The FCC Media Bureau identified 406 mutually exclusive (MX) groups from applications filed in the low-power FM window. The applications identified in the MX groups may include applications “the bureau has determined or may at a future date determine are subject to dismissal for legal and/or technical defects,” it said in a public notice (http://bit.ly/18vuXTY). Applicants may begin filing Form 318 amendments using the Consolidated Database System, it said. Some of the groups identified include Alaska Revival Radio, Northland Baptist Ministries and Rage in Wasilla, Alaska, and the Diocese of Rapid City and Western Dakota Technical Institute in Rapid City, S.D., the bureau said (http://bit.ly/1gCbRyq). Applicants in MX groups can resolve technical conflicts through technical amendments, settlements and time-share agreements, it said.

Correction: What the Pennsylvania Wireless Broadband Collocation Act of 2012 streamlines is the deployment of new cell sites, said Christopher Nurse, AT&T regional vice president-external affairs (CD Dec 13 p17).

The correctional institutions seeking a stay of the FCC’s inmate calling service provider rules lack standing to do so, the attorney for Martha Wright told Wireline Bureau officials Thursday, an ex parte filing said (http://bit.ly/1fzibnc). “They are merely third-party beneficiaries of the unjust, unreasonable and unfair rates,” wrote the attorney for the Washington, D.C., grandmother who originally petitioned the commission for lower prison phone rates. The request for stay filed by CenturyLink should be denied because the ILEC “failed to provide any new basis for granting the Stay that was not addressed” in the order, the Wright attorney said. The petition for stay filed by Pay Tel should be dismissed because its main argument -- that it would not qualify for safe harbor rates -- “is not sufficient basis for overturning [the] three-tiered structure adopted by the FCC,” the attorney said.

Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., named the invited witnesses for Wednesday’s scheduled hearing on data brokers (http://1.usa.gov/1bIkFOs). Rockefeller announced the hearing last week. The FTC is to release its own study on data brokers in early 2014 (CD Nov 18 p21), and the FTC Bureau of Consumer Protection Director Jessica Rich will represent the agency Wednesday. Don Robert, CEO of Experian -- a company that has been part of Rockefeller’s ongoing investigation into data broker business practices (CD Oct 11/12 p12) -- will also testify. Direct Marketing Association Senior Vice President-Government Affairs Jerry Cerasale is to testify on behalf of industry. World Privacy Forum Executive Director Pam Dixon will represent WPF’s privacy interests. And Annenberg School for Communication Associate Dean for Graduate Studies Joseph Turow will testify.

The Expanding Opportunities for Broadcasters Coalition “seems to stand in stark contrast to what is in the best interests of broadcasters and broadcasting,” said NAB auction pointman Rick Kaplan in blog post on the NAB website Monday (http://bit.ly/1k9wsKg). NAB’s executive vice president was responding to testimony from EOBC Executive Director Preston Padden at a Senate hearing last week. Padden’s complaints that the incentive auction isn’t moving fast enough and could fail don’t represent the concerns of broadcasters that want to keep broadcasting, Kaplan said. The EOBC’s mission is “to make sure that its members are paid as much money as possible and paid as quickly as possible for their spectrum licenses,” said Kaplan. “The day their checks are cashed, their engagement in this auction ends; the EOBC has no interest in the subsequent repacking or consumer welfare.” NAB and the Association of Public Television Stations recognize the auction is complex, and their members don’t share Padden’s urgency, Kaplan said. Broadcasters “want to weigh the potential benefits of participation” and aren’t “quick-hit investors looking to turn a quick profit because of the government’s unique offer to buy back licenses,” said Kaplan. Congress, the FCC and the public should treat NAB and APTS rather than EOBC as representative of broadcasters, Kaplan said. EOBC’s membership is a “closely guarded secret,” Kaplan said. “I love the NAB and have the greatest respect for its leadership,” responded Padden in an email. “Auction based payments to broadcasters, based on wireless spectrum values, are the ‘incentive’ that will drive the success of the Incentive Auction and our Coalition genuinely is committed to that success."

The FCC Media Bureau is seeking comment on the way “video clips” delivered via the Internet are closed captioned, the bureau said in a public notice Friday (http://bit.ly/1k9qSYh). “We ask whether, as a legal and/or policy matter, the Commission should require captioning of IP delivered video clips.” Though full video delivered over Internet Protocol is already required to be closed captioned, the commission held off on imposing the requirement on video clips (CD April 19 p11). But consumer groups representing the hearing impaired issued a report arguing that streaming news clips are a primary source of information on sudden calamities such as the Boston marathon bombing, and the lack of captions excludes the hearing impaired (CD May 17 p7). Sens. Mark Pryor, D-Ark., and Edward Markey, D-Mass., authors of the 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act, sent a letter to the FCC earlier this month asking the commission to require captions on IP video clips (http://1.usa.gov/1ejarJ3). The PN asks about the costs, benefits and technical challenges of captioning IP video clips. It also asks for information about the differences between captioning live or near-live clips -- such as news segments -- and prerecorded clips. The PN also raises the idea of requiring captions on only a subset of IP video clips. Comments are due Jan. 27, replies Feb. 26.

U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman should prioritize dismantling “protectionist” data flow policies through Trans-Pacific Partnership, Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, and Trade in International Services Agreement negotiations, said 18 House members in a Friday letter (http://1.usa.gov/1cxbuhJ). Some EU officials are pushing initiatives that undermine the U.S. ability to compete in the European market, such as an EU-only information sharing cloud and an EU information technology conglomerate, said the lawmakers. Protectionist EU IT policies threaten the $2.1 trillion in U.S. investment in the EU, the lawmakers said. “This mutually beneficial relationship would not be possible without constant streams of data between the EU and the U.S,” said legislators. “Halting cross-border data flows will, by many measures, simply stifle cross-border trade.” Congressional High Tech Caucus co-chairs Michael McCaul, R-Texas, and Doris Matsui, D-Calif., led the letter. The lawmakers listed issues of concern both in and out of the U.S. After issuing a decree that requires Brazilian federal government agencies use only federally provided telecom and IT services, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff is pursuing data localization legislation, said the lawmakers. “Meanwhile, some German officials have called on the EU to review Safe Harbor, the only mechanism through which U.S. and European companies can exchange information in compliance with the laws of the nations in which they conduct business” (CD Oct 24 p10), said members of Congress. “Canada has increased the number of federal government Requests for Proposals (RFPs) invoking a ‘national security exemption’ and requiring IT vendors who bid for projects to keep all or portions of data within Canada.” U.S. Lawmakers recently introduced the Digital Trade Act of 2013 in an effort to prevent or eliminate cross-border Internet data flow restrictions by establishing negotiating principles for digital trade issues in future U.S. trade agreements.

The Council of Governments applauded the FCC order to ensure reliable 911 service in a statement Friday (http://bit.ly/1bCrCNK). COG is a nonprofit association that deals with regional issues affecting the Washington, D.C., area. The FCC voted to approve an order Thursday that requires carriers to file annual audits on how they are following best practices for 911 connections (CD Dec 13 p7). The order was influenced by regional studies documenting “significant loss” of 911 service in northern Virginia during the June 2012 derecho storm, COG said. All phone companies that provide 911 service must now certify annually that they have implemented best practices including audits of their circuits, maintenance of central office backup power and reliable network monitoring systems, it said. The FCC proves the “power of regional collaboration,” said COG Executive Director Chuck Bean. “With this new rule, we are securing our infrastructure in metropolitan Washington,” he said. “The success with the FCC was built on solid analytics but the change happened because we spoke with a regional voice."

NBCUniversal needs “reasonable access to peer deals” to “avoid forcing parties into costly and burdensome arbitration,” said the unit of Comcast about the benchmark condition in the 2011 FCC order letting the companies combine. It noted in an ex parte filing that the commission is reviewing a clarification order. The companies have said they can’t share content with online video distributors without access to OVDs’ deals with industry peers to NBCUniversal (CD Sept 3 p11). The filing posted Thursday to docket 10-56 (http://bit.ly/1cs6tGZ) said participants at the lobbying meeting with Commissioner Mike O'Rielly included NBCUniversal Senior Vice President-Government Affairs Meredith Baker -- an FCC member when the deal was approved -- Comcast Executive Vice President David Cohen and Senior Vice President-Regulatory and State Legislative Affairs Kathy Zachem. As “the success of Wi-Fi has placed great stress on existing unlicensed spectrum resources,” Comcast -- in a separate FCC meeting on the same day as the O'Rielly conversation -- asked top aides to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler for the agency to focus on “enabling additional Wi-Fi access.” That can occur in the 5 GHz band through designating more spectrum for unlicensed use, Cohen and Zachem told Wheeler aides, recounted another ex parte filing that was posted Friday in docket 13-184 (http://bit.ly/19mFBuR). Many connections to high-speed broadband in classrooms likely will be through Wi-Fi devices, the filing said FCC Chief of Staff Ruth Milkman, Senior Counselor Phil Verveer and Special Counsel Diane Cornell were told.

More than 30 countries, including the U.K., have enacted resale royalty provisions since 1992, said a Copyright Office report released Friday (http://1.usa.gov/1bCreia). “We believe that Congress may want to consider a resale royalty, as well as a number of possible alternative or complementary options for supporting visual artists, within the broader context of industry norms, market practices, and other pertinent data."