The DOJ’s decision Monday to abandon its lawsuit to compel Apple to create security-defeating software for the iPhone (see 1603280054) was “a preferable outcome to a wide-reaching court decision,” CTA President Gary Shapiro said Tuesday in a statement. Americans “want every tool in the fight against terrorism, but we also want our privacy and many in the technology and national security industry world believe that secure devices are an important weapon against terrorism,” Shapiro said. Tech companies “will help fight the battle against terrorism through innovation,” he said. “They will develop predictive analytics combined with sensing devices that smell explosives, measure biometrics including voice, facial and other indicators of emotion or intent. They will create new tools, applications and measures which keep us all safe." But what tech firms "are reluctant to do" is allow government "to have unfettered tools" that are easily "obtainable by bad actors" to crack "the most private of interactions" conducted on consumers' devices, Shapiro said. Shapiro buys into the argument (see 1603290059) that DOJ’s withdrawal of the suit against Apple doesn’t resolve the larger questions on privacy vs. security, he said. “The national discussion on the balance between privacy and security can and must continue,” Shapiro said. “We look forward to working with law enforcement, Congress and our members to discuss the appropriate tradeoffs in this critical balance."

Nome and Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, could be linked by a new multistage high-capacity fiber system by Q1 2017, Quintillion Subsea Operations said in an FCC International Bureau application Thursday seeking authority to build and operate the system. That cable is expected to be the first stage of a larger submarine cable system that eventually will go international, Quintillion said. The proposed Alaska line will have six landing stations in the state, as the first fiber cable at five of them, and provide coastal communities in northern and northwest Alaska with fiber-based communications that connect with other carriers and providers at each landing site, Quintillion said, saying it hopes to have the network constructed by October. The first vessel transporting the cable is expected to leave port in France April 18, Quintillion said. Any license grant later than that "creates the very real potential to delay the coming-into-operation date until the third quarter of 2017 at the earliest, if not considerably longer," given the short Alaskan construction season, Quintillion said.

Echoing labor law terminology, American TV Alliance said carriage of a station's primary programming stream is the "mandatory subject" of retransmission consent negotiations, and broadcasters insisting on forced bundling provisions in retrans talks violate good-faith negotiating, in an ATVA filing Friday in docket 15-216. ATVA said its proposal to restrict forced bundling (see 1512010052) would still let broadcasters offer such terms; "it merely could not insist on such carriage over the objection" of a multichannel video programming distributor. Broadcasters also should be required to make a legitimate stand-alone offer, ATVA said, with the test of how bona fide that offer is including questions of whether the stand-alone offer is the same or higher than the bundled offer, whether the broadcaster provided any explanation for the stand-alone offer, whether anyone has ever accepted the stand-alone offer, and how that stand-alone offer's price compares with those of close substitutes. The coalition elaborated on its argument that the FCC has authority to adopt ATVA proposals and to order interim carriage despite NAB arguments otherwise (see 1603170056), citing language in the Communications Act. In a statement Friday, NAB said, "The FCC has no authority in this area, previous Commissions have concluded. We agree with those conclusions. No broadcaster has ever been found to have violated the good faith rules. Ever. The only violators of good faith rules have been -- wait for it -- pay TV providers." While Fox and Dish Network have settled the lawsuit regarding the latter's AutoHop ad-skipping service (see 1602110012), MVPDs remain concerned about broadcaster restrictions on technology functions, ATVA said, with one broadcaster in retrans negotiations demanding the MVPD not give subscribers any options for skipping or fast forwarding through ads, or carry ads of any such device or service. Some MVPDs said broadcasters also have sought restrictions on network DVRs, picture-in-picture and mosaic functionality, and search and recommendation functionality, ATVA said.

Any tech standards that comply with FCC-proposed rules for third-party set-top boxes should “provide for competitive interoperability across all" multichannel video programming distributor systems, said officials from the Computer & Communications Industry Association, Google, Hauppauge, Incompas, Public Knowledge and TiVo, representing the Consumer Video Choice Coalition in a meeting Tuesday with Media Bureau staff and FCC Chief Technology Officer Scott Jordan, said an ex parte filing posted Friday in docket 16-42. The CVCC representatives said device provider certifications are a “feasible” way to “affirm adherence” to rules on privacy, emergency alerting and children's programming. The FCC should act on a pending petition to reinstate encoding rules, the CVCC said. The FCC shouldn't wait for the completion of a diversity study to change the set-top rules, said GFNTV, National Black Programming Consortium, New England Broadband, Townsend Group and iSwop Networks in a letter to Chairman Tom Wheeler Tuesday. “Diverse programmers and cable networks have repeatedly made a compelling case that the current system of little to no minority ownership and programming is abhorrent and deserving of a solution such as that proposed in the NPRM,” the letter said.

Programmers are urging Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal (R) to veto HB-757, a bill to permit pastors to refuse to officiate at same-sex weddings and faith-based organizations to deny renting facilities due to moral objections. Time Warner said Thursday it strongly opposes "the discriminatory language and intent of Georgia's pending religious liberty bill." TW said its HBO, Turner and Warner Bros. "have business interests in Georgia." Viacom Wednesday said it has "enjoyed doing business in Georgia for many years and we urge Governor Deal to continue to resist and reject the patently discriminatory laws.” AMC Networks also opposed discrimination. MPAA said 21 movies -- including Ant-Man, Taken 3 and Magic Mike XXL -- and 52 TV series -- including AMC's The Walking Dead and Halt and Catch Fire -- were filmed in Georgia in 2014. In a statement Thursday, Deal's office said the governor "will assess the legislation during bill review."

Comments on FCC-proposed emergency alert system changes including "securing the EAS against accidental misuse and malicious intrusion" are due May 9, replies June 7, in docket 15-94, the agency said in Thursday's Federal Register. Paperwork Reduction Act comments are due May 23 on the NPRM, which also asks about "ensuring that alerting mechanisms are able to leverage advancements in technology, including IP-based technologies." Commissioners approved an NPRM on EAS at their Jan. 28 meeting. Commissioner Mike O'Rielly partially dissented because the item sought comment on Internet aspects of EAS (see 1601280057).

Consumer confidence toward the overall economy and tech spending rose in March, after February declines (see 1602230048), CTA said in a Wednesday report. CTA’s index of consumer expectations, which measures consumer sentiment about the U.S. economy as a whole, jumped 6.6 points in March as consumer worries about an economic downturn and the stock markets’ volatility subsided, it said. CTA’s index of consumer technology expectations, which measures consumer expectations about tech spending, increased 1.5 points in March, it said.

Gray Television said it sold KRDK-TV Valley City, North Dakota, in 2014 with the understanding the station's new licensee, Parker Broadcasting of Dakota License, wouldn't seek mandatory carriage for the station on Cable One's Channel 4 but instead would look for another channel on multichannel video programming distributors serving the Fargo region. Parker's Cable One must-carry complaint (see 1603040033) could lead to "substantial consumer confusion and dislocation," Gray said in an FCC filing Tuesday in docket 16-69, urging Parker's complaint be dismissed. Cable One said earlier this month in its own filing in the docket that barring any FCC action, it will start carriage of KRDK on Channel 4 around July 1, though it urged the agency "to expeditiously resolve an outstanding dispute as to which station/service in the Fargo-Valley City DMA has the right to cable carriage on channel 4." Gray said the complaint had to be filed within 60 days of Cable One's denial of carriage request, and that deadline actually was in late 2015 since Parker's first demand for carriage of KRDK was in August. Gray also said the FCC should settle KRDK must-carry rights permanently, and the program and system information protocol waiver Gray proposed in 2015 would do that by reassigning KRDK to a virtual channel "where it can begin to build its own viewership on a new channel that would be uniform for both over-the-air and MVPD viewers." Parker didn't comment Wednesday.

Verizon lobbied FCC officials against online services blackouts by broadcasters during retransmission consent disputes with multichannel video programming distributors, as the telco and other MVPDs seek to change retrans rules. The agency should find a violation of the good-faith retrans standard when a programming blackout is extended to online services that otherwise would be available to MVPD broadband subscribers, the telco said its representatives told front-office and other Media Bureau staff including Deputy Chief Michelle Carey and Associate Chief Nancy Murphy, plus acting FCC Chief Economist Jonathan Levy and Susan Aaron from the Office of General Counsel. "Blacking out a signal just before the airing of marquee programming, such as the Super Bowl or the Oscars, should constitute per se evidence of bad faith," said Verizon in a filing posted Tuesday in docket 10-71. Other retrans requests included that there should be interim carriage of stations' programming after a contract has expired. NAB has said some MVPDs are essentially asking the commission to require stations be carried without broadcaster consent (see 1603170056). “There’s nothing surprising in this wish list from Verizon, which abhors government intervention in a free market except when asking the FCC to block local TV stations from getting fair value for popular content," an NAB spokesman responded Tuesday. "Retrans rules provide incentives for both broadcasters and pay-TV companies to reach mutually beneficial agreements. That’s why 99 percent of agreements are reached with no fanfare and no disruption in service.”

Gannett said it bought a minority stake in Spirited Media, which runs Philadelphia-based mobile news website Billy Penn. Gannett didn’t disclose how much it paid for its stake. Gannett said its investment in Spirited Media will allow the company “to expand its mobile-first approach in the Philadelphia market and launch into new local markets.” Spirited Media “has a proven track record of producing high-quality journalism and delivering engaging experiences for local markets,” said Gannett CEO Bob Dickey in a Monday news release. Billy Penn was nominated for an Online Journalism Award for its coverage of the 2015 Amtrak train derailment in Philadelphia, which killed eight people and injured 200 others.