Senate legislation requiring a national accounting of spectrum in federal hands has broad bipartisan support and is gaining steam on Capitol Hill, Brian Rice, aide to Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass, said Tuesday. At the Wireless Communications Association show, Rice said Sens. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, ranking member of the Commerce Committee, and John Warner, D-Va., on Tuesday signed on as co-sponsors of the bill. Kerry and Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, are the primary sponsors.

DirecTV doesn’t think its merger with Liberty Entertainment will face any regulatory hurdles, a company official said, though the deal will require FCC and Securities and Exchange Commission approval. The FCC has jurisdiction of DirecTV license transfers, DirecTV spokesman Darris Gringeri said, but he expects the deal to be finalized by Q4. However, cable operators may have concerns about the deal, American Cable Association President Matthew Polka said.

AT&T asked the FCC to investigate and take appropriate action against Digital Antenna for “knowingly and willingly marketing and selling” cellular and PCS boosters and repeaters that are interfering with AT&T’s service. An AT&T spokesman said it has identified cases where devices made by that company resulted in thousands of dropped calls by AT&T customers. A Digital spokesman said Friday that the company was investigating the charges but declined other comment.

A White House statement of plans to nominate Mignon Clyburn to become an FCC commissioner may prompt Senate Republicans to pick their candidates for two other seats, industry and government sources said Thursday. Clyburn, a member of South Carolina’s Public Service Commission since 1998, isn’t well known in federal communications circles.

Telecom Relay Service providers gave mixed reviews to a proposal designed to prevent uncertified companies from providing unregulated service and to tighten certification requirements for Internet-based telecom relay providers. Companies must be certified to receive reimbursement from the interstate TRS fund. Petitioner Purple Communications framed its plan as an effort to protect consumers. But in comments at the FCC last week, some accused the company of trying to thwart competition by smaller companies.

The FCC administrative law judge who heard the NFL’s program carriage complaint against Comcast denied the cable operator’s request (CD April 10 p11) that the league not be able to distance itself in the case from their contract. A Friday order from Chief FCC ALJ Richard Sippel said there’s no inconsistency between the NFL’s New York court case over the contract and its contention at the commission that putting the NFL Network on a sports tier violated section 616 of the Communications Act. By seeking “to vindicate its alleged private contractual rights in the New York litigation and its alleged federal statutory and regulatory rights in this case” the league isn’t trying to disavow the deal, as Comcast contended, Sippel wrote.

Language deep in a huge FAA reauthorization bill would ban all voice communications by commercial passengers using mobile devices on scheduled U.S. flights. The bill, HR-915, cleared the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee in March. It’s in the Ways and Means Committee, which must sign off on aspects of the legislation before it heads for a House floor vote.

The FCC opened a proceeding to develop a national broadband plan, at its meeting Wednesday. Commissioners unanimously approved a notice of inquiry on the plan, asking a laundry list of questions on how to effectively and efficiently spur broadband deployment and adoption. The FCC must deliver a plan to Congress by Feb. 17, under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

President Barack Obama’s nominee to run the FCC has extensive investments in Internet companies and has advised a wide array of publicly and privately held firms, according to his financial records filed last month. Julius Genachowski has had investmentsApril 7, 2009 in several dozen Web firms, said the report, a copy of which we obtained from the federal Office of Government Ethics.

It’s still a good idea for the FCC to add another Internet principle, acting Chairman Michael Copps said Friday at the NCTA show: ISPs can’t discriminate on their networks. The four principles adopted by the commission in 2005 have “helped,” he said at a breakfast event. On other communications matters, he said the DTV transition is going “OK.” And cable operators’ separate move to all-digital networks is confusing consumers, but policymakers understand its importance, he said.