The House Committee on Science, Space and Technology approved the NASA Authorization Act of 2013 during a markup late Thursday. It reauthorizes programs for two years and includes a top line budget of $16.8 billion, which is lower than the funding that some Democrats sought in amendments (CD July 19 p9). The bill, HR-2687, cancels the proposed reorganization of NASA education programs and “prohibits the administration’s poorly defined Asteroid Retrieval Mission, which has raised concerns within the scientific community,” Chairman Lamar Smith, R-Texas, said in a press release (http://1.usa.gov/15sJVnx). The bill was approved 22-17 on a party-line vote, it said. The committee approved amendments, including a manager’s amendment from Smith and an amendment from Rep. Alan Grayson, D-Fla., which prohibits using authorized funds to pay contractors that have committed fraud or violated antitrust statutes, it said.

The Copyright Royalty Board submitted for public comment a new rule that would raise the rates paid to copyright holders by “business establishment services” making ephemeral recordings, from 10 percent to 12.5 percent, for the period between Jan. 1, 2014, and Dec. 31, 2018, said the text of the rule published Friday in the Federal Register (http://1.usa.gov/17qCTkw). The relevant new line reads: “For the making of any number of Ephemeral Recordings in the operation of a Business Establishment Service, a Licensee shall pay 12.5 percent of such Licensee’s ‘Gross Proceeds’ derived from the use in such service of musical programs that are attributable to copyrighted recordings.” Comments may be sent to crb@loc.gov until Aug. 19. The CRB is tasked with reviewing royalty rates every 5 years.

Sinclair, which has bought or agreed to buy 81 TV and four radio stations this year and last for about $2 billion, will “look to continue making acquisitions as industry consolidation is likely to remain ongoing,” an analyst wrote investors Friday. Those acquisitions include Barrington, Cox and Fisher, and Sinclair is expected to “continue to pursue a roll-up acquisition strategy” by buying more stations for its “smaller market portfolio while adding to its existing mid-market holdings,” said Benchmark Research’s Edward Atorino. “Sinclair also sees an opportunity for increased retransmission revenues and could benefit on a long-term basis from increased spectrum space as a large scale multi-channel television broadcaster."

ABC Owned Television Stations Group said TVB’s Local Live Plus Same Day ratings data are the metric “most consistent” with national C3 ratings, in a news release Friday from the Disney unit. Affiliates of other broadcast networks, including CBS, have also backed the measurement (CD May 13 p16).

The FCC Media Bureau granted the application of the curators of the University of Missouri to renew its license for KWMU(FM) St. Louis. It also denied an informal objection to the application from William Haas, it said in a letter (http://bit.ly/130fMd7). The former candidate for Missouri lieutenant governor alleged that a KWMU host disparaged his candidacy “during his show several times prior to the election,” in 2012, said the letter. The objection fails to allege adequate and specific factual allegations “concerning the alleged political programming issues sufficient to warrant commission action,” it said. Regarding Haas’s suggestion that the FCC implement rules for public radio on political broadcasting during elections, “this is not the correct forum for such requests,” the bureau said.

The Senate Communications Subcommittee plans a hearing to examine the state of wireline communications on July 25 at 10 a.m. in 253 Russell. Witnesses have not been announced.

Reforming Europe’s patchwork of telecom regulations could deliver up to 750 billion euros ($985 billion) in GDP growth by 2020, said a study for the European Telecommunications Network Operators’ Association. The study by Boston Consulting Group (http://xrl.us/bpg48t) examined how a better regulatory framework could protect competition and incentivize funding of the next-generation access networks needed for the EU to reach its digital agenda targets, ETNO said. While Europe was once a leader in the technologies that make up the backbone of the digital economy, many markets in Asia and North America now have fiber access penetration up to 20 times higher and LTE penetration as much as 25 times greater than Europe’s, the study said. European consumers have slower connections, leading to less value and slower economic growth, it said. Fast Internet connectivity is “the foundation of a modern digital economy” and without it, “Europe will fall behind on the world stage,” it said. European investment in telecom infrastructure fell by about 2 percent a year over the last five years, while investments in other international markets grew by roughly that amount, the study said. If there aren’t “major changes” to the telecom regulatory system, sector revenue will continue to shrink over the next decade, further cutting down on investment in new networks, it said. One of the root causes of the current situation is regulatory distortion in three areas, the study found: (1) Network owners can’t capture the fair returns needed to fund investment because of over- and inconsistent regulation of competitive markets arising from the failure to locally assess relevant competing infrastructures and from preferential treatment of non-infrastructure players. (2) Current approaches require inefficiency in the mobile sector, including in the allocation of spectrum, and create barriers to consolidation in a highly fragmented industry. (3) The lack of a true digital single market with harmonized regulations means that different rules and procedures in areas such as consumer protection across EU countries hinder operators’ ability to reap cross-border synergies. The report recommended a five-strand program to tackle the regulatory root causes of decreasing investment. It called for “substantial deregulation” of fixed-line wholesale access, and a level playing field between network operators and over-the-top services providers. The EU should also pursue a policy that ensures efficient spectrum allocation; permits healthy consolidation in the mobile sector; and standardizes rules and procedures, the study said. The findings “come at the right moment,” as the European Commission has begun reform of telecom rules, said ETNO Executive Board Chairman Luigi Gambardella.

July 21-24 NARUC summer meetings, Sheraton Denver Downtown -- http://bit.ly/123Joc5

The FCC Wireless Bureau approved winning bids by a number of small carriers in last year’s Mobility Fund Phase I auction in a Thursday public notice (http://fcc.us/112zqHR). Carolina West Wireless and East Kentucky Network were among the bidders approved. One bid, by Eagle Telephone Systems for Baker, Ore., was found to be in default.

Verizon is “not interested” in making a counterbid for Leap Wireless in the wake of AT&T’s offer, Verizon Chief Financial Officer Fran Shammo said Thursday during an investor conference call. The telco is “very comfortable” with spectrum holdings associated with Verizon Wireless, which it co-owns with Vodafone, Shammo said. Verizon Wireless is accelerating the positioning of the AWS spectrum it acquired last year, and is examining reallocating slivers of its CDMA spectrum for use on its 4G LTE network, he said. Verizon Wireless “obviously” plans to participate in the FCC’s incentive auction of broadcast TV spectrum, though it’s not “under any spectrum pressure,” Shammo said. Verizon Wireless saw its 4G LTE network continue to grow during Q2, with 59 percent of its total data traffic during the quarter running over the LTE network. Verizon Wireless added 941,000 subscribers during the quarter; Verizon’s total operating revenue for the quarter rose by 4.3 percent to $28.6 billion. Verizon Wireless’s new Edge early smartphone upgrade plan is “yet another choice” for its customers to consider, Shammo said. The plan, which follows recently announced upgrade plans from AT&T and T-Mobile US, would allow a customer to upgrade to a new smartphone six months after buying the last one -- provided the customer has paid off at least half of the phone’s price. The plan allows customers to pay for a phone over a 24-month period. Verizon Wireless said it plans to begin offering the plan, which would include all of its available smartphones, Aug. 25 (http://vz.to/1auCvmR). Verizon Wireless activated 3.9 million iPhones during Q2 -- 44 percent more than it activated during the same period in 2012. It activated 7.5 million total smartphones during the quarter.