Reports that Sprint and T-Mobile could merge have added a new wrinkle to one of the most contested issues on rules for the TV incentive auction -- spectrum aggregation limits, said NAB Executive Vice President Rick Kaplan on the group’s blog Wednesday. “Let’s assume that the FCC is contemplating rules that would ensure that each of the top four wireless carriers has a reasonable shot at acquiring spectrum in the incentive auction,” Kaplan said (http://bit.ly/1bQPfWl). “What happens, then, if those rules are enacted, and Sprint and T-Mobile subsequently reach a deal to merge, but prior to the auction itself? Or, what happens if the two companies participate in the auction independently, benefit from competitive rules designed for them, and then merge with spectrum assets they wouldn’t have had access to had they merged pre-auction?” Kaplan, former chief of the Wireless Bureau, said the association hasn’t staked out a position on spectrum aggregation. But, he said “the rumors of a Sprint/T-Mobile merger seriously raise the stakes for the wireless competition issue; one that has already had more airplay than any other."

Time Warner Cable customers can now access TWC’s on demand and TV Everywhere services on Amazon’s Kindle Fire tablets, Samsung Smart TVs, Roku players and Xbox 360s, TWC said in a news release Wednesday (http://bit.ly/1bQ3lnA). The TWC TV service allows customers to watch 5,000 on demand channels, and 300 live TV channels, it said. The service was already offered on iPhones, iPads, Android mobile devices, and computers.

Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile agreed to a spectrum swap involving AWS-1 and PCS licenses. The FCC Wireless Bureau sought comment on the proposal Wednesday. The companies are set to exchange 5 to 20 MHz of PCS spectrum in 153 counties across 47 cellular market areas, the document states. In 11 counties in Texas, Verizon would assign 20 MHz of PCS spectrum to T-Mobile, and would receive 10 MHz of PCS spectrum in return. Verizon would also assign 5 to 10 MHz of PCS spectrum to T-Mobile in another 34 counties. “Preliminary review of the applications indicates that, post-transaction, Verizon Wireless would hold 67 to 149 megahertz of spectrum and T-Mobile would hold 30 to 100 megahertz of spectrum in the 518 counties covering parts or all of 133 Cellular Market Areas,” the bureau said (http://bit.ly/1bdMlHJ). Petitions to deny are due Jan. 6, oppositions Jan. 16, and replies Jan. 24. “There will be no loss of an existing service provider in any of the market areas subject to these transactions,” the companies explained in a public interest statement filed at the FCC. “The VZW Licensees are using some of their Exchange Licenses to provide service to customers. The VZW Licensees will continue to provide service on exchanged spectrum or other spectrum currently held by Cellco [a Verizon subsidiary]. Similarly, the T-Mobile Licensees are currently using some of their Exchange Licenses to provide service to customers. The T-Mobile Licensees will continue to provide service on exchanged spectrum or other spectrum currently held by the T-Mobile Licensees or their affiliates."

Gray Television agreed to buy KEVN-TV (Fox) Rapid City, S.D., from Mission TV for $7.75 million, Gray said in a news release Wednesday (http://bit.ly/1jiJxDj). The transaction also includes KEVN’s satellite station KIVV-TV Lead. KEVN is the No. 2-ranked TV station in the Rapid City market, and Gray’s first “stand-alone full-power Fox affiliate,” said the acquirer. Gray has recently announced deals to buy other stations in the region from Hoak Media: An ABC affiliate in Sioux Falls, S.D., and the NBC affiliates in Fargo and MinotBismarck, N.D. The KEVN deal needs regulatory approval and is expected to close in Q1 or Q2, said the acquirer.

Gannett may get a retransmission consent and cost-savings boost from buying Belo Corp. after the Department of Justice OK'd it with a divestiture (CD Dec 17 p6), a stock analyst wrote to investors Wednesday. The acquirer “could see modest multiple expansion, benefiting from ramping retrans and increased synergies along with strong political inflows helping boost total cash flow and offsetting ongoing weakness in print,” said Ed Atorino of Benchmark. He said Belo means “higher margin revenue streams” for Gannett, which also owns daily newspapers including USA Today.

Even after completion of the IP transition, the wholesale wireline provisions of the Communications Act will continue to be necessary and important, Comptel told an aide to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler. Regardless of the technology used, “access to consumers is required” to ensure competition isn’t stifled, Comptel said. “It is not economically viable for competitors to replicate the ILEC network in its entirety,” the association of competitive providers said. “Competitors must supplement their reach” by “purchasing from large ILECs wholesale last mile access,” it said. The commission could speed the IP transition by “confirming that IP interconnection for voice services falls under Sections 251 and 252 of the Act,” Comptel said.

The California Public Utilities Commission asked the FCC for an extension of time to implement a third-party identification verification process for its Lifeline program (http://bit.ly/JIdsVK). An extension to May 1 would help the PUC comply with an FCC requirement that the state implement the verification process, it said. The FCC had made the verification requirement a condition on the PUC’s being able to opt out of the National Lifeline Accountability Database, said the PUC’s Tuesday petition.

Iridium’s petition for reallocating Globalstar’s Big low-earth orbit spectrum will ensure sufficient spectrum to promote continued development and innovation in essential mobile satellite service (MSS), Iridium said in FCC RM-11685 (http://bit.ly/18z3Bwu). The petition is neither anticompetitive “nor would it hinder Globalstar in pursuing its MSS or TLPS business plans,” Iridium said of Globalstar’s proposed terrestrial low-power service. Iridium’s growth is expected to continue, “driven by the introduction of new products and services enabled by upgrades in Iridium’s constellation and its innovative vendor partnerships,” it said. As Iridium prepares for the launch of Iridium Next, its next-generation network, “it will be increasingly important to ensure that it has sufficient spectrum available to support this expansion as well as sustain its core business,” it said. “Iridium offers nothing new in its response and nothing supports its request to take almost 3 MHz of Globalstar’s L-band spectrum,” said Barbee Ponder, Globalstar general counsel.

The Nebraska Public Service Commission asked the FCC for a permanent waiver of rules requiring it provide a copy of the Lifeline subscriber’s certification form to eligible telecom carriers (http://bit.ly/JIcKYL). Ongoing compliance will “result in a significant burden” for the state commission, and a delay in bringing Lifeline benefits to eligible subscribers, said the PSC in a petition Tuesday. “Special conditions” in Nebraska warrant the waiver, it said: The Nebraska PSC “oversees the application verification process, ensures that a compliant certification form is executed by each subscriber, then provides written notification to each affected ETC.” This “should be considered more than sufficient” to ensure compliance with Lifeline program requirements, it said.

Requests for an FTC investigation into Disney and Sanrio for their alleged noncompliance with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) were filed by the Center for Digital Democracy Wednesday, said a CDD news release (http://bit.ly/1kiHcpR). Neither company “provides adequate notice or obtains verifiable parental consent prior to collecting, using, or disclosing personal information about its child users,” as required by the FTC’s revision of COPPA one year ago (CD Dec 20 p10), said the release. “These two complaints reveal a pattern of disturbing practices that threaten children’s privacy and undermine the ability of parents to control how information is collected and used,” said Executive Director Jeff Chester. The complaints (http://bit.ly/1gGGHG3, http://bit.ly/19yAfN6) are directed at Marvelkids.com, a Disney subsidiary, and the Hello Kitty Carnival mobile app, a joint venture between Typhoon Games and Sanrio, said the release. “CDD’s investigations should spur the FTC to investigate both these companies, and also closely review how many in the online marketing industry appear derelict in complying with the updated COPPA Rule,” said CDD Legal Director Hudson Kingston. The two companies had no comment.