Securus and Global Tel Link are trying to delay intrastate prison calling reform proceedings in Massachusetts and Alabama following the FCC’s NPRM released in September (CD Sept 27 p20). The companies filed motions in the Massachusetts Department of Telecommunications and Cable to hold in abeyance a petition from the Prisoners’ Legal Services of Massachusetts (PLS) for the department to rule on reform rates due to ongoing proceedings. The Alabama Public Service Commission granted an Oct. 29 request from Global Tel Link to extend the comment deadline for its revised rulemaking on inmate calling services (ICS), which ended Nov. 8, to Dec. 6 due to the “level of detail of the staff proposal and the time requirements for review of the staff proposal” in light of the FCC’s order and FNPRM (http://1.usa.gov/1bv5PeJ).

NEW YORK -- The federal government is becoming more convinced about the benefits of commercially hosted payload services, said Charles Beames, an adviser at the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics. Sequestration is “brutal” and budgets are continuing to go down, he said Wednesday at the SATCON conference. The government in general has “hit the ‘I believe’ button” on hosted payloads and other opportunities to partner with the commercial satellite industry, he said. But there’s a challenge that comes with breaking paradigms, Beames said: “No one used to believe we could do these sorts of things at a fraction of the cost of major systems."

Two senators and a House member introduced legislation to cut the frequency of sports blackouts. The Furthering Access and Networks for Sports Act of 2013 (http://1.usa.gov/17sVXmH) ties the public benefits that sports leagues receive in licensing their games to broadcast stations, cable, satellite and over the Internet to how available games are. An FCC draft rulemaking notice proposed ending the agency’s 38-year blackout rule, circulated on acting Chairwoman Mignon Clyburn’s last day before Chairman Tom Wheeler took over (CD Nov 4 p3).

The House Judiciary Committee plans another season of copyright hearings, it said Wednesday. It said in a news release the hearings will take into special consideration Copyright Act sections 102 and 106 on copyright protections and Section 107 on fair use, and Digital Millennium Copyright Act Section 512 on notice and takedown provisions. The committee, still in the early stages of its look at copyright legislation, may have its work cut out with the last comprehensive update to the copyright law in 1976, said experts we interviewed Wednesday. Some said it’s too soon to tell what direction the committee and Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., will take next year when the hearings will likely occur.

Secretary of Homeland Security nominee Jeh Johnson told the Senate Homeland Security Committee Wednesday that he will “vigorously pursue” the Department of Homeland Security’s missions, which include a significant role in cybersecurity. “We need to move the ball forward on cybersecurity,” he said. Johnson, the Department of Defense’s former general counsel, was a main participant in legal discussions regarding the department’s cybersecurity policies (CD Oct 21 p8). Committee Chairman Tom Carper, D-Del., said cybersecurity is a “very important issue” for DHS, but the committee largely ignored it during Thursday’s hearing, with most senators focusing on how Johnson would fix management issues plaguing the department. Ranking member Tom Coburn, R-Okla., and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said during the hearing they expect Johnson will be confirmed, though McCain said he doesn’t currently support Johnson. Committee Democrats at the hearing uniformly supported Johnson’s confirmation.

Sprint will sit out the PCS H-block auction scheduled to start Jan. 22, Chief Financial Officer Joe Euteneuer said Wednesday at a Wells Fargo investor conference. Dish Network is still widely viewed as a likely big player in the auction, the first auction which will provide a down payment on FirstNet.

Prospects may be slim for a Senate bill proposing to even the playing field for online video distributors, said lobbyists and observers in interviews following its introduction Tuesday night. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., dropped the Consumer Choice in Online Video Act Tuesday, first described in a news release and initially inspiring mixed reactions (CD Nov 13 p1), and then unveiled in full that night. Reaction hardened Wednesday as observers considered the bill’s chances, just as Rockefeller’s office dug in its heels on any potential struggles ahead.

The FCC Wireless Bureau asked a battery of questions of AT&T and Leap Wireless as it probes AT&T’s proposed buy of its small competitor. The queries came in letters to both companies. Many of the questions follow up on claims both made in their initial public interest statement in favor of the merger (http://bit.la/1d4kr5r). Meanwhile, new FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler met Tuesday with William Baer, chief of the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division, agency officials said. Industry sources see the AT&T/Leap review as a key early test of FCC merger policy under Wheeler.

The rural call completion order is a good start, but it won’t do much on its own to combat the rural call completion problem, say attorneys and industry observers we interviewed. To be effective, the FCC will need to take enforcement actions, they said. A further notice, with its focus on intermediate providers, offers more hope for solving the problem, attorneys said. The text of the order and attached FNPRM was released Friday.

Dish Network’s prospects for spectrum are part of an effort toward “optionality,” said Chairman Charlie Ergen. Dish is awaiting an FCC decision on its request for flexible use of its AWS-4 spectrum (CD Sept 16 p1) and is the stalking-horse bidder for LightSquared spectrum. Using the AWS-4 spectrum for all downlink “will free up some impaired spectrum for us and downlink is more valuable than uplink spectrum,” Ergen said Tuesday during Dish’s Q3 earnings call. The company’s main wireless focus is for video, which involves mainly downlink, he said. “Next year, we'll see where we come out with the H-block option” and LightSquared, he said. Dish still plans to bid about $1.6 billion in the H-block auction next year if its FCC request is granted by Dec. 22, Ergen said.