House Commerce Committee leaders will meet with key agencies’ spectrum officials by the end of this month, said David Redl, the committee majority’s chief counsel, during a Law Seminars International conference Monday. Committee Chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich., and Ranking Member Henry Waxman, D-Calif., said last month they planned to begin meeting with officials from the FCC, NTIA and Department of Defense amid concerns that federal agencies were not making sufficient progress in determining what spectrum could be reallocated or shared for commercial uses (CD June 28 p5). The frustration among both Republican and Democratic leaders on the committee is “telling” given the partisan environment in Washington, Redl said. “We think this will be a good chance to get together and see” what the agencies’ timeline looks like, he said. Although the President’s Council of Advisers on Science and Technology recommend to the White House last year that it shift its efforts toward spectrum sharing, House Commerce Republicans continue to prefer “clearing” federal spectrum, Redl said.

DENVER -- Broadband adoption remains the ongoing big challenge, FCC and NTIA officials told NARUC on Monday, as does the need for faster speeds. NTIA Administrator Larry Strickling talked about ways to continue the agency’s broadband stimulus mission as the current grants program ends, while FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel described how her agency is taking on those challenges. “What we need to do is take that E-rate program and take it to the next level,” Rosenworcel said, citing the NPRM the FCC unanimously approved Friday (CD July 22 p1). “We have to develop capacity goals."

DENVER -- Collaboration and planning are vital in combating cyberthreats, creating new roles and models, speakers said Monday at the NARUC’s meeting. “You are the ones that can actually ask the hard questions of the utilities,” White House Cybersecurity Coordinator Michael Daniel told state regulators. He outlined the Obama administration’s cyber concerns and some of the priorities as well as necessary actions that take place in a cyberspace full of what he called very real threats. They have become part of “the new normal,” he said.

DENVER -- Lifeline reform didn’t occur without its tolls, speakers said at the NARUC summer meeting this week. They stressed the pains of last year’s recertification process, which cost many companies subscribers that didn’t need to be lost. Consumer advocates praised the core mission of the program and urged the FCC, states and companies to get the process right.

The arrival of Common File Format (CFF)-based content and players later this year will facilitate video downloads via the UltraViolet licensing system, Mark Teitell, general manager of its member organization, the Digital Content Entertainment Content Ecosystem (DECE), said in an interview. Downloads are a major part of the UltraViolet vision going forward, said Teitell, saying UltraViolet wants to be viewed as more than a cloud-based system available through Vudu and CinemaNow. He referred to what UltraViolet sees as a “not very strong” electronic sell-through rate of current streaming services, including iTunes, which he attributed to multiple incompatible formats that prevent consumers from watching purchased content on multiple devices.

Acting FCC Chairwoman Mignon Clyburn decided not to circulate an order mandating 700 MHz interoperability for a vote at the Aug. 9 commission meeting, said industry and FCC officials Friday. Small carriers pressing for action had hoped it would come in August. Clyburn has long made clear she has strong concerns that small carriers have access to a wide variety of devices as they roll out service in the 700 MHz spectrum that many bought in the 2008 auction. Instead, Clyburn is expected to ask carriers large and small to meet again to try to develop an industry solution, officials said.

Cable’s share of the multichannel video programming market fell between 2010 and 2012, while the number of households relying exclusively on over-the-air broadcast service has remained steady since the end of 2011, said the FCC Media Bureau’s 15th Annual Video Competition Report to Congress, which was unanimously approved at the commission meeting Friday. The report has been presented to Congress and is expected to be posted Monday.

The FCC unanimously launched its long-awaited rulemaking on reforms to the E-rate program Friday. But beyond some broad “aspirational” goals, the specifics are anything but settled, officials said. The NPRM will take into consideration “a whole host of comments and options and opportunities and proposals,” said acting Chairwoman Mignon Clyburn. Only after comments are received will the commission make a “comprehensive decision” on best ways forward, she said. The item is expected to be released early next week.

A preliminary Department of Homeland Security analysis of cybersecurity incentives found that grants to non-price-regulated industries, as well as including the cost of cybersecurity in the base rate for services in price-regulated industries, were the “most effective and efficient” incentives to encourage industry participation in the Obama administration’s efforts to improve cybersecurity in critical infrastructure -- but they also respectively carry the highest cost for the government and consumers, according to a copy of the study we obtained Friday. The document, circulated May 21 among members of the DHS Integrated Task Force’s incentives working group, was a precursor to formal incentive recommendations DHS submitted to the Office of Management and Budget June 12.

The intelligence community will disclose more information about surveillance programs, said Robert Litt, Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) general counsel, at the Brookings Institution on Friday. Agencies hope to disclose examples from Section 702 of FISA Amendments Act soon, he said. “It’s very hard to think about releasing an opinion that says that a particular program is legal if you are not going to disclose the program,” he said. “Now that the program is declassified, we are going back and relooking at it. Personally, I think that we will release court documents that will provide a better picture.”