The FCC asked Congress for $4.5 million of unused funds from previous years to pay for two proceedings, required by statute, in the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1. It seeks $3.5 million to continue working on the National Broadband Plan (NBP) and $1 million for the 2010 media ownership review. The money would be used to hire staffers to implement the plan and to run additional workshops on media ownership and pay for studies on the issue. The request points up the overarching focus of delivering on the March broadband plan at the FCC, though it’s been overshadowed recently by net neutrality and reclassification talks, and on trying to improve on data collected for previous ownership reviews, communications lawyers said.

U.S. talks on net neutrality are being closely monitored by European players and regulators, several said Friday. The collapse of FCC talks and the reported Google-Verizon agreement (CD Aug 6 p1) come in the middle of important consultations in the EU and U.K. on net neutrality. Meanwhile, Germany’s incumbent provider is said to be aiming for a similar agreement with Google. The widely reported Google-Verizon agreement, which the companies have yet to confirm, calls for Verizon to treat all traffic on its wireline network without discrimination and to be more open about how it manages wireless traffic. Google told us Friday it had “no announcement to make at this point.”

The FCC approved 5-0 Thursday a notice of proposed rulemaking and notice of inquiry aimed at spurring investments in wireless backhaul, a recommendation of the National Broadband Plan. Neither was particularly controversial. The FCC also unanimously approved an order aimed at increasing the number of wireless handsets available to the deaf and hard of hearing. The monthly meeting was over in less than an hour, and most of the questions in a press conference afterwards by Chairman Julius Genachowski focused on negotiations over net neutrality and broadband reclassification (see related story this issue).

News that online companies often track and collect data about the online patterns of users raised the ire of two prominent members of Congress, who sent a letter Thursday demanding answers from more than a dozen companies. Congress probably lacks the time to pass major privacy legislation this year, said Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., who considering a bill and didn’t co-sign the letter. A series of Wall Street Journal articles starting Saturday said online companies often install consumer-tracking technologies on personal computers when users visit their sites. That spurred Reps. Ed Markey, D-Mass., and Joe Barton, R-Texas, to write 15 companies identified in the series, demanding they answer a slew of questions on their data collection practices. http://markey.house.gov/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=4079&Itemid=125

Cable operators are working on plans to provide more IPTV services to new devices such as laptops and iPads when they're used in a subscriber’s home, executives told investors Thursday on earnings calls. Time Warner Cable and Cablevision are both at work on new products along those lines. Eventually, that could drive down the need for traditional set-top boxes in the home, TWC CEO Glenn Britt said. “Over the next few years we will gradually have fewer set tops,” as new devices with Wi-Fi and home networking standards such as Multimedia over Coax are introduced, he said.

T-Mobile USA Q2 profit fell 4.9 percent to $404 million from a year earlier, the carrier reported Thursday as an executive said it’s premature to talk about a turnaround. Parent company Deutsche Telekom profit fell 8.8 percent as it deconsolidated its British unit T-Mobile U.K. with France Telecom’s British operations.

The Department of Agriculture awarded 126 broadband grants worth $1.2 billion Wednesday as a part of its second round of broadband funding through last year’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Despite the ambitious nature of the initiative, Secretary Tom Vilsack said it wouldn’t ensure the full deployment of universal broadband in the U.S.. “It’s a down payment, but not a balloon payment approach … to make broadband available in all corners of the country,” he told a media briefing. “There is a lot of work to be done but this certainly puts people to work.”

Talks over performance royalties for broadcasters have intensified recently, with a deal between radio and music labels on both terrestrial and streaming payments seeming more likely, industry officials said Wednesday. Such a deal has been expected by some (CD July 23 p15). The sides have held on-again, off-again conversations at the behest of members of Congress who want industry to come to an agreement about the performance royalties. Although an agreement seems closer, it’s far from certain that individual labels and owners of radio stations, which would need to approve any agreement, will sign on, industry officials said.

Broadcast ad sales continued to rebound in Q2 from lows during the recession and the resurgence seems to be holding through Q3, executives told investors on quarterly earnings teleconferences this week. But stations need to be careful how they manage their inventory in coming months, because an influx of political revenue could limit stations’ ability to benefit from the rebound, they said. “We're in a pure supply-and-demand business and we raise the rates as the pressure dictates on the inventory,” said Steve Marks, chief operating officer of Sinclair’s TV division. “The political is going to be big, and that will cause pressure on the inventory. We're on top of it, we're managing it, our pace is terrific and we have plenty of great spots left to sell."

Universal Service Fund revamp legislation recently introduced by House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Rick Boucher, D-Va., and Rep. Lee Terry, R-Neb. (CD July 23 p1) doesn’t offer much for satellite broadband providers, said industry executives. The legislation, which would create a fund to help extend Internet to the most rural regions, leaves out the technology that could expand broadband the furthest at the lowest cost, they contend.