Republicans and Democrats from the House Commerce Committee requested information from the FCC on the agency’s USF programs. They sent a letter Friday (http://1.usa.gov/13HZd57) and specified that the information requested is an update to previous requests from July 2012, reflecting reforms to the FCC programs. The agency should send them a state-by-state list of how the funds were disbursed throughout the high-cost and low-income programs in 2010, 2011 and 2012 as well as a list of states that have their own USFs and their purposes, the letter said. It also wants a state-by-state list of the eligible telecom carriers that receive Lifeline support and a history of the FCC’s decision-making in moving forward with some of the reforms. Other requests touch on what companies received certain levels of high-cost support and how many Lifeline subscribers were de-enrolled as part of the FCC’s recertification process last year. The letter was signed by Committee Chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich.; Ranking Member Henry Waxman, D-Calif.; House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore.; and Communications Subcommittee Ranking Member Anna Eshoo, D-Calif. The letter “continues a standing bipartisan request to the FCC for data to aid the committee in its oversight of the fund, prevent waste, fraud and abuse, and ensure the taxpayers are getting the most benefit for every USF dollar,” said Upton and Walden in a statement. The request for data “ensures that the committee has the most up-to-date performance information so that Universal Service subsidies can be maximized to spur further broadband growth in critical areas of the United States,” Eshoo added.

Public Knowledge criticized the Department of Commerce report on copyright for its failure to consider the problems of consolidation among corporate music licensing rightsholders, PK said in a Friday blog post (http://bit.ly/13Bon6i). It praised the report, which was released Wednesday (CD Aug 1 p12), for recognizing issues with music licensing and for noting that the best defense is a good offense. But the paper leaves out the “elephant in the room” that is the impact of consolidation among rightsholders, it said. “At some points the [paper] even seems to imply industry consolidation is a good thing,” it said. “A marketplace with a small number of ‘must have’ licensors may be less complex but actually makes life more difficult for new services and independent artists. When the top three record labels control so much of the market they're considered indispensable to a new service, they have an effective veto power and can use their leverage to impose a tax on innovation in the marketplace."

Correction: The bill House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, D-Md., added to the House Democrats’ “Make It In America” jobs plan was the Broadband Adoption Act, or HR-1685 (CD Aug 2 p11).

Privately held Cox Communications has stepped “into the ring” of cable consolidation, an analyst wrote investors Friday. Craig Moffett of Moffett Research cited a Bloomberg News report that day that Cox and Charter Communications have talked about a potential combination (http://bloom.bg/145wGus). Spokespeople for the two operators declined to comment to us. “A Cox deal, if available, makes a ton of sense for Charter,” wrote Moffett. “Cox could be a much more attractive partner for Charter than TWC would have been, at least as a first step,” he wrote of Time Warner Cable, a rumored target for the smaller Charter (CD July 1 p19). With 4 million to 5 million video subscribers each, Cox and Charter are close in size, wrote the analyst. “Nosebleed leverage wouldn’t be necessary; a merger of equals would leave balance sheet room for subsequent deals, while still giving Charter the benefit of a doubling of scale.” Charter stock closed up 4.7 percent Friday at $134.

The Minority Media and Telecommunications Council submitted an erratum to the FCC detailing the peer review process for its study of the impacts of cross-ownership on minority and women media owners, as expected (CD July 29 p11). The erratum was submitted as part of a response to several questions from the commission, according to the erratum. Several public interest groups attacked the MMTC study for its methodology and small sample size, and questioned the peer review process (CD July 24 p8). The peer review process for the document took place over conference call, and was done at “the design stage” of the report and just before the final report was published, the filing said. The peer reviewers asked questions about the proposed methodology for the study and “ultimately expressed comfort with the study going forward using the draft instrument and sampling methodology given the time constraints,” said the erratum. Before the study was published, the peer reviewers “concurred that the study should be characterized as useful albeit not reliably definitive primarily because of sample composition and the modest number of interviews” said the erratum (http://bit.ly/14MRnHN).

NAB supports the Wireless Microphone Users Interference Protection Act of 2013, President Gordon Smith told Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Ill., in a letter released Friday. On Thursday, Rush introduced HR-2911. It would require the FCC to expand Part 74 license eligibility to wireless mic users, create “safe haven channels” for wireless mics and let owners and operators of such mics access TV band databases to help prevent interference (http://1.usa.gov/145kyd7). It was referred to the House Commerce Committee. Smith called the bill “a step in the right direction” and “vital” for broadcasting. “Without safe haven protections for these operations, broadcasters may not be able to provide on-the-scene coverage of breaking news, emergency information, political events and other time-sensitive situations,” Smith wrote in last Monday’s letter (http://bit.ly/1bSxuJa). “The spectrum available for these essential operations is already congested, and likely to become more so in the future.” Sandy LaMantia, president of mic and audio electronics manufacturer Shure Inc., also praised the bill Thursday. The company applauds Rush’s “continued commitment to maintain the high level of quality sound that Americans have come to expect during their live entertainment, sporting, and religious events,” she said in a statement (http://prn.to/145mjXB).

The Department of Defense didn’t consult with NAB before proposing to share spectrum in the 2025-2110 MHz band, home of the Broadband Auxiliary Service, said the association in an FCC ex parte filing (http://bit.ly/18Wux9l). Although NAB said it’s willing to work with DOD, the association pointed out that NTIA had evaluated the possibility of sharing the BAS and “concluded repeatedly for various systems that sharing was not possible.” Broadcasters “make full use of this spectrum, as it is essential to our newsgathering efforts, especially in times of crisis,” said NAB. The commission should also not rely on “faulty or undercounted estimates of over-the-air viewership,” NAB said. CEA released a study showing falling over-the-air numbers earlier last week that met with a negative NAB reaction (CD July 31 p15). NAB prefers a GfK study that showed an increase in over-the-air viewership (CD June 21 p20), said the filing. “Broadcast only levels are even higher among minority, low income and younger households and minorities make up 41 percent of all broadcast only households."

The global parental control software market will be worth $1 billion in 2013, said ABI Research in a Friday news release (http://bit.ly/19BXMO0) based on the industry research firm’s figures. The market will be driven by parental spending as well as spending by educational institutions, it said. “Low parental knowledge and lack of adequate cyber education for children is prompting a surge in demand for filtering, blocking, and control technologies."

Google Fiber began offering a Sports Plus package Thursday to give customers 12 sports networks for $10 a month plus tax, said the Google unit in a blog post (http://bit.ly/18WpHbZ). It said networks that Kansas City customers can get include NFL RedZone and MLB Network Strike Zone.

Broadcast TV dominated the cultural currency in 2012, with larger audience share and above-average use within social interactions, said a Television Bureau of Advertising (TVB) and Colligent report released Thursday (http://bit.ly/137GcKo). High social media engagement scores without sizable audiences “were most prevalent for younger-skewing and cable original offerings,” the report found. Original cable dramas were the best opportunity in the cable channels to achieve “cultural currency,” the report found. Network primetime and local news programming provides the most balanced array of online social media behaviors for markets to tap into, the report found. “Social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter provide consumers with important outlets to connect with others and immerse themselves in the cultural mainstream, particularly in regards to television,” said TVB Chief Research Officer Stacy Lynn Schulman (http://bit.ly/16N6Jir). “During prime time, broadcast TV networks reach far more viewers than Facebook and when it comes to time spent, TV continues to significantly outpace all other media, including social.” Colligent, a social affinity mapping company, monitored Facebook and Twitter trends across 570 TV stations, 1,823 radio stations, 358 local and national newspapers, 650 consumer brands and over 4,400 broadcast and cable programs. Colligent’s data were compared against Nielsen Media Research Live+7 data for persons over 12 years old.