Grove City, Ohio, Mayor Richard Sage said the city will offer a Smart911 service to benefit citizens and first responders, said Rave Mobile Safety, a public safety software partner, in a news release (http://yhoo.it/1gpkI3u). Smart911 allows households to create a safety profile with information for 911 and response teams to have in the event of an emergency, said Rave. Users of the service will have their information automatically displayed to the 911 call taker when they make emergency calls, said the company. Smart911 information is made available to 911 operators only when the resident dials 911 from a number associated with their profile, it said. Smart911 has been adopted in 32 states and more than 400 municipalities since it was introduced nearly three years ago, said Rave.

The FCC Wireline Bureau ordered an allocation method for the 844 toll-free area code Wednesday. The overseeing entity can provide only up to 100 numbers from the new code each day for its first 30 days. The code is expected to open Dec. 7. “In so doing, we temporarily waive the Commission’s rule that toll free numbers must be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis to the extent necessary to accommodate this direction,” the order said (http://bit.ly/1c1tQXU). This method is expected to distribute the numbers “more equitably and efficiently” than the alternatives, the order said, citing concerns that larger so-called “responsible organizations” could scoop up vanity numbers if the codes are not allocated as the order lays out.

The FCC Media Bureau dismissed a Dish Network complaint and Media General’s request for sanctions following the resolution of the companies’ carriage agreement. The companies jointly requested “that the commission dismiss the pleadings and terminate the proceeding,” the bureau said in a letter to the companies (http://bit.ly/IkRpU2). The companies reached a carriage agreement in November (CD Nov 19 p21). That month, Media General and Dish asked the FCC to dismiss their requests (CD Nov 21 p23).

The FCC’s repacking plan doesn’t do enough to preserve the coverage areas of existing broadcast licensees, said NAB in an ex parte filing (http://bit.ly/1exLR38) Wednesday. The FCC’s TVStudy software -- which will be used to oversee the repacking -- determines coverage areas using “proxy channels” as broad stand-ins for actual channel assignments, NAB said. “The use of proxy channels leads to considerable inaccuracies,” said the filing. TVStudy also makes assumptions about interference from Canadian and Mexican stations rather than using actual data, NAB said. “Reducing the coverage and population of an existing U.S. station based on ‘imaginary’ interference ... does not comply with the Spectrum Act,” NAB said. The software also makes assumptions about the coverage areas of Class A analog stations that aren’t accurate, said the filing. The assumptions used by the software should be corrected to match the actual circumstances, NAB said. The FCC should also finish developing new coordination agreements with Canada and Mexico before the auction begins, the ex parte said. “Otherwise, TV stations will be stranded on spectrum identified for broadband or leave broadband use of recovered spectrum impaired indefinitely,” said the filing.

Intelsat requested a modification of its authorization for Intelsat 701. Intelsat wants to specify the satellite’s operations at 29.5 degrees west in inclined orbit mode instead of at its current location at 157 degrees east, the FCC International Bureau said in a public notice (http://bit.ly/1gpxVJQ). The satellite company wants to provide fixed satellite service at 29.5 degrees west in the 3700-4200 MHz, 5925-6425 MHz, 10.95-11.2 GHz and other bands, it said.

Several industry voices backed changes to the wholesale reseller certification form of the FCC Wireline Bureau. AT&T, BT, CenturyLink, Orange, Sprint, Verizon and XO Communications filed joint comments with the FCC last week outlining several proposed edits to the Draft 499-A Instructions, which the Wireline Bureau had released as a redline document open for comments. “If a wholesale provider’s customer (or another entity in the downstream chain of resellers) actually contributed to the Universal Service Fund ('USF') on revenues from offerings incorporating particular services, there should be no double collection of USF contributions from the wholesale provider, even if the wholesale provider cannot demonstrate that it had a reasonable expectation that the customer would contribute when it filed its Form 499-A for the relevant calendar year,” the industry filing said (http://bit.ly/1c1dIW6). The joint comments ask for a footnote added to the form to clarify this point. It also asked for language “explaining how providers should account for services purchased after the date that the annual certificate is signed,” among other changes.

The company that changed its name to Graham Holdings (CD Nov 19 p21) agreed to sell its headquarters in downtown Washington and land on the same block to Carr Properties for about $159 million. The deal is expected to be completed at the end of March, said the TV station and cable system owner in a news release after U.S. markets closed Wednesday (http://bit.ly/1gpcjwY). The company was called the Washington Post Co. and changed its name with the sale of The Washington Post and publishing assets to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos. Graham Holdings will lease its offices from Carr until Graham moves, a date for which hasn’t been set, a spokeswoman for the media company told us by email Friday.

A Republican Senate bill would change how the FCC’s USF doles money out to rural states. Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., introduced the USF Equitable Distribution Act of 2013, S-1766, on Nov. 21, and the text of the bill appeared online last week. Ayotte has on multiple occasions in the past year criticized the USF, in particular the amount of money New Hampshire receives relative to its contributions to the fund. The bill’s purpose, according to its text, is “to provide for the equitable distribution of Universal Service funds to rural States.” The short piece of legislation provides for changes to the Communications Act of 1934, proposing the following language be added: “Not less than 75 percent of all amounts collected by providers of interstate telecommunications from consumers in a rural State for the purpose of making contributions … shall be allocated to the provision of universal service to consumers in that rural State.” An aide to Ayotte told us Friday that New Hampshire is a huge net-donor to the USF, receiving fewer than 40 cents for every dollar it contributes, whereas most other rural states are big net-recipients of the USF. The Ayotte bill won’t increase the size of the USF, the aide added. A rural state is defined as one in which “the total population density is not more than 200 people per square mile,” according to the bill. The FCC declined comment on the legislation. FairPoint applauds Ayotte’s efforts “to raise awareness” of areas that don’t see a good return on their USF contributions as well as the bill’s efforts to “remedy the situation” and help create “a fair distribution of USF-based funds,” a spokeswoman for the telco told us. FairPoint offers service in many rural markets across 17 states and serves New Hampshire. S-1766 lists no co-sponsors and is referred to the Commerce Committee.

A recent spectrum deal between the Department of Defense and NAB is likely to help the FCC in preparing for an upcoming spectrum auction, an observer told us. NTIA had announced the DOD-NAB agreement for sharing the 2025-2110 MHz band of spectrum last week (CD Nov 26 p1). “While they certainly did not need the NAB’s blessing, the agreement makes it a whole lot easier for the FCC to move forward confidently to pair the 1755-80 MHz band with 2155-80 MHz band for an auction ahead of the February 2015 statutory deadline,” said New America Foundation’s Michael Calabrese, director of its Wireless Future Project. Observers and industry stakeholders pointed to the deal as a major sign of progress as well as federal agency and industry investment in spectrum sharing (CD Nov 29 p1).

Comments on a U.S. proposal to limit ads and online posts by social welfare groups are due Feb. 25, as are requests for a public hearing, said the Treasury Department and IRS in a Friday Federal Register notice. The agencies’ NPRM last week to consider some political ads and Web content not part of promoting the social welfare as 501(c)(4) groups under the IRS tax code are expected to draw concern from disclosure advocates and a lawyer for such groups (CD Nov 29 p3). Comments can be made to www.regulations.gov referencing IRS REG-134417-13, said the notice (http://1.usa.gov/1b8Dx5C).