The FCC found Intelsat apparently liable for a $112,500 fine by permitting another entity to assume its position in the processing queue for a geostationary orbit-like satellite license. Intelsat failed “to maintain the continuing accuracy and completeness of information furnished in an application pending before the commission,” said a notice of apparent liability (http://bit.ly/JgG1sE). The NAL pertains to a first-in-line application of the Galaxy 28 satellite and the proposed Galaxy KA satellite. Commissioner Ajit Pai who dissented said he is skeptical of the FCC’s conclusion. The FCC alleges that Intelsat violated rules by taking action to “transfer, assign, or otherwise permit ViaSat to assume its place in the GSO-like satellite licensing queue in apparent violation of the rules,” he said (http://bit.ly/1gwjUg7). However, any such action took place “no later than March 2, 2010, when Intelsat amended its application for the Galaxy KA satellite, thus moving ViaSat to the head of the queue,” he said. Since more than one year elapsed since that date, “I do not believe that the commission may impose a forfeiture penalty,” he said.

Former U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director Todd Dickinson, executive director of the American Intellectual Property Law Association, is one of several patent stakeholders set to testify Tuesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee (http://1.usa.gov/1bMsZOb). The hearing is set to focus on the Patent Transparency and Improvements Act (S-1720), which committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, introduced in November (CD Nov 20 p20). Other witnesses from the communications industry are Dana Rao, Adobe associate general counsel, Harry Wolin, Advanced Micro Devices general counsel, and Philip Johnson, Johnson & Johnson’s chief intellectual property counsel, speaking on behalf of the Coalition for 21st Century Patent Reform. The hearing is set for 10 a.m. in 226 Dirksen.

Aereo’s decision not to oppose broadcasters’ attempt to seek review by the U.S. Supreme Court of their case against the streaming TV service increases the possibility that the court will review the case, said Stifel Nicolaus analysts. Broadcasters filed a cert petition asking the high court to overturn a 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision that rejected a preliminary injunction against Aereo (CD Oct 15 p15). “We believe the justices are generally reluctant to review appeals of preliminary injunction decisions and so far there is no circuit split, which can invite high court review,” Stifel said in a research note (http://bit.ly/1jY0Hnl). This may change if the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals soon upholds a district court decision to grant broadcasters a preliminary injunction against FilmOn X, an Aereo-like service, said the analysts. These actions could spur retransmission consent changes next year, they said. If the broadcasters don’t shoot down Aereo’s service in court, “they could start to push hard for Congress to write new legislation to ensure they receive Internet video provider payments for their programming,” they said. The “largely-unaddressed ‘copying’ element of broadcasters’ lawsuit makes this case too early-stage for Supreme Court review,” said Guggenheim Partners analyst Paul Gallant. The courts have barely begun addressing broadcasters’ argument that Aereo’s system makes unlawful copies of broadcasters’ shows, he said in a research note. If the Supreme Court is going to rule on Aereo next year, “it probably needs to announce by January that it will hear the case,” he said. If broadcasters win, the Aereo threat is extinguished, he said. “If broadcasters lose, they can seek legislative change by Congress, where they would likely have the upper hand.” FilmOn X asked the 9th Circuit to overturn a preliminary injunction against it (CD Aug 29 p5). A similar appeal in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit also is pending (CD Sept 13 p22). Public Knowledge, Electronic Frontier Foundation and Engine Advocacy urged the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to overturn a decision by the U.S. District Court in Washington. The law doesn’t grant copyright holders complete control over the distribution and quality of their works, they said in a friend-of-the-court brief (http://bit.ly/1dxK5hx). “Fair use allows the public to make copies of varying quality in many circumstances, including home recordings of TV programs.” The existence of a service like FilmOn X “does not appreciably increase the risk of a broadcast program being redistributed illegally on the Internet by third parties,” it said. In a separate brief, the Computer & Communications Industry Association, Center for Democracy and Technology and other groups asked the court to approach the case in a way that preserves the holding and principles of the Cablevision case, during which an appeals court found that Cablevision doesn’t infringe copyright by launching a DVR service. The court should avoid any legal theories “that would cast a pall over wide swaths of the modern technological landscape, including the burgeoning cloud computing industry,” they said. CTIA, USTelecom and the Internet Infrastructure Coalition filed along with CCIA and CDT. The groups aren’t taking a stance on either party, they said.

The Austin City Council approved free Google Fiber links for 100 “community connections” sites Thursday evening, said the company in a blog post (http://bit.ly/18H0QUp). These sites include cultural institutions, two universities, workforce education centers, the Austin Independent School District, public libraries, and social and health services. For these sites to get Google Fiber, the surrounding area, or the fiberhood, needs to qualify for service first, said the company. “So when you sign up for Google Fiber next year, you're also helping these local community organizations get one step closer to getting Fiber, too,” said the company. It will probably “be over a year” before these sites starting getting connected, said Google Fiber. The company agreed to give 100 approved community institutions free service for 10 years as part of its contract with the city.

The public would “get nothing good” out of a rumored Sprint/T-Mobile US merger, Free Press President Craig Aaron said Friday in a statement. The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that Sprint was considering making a bid for T-Mobile in Q1. A Sprint spokesman declined to comment. “The public doesn’t need fewer competitors and fewer choices -- not when the wireless market already has so little competition,” Aaron said. “As they did in blocking the merger between AT&T and T-Mobile, the FCC and Justice Department must carefully and closely scrutinize this deal and its impacts on consumers and their wallets."

The New America Foundation’s Open Technology Institute is “reserving judgment” on the White House’s Review Group on Intelligence and Communications Technologies report on the National Security Agency’s surveillance programs, said OTI Policy Director Kevin Bankston. The report is due this weekend, but The Wall Street Journal (http://on.wsj.com/JesFgv) and The New York Times (http://nyti.ms/1fblhgr) published advance looks at the report Friday. OTI Policy Director Kevin Bankston said in an email statement that the report “recommends some important, common sense reforms, like separating the NSA’s code-making and code-breaking missions to avoid a dangerous conflict of interest, introducing a public advocate into the processes of the secret surveillance court, and establishing some level of privacy rights for people outside the United States.” But the review group “as we feared would be the case ... has urged that the NSA continue with its bulk collection and analysis of American phone records, just with the companies rather than the NSA holding the data,” Bankston said.

EchoStar is no longer pursuing a joint venture with Vivendi’s GVT, EchoStar said in a press release (http://bit.ly/19mP4m6). The partnership had been aimed at launching direct-to-home service in Brazil (CD Nov 14 p23).

British-based AeroMobile, which supplies technology and services to nine global airlines that enable passengers to use their mobile phones in-flight for voice, texting and data, hailed the FCC’s approval of an NPRM seeking comment on modernizing rules to allow mobile wireless calls on commercial flights (CD Dec 13 p1) . “I'm pleased to see that common sense prevailed” at the FCC, AeroMobile CEO Kevin Rogers said in a statement Friday. “There is no reason to maintain a ruling that is no longer relevant -- the technology used to provide inflight GSM services is proven, and has been operational across Europe, Asia and the Middle East for more than five years.” AeroMobile supplies “hundreds of connected flights flying to and from the U.S. every day, but at the moment the service has to be switched off when we reach U.S. airspace,” he said. As proof there’s demand for in-flight calls from U.S. travelers, Rogers said that in November alone, about 25 percent of the passengers using the AeroMobile service on trans-Atlantic flights “connected from U.S. mobile networks.” AeroMobile wants to work with the FCC to demonstrate “the value of the service to both customers and airlines, based on our experience,” Rogers said. “I'm hopeful that sensible discussions can now take place about the practicalities of operating this service in the U.S. Ultimately, it will be up to individual airlines to decide on the right in-flight mobile connectivity package for their passengers, whether this is SMS only or the full service, including voice and data."

Representatives from about a dozen public interest groups, meeting with FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler and media and wireless and other aides, expressed the need for a diverse agency. Wheeler should “include a wide diversity of backgrounds in FCC staff,” because “at both the FCC and in the media industry, diverse inputs lead to higher quality outcome,” a Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights official told the gathering, an ex parte filing on the gathering said. The meeting included Special Counsel-External Affairs Gigi Sohn, media aide Maria Kirby and wireless aide Renee Gregory. There’s “collective and strong support for the Lifeline program” and backing for the FCC’s enforcement actions this year against carriers from the American Civil Liberties Union, Consumers Union, Free Press, Leadership Conference, National Urban League, National Hispanic Media Coalition, Public Knowledge (headed by Sohn before Wheeler recently hired her), and other groups at the meeting, said the filing posted Friday in docket 09-182 (http://bit.ly/IKdnzY). “Both old and new networks” are important, said an official of the National Urban League, recounted the filing. “The civil rights community is looking for proactive policies to increase diversity in ownership in all technologies.” A “critical barrier to broadband adoption remains cost and education levels,” and Wheeler should expand Lifeline to include broadband to help “address the persistent adoption gap,” the filing recounted the league official saying. Wheeler was said to have shown a direct style in an introductory meeting last month with association officials and another with public interest representatives (CD Nov 22 p4).

Parties will have more time to respond to the FCC further notice on inmate calling, said a Wireline Bureau order (http://fcc.us/19HSoVb). Comments in docket 12-376 will now be due Dec. 20, replies Jan 13. The bureau said it found “good cause” to grant the request by the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction for a “modest time extension for all parties.” The Ohio DRC had argued the additional time would allow for “a more complete factual and legal record in this proceeding."