The NTIA awarded more than $15 million in grants to seven states and the U.S. Virgin Islands last week for FirstNet planning (http://1.usa.gov/18qK5vC). Under the State and Local Implementation Grant Program, the following states were awarded funds: Alaska ($2 million), Idaho ($1.4 million), Montana ($1.8 million), Nevada ($1.9 million), Pennsylvania ($3.9 million), Tennessee ($2.3 million) and Utah ($1.7 million). The U.S. Virgin Islands got $515,628. All recipients are required to provide a matching contribution of at least 20 percent and additional grants will be awarded on a rolling basis.

Dish Network urged the FCC to adopt the broadcast incentive auction band plan originally proposed by the FCC, with the modifications Dish previously identified. The commission should reject claims that routine technical concepts like intermodulation and harmonics “should justify limiting the amount of valuable low-band spectrum for auction,” it said in an ex parte filing in dockets 12-268 and 12-357 (http://bit.ly/14eoMML). Neither intermodulation nor harmonics has served as a basis for limiting the amount of spectrum available “to provide broadband or cellular service and should not now be a basis to limit the availability of low-band spectrum in the 600 MHz auction,” it said. Dish also reiterated support for a holistic approach to the upcoming spectrum auctions of the H block, 600 MHz spectrum and AWS-3 bands. Given the current regulatory requirements for H block and AWS-4, “it is unlikely Dish will choose to meaningfully participate in the upcoming auction of the H block,” Dish said. The filing recounted a meeting with Commissioner Ajit Pai and his staff.

The FCC should indefinitely postpone the extension of online political file requirements to TV stations outside big four network affiliates in the top 50 markets, said Gray Television in comments filed Thursday (http://bit.ly/19ThNNC). The rule is set to apply to all broadcasters in July 2014, but the FCC in June asked for comments on that expansion (CD June 27 p20). “The marginal benefit of additional online public file material does not justify imposing new burdens on those stations that are least capable of handling them,” said Gray. Uploading the political ad information as new contracts come in while being careful to redact sensitive financial info “will increase -- not reduce -- burdens on station staff,” Gray said. “Employees in small and mid-size markets wear many hats and simply cannot handle any additional regulatory compliance responsibilities.” The FCC’s own rules show that putting political files online will “disproportionately disadvantage minorities and those living in rural areas” since they are largely served by the small market stations encompassed in the new filing requirement, Gray said. “No longer would these individuals be able to drive to the station to review political files,” said Gray. “Instead, to access a station’s political file, they would need to find a location with Internet access and possess the skills to navigate the FCC’s online public file site.” The FCC has to establish that “Internet access is sufficiently pervasive” to use the expansion of access as a reason to force broadcasters to put political files online, said Gray.

The Sony Entertainment Network began mobile billing in the U.S. Friday in conjunction with mobile payments company Boku and select mobile carriers. A new wallet-funding option also makes it easier for the service’s users to buy games, movies and music, said Sony Network Entertainment International and Sony Computer Entertainment America in a news release. The new feature allows users of participating mobile networks in the U.S. to “top up their account wallet” to buy content from the PlayStation Store and across the Sony Entertainment Network using their mobile phone accounts, the Sony divisions said. At launch, wallet top-ups with mobile billing can be made through the PlayStation Store on the PS3 or Account Management via the Sony Entertainment Network website. Customers can select “mobile” as the payment option, enter their mobile phone number and respond via SMS to confirm the wallet top-up. A wallet top-up charge will appear on their next mobile phone bill or can be debited against their pre-paid account, said Sony.

Ex-FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski is slated to teach at Harvard this fall, the university said Thursday (http://hvrd.me/1foxYTR). His course is entitled: “Running a Federal Agency: Lessons from Business, Technology and Game Theory.” It will be offered jointly by Harvard Law School and Harvard Business School. Genachowski is the first to teach under a new law school endowment, the Steven and Maureen Klinsky Professorship of Practice for Leadership and Progress. Genachowski, who graduated from Harvard Law in 1991, said he was “grateful” for the opportunity to “share my insights about the way technology-driven changes are affecting our economy and society, businesses and people all over the world."

Nielsen will extend the period for regulatory review of its $1.25 billion purchase of Arbitron into September, said the acquirer in a news release Friday (http://bit.ly/18qDJML). It said Nielsen “continues to be confident in the ultimate outcome.” Nielsen and Arbitron disclosed the deal in December (CD Dec 19 p10).

NBCUniversal can’t satisfy deal conditions requiring it to share content with online video distributors under terms similar to those OVDs’ deals with NBCU’s industry peers without knowing the specifics of those agreements, said Comcast/NBCU in an ex parte FCC filing Thursday (http://bit.ly/15qqD0r). Viacom, Disney and other companies filed an application for review of the condition and also a Media Bureau order clarifying it in January, and the bureau stayed the condition in March (CD March 8 p16). Disney and others have recently asked the bureau to continue the stay (CD Aug 13 p14). “NBCUniversal cannot satisfy that obligation unless it has appropriate access to the peer deal it is supposed to match,” said Comcast/NBCUniversal: “The need for access to a peer deal is implicit from the nature and purpose” of the merger’s benchmark condition. Access to peer deals shared under the benchmark condition will be restricted to outside counsel and experts, and NBCUniversal personnel aren’t permitted access, said Comcast/NBCU. The outside counsel and experts are also barred from “engaging in competitive decision-making activities and future employment involving Comcast or NBCUniversal,” said the filing. It said the process described in the benchmark condition and clarifying order “will enable NBCUniversal to comply with its obligations, and should make it more efficient for OVDs to obtain programming content as the Commission intended."

Pricing is expected to “erode” on converged cable access platforms (CCAP), while channel capacity is expected to “soar,” said Jeff Heynen, Infonetics Research principal analyst, in a report Friday (http://bit.ly/12U45Im). The global cable modem termination systems (CMTS) and the edge quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) markets declined 4 percent in Q2 to $313 million, said the report. In North America, CMTS and QAM revenue was down 27 percent from a year ago due to the “turn-up” of a large number of software licenses, said the report. Cisco and Arris are the frontrunners in the CMTS market, but competition is growing as vendors are competing for potential CCAP deployments, said the report.

TeleCommunication Systems signed a contract with the Defense Information Systems Agency to provide managed satellite services to the U.S. Marine Corps. It will provide Ku-band satellite bandwidth, terrestrial support and 24-hour support services for the Marine Corps’ Tactical Satellite Communications Network, TCS said in a press release (http://bit.ly/14eoMML). The contract includes four one-year option terms that have a total contract value of $58.3 million, and it’s part of a $2.6 billion Custom SATCOM Solutions contract vehicle from DISA and the General Services Administration, it said.

Alaska Communications’ Business Ethernet services will give Alaskan business “a new option for reliable, flexible networks,” said the company in a Thursday news release. Business Ethernet lets businesses choose levels of data networking service, which offer “multiple nines” reliability. The Business Ethernet service is the only ethernet service in Alaska that meets the Metro Ethernet Forum standard and is supported by Carrier Ethernet-certified professionals, Alaska Communications said (http://bit.ly/19T2ftn).