Another cash infusion is going to Adak Eagle Enterprises and its subsidiary Windy City Cellular to help them keep afloat while the FCC continues its long-pending review of their request for waiver of some new USF rules. In an order adopted Friday, two FCC bureaus gave the Alaskan carriers $40,000 and $33,000, respectively, for the next month. That’s the same amount they got per month when the commission first approved their “limited, interim relief” for six months starting December (CD Dec 26 p14). The commission needs the time to “fully consider” Adak and WCC’s May proposals (CD May 17 p16) for how to further reduce expenses, the chiefs of the Wireless and Wireline bureaus said in their order (http://bit.ly/13V5Naj). The order came the day after late night emails from the carriers’ attorney pleading for relief. “The AEE/WCC interim relief runs out on June 20 -- just four business days from now,” Patton Boggs partner Monica Desai wrote around midnight in letters to each commissioner’s wireline aide, and various agency staff (http://bit.ly/1bOlov8). Desai summarized the companies’ arguments in favor of a waiver, including the “steep cuts the companies have undertaken” and their investment of USF support into plant and personnel to provide “comprehensive” service. “We are hopeful that you will be persuaded to grant a waiver,” she said. An FCC spokesman declined to comment on whether the additional one month relief means an agency decision is expected within the month.

The FCC Media Bureau granted two Comcast petitions to exempt it from municipal rate-setting for basic-video and some other prices in six communities in Oregon, said filings posted in FCC docket 12-1. Comcast’s petitions cited competition from DirecTV and Dish Network. The deregulation affects just under 75,000 households in the communities of Lane County, Benton County, Springfield and Millersburg.

Dish Network told the FCC Friday that SoftBank’s revised offer to buy 78 percent of Sprint Nextel is a “substantial amendment” that requires the agency to issue a new public notice and a new opportunity for interested parties to comment (http://bit.ly/1amcs2b). SoftBank and Sprint had argued Thursday that there was “no factual or legal basis” for requiring a new notice and comment period (CD June 14 p11). SoftBank’s revised offer includes $5 billion cash investment in Sprint -- 40 percent below the $8 billion it promised in its original offer. Dish took issue with SoftBank’s claims that the decreased investment amount did not substantially affect the deal’s public interest component, saying SoftBank relied heavily on the original $8 billion investment promise as a way of justifying the public interest aspect of the deal. “One of the two pillars of the purported public benefits to the proposed transaction has been cut down in size by almost 40 percent,” Dish said. The company also took issue with SoftBank and Sprint’s claim that Dish’s criticisms of the decreasing amount of U.S. ownership in Sprint was xenophobic. “The one-two combination of a foreign entity not only acquiring control but making it more difficult for others to vie for control or influence is relevant to this statutorily mandated review,” Dish said. SoftBank and Sprint said in a separate filing Friday that SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son and Sprint CEO Dan Hesse had urged FCC action on the deal in a conversation with acting FCC Chairwoman Mignon Clyburn and other FCC staff. The FCC’s informal 180-day “shot clock” expired weeks ago, and the deal had cleared all other remaining regulatory hurdles, the companies said. Approval delays would be a “thumb on the scale” against shareholder approval of the deal, the companies said (http://bit.ly/13H4cpZ).

Intelsat has new and renewed contracts with Asian-Pacific media companies, said the satellite company in a Monday news release(http://bit.ly/12R7biW). Hong Kong-based TVBI Co., a producer and distributor of Chinese-language programming, renewed a multi-year agreement for capacity on Intelsat 19. KKDI, a Japan-based telecom company, signed an agreement for Intelsat to deliver managed media services via the IntelsatOne network. The Internet Protocol network will connect KDDI’s four U.S. bureaus and one European bureau its Tokyo headquarters.

The U.S. and European Union will begin negotiations for the proposed Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership agreement July 8, the White House said Monday. The agreement will aim to boost U.S. and EU economic growth and add more than 13 million jobs, the White House said in a statement. The negotiating objectives include creating new rules and principles on intellectual property.

The European Broadcasting Union condemned the Greek government’s threat of legal action against satellite operators who transmit the ERT signal over Europe and Asia. The Greek government closed ERT’s TV, radio channels and website last week. “We urge the Greek government to withdraw the threats made against satellite operators, and restore the continuity of public service media channels in Greece and across the world,” said EBU Director General Ingrid Deltenre in a statement (http://bit.ly/ZWVjIh). The government’s threats are contrary to Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras’s offer to resume certain public news broadcasts, it said.

Princeton, Mass., signed a contract with G4S Technology for the design of a potential fiber broadband network, the design firm said Monday (http://bit.ly/14e24VH). Princeton voted to authorize the design in mid-May and will decide in September whether to build the network, it said. “The design will take into consideration more than 1,350 homes situated on Princeton’s 80.62 miles of road resulting in more than 425,600 feet of fiber optic cable,” G4S said. “It will encompass access to all homes, including those set back from the road and those with underground utility services.” The design is scheduled for completion by the end of July, it said. On Friday, the Princeton Broadband Committee asked town residents to help in location surveying efforts of the local telephone poles, described in detail in a blog post (http://bit.ly/11tkOhX).

Hughes Network Systems is selling a VoIP product “on the heels of numerous successful VoIP over satellite deployments throughout the world,” the company said in a news release Monday. It cited the company’s products in Mexico, South Africa and Spain. In the U.S., HughesNet Voice is packaged with satellite broadband service HughesNet, the company said (http://bit.ly/11GL86X). ViaSat has said as of Monday it became the first U.S. satellite ISP to sell home phone service (CD June 17 p22). Hughes began adding customers for HughesNet Voice on June 4 in a “’soft’ launch,” a spokeswoman told us. “We will be offering HughesNet Voice through all our channels beginning July 1."

Scripps Networks Interactive is introducing websites and mobile apps to give pay-TV subscribers that get its cable networks access to that content on various devices, said Time Warner Cable. It said that’s “following through” on SNI’s “promise to make its content available to consumers wherever and whenever they want, beginning with the Travel Channel, Food Network, HGTV, DIY Network and Cooking Channel websites.” Time Warner Cable’s video customers can watch shows from those networks on any computer in the U.S. by verifying their subscription with their TWC ID, said the cable operator in a news release Monday. “The best way to meet growing consumer demand is to help them access content beyond the set-top box and deliver it through various industry initiatives such as TV Everywhere,” said Henry Ahn, SNI executive vice president-content distribution and marketing, in the release. An SNI spokesman had no further comment.

Boulder, Colo., will be home to a national Center for Advanced Communications, the National Institute of Standards and Technology said Friday (http://1.usa.gov/12QE9Ql). NIST and NTIA, through a memorandum of understanding, are collectively opening the center, intended to “implement a key provision of a memorandum President [Barack] Obama issued” as part of the administration’s wireless plans (CD June 17 p1). Its focus will be “to promote interdisciplinary research, development and testing in radio frequency technology and spectrum sharing for public safety and commercial broadband applications,” NIST said.