Only a handful of public safety agencies seeking Broadband Technology Opportunities Program funds got money to build early 700 MHz networks, as the White House unveiled $1.8 billion in awards Wednesday -- the biggest set of announcements in the history of the stimulus program. Many of the 21 governments and government groups that got waivers from the FCC to launch systems in 700 MHz spectrum had applied for BTOP funding. It’s unclear how many more public safety grants will be awarded and how many systems won’t get built without federal funding. New York City, Washington, and Boston were among grant applicants that did not get awards in Wednesday’s round.

More than 150 attorneys, economists, professors, assistants and analysts have sought access to confidential or highly confidential data provided to the FCC in its review of the Comcast-NBC Universal merger, FCC documents show. That’s more than double the number of people who sought access to such data during the FCC’s review of the News Corp.-DirecTV transaction that concluded in 2003, FCC filings show. Comcast alone had more than 50 people sign the acknowledgements of confidentiality to gain access to confidential data submitted by critics of the deal. They range from partners, associates and legal assistants at a handful of law firms to economic consultants and law professors who are reviewing the information. NBCU has 23 attorneys, assistants and analysts authorized to review the data, and GE has four partners, an associate and two assistants at Lawler Metzger working on the documents.

The FCC should clarify important points when implementing the Satellite TV Extension and Localism Act of 2010 (STELA) to avoid unintended consequences during retransmission consent negotiations, said DirecTV and Dish Network. The comments were in response to a rulemaking proposing to allow direct broadcast satellite providers to transmit the HD signals of significantly viewed stations (SVS) only if they also transmit the local station network affiliate in HD, if available. DirecTV said the language changes in the law could be construed to require satellite-TV providers during retransmission disputes to lower the resolution of other broadcasts.

An overdue report to Congress on FCC efforts to increase diversity among the industries it regulates and containing recommendations for legislation has effectively recirculated at the commission for a final vote, agency officials said. An updated draft of the report, which mandated to be prepared every three years by Section 257 of the Telecom Act, was sent to commissioners Aug. 11 and doesn’t appear to be controversial, officials said. The revised report doesn’t appear to contain major revisions and sticks with the legislative recommendations of the original draft that first circulated Jan. 8 but was essentially put on hold while career FCC staffers made changes, commission officials said. The report, due to Congress last Jan. 1, drew criticism from some minority advocates for being late (CD Aug 2 p2).

LightSquared paid Inmarsat $337.5 million to begin the process of consolidating terrestrial L-band spectrum that LightSquared plans to use for its 4G network, the companies said Wednesday. The process for opening up the spectrum for use by LightSquared has been in place since 2007, when the company was known as SkyTerra. LightSquared has paid an initial $81.25 million to Inmarsat.

Small and midsize carriers urged policy changes to spur competition in the U.S. wireless market. The requests came in reply comments as the FCC embarks on preparation of its next annual report on wireless competition. CTIA, AT&T and Verizon again called the market genuinely competitive.

Cellular carriers have little to offer toward a compromise on wireless net neutrality rules, CTIA President Steve Largent told reporters Tuesday. He and other CTIA officials said wireless carriers couldn’t strike a bargain if they wanted to, since only rules requiring increased transparency and disclosure make any sense for their business.

Broadcasters and newspaper publishers again attacked FCC media ownership limits in reply briefs this week at the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia. The agency’s brief to the court (CD July 22 p6) was “remarkably non-responsive” to the questions raised by media companies, Fox said. “The FCC essentially concedes that it ignored relevant evidence concerning the sole rationale for the newspaper ownership rule -- viewpoint diversity,” Fox said. Similarly, the regulator failed to respond to showings against the multiple station ownership limits, Sinclair said. “The FCC did not refute or even address many of Sinclair’s arguments” and should be inferred that it concedes the points made by that broadcaster, the company said.

Keeping rates low for telecom facilities attached to electric utility poles is important to broadband deployment, especially in rural America, wireline and wireless industry commenters told the FCC in response to a May 20 rulemaking notice. But the Edison Electric Institute, the main electric utility association, questioned whether the FCC can impose additional regulations on the group’s members.

The FCC found the average residential broadband speed in the U.S. to be about 4 Mbps, versus typical advertised speeds of 7-8 Mbps, in a paper made public Monday. Advertised speeds don’t take into account factors such as congestion and degradation of service over a connection, the commission said. They also don’t take into account matters on the subscriber’s end like slow computers and underperforming routers. Website performance also can reduce broadband speed, said the FCC.