E.W. Scripps Q2 sales fell 4.2 percent to $207.9 million from the year-ago quarter as political ad revenue fell $10.4 million in “this off-cycle period,” said the TV station and newspaper owner in a news release Monday (http://bit.ly/15IbwTe). “Local, national and digital advertising all grew, and retransmission fees moved up 34 percent,” said Chairman Rich Boehne. Net income fell 41 percent to $3.19 million. Scripps stock closed down 11 percent on Monday to $14.87.

Entercom agreed to extend its use of Arbitron’s Portable People Meter and Diary radio ratings services for multiple years in a number of markets, said the companies in a news release Monday (http://bit.ly/YvIbpJ). Details weren’t provided.

A recent report that Cox Communications President Pat Esser met with executives from Charter Communications, said to be interested in a deal with the company (CD Aug 5 p19), and Charter investor Liberty Media “is not true,” he said in a memo to employees Friday. “As with any industry, mergers, acquisitions and strategic investments occur from time to time and the press often speculates on potential scenarios when rumors emerge.” Reporters and editors at Bloomberg News listed on the story, which reported last week that Esser had discussed a potential deal with representatives from Liberty, had no immediate comment on his memo.

The Office of Management and Budget approved some of the information collection mechanisms for the Connect America Fund for a period of three years, the FCC said Monday in the Federal Register (http://1.usa.gov/16YkU4i). OMB granted approval July 22, the FCC said, announcing an effective date of Monday for many of the Connect America Fund rules.

TDS completed its buy of Baja Broadband from private equity firm M/C Partners (CD April 11 p19) for about $267.5 million cash, said the buyer and seller in separate news releases Friday (http://bit.ly/185MY71) and Monday. The deal was approved by the FCC Wireline Bureau in May (http://bit.ly/11I5QId).

Gannett Broadcasting is supporting the Television Bureau of Advertising (TVB) position that Live Plus Same Day ratings should be the minimum ratings standard for local TV viewing, said Gannett in a press release Monday (http://ganne.tt/1cDMhVQ). “Live Plus Same Day ratings clearly provide the closest match to national C3 ratings on the local level,” said Dave Lougee, Gannett Broadcasting president. “This is an important first step in acknowledging the value of time-shifted audiences to advertisers on local television stations. Live-Only ratings are obsolete in today’s viewing environment."

If Google, Apple and Intel enter the pay-TV market, regulators would have to focus on broadband policies to protect the new competitors, said Paul Gallant of Guggenheim Partners, in a research note to investors Monday. Entry by brand-name firms as true cable-TV substitutes would revive calls for the FCC or the Department of Justice “to scrutinize cable operators’ usage-based pricing as a potential mechanism for TV cord-cutting,” said Gallant. If these companies became direct competitors to cable, the FCC would face calls to ensure cable doesn’t use traffic exchange policies to limit competition, he said. Any FCC efforts to strengthen these brand-name companies could be used to help Netflix reduce its costs “by gaining direct interconnection with cable broadband service” and it would have negative implications for content delivery networks by helping content providers with sufficient volume to bypass CDNs and directly connect to last-mile ISPs, Gallant said. Entry by Google, Apple and Intel may further diminish any Washington interest in anti-bundling policies, he said. Gallant said the new commission policies will depend on the agenda of incoming FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler.

The FCC Media Bureau granted BVM Helping Hands a construction permit modification for its station WSFI(FM), Antioch, Ill. The modification application includes a request for a limited waiver to allow otherwise prohibited overlap with noncommercial educational station WBSD(FM), Burlington, Wis., the bureau said in a letter (http://bit.ly/15I4VIx). Objectors Chicago Public Media and Faith Evangelical Lutheran Church argued that it would be “an unjustified waste of commission resources to allow BVM to pursue a speculative technical proposal,” it said. FELC claimed a waiver would be inappropriate because BVM fails to show “that there are no other transmitter sites available that would not cause prohibited overlap.” The bureau said CPM and FELC “have not raised a substantial and material question of fact warranting further inquiry."

Google Fiber set September deadlines for 28 “fiberhoods” in the Kansas City area, said the unit of Google in a blog post Monday (http://bit.ly/18YHFao). Customers in the neighborhoods wired with fiber will have staggered deadlines throughout the month of September to decide whether they want to buy the service.

Lightower Fiber Networks will expand its all-fiber network to Virginia and the Washington, D.C., said the company in a news release Monday (http://bit.ly/14u92Lt). In May 2012, Lightower started construction on a high fiber-count network covering most of Virginia and into North Carolina, and the company is now adding 400 route miles in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area, including parts of northern Virginia and southern Maryland, said Lightower. The expansion adds all-fiber connectivity to area data centers, including those in Ashburn, Culpepper and Richmond, Va., and Washington, D.C., to offer connectivity points for government applications, cloud and content distribution and area technology companies, said Lightower. “Lightower will continue to aggressively invest and expand in this region, all in response to the tremendous demand we are seeing here,” said CEO Rob Shanahan. Lightower said it will start bringing customers online in these areas in the fall and will invest in expanded sales and support staffs for the region.