As an investigation of alleged wrongdoing by members of the FirstNet board continues, the Commerce Department’s inspector general, rather than a special review committee composed of board members, will take over phase two of the probe, FirstNet Chairman Sam Ginn said Friday. Meanwhile, during a meeting by phone, the FirstNet board also agreed to locate the headquarters for the national public safety network in northern Virginia.

The 16-day government shutdown had little impact on satellite-related operations, satellite companies and manufacturers said. Companies like Inmarsat and Intelsat continued providing services to the government and military during the shutdown, their executives said.

The FCC will do a study of how Hispanic TV station ownership relates to Hispanic programming and viewing habits, and begin field testing its study of critical information needs (CIN), the commission said in a news release Thursday. The National Hispanic Media Coalition (NHMC) and several industry observers said the study and the CIN test represent important steps toward more diversity in broadcasting and better serving the growing Hispanic population. “Latino ownership diversity has been an ongoing challenge for broadcast -- good, integrated data should direct the FCC’s future efforts to engender both ownership opportunities AND more robust Latino-serving content in English and Spanish, across platforms,” said Jason Llorenz, director-innovation policy for Latino Information Network.

Patent industry stakeholders should “stay tuned” for a pending U.S. Patent and Trademark Office rulemaking on the filing and disclosure of real-party-in-interest (RPI) patent ownership information, acting PTO Director Teresa Stanek Rea said Thursday. PTO is conducting the rulemaking process as part of its implementation of President Barack Obama’s set of executive actions to combat abusive patent litigation. The set of actions tasks PTO with creating rules that will require patent applicants and owners to regularly update ownership on file at PTO when they are involved in proceedings with the agency (CD June 5 p6).

The time has come for the FCC to put the net neutrality debate behind it and get on with other issues, such as the retirement of the plain old telephone system, panelists said Thursday at a Free State Foundation lunch on looming changes at the FCC. Congress needs to update the Telecom Act of 1996 and develop “a new policy framework” for the IP era, said House Communications Subcommittee Vice Chairman Bob Latta, R-Ohio, speaking at the session.

Broadband access has the potential to significantly grow the economy and provide new jobs to the state of Michigan and its residents, said speakers at the Michigan Broadband Conference Thursday. In order to get connectivity, local governments need to be proactive in working with service providers, said Blair Levin, Aspen Institute fellow and Gig.U president. Gig.U is working with 36 university communities that collected information and applied to get Google Fiber, but were ultimately unsuccessful, said Levin. “Getting access to a high speed network is doable by any community, but it ultimately an organizing problem,” said Levin. “Communities need to have local leadership that will take the process through the necessary steps."

Foreigners could own more than 25 percent of U.S. broadcasters if the FCC grants a licensee’s petition for declaratory ruling, clarified a draft that circulated for a vote at the agency’s next meeting, said commission and industry officials in interviews Thursday, the day the item described as concise and straightforward circulated for the Nov. 14 meeting. The declaratory ruling would clarify what some in the industry and at the agency said they had considered a de facto ban on such ownership. The item said there’s not such a ban, said agency and industry officials.

A dialogue may be in the works that would allow confirmation of FCC Chairman-nominee Tom Wheeler. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, placed a hold on potential Senate unanimous consent confirmation attempts last week, but he may meet with Wheeler soon. Multiple observers pointed to a potential meeting next week as vital in resolving the dispute and getting the two FCC nominees -- Wheeler and Republican nominee Michael O'Rielly -- confirmed in a timely fashion. Otherwise, observers warned Thursday, such a hold may drag for months.

AT&T defended its proposed buy of Leap Wireless in a filing at the FCC, telling the commission that even though some petitions to deny have been filed at the agency, the public interest benefits of the merger are undeniable. AT&T filed its opposition to opponents of the deal Wednesday, after being delayed by the federal government shutdown (CD Oct 24 p3).

Panelists disagreed whether a newly released patent reform bill took a “broad brush” approach to patent law or just narrowly targets the patent trolling behavior it intends to stymie. The bill’s sponsor, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., took his case for the Innovation Act (HR-3309) to a Thursday event at the American Enterprise Institute event, calling the legislation a “necessary” improvement and a fix to the “current asymmetries surrounding patent litigation.” An Internet industry association representative and law professor agreed, praising the bill’s fee-shifting and transparency measures. But a tech giant’s intellectual property counsel cautioned the bill could create “collateral damage” in the patent ecosystem with it’s “one-size-fits-all” approach to patent litigation.