The FCC released an order at our deadline Friday that eliminates the Dec. 31, 2016, deadline for public safety licensees using 700 MHz narrowband spectrum to transition their radio systems from 12.5 kHz channel bandwidth technology to 6.25 kHz technology (http://fcc.us/1wmI1py). The order also redesignates the channels in the 700 MHz band that are currently licensed for secondary trucking operations as available for public safety aircraft voice operations. The FCC’s order allows voice operations on Data Interoperability Channels on a secondary basis and reallocates the Reserve Channels on the narrowband into General Use Channels. The order also gives T-Band public safety licensees priority for licensing of the former Reserve Channels in T-Band areas. The FCC encouraged manufacturers of 700 MHz public safety radios to obtain Compliance Assessment Program certification for new equipment to demonstrate the equipment meets P25 interoperability standards. APCO had urged the FCC in August to make a “rapid” decision whether to eliminate the Dec. 31, 2016, deadline (see 1408150028). FCC Public Safety Bureau Chief David Simpson said during an FCBA event prior to the order's release that "we should have a resolution" on the deadline issue.

AT&T isn't concerned about the FCC Media Bureau decision Wednesday to stop the shot clock on its review of the telco's plan to buy DirecTV (see 1410220058), AT&T Chief Financial Officer John Stephens said Wednesday on a call with analysts. “We’re still optimistic about the transaction,” Stephens said. “The stopping of the clock is not an uncommon or rare experience and it has something to do with other issues than the benefit of our deal or the merits of our deal.” AT&T still anticipates approval of the deal in the “originally announced one year kind of time frame,” he said. The companies unveiled the deal in May. AT&T earnings came in at 63 cents per share in Q3, a penny below analyst estimates, the carrier said. Net income fell 21 percent from the same quarter last year on higher operating expenses. Revenue was $32.9 billion in the quarter, a 2.5 percent increase over the previous year. Wireless made up 56 percent of total revenue, AT&T said. Headed into the AWS-3 auction, AT&T reported $3.5 billion in free cash flow. The company added 785,000 postpaid subscribers, more than twice as many as in Q3 last year. Connected device net adds were 1,275,000, which includes more than 500,000 connected cars, AT&T said (http://soc.att.com/1t70QuJ).

Correction: What the FCC Media Bureau shared with eighth-floor officials (see 1410220044) was information about a draft NPRM on broadening the definition of a multichannel video programming distributor, not the draft itself, which hasn't circulated, a commission spokeswoman said.

The incentive auction is “interesting” to broadcasters even if the values for stations involved are half the amounts projected in the FCC’s Greenhill & Co. price estimates (see 1410020029), said Meredith Local Media Group President Paul Karpowicz on Meredith’s earnings call Thursday. Though Karpowicz said he believed the auction would happen “no question,” Meredith CEO Stephen Lacy said he doubted the auction would happen during his working career and he wouldn’t hold his breath waiting for “bags of money” from the auction to come to Meredith. According to Karpowicz, the Greenhill estimates show a Meredith station in Phoenix as worth in the auction a fraction of the value of another Meredith station in Springfield, Massachusetts. Phoenix at No. 12 is a much bigger Nielsen market than the designated market area including Springfield (http://bit.ly/1xenP5R).

Section 706 would give the FCC authority to prohibit paid prioritization, as long as providers have “the flexibility to enter into other forms of individualized or differentiated arrangements with other edge providers,” Michael Glover, Verizon's senior vice president-deputy general counsel, Craig Silliman, senior vice president-public policy; and William Johnson, vice president-associate general counsel, told members of the commission’s general counsel’s office and the Wireline Bureau Oct. 15, according to an ex parte filing made available to us Friday but not yet posted Monday in docket 14-28. A 706 strategy would also limit “the universe of parties who could potentially challenge” the commission’s authority, while a Title II course “would be subject to significant legal challenges,” Verizon argued. Reinterpreting Section 706 to apply common carriage regulation to broadband Internet access would have “far-reaching consequences,” because a “wide range of Internet services” -- including streaming video, VoIP services and search engines also incorporate a telecommunications component, Verizon said.

Little will be known about the level of broadcaster participation in the TV incentive auction until the auction actually takes place, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said Friday during a news conference after the commission's open meeting. "This is a marketplace that we're talking about here," he said. "We're creating a marketplace. We're trying to provide information that's relevant to that marketplace so that people can make decisions." Wheeler declined to say whether any incentive auction-related items will be on the agenda for the November meeting. The FCC is sticking with the "agenda" for the auction established by the FCC right after he took office, Wheeler said.

If the FCC can update its rules to “help unleash new business models” that already have interested investors and consumers, ”shouldn’t it consider doing so?” asked FCC General Counsel Jonathan Sallet while discussing the commission’s open proceeding on redefining what constitutes a multichannel video programming distributor (http://bit.ly/104DVF6). Sallet’s remarks were part of a speech at the Duke Law Policy Center policy conference in Washington Friday. The FCC “doesn’t root for one business model over another,” Sallet said. “But it does -- and it should -- look to see if any of its rules should be updated to facilitate the innovation that is occurring in the marketplace,” he said. Sallet asked if broadening the definition could increase competition for cable and boost broadband deployment. The “whole point” of the proceeding is to apply the Communications Act on a technology-neutral basis, Sallet said.

The idea that the FCC should pass mandates requiring FM chips in smartphones, as United Methodist Communications urged the commission to do (see [Ref:1410150101]), "is deader than a door nail," CEA President Gary Shapiro emailed us Thursday. "Even broadcasters say they are not seeking government action on this. The marketplace is resolving this and many cell phones with radio options are available for purchase, plus most cars have radios."

United Methodist Communications urged the FCC to require mobile phone manufacturers and operators to provide access to FM radio through mobile devices. It’s a matter of public safety “in addition to convenience for individual users of these devices,” UMC General Secretary Larry Hollon said in a letter to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler. When residential power is out, cell service and the Internet are also out, he said. The only battery device may be a smartphone, “but it is useless without cell service,” he said. With an activated radio chip, a smartphone will function similar to a transistor radio, “providing people with information essential for survival,” he said. CEA and CTIA are among those that have long opposed FCC mandates for requiring FM chips in smartphones [Ref:1208070001]. CEA representatives didn't immediately comment on the UMC letter. CTIA continues "to believe consumer preference, not government mandates, should drive decisions about mobile device functionalities," said Jot Carpenter, vice president-government affairs, by email. "Some consumers value radio capabilities and there are devices available to meet their needs. At the same time, other consumers have no interest in those radio capabilities. The current marketplace serves both segments well.”

Free Press plans a rally outside an Oct. 21 forum on net neutrality at Texas A&M University in College Station, to be chaired by FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai 1410010004. Free Press has pushed the FCC to hold hearings outside Washington (http://bit.ly/1p9FUgZ). “Pai, who opposes Net Neutrality protections, is at least willing to hear from the public,” the group said. “Free Press is working with local allies to ensure that area residents have the opportunity to speak out before and during the forum.”