The FCC largely sat out retransmission consent talks between Time Warner Cable and Disney-owned ABC TV stations and cable networks including ESPN that the companies said are close to reaching a successful conclusion, according to commission officials. The ongoing contract negotiations drew widespread attention, with a large number of stations, channels and cable subscribers involved. They didn’t seem to lead to overt worry inside the FCC that a deal wouldn’t be reached, agency officials said.

Clearwire’s new pay-as-you-go WiMAX mobile broadband service and devices target the 18-to-24-year-old city dwellers, executives told an investor conference Monday. The service, called Rover, doesn’t require contracts and is available in all of Clearwire’s 49 4G markets.

ANAHEIM, Calif. - The highly specialized capacity the U.S. government often needs poses a difficult situation for satellite operators and manufacturers, which place more value on generalized capacity, said industry executives during a panel on satellite communications acquisitions. More generalized capacity allows operators to switch among private industry users once a contract is up or business plans change, something far more difficult for satellites made for government use, said Kay Sears, president of Intelsat General, at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics conference. “Once you start to introduce the anti-jamming or military frequencies, then it becomes a risk to sell,” she said. As a result, different types of acquisition models are necessary to make sure the capacity is always there for military needs, she said. One way to improve the process would be to allow long-term contracts for satellite capacity, she said.

About 66 percent of Iowans had broadband at home in April, said a report put together by a nonprofit state affiliate of Connected Nation with Iowa’s Utilities Board and its Broadband Deployment Governance Board. The report, the first in a series that Connect Iowa plans on the topic, is to be formally released Wednesday. The document is based on data collected for an interactive map at http://connectiowa.org/mapping/interactive_map.php.

Defense of the U.S. homeland against cyber attacks calls for a strong military role instead of a public-private partnership, speakers said at a Heritage Foundation forum. Others expressed misgivings. The debate Thursday occurred as Senate negotiators worked on an omnibus bill that will determine whether the federal government or industry leads cybersecurity efforts.

The radio industry seems split on whether agreeing to pay royalties when broadcasting music would be offset by a cost cut in streaming fees, a requirement that FM chips be included in all cellphones and removal of legislative and Copyright Royalty Board uncertainty, our survey found. Some larger radio station groups and some of all sizes with relatively low debt believe that the potential of paying 1 percent on average of revenue in terrestrial music royalties, estimated to total $100 million annually, is offset by the benefits of a possible deal between NAB and RIAA. Smaller station groups and those that are more indebted are more wary because they can’t afford the royalty even if it gives them more business certainty, we found.

TV programmers are increasingly cautious about how they approach deals with new distribution partners and are being careful not to agree to anything that might run counter to the pay-TV industry’s TV Everywhere plans, online and mobile video industry executives said. “Any new distribution outlet has become more challenging because of TV Everywhere,” said Joanne Waage, vice president of strategic media partnership and programming at MobiTV: “What you see are major media companies looking at everything through the lens of TV Everywhere."

The Rural Utilities Service and NTIA have made broadband deployment in Indian Country a top priority, officials with the agencies said Thursday during the Native American Broadband Teleconference. Leaders of the Native American Broadband Association (NABA) previously expressed concerns that Indian applicants got relatively little early funding, in particular from RUS’ Broadband Infrastructure Program (CD Feb 12 p2).

More data on the wireless market would help the FCC better assess how competition may be hurt by special access rates, spectrum policies, early termination fees (ETFs) and exclusive handset arrangements, said the GAO. In a report released Thursday by Capitol Hill Democrats, GAO found significant consolidation and increased wireless usage since 2000. That has resulted in lower prices and better coverage, but also has made it tough for small and regional providers to win subscribers, make network investments and get handsets, GAO said. The report offers support to conclusions in the FCC’s wireless competition report that consolidation has hurt competition. In its May 20 report, the FCC declined to find that the U.S. wireless market is competitive, a sharp departure from previous reports (CD May 21 p1).

The full appeals court whose three-judge panel threw out an FCC decision to censure Fox for broadcasting unscripted swear words on 2002 and 2003 music awards shows probably won’t agree to rehear the case, said law professors and industry lawyers with indecency expertise watching the proceeding. The six we surveyed said the chances of the 2nd U.S. Court of Appeals in New York granting the commission’s request are low, as with most such requests for en banc rehearings. They said the ten judges may not be moved by FCC arguments that panel’s July ruling conflicts with the Supreme Court decision which sent the case back to the 2nd Circuit, the high court’s landmark 1978 Pacifica indecency ruling and other cases and would hobble the commission’s ability to regulate indecency. The FCC’s request, made Thursday, was expected (CD Aug 25 p3).