The presence of local cross-ownership is “seldom a material factor” in determining the value of broadcast stations, according to testimony from two broadcast station valuation professionals submitted to the FCC Wednesday by the Minority Media and Telecommunications Council (http://bit.ly/18nUc4z). One indication that cross-ownership hurts other stations in the same market would be a decline in those stations’ value, said MMTC President David Honig in the ex parte filing. “The presence of a cross-owned combination does not impact our discounted cash flow model that is the cornerstone of a broadcast valuation,” said Peter Bowman, of Bowman Valuation Services and Robert Maccini, director-Media Services Group, in an attachment to the MMTC filing (http://bit.ly/1dqPfiA). Cross-ownership combinations are instead noted in an accompanying narrative report, they said. The valuation professionals also weighed in on MMTC’s cross-ownership study, agreeing with its conclusions that cross-ownership in most instances “does not operate as a material impediment to minority and female” broadcast owners. “A modest relaxation of the newspaper-broadcast station cross-ownership rule, such as the proposal by former [FCC] Chairman [Julius] Genachowski that is under consideration by the FCC now, would not significantly influence the value of broadcast stations in most instances,” said Bowman and Maccini.

Android mobile app revenue will reach $6.8 billion in 2013, “nearly doubling its revenues from the previous year,” said a report from ABI Research (http://bit.ly/16Ubl7Z). In addition to the increase in the number of Android devices, a factor to the growth of revenue is “its effective app advertising,” the release said. “Android’s digital advertising, which is primarily based on Google’s powerful analytics search engine and vast experience, gives the company a big edge over Apple."

Software defined networking in mobile backhaul networks can save mobile operators more than $4 billion in capital expenses by 2017, said a Strategy Analytics study sponsored by Tellabs released Thursday (http://prn.to/17mk3g4). The study said SDN has the most impact in metropolitan aggregation/load redistribution, local breakout/Internet interexchange, small cells, cloud radio access network and Wi-Fi offload/video redirect, with metro aggregation/load redistribution contributing the most savings from $96 million to $1.1 billion from 2013 to 2017. The Asia-Pacific region faces the most significant backhaul funding shortfall, but will also be most likely to benefit from SDN, with capital expense savings at $2.66 billion in the region by 2017, the study said.

Intelsat and SoftBank successfully demonstrated a cost-effective, rural 3G mobile phone service in Kenya, they said. Intelsat provided capacity on Intelsat 10 and via the company’s teleport in Fuchsstadt, Germany, it said in a news release Thursday (http://bit.ly/19PXT62). It said the satellite company’s fleet and IntelsatOne terrestrial network “were instrumental in enabling the deployment in rural Kenya, an area of Africa not supported by traditional land line infrastructure."

Internet, restaurant, retail and grocer associations began a campaign against patent assertion entities Thursday, they said in a news release (http://bit.ly/12PuY0a). The Internet Association, National Restaurant Association, National Retail Federation and Food Marketing Institute began a print and radio advertising campaign in targeted states to urge voters to ask Congress to “stop bad patents and stop the trolls,” the groups said. They said the campaign will run in Illinois, Iowa, Nevada, Ohio, Texas, Vermont, and Virginia and other states.

The Nebraska Broadband Initiative will start a statewide survey and scorecard project in early September for businesses in the state to “increase their economic vitality by better utilizing broadband technologies,” said Nebraska Lt. Gov. Lavon Heidemann in a news release Wednesday (http://1.usa.gov/19Qf87t). The Democrat, who is also Nebraska Information Technology Commission chairman, said businesses will be asked to do an online assessment of their use of broadband technologies over the next few months, and up to 500 businesses will receive a personalized scorecard and the opportunity to work with a business broadband coach. “Our businesses can have valuable feedback and, as a state, Nebraska can leverage its strength as a leader in business technology,” said Heidemann.

Akamai increased its market share of the cloud video service market serving media and entertainment companies to nearly 30 percent in early 2013, said ABI Research in a news release Wednesday (http://bit.ly/1fj9dIC). Akamai had $322 million revenue during the first half of 2013 in the market that includes content delivery networks, online video platforms, managed video platforms and video content management systems, said an ABI report. Akamai has no close competitor, with other companies competing in the market all having “less than approximately five percent of market share,” said the industry research firm. “The CDN and related markets are poised for a round of consolidation,” said Sam Rosen, ABI Research practice director. “We expect horizontal consolidation -- where rival CDNs combine to gain scale in their competition with Akamai -- as well as horizontal consolidation -- where CDNs bring in functions, especially from OVPs, to compete for the largest content producers."

Communications Daily won’t be published Monday, Sept. 2 because of the federal Labor Day holiday. Our next issue will be dated Tuesday, Sept. 3.

Link Hoewing is stepping down from Verizon, where he spent the last 29 years, most recently as assistant vice president-Internet and technology policy, he said in a blog post Wednesday (http://vz.to/1dQJt8z). “Making good policy is not easy,” he said, and requires a careful balancing of different interests and ideas. Reacting quickly is less important than thinking deeply, he said, citing the storied habit of Abraham Lincoln to write out letters in the heat of the moment, but put them in his desk for later reflection. “We don’t live in a paper and pen world anymore, but it would not hurt us to pause and reflect more often than we do in thinking about policy or reacting to the ideas of others,” Hoewing said. “Constructive criticism often helps move the ball forward. Quick, reactive commentary can sometimes do just the opposite.” Good policy also depends on defining the problem correctly, he said. “In far too many cases, we debate issues that are not really important to solving a real public policy problem because we are not asking the right questions and hence not really defining the issue that needs to be addressed.” It’s also crucial to respect the people involved in policy making, he said. “The vast majority of those participating in policy debates have good motives and have principles that are at the heart of what they support and say,” Hoewing said. Although there may be an “occasional bad apple,” it’s important to focus on opponents’ ideas, rather than attack their motives, he said. Hoewing told us his biggest accomplishments at Verizon were helping lead the effort among then-RBOCs to push through the Telecom Act; managing a real-life transition to a non-regulated environment in Telecom New Zealand; and helping work through rule changes at the FCC that helped spur investment in fiber.

T-Mobile US filed a lawsuit against AT&T-owned Aio Wireless, alleging the prepaid carrier violated its “famous Magenta color trademark.” In the suit, filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Houston, T-Mobile claimed Aio’s use of magenta in its logo is meant to attract T-Mobile customers and “is likely to dilute T-Mobile’s famous magenta color trademark, and to create initial interest confusion as to the source or affiliation of AT&T’s subsidiary’s business.” Aio is using magenta in its logo with full knowledge of “T-Mobile’s exclusive rights in the magenta mark,” T-Mobile said in its complaint. An Aio spokeswoman said T-Mobile’s claims were false, saying that Aio’s logo doesn’t use the magenta shade used in T-Mobile’s logo.