The Corporation for Public Broadcasting is investing $1 million in an Application Programming Interface called the Public Media Platform, it said. The platform, to be used jointly by American Public Media, NPR, PBS, Public Radio International and the Public Radio Exchange, will allow public media partners to share a variety of content across a digital distribution network. Pubmedia leaders hope it will lead to more innovations in mobile applications, third-party sites, blogs, mashups and widgets.

No opposition cropped up against mobile DTV devices without analog tuners, and industry remains united behind them, replies Friday and Monday in docket 10-111 to two waiver requests before the FCC show. Replies were due Friday. Industry executives have said such consensus augurs for quick approval of the requests, either by the Media Bureau or full commission (CD June 8 p4). It’s unclear if an order exempting the devices from requirements that they also have analog tuners will be forthcoming from the commission soon, agency officials said Monday. None appears to be ready for imminent release, they said.

Wall Street panelists underscored what they said would be the chilling effect broadband reclassification could have on investment, during a panel Friday at Pike & Fischer’s Broadband Policy Summit. Meanwhile, Broadband for America (BFA), organized to oppose net neutrality rules, also flagged during a call with reporters the financial risks posed by FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski’s “third way” proposal.

TV and radio broadcast networks and affiliates increasingly are aligned on several issues getting legislative and regulatory attention, our survey of executives in those businesses found. The executives and NAB President Gordon Smith sounded upbeat that agreement in broadcasting, evidenced in part by last month’s return of CBS and Fox to the lobbying group (CD May 11 p14), will help the industry make its case in Washington. They said that’s crucial to avoid fracturing like that of a decade ago -- when networks left NAB amid disputes over ownership rules -- and to fend off challenges to businesses that have faced struggles. It also helps to deal with member NBC set to get a new owner in Comcast.

NTIA will start announcing round-two awards under the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program in July, Administrator Larry Strickling said at Pike & Fischer’s Broadband Policy Summit. With about $1.2 billion having been awarded to 82 projects in round one, there’s still $3 billion to be awarded by Sept. 30. In the first round, NTIA learned that “when we're talking about unserved and underserved areas in this country, there’s a huge difference between the needs of the anchor institutions and the needs of families and small business,” Strickling said. The need for much higher speeds is greater for the anchor institutions, like libraries and schools, he said.

The personnel and data needs of the effort to contain the Gulf of Mexico oil leak have increased reliance on satellite communications in what is usually a very low-density region, said executives of major providers of satellite services there. But one of the two providers has had a much larger increase in demand than the other.

AT&T, CTIA and TIA endorsed an FCC proposal to launch an online clearinghouse for information-sharing about products and services that promote access to devices tailored to people with disabilities. In a post May 17 to the FCC’s Blogband, the Consumer and Government Affairs Bureau asked for comments on the clearinghouse by Thursday. The post followed up on a recommendation in the National Broadband Plan.

BRUSSELS -- ITU members have focused on modest improvements in the international regulatory framework for some terrestrial services in WRC-12 preparations, an official said Thursday at a workshop on European objectives. A Canadian proposal suggests bigger changes but requires additional study of the effects on other provisions, according to a May impact study by the Radiocommunication Bureau. Participants in ITU-R and the European Conference of Postal Administrations are settling on making no changes in satellite service definitions in the conference preparatory talks.

Public safety and emergency experts emphasized the need for more clarity, accuracy and relevance in emergency alert procedures and systems, they said at the FCC and Federal Emergency Management Agency’s 21st Century emergency alerting workshop Thursday, citing lessons learned from an emergency alert system test in Alaska in January. The FCC should extend the deadline for installing updated Emergency Alert System (EAS) gear and the federal government should fund more training to use it, some said.

The ongoing fight over whether broadband should be reclassified as a more heavily regulated “telecom” service has resulted in chaos for the broadband industry, FCC Commissioner Meredith Baker said Thursday at the annual Broadband Policy Summit, sponsored by Pike & Fischer. Baker also said work on the “third way” reclassification plan by FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski has distracted attention from the National Broadband Plan. Another danger is that increased FCC regulation of the Internet could lead to more government control of the Internet in other nations, she warned.