an FCC-sponsored cybersecurity conference that focuses on “protecting children from online risks,” the agency said Friday. Other FCC speakers will include Kris Monteith, acting Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau chief; Jeffery Goldthorp, Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau associate bureau chief-Cybersecurity and Communications Reliability Division; and Susan McLean, Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau chief-Consumer Affairs and Outreach Division. Also scheduled are speakers from the Federal Trade Commission, Comcast, Common Sense Media, CTIA, Facebook/Instagram, the Family Online Safety Institute, Google, Microsoft, the Pew Research Center, Snapchat and ViaSat, the FCC said (http://fcc.us/18vhPLL).

If the government doesn’t shut down Oct. 1, October will be busy for the FM band for both translator and low-power FM applicants, a broadcast attorney said. Long-form applications for the 104 newly identified singleton groups are due Oct. 9, said Wilkinson Barker attorney David Oxenford in a blog post (http://bit.ly/19Mgr4C). Long-form applications for new translators are protected against interference from new LPFM applications in the LPFM filing window only “to the extent of their coverage on June 17, the date that the LPFM window was announced,” he said. “Moves made from the sites specified as of June 17 may not have any protection from subsequent LPFM applications.” The FCC Media Bureau reminded applicants that educational institutions can file even if their institution already has a professionally run station, “as long as the LPFM station will be student-run,” he said. The bureau said at last week’s FCC meeting that it is on target for the Oct. 15-29 LPFM filing window (CD Sept 27 p25).

FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai’s dissent to the UHF discount NPRM is significant, wrote a broadcast-stock analyst to investors Friday (CD Sept 27 p1). “Pai made some compelling arguments that are likely to have a positive impact throughout this process,” wrote Wells Fargo’s Marci Ryvicker. Don’t “count out a more flexible final” order, although the rulemaking notice wasn’t as “accommodating” for grandfathering ownership, she wrote. The NPRM proposed that grandfathering provision to apply up to the day the item was released (http://bit.ly/1bN50zV).

Comments on FTC approval conditions on Nielsen buying Arbitron are due Oct. 21, said the agency in Friday’s Federal Register (http://1.usa.gov/1fvdSMQ). It said to file comments at http://bit.ly/1dO8Y9q on FTC file No. 131 0058. Nielsen would divest and license assets and intellectual property needed for syndicated U.S. cross-platform audience measurement services, in an agreement that drew a dissent from Commissioner Joshua Wright (CD Sept 24 p13).

Gannett began working with a private equity firm to fund the expansion of a place-based media network which will be spun off into a separate company co-owned by the two partners. Captivate Network, with 10,000 screens in Canadian and U.S. office buildings, will have the “necessary capital and strategic focus to drive growth in the coming years,” said Gannett of the deal with investor Generation Partners. Gannett is expanding and investing in “higher growth core and new businesses,” that company said in a news release Thursday (http://bit.ly/1avOroh).

Gannett is selling $1.25 billion worth of bonds, and will use the proceeds and available cash to pay for the purchase of Belo Corp., said the acquirer in a news release Thursday (http://bit.ly/15ZV4zp). It said Gannett expects to complete by this coming Thursday the sale of senior notes due in 2019 and 2023. Belo shareholders last week OK'd the $1.5 billion takeover (CD Sept 26 p21).

California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) signed a bill Thursday to prevent the arbitrary shutdown or interruption of cellphone service, said State Sen. Alex Padilla (D) in a news release (http://bit.ly/1eMN8q0). The bill was in response to the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) shutdown of mobile services for three hours during public protests in August 2011, said Padilla. The BART board subsequently adopted a policy to allow service interruptions under certain circumstances, but it had no court review, said Padilla. The new law will make a statewide standard allowing service interruption only as directed by a court order based on probable cause and will preempt any conflicting local policies, he said. The bill’s provisions apply to any service used for calling 911, and it adds a process for a shutdown in “exigent circumstances” followed by a court review to determine whether free speech and public safety standards are met, said Padilla.

Netflix is making its Super HD service available to all subscribers regardless of their ISP, said the company in a blog post Thursday (http://nflx.it/1dMCegO). Super HD was rolled out in January to ISPs with a direct connection to Netflix, said the company. In response to member requests and performance data, Netflix said it’s expanding the service’s availability. Netflix’s “adaptive streaming” adjusts video quality based on available bandwidth, said the company. Netflix encouraged ISPs to adopt Netflix Open Connect, its video content delivery network, at no cost to ISPs to deliver the “best possible Netflix experience by storing the TV shows and movies Netflix members want to watch as close to them as possible."

The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission approved Life Wireless to provide Lifeline service(http://yhoo.it/178ft5d). Subscribers are eligible for Life Wireless service if they take part in a federal assistance program or earn up to 135 percent of the federal poverty level, said the company in a news release Thursday.

The SES Astra 2E satellite is scheduled for launch Monday via an ILS Proton rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, SES said in a press release (http://bit.ly/18voF24). The satellite “carries 60 Ku-band transponders, as well as four Ka-band transponders,” it said. It will allow the delivery of next-generation broadcast and broadband services in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, SES said. SES said Astra 2E will be the seventh Eurostar satellite in its fleet.