The FCC should adopt a PCIA-submitted “consensus” definition of wireless facility installations that should qualify for exclusion from review under the National Environmental Policy Act and National Historic Preservation Act, PCIA and HetNet Forum representatives told Wireless Bureau officials during a meeting last week. Industry officials want an exemption for “minimally invasive wireless infrastructure designed to provide service in a limited geographic area,” said Zachary Champ, PCIA government affairs counsel, in an FCC filing. “These installations can consist of relatively inconspicuous, small form-factor installations consisting of one or more radio transceivers, antennas, interconnecting cables, power supply, and other associated electronics. The wireless facilities referred to are generally made up of an equipment enclosure, antenna and associated equipment.” Installations should qualify for exemption if the equipment enclosure is no larger than 17 cubic feet in volume, PCIA said. Antennas connected with the installation should be no more than 3 cubic feet in volume, with antennas that have exposed elements fitting within an “imaginary enclosure” of no more than 3 cubic feet in volume, said the group. Associated infrastructure, including all electrical equipment, should not be included in the FCC’s volume calculations, said the association. The industry-driven definition “accommodates current DAS and small cell deployments and anticipates foreseeable technological development,” but may require future flexibility to accommodate unanticipated future tech developments, PCIA said. The FCC should “develop an accelerated waiver process for wireless facilities that conform to the intention of the exemption but do not fit within the stated dimensions,” PCIA said. The groups’ representatives also urged the FCC to not view its work with the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors to develop voluntary best practices on wireless facility siting “as a substitute for a rulemaking proceeding in which all parties have an opportunity to comment on the legal framework governing wireless facilities siting” (http://bit.ly/14EaSrM).

CBS stations won’t be available to Time Warner Cable subscribers Thursday morning if the two companies can’t agree on a new retransmission consent agreement, said executives with both sides of a possible retrans blackout. The companies traded more (CD July 23 p20) verbal barbs Tuesday, as the blackout was put off from the 5 p.m. Wednesday deadline (CD July 22 p7). Time Warner Cable is “happy to consider an extension offer,” said a spokeswoman. “But right now we want to continue to negotiate to try to reach an agreement before the expiration.” CBS CEO Les Moonves sees the dispute as having “escalated over the past few days,” with “a very real threat that Time Warner Cable is going to drop our stations in New York, Los Angeles and Dallas (and possibly Showtime) off the air Thursday morning,” he wrote employees. “We don’t take this situation lightly.” Like Showtime, TMC also wouldn’t be carried on Time Warner Cable nationwide if a new deal isn’t reached, both sides have said. The broadcast network’s shows “are among the most popular in the industry, and yet there are many cable networks -- with considerably less viewership -- that receive more money for their programming from Time Warner Cable than we do,” wrote Moonves. “CBS is not even in the top 10 recipients of the programming fees paid out by Time Warner Cable.” Cable, telco and DBS “are appreciating what CBS provides their customers, and we have been successfully negotiating new, current market deals that work well for us and our partners,” he said. Moonves cited deals with Comcast, Cablevision, DirecTV, Dish Network, Verizon and AT&T. Time Warner Cable “is unique in its aggressive approach,” he said. Time Warner Cable is “willing to pay for CBS, and we have offered them significant fees,” said its spokeswoman. “Their current demands don’t represent a good value for our customers. Nevertheless, we'll continue to negotiate, and hope to reach an agreement before the expiration.” Rather than just Time Warner Cable, “everyone is having these problems,” said the spokeswoman. “Literally every other distributor, whether cable, satellite, or telco, has acknowledged the problems created by programmers’ rising costs.” She cited “well-publicized disputes this year and last involving cable/satellite/telco distributors and both national cable networks and local broadcast stations."

Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said Tuesday he will co-sponsor the Television Consumer Freedom Act (S-912), which was introduced earlier this year by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. The legislation aims to encourage video programmers and distributors to offer a la carte video to consumers, deter broadcasters from downgrading their over-the-air services and amend the sports blackout rules (CD May 10 p2). “Consumers should not have to pay for programming they don’t want or watch,” Blumenthal said in a news release. “The current antiquated, antidemocratic system imposes all-or-nothing cable packages that give consumers no control over their cable bill, and prevent subscribers from voting with their feet when they are unhappy,” he said. “During the late 1990s, technological advancement and consumer demand forced the music industry to dramatically change the way it distributed music to consumers. Now is the time for the cable industry to do the same.” Chris Lewis, vice president-government affairs at Public Knowledge, said the bill is a “good first step towards giving consumers more choice, and one that does not mandate any particular business model. It would mean that people’s bills could go down, as they would no longer have to pay for programming they don’t watch,” he said in a news release. Free Press Action Fund President Craig Aaron said in a separate news release the bill “would help consumers everywhere who are paying high prices for dozens -- sometimes hundreds -- of channels they don’t want and will never watch.” Tim Winter, president of the Parents Television Council, commended Blumenthal in a news release for supporting “this common-sense bill that will allow consumers to choose and pay for only the cable networks they want.”

Do Not Track (DNT) stakeholders will discuss the World Wide Web Consortium working group co-chairs’ decision to reject an industry proposal and move forward with the “Editors’ Draft” as well as a path forward for the group, during Wednesday’s weekly group call, co-chair Matthias Schunter said in an email to the group Tuesday (http://bit.ly/16XCZhA). The call will be led by Schunter because co-chair Peter Swire, who usually leads the calls, has personal commitments, the email said. The co-chair’s decision to move forward with the Editors’ Draft, the list of outstanding issues and the stakeholders’ proposed changes to the document “give us a clear (and well-defined) work program toward” producing a Last Call document -- the deadline for which is the end of the month -- “and a decision on the direction going forward,” Schunter wrote. “As a group, we will review the individual change proposals, look for counterproposals and perfecting amendments, and either agree on a single approach, or use the call for objections process to move forward,” he said. Through emails to the group, stakeholders have been raising questions about the legitimacy of the co-chairs’ decision to move forward with the Editors’ Draft as the Working Group Draft and the decision to move forward with the process at all.

Google and Provo, Utah, closed a deal to bring gigabit-speed fiber service to the city, said Mayor John Curtis in a blog post Monday (http://bit.ly/1bJdZSf). “Similar to purchasing a home, after both parties agreed to the details of the offer, it took a little while to iron out the last few things that needed to be addressed or clarified,” he said. “That was all taken care of today and we're off and running.” Google and Provo announced a partnership this spring. Curtis fielded several questions in the comments of his blog post and promised more detailed updates on the rollout in the next month or so, and touched on other Google Fiber developments in progress. “Google Fiber is working with” Brigham Young University officials, Curtis said of service coming to that campus. “In the coming weeks/months more of the particulars of the service will be rolled out. It’s exciting to see."

SES made earth station special temporary authority requests. It requested 180-day STAs to permit earth stations KA288 and E920698 to communicate with the ASTRA 3A satellite to provide telemetry, tracking and control (TT&C) during and after drifting the satellite to 177 degrees west, said the company in an application to the FCC International Bureau (http://bit.ly/18xTvrI). It also applied for a 30-day STA to use E980076 for TT&C to relocate NSS-806 from 40.5 degrees west to 47.5 degrees west, said another application (http://bit.ly/1bKe2xa). Intelsat requested 30-day STAs, including one for its Castle Rock, Colo., Ku-band earth station KL92, “to provide launch and early orbit phase services for the Eurobird-25B satellite that is expected to be launched on Aug. 22,” said that company (http://bit.ly/12JRLaw).

Sirius XM signed a new employment agreement Monday with Scott Greenstein that will keep him on as president and chief content officer for at least another three years, said the company in an 8-K SEC filing. He will continue getting $1.25 million in annual base salary and qualify for yearly target bonuses equaling 150 percent of his base pay, the filing said. If Greenstein is terminated, he'll qualify for a lump-sum severance payment equaling his base pay plus the last bonus he received, the filing said. The company also granted Greenstein the option to buy Sirius XM shares worth $6.5 million and restricted stock units (RSUs) worth $1 million, the filing said. The stock option will vest in three equal yearly installments and the RSUs will vest on July 22, 2016, when the employment agreement is due to expire, it said.

Vodafone would consider “any offer” from Verizon to buy Vodafone’s 45 percent ownership stake in Verizon Wireless, said Vodafone Chairman Gerard Kleisterlee Tuesday during his company’s annual meeting, which was also webcast. Verizon owns 55 percent of Verizon Wireless. “If we see proposals that generate more value for shareholders we will consider them,” Kleisterlee said, though he added that he had no update on any possible bids. Verizon has previously said it is interested in buying out Vodafone’s stake in Verizon Wireless. A Verizon spokesman declined to comment. Kleisterlee’s comments represented a “slight” change in tone from the company on a possible Verizon buyout, said Wells Fargo analyst Jennifer Fritzsche Tuesday in an email to investors.

WBUR(FM) Boston urged the FCC to adopt an indecency enforcement policy with an “egregious cases” approach. Sometimes WBUR’s service to the community produces potential indecency violations under the FCC’s current “zero tolerance” approach,” it said in comments in docket 13-86 (http://bit.ly/12giG2N). The potential for inadvertent indecent language was always present in the live continuous coverage of the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombings, it said. “It was virtually impossible to report on this unfolding story without the real danger of profanity ending up on our air.” Massive forfeiture amounts and inconsistent application of the current indecency policy by the FCC “have created an atmosphere of uncertainty that requires WBUR to pursue our brand of public service journalism at great risk,” it said. WBUR also said it put its support behind NPR’s recommendation of a news and public affairs programming “safe harbor.”

Lifeline reform continued to prompt significant discussion at NARUC’s summer meeting in Denver. “It’s a cornerstone principle that we've got to take providers out of determining whether a customer is eligible,” said AT&T Assistant Vice President-Public Policy David Hostetter Monday during a panel discussion. He commended the FCC reform overall and expressed great appreciation for the closing of loopholes. But it “can’t be a good structure or framework” for the entity that benefits commercially from subscribership to be the one determining eligibility, he said. AT&T advocates for “long-term functionality” through a single, automated process that could be built into the accountability database, potentially, Hostetter said, outlining different possibilities. He also recommended stakeholders take a closer look at who Lifeline customers are, which he judged would lead to a better job in designing future changes. “Clearly there’s a financial incentive to enter the market if you're a prepaid wireless provider,” said Montana Telecom Association General Manager Geoff Feiss, who advocated for curbing what he called the waste these incentives may have created. The NARUC telecom committee approved the other four resolution drafts, which will need to be formally adopted by the NARUC board Wednesday to become policy.