Wireless carriers may get less in the FCC’s National Broadband Plan than meets the eye, commission officials indicated Monday. Although the plan recommends that 300 MHz of spectrum be made available for wireless broadband over the next five years and 500 MHz total over 10 years, FCC officials made clear Monday that not all will be dedicated to licensed use. The plan also provides substantial detail in its recommendations for the Universal Service Fund, including a phase-out of the high-cost fund. The plan will be presented to FCC commissioners Tuesday. They won’t vote on the plan, only on a mission statement setting out goals for U.S. broadband policy.

Innovations in online news media weren’t enough to offset financial losses, suggests a report from the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism. Although news media show tremendous energy toward digital journalism, cutbacks in traditional outlets dominate, the report suggested.

The city of Alexandria, Va., was told that all cable TV negotiations related to Verizon FiOS service have been suspended nationwide as the company does a review, the city’s director of communications, Tony Castrilli, told us. But Verizon said its FiOS expansion plans haven’t changed. Meanwhile, the city is hoping to become a site for the high-speed Internet testbed announced by Google, Castrilli said.

GENEVA -- Countries and the Internet registry community are discussing the possibilities of a global policy for reserving IPv6 addresses and of the ITU’s becoming an additional Regional Internet Registry, said participants at a group meeting about IPv6 that continues through Tuesday. The U.S. and some other participants said current mechanisms work well and can adapt to future needs.

Continued uncertainty in the launch market hurts the satellite industry’s ability to develop strategic business plans for investors, said Michael McDonnell, Intelsat’s chief financial officer. At the Satellite 2010 conference in National Harbor, Md., he joined other CFOs on a panel Monday in saying he hopes Sea Launch can emerge soon from bankruptcy to help keep the launch market competitive.

Verizon and Frontier laid out for the West Virginia Public Service Commission an extensive set of arguments in a filing late Friday summing up the companies’ case for approval of their proposed transaction. The deal would give Frontier ownership of Verizon landlines in 14 states. It ran into resistance last week when an administrative law judge with the Illinois Commerce Commission recommended against approval, saying consumers would be ill-served (CD March 11 p13). Illinois, West Virginia and Washington are the only states where approval of the transaction remains pending.

Cable operators support seven principles to let subscribers buy video devices from retailers that could connect to any pay-TV provider’s service, NCTA President Kyle McSlarrow said Friday. The plan could be the base for FCC inter-industry efforts on retail video devices, he wrote Chairman Julius Genachowski at http://xrl.us/bgyb38. The National Broadband Plan will recommend a move toward so-called gateway set-top boxes (CD Feb 22 p4). CEA said the principles are “good."

The proposed Universal Service Fund contribution increase to 15.3 percent for the 2010 second quarter is no surprise, but continues to show the need for reform, said Steve Berry, CEO of Rural Cellular Association. “We knew it was coming,” he said in an interview. “But the commission has to reform the current process and restructure USF.” Berry said wireless carriers, whose contributions are capped, are not to blame: “The issue is you have a wireline component that loses subscribers every year but their contributions increase every year.” There’s “an antiquated system that supports an antiquated technology and we haven’t figured out a way to reduce that support as people choose to go with different technologies."

The Rural Utilities Service funded as part of its broadband stimulus program a project in Bretton Woods, N.H., which primarily will provide fiber to 400 ski chalets. That example is starting to make national news and was the basis of a CNN report last week. Some who have followed the NTIA and RUS programs tell as that with a second and final round of applications due starting Friday, many questions remain about the program. Meanwhile, a Treasury Department decision that grants will be subject to taxes is said likely to discourage some applicants.

Advances in ad technology and Internet connectivity could within years bring more money into targeted advertising from major brand marketers, a category that has kept most of its major outlays with mass media outlets, a panelist said at the Media Summit in New York Thursday. “With everything IP-enabled, everything is addressable,” said Brandon Berger, vice president of digital innovation for MDC Partners, a holding company for marketing firms. “We as marketers will be able to deliver our message to the right customer in the right mindset that will get them to be an advocate and extend the brand’s value."