That NAB regularly has communicated with regulators its concerns about the low rate of FM chip activations in smartphones doesn’t mean NAB has changed its position and is now seeking FM chip mandates, Skip Pizzi, NAB senior director-new media technologies, told us at the NAB Show. Rather than seeking mandates, NAB’s aim is to convince the FCC to use “its good offices” to encourage wireless carriers to activate the FM chips already embedded in most new smartphones and to endorse the NextRadio FM smartphone app, Pizzi told us. A just-completed NAB analysis released at the NAB Show found roughly two-thirds of the smartphones sold in the U.S. in 2014 with FM chips embedded weren't activated, and of those, 75 percent were iPhones (see 1504120004). NAB previously stated its policy of not seeking a mandate on FM chips in smartphones last month when it said FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler erred in House testimony when he suggested broadcasters were seeking such mandates (see 1503200031). Pizzi's denial that NAB was now seeking mandates came amid several references he made in his NAB Show talk that NAB has conferred regularly with regulators over the FM smartphone chip activations issue. Moreover, NAB President Gordon Smith, in his NAB Show opening keynote, juxtaposed expressions of NAB support for the NextRadio campaign on landing more FM chip activations in smartphones with the promise that "winning our legislative and regulatory battles on Capitol Hill and at the FCC ensures broadcasters will be able to capitalize on these innovations."

FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly questioned what he said is a growing practice of calling in guest speakers at agency meetings, in a Friday blog post. O’Rielly doesn’t cite examples. At the FCC February meeting, at which the net neutrality order was approved, Chairman Tom Wheeler invited net neutrality supporters Chad Dickerson, CEO of Etsy, and TV producer Veena Sud, whose show The Killing survived with the help of Netflix, to address the meeting before commissioners started their lengthy discussion (see 1502260043). “I am not convinced that adding guest speakers is beneficial or appropriate,” O’Rielly said. “While witnesses may provide valuable insight into issues the Commission is considering, these presentations come far too late in the process to inform the outcome of an item. Indeed, they fall within a no-mans-land where they are practically too late to be ex partes but technically too early to be congratulatory.” The main propose of inviting witnesses seems to be to “further promote the viewpoint championed in the item about to be adopted,” he said. “The more controversial the item, the more likely we are to receive such presentations.” If speakers are still allowed at meetings, as a matter of fairness they should have to provide their testimony at least 48 hours in advance, O’Rielly said. Currently, no text is provided before the meeting, he said. Witnesses also should be subject to questioning if they join FCC staff at the presentation table, he said. O’Rielly also said he will no longer provide questions that he may ask staff to the various offices bureaus and offices before an item is presented. “I suggest that we can improve the discourse and relevance of an Open Meeting by allowing unscripted questions and answers,” O’Rielly said. “Accordingly, I serve notice that I no longer plan to provide questions to staff in advance of an Open Meeting. I promise that I have no intention of blindsiding or embarrassing staff by asking questions. There should be no gotcha moments.”

Low-power TV service displacement rights after the TV incentive auction give low-power broadcasters the ability to “homestead” spectrum ahead of unlicensed uses, the LPTV Spectrum Rights Coalition said in an email Tuesday. “Our Coalition predicts that the unlicensed industry will be stopped cold in its tracks for over a decade in its quest for low-band spectrum,” Director Mike Gravino said in the email. “Any attempt to put unlicensed users ahead of LPTV will result in a court case, and a long delay in the auction,” he said. Unlicensed industry companies could prevent LPTV from locking up needed spectrum by supporting “a buy-out of LPTV spectrum for the good of the economy,” Gravino said. The price for LPTV spectrum before the auction will be lower than it will be after, he predicted.

Correction: The Intelsat satellite network is composed of geostationary satellites that can be used for both mobile and fixed services (see 1504030043).

NAB expects to sell its current building and the land it sits on to partially finance its new headquarters planned for 2018, an NAB spokesman told us Wednesday. The current N Street NW building was “gutted and completely renovated in 1995” and NAB has been advised it will receive “top dollar offers” for both building and land, the spokesman said. NAB expects the building to be attractive to “embassies, think tanks and other trade associations.”

AT&T's planned buy of DirecTV should be granted only with conditions that “eliminate all regulatory advantages AT&T and DirecTV have enjoyed as putative upstart competitors to established rivals,” Cox Communications told an aide to FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel in an April 2 meeting, according to an ex parte filing. The deal “will create a new company with unprecedented resources, diversity of service platforms, and household reach,” Cox said. The new company should be required to comply with the basic tier requirement that cable companies already face, and be prohibited from exclusive programming agreements, and demanding volume discounts from programmers, Cox said. The deal also should include conditions designed to prevent the new company from having “unfair competitive advantages in the bundled services market resulting from its control of the largest wireline and data network,” Cox said in docket 14-90.

Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel is not leaving the FCC, despite rumors to that effect, an aide to the commissioner said Tuesday. Several top industry lawyers told us they had heard from numerous sources that Rosenworcel may leave as early as June, potentially leaving the agency with a 2-2 split between Democrats and Republicans. “This is really easy; she’s staying put,” the aide said.

Chanelle Hardy was named FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn’s chief of staff and media legal adviser, Clyburn’s office said Monday. The appointment is effective May 1‎. Hardy was the National Urban League’s senior vice president-policy and executive director of the group’s Washington, D.C., bureau, a news release said. She has been counsel and later chief of staff to then-Rep. Artur Davis, D-Ala. "Chanelle Hardy is a deeply committed public servant, who brings significant experience in policy analysis, advocacy, strategic partnerships and media analytics to my office,” Clyburn said in the release. Former chief-of-staff Adonis Hoffman left the agency last month to start a think tank (see 1503260051).

An FCC public notice was published Friday in the Federal Register seeking comment on how the commencement of operations for new 600 MHz band wireless licensees after the TV incentive auction should be defined (see 1503260047) . Comments are due May 1, replies May 18.

The FCC published a list of prohibited written presentations made at the FCC on its net neutrality rules between Feb. 20 and March 12, the sunshine period on the order. FCC rules prohibit making any presentation, “whether ex parte or not, to decision-making personnel concerning any matter listed on the Commission’s Sunshine Agenda from the day after the Sunshine Agenda is released until the Commission releases the text of a decision or order relating to that matter or removes the item from the Sunshine Agenda,” the FCC said Friday. Among those who filed prohibited communications at the agency were the New Networks Institute, the Consumer Federation of America and Protect Internet Freedom, the notice said.