Correction: Tribune and Local TV have market overlaps between newspapers and TV stations in Hampton Roads, Va., and Wilkes-Barre, Pa., and operate overlapping stations in St. Louis and Denver under local marketing agreements, said Tribune, correcting a Free Press statement (CD July 1 p2).

The FCC Media Bureau dismissed the Educational Media Foundation’s application for a new FM translator station in Los Angeles. EMF wanted a waiver allowing it to amend its application, but doesn’t argue that any special circumstances exist “that would exempt it from complying with the Caps Showing requirement, nor are any apparent,” said the bureau in an order (http://bit.ly/14NsNZb). The bureau “cannot find that special circumstances exist which warrant a deviation from our policy,” it said.

Communications Daily won’t be published Thursday, July 4, because of the federal Independence Day holiday. Our next issue will be dated Friday, July 5.

The FTC voted 3-0-1 to approve a final order settling claims that HTC America “failed to take reasonable steps to secure the software it developed for its smartphones and tablet computers, introducing security flaws that placed sensitive information about millions of consumers at risk,” said the agency Tuesday (http://1.usa.gov/14MMv7e). Under the settlement agreed to in February (CD Feb 25 p3), HTC must provide software patches to address the vulnerabilities, develop a security plan and “undergo independent security assessments every other year for the next 20 years,” said the agency in a news release. The company is prohibited from making false or misleading claims about its devices’ security, and violations of the consent order could cost the company $16,000 in civil penalties for each violation, the commission said. Commissioner Maureen Ohlhausen recused herself from voting on the order.

Recent FCC data about consumer complaints “is a clear reflection that the American people continue to care deeply about lowering the volume of TV commercials,” wrote the House and Senate authors of the Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation (CALM) Act (http://1.usa.gov/1213NMd). On Tuesday, Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., urged the commission in a letter to continue tracking consumer complaints about the volume of TV commercials and requested quarterly reports of such complaints through Dec. 31, 2014. The law is designed to ban TV ads with volume levels much louder than the programming they're shown with. The commission received 15,850 loud commercial complaints from Dec. 13, 2012, to June 5, 2013, wrote acting FCC Chairwoman Mignon Clyburn, responding to an earlier letter on the law from Eshoo and Whitehouse (http://1.usa.gov/14omhJO). Of those complaints, 10,700 were referred to the Enforcement Bureau for analysis, the letter said, and 55 of the total complaints were regarding loud commercials related to on-demand programming. Clyburn’s letter did not detail any trends or patterns of noncompliance because the bureau’s effort is “ongoing.” A commission review is “underway” to identify any patterns or trends that indicate noncompliance, she said in her letter that was made public Tuesday. The agency has granted 170 waiver requests from TV stations and multichannel video programming distributors, the letter said.

Dish Network and Southwest Airlines began free live and on-demand TV service for customers on all Southwest flights. For Southwest passengers using the iPhone, iPad and other devices, Dish is providing free access “to live TV and up to 75 on-demand shows on the airline’s more than 400 Wi-Fi-enabled aircraft,” said the DBS company in a news release Tuesday (http://bit.ly/18tsiZW). The offering, “TV Flies Free,” is powered by Row 44, said Row 44 in a news release. It said the design of the network supporting the program is the result of a collaboration between Hughes and Row 44.

Intelsat requested an additional 30 days on an existing special temporary authority to use its C-band earth station in Fillmore, Calif., to provide launch and early orbit phase services for the IRNSS-1A satellite, it said in an application to the FCC International Bureau (http://bit.ly/16M6yob). Satellite CD Radio, a Sirius XM subsidiary, requested an STA to conduct performance testing and telemetry, tracking and command of the FM-6 satellite at 120.5 degrees west for 180 days, it said in its application (http://bit.ly/11dL9FZ).

Union labor complaints in New York have sent Cablevision to the U.S. Supreme Court. The cable company filed with the Supreme Court for an emergency stay of the National Labor Relations Board proceeding regarding Cablevision worker complaints, it said Monday (http://prn.to/13oqQFU). Last month, Cablevision had filed a petition for a writ of mandamus and a motion for a stay in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to stop the NLRB from following up on these labor cases in the Bronx and Brooklyn (CD June 3 p9). The case traces back to a January D.C. Circuit ruling that the NLRB’s recess appointments by President Barack Obama were invalid, raising questions about whether it has a valid quorum and the constitutionality of its recent actions. The NLRB has defended the legitimacy of its operations. “The role of Congress is to ensure a balanced NLRB and the Obama Administration bypassed Congress in order to stack the NLRB in favor of Big Labor,” Cablevision said in a statement. “Two different federal courts -- the D.C. Circuit and the Third Circuit -- have established that the NLRB is illegally constituted and has no authority to take action. The NLRB continues to ignore these rulings, and we ask the Supreme Court to compel the NLRB to immediately halt its unlawful proceedings against Cablevision.”

Telcos can leverage big data analytics for business benefit through predicting and reducing churn, upselling and cross-selling offers and personalizing services, but this hasn’t occurred because of telco organizational and data structures, said Ovum in a study released Tuesday (http://bit.ly/18t3fpM). To execute a big data analytics project well, the study found flexible business structures and logical processes were required, rather than “siloed structures with artificial constraints” that were defined by network domains. Telcos need to become more data-centric and learn from the leaner and more agile analytics models being pursued by over-the-top operators, said Ovum. “Transforming ingrained operating models and business processes is a difficult task for telcos, and many are not entirely sure what they are transforming towards,” said Clare McCarthy, Ovum’s telco operations head. “Choosing a business intelligence and analytics solution and partner will be one of the most important strategic decisions that they face in the next year.”

Certain broadband stimulus projects already lead in providing the high-speed broadband the White House recently prioritized in ConnectED, said NTIA in a Monday blog post (http://1.usa.gov/14KQCBb). North Carolina nonprofit MCNC “has leveraged NTIA funding to significantly expand and fortify its statewide fiber-optic network -- ensuring it can scale to meet the ballooning bandwidth needs of North Carolina schools in the years ahead,” NTIA said. It pointed to the 100 Mbps or higher speeds at 115 K-12 school districts. The post cited examples such as in the Avery County school system where high speeds allow older students to take home MacBooks and younger students iPads. Rutherford County schools also supply students with laptops. “Individualized Web-based projects are replacing teacher lectures,” said NTIA of Avery. “Online instructional resources are replacing textbooks.” NTIA said one district doesn’t buy textbooks anymore. The agency highlighted MCNC as an example of its education-focused Broadband Technology Opportunities Program grantees. “Of our 116 network infrastructure projects, about 75 percent are linking or supplying additional bandwidth to schools,” it said. “Overall, roughly 10,000 schools in 44 states are being connected or upgraded, and almost 70 percent are getting access to speeds of at least 100 megabits.”