Comcast and Level 3 customers are unlikely to notice any change in their Internet service following the resolution of an ongoing peering dispute between the two companies, according to interviews this week with an industry official familiar with the resolution and experts not aligned with either company. The two companies said Tuesday they settled the interconnect dispute that began in 2010 on “mutually satisfactory terms” (CD July 17 p18). Because the companies continued to peer as they settled the dispute, the customers are unlikely to see a change now, the industry official told us. Comcast and Level 3 worked to find a new way to route data over regional transports, which cuts the costs associated with the transport, said industry officials.

The FTC could address net neutrality concerns using “traditional antitrust law, traditional consumer protection law,” FTC Commissioner Maureen Ohlhausen said during a Media Institute luncheon Thursday. If the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit were to strike down the FCC’s net neutrality rules, “do we think the FTC’s traditional authority could be used instead? My answer continues to be ‘yes,’ particularly because I don’t think we've seen a huge spate of problems,” she continued.

A bipartisan group of House lawmakers reintroduced legislation Thursday to require the FCC to pair for commercial auction the 1755-1780 MHz band with the 2155-2180 MHz band, as was expected (CD July 18 p13). The Efficient Use of Government Spectrum Act was co-sponsored by Reps. Doris Matsui, D-Calif.; Brett Guthrie, R-Ky.; Adam Smith, D-Wash.; and Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., and mirrored legislation which failed to pass in the 112th Congress (CD April 12/12 p1). Pairing 1755-1780 MHz band, which has long been a top target of carriers, with the 2155-2180 MHz band would allow the spectrum to be auctioned and licensed by February 2015.

The departments of Homeland Security (DHS), Commerce and Treasury hope their reports on possible incentives to encourage the private sector to adopt voluntary cybersecurity standards will be made public by the end of the month, said Jeanette Manfra, DHS deputy director running the task force implementing President Barack Obama’s Cybersecurity Executive Order, during a Wiley Rein program Wednesday on implementation of that order. Among other things, the order tasks DHS with overseeing the private sector’s implementation of the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s (NIST) forthcoming voluntary Cybersecurity Framework, including implementation of incentives (CD Feb 14 p1). DHS, Commerce and Treasury submitted separate reports to the Office of Management and Budget June 12 that examined the feasibility and effectiveness of possible incentives, but they have not yet been made public while they undergo an internal review (CD July 8 p9).

Aereo shouldn’t have to pay retransmission fees to stream broadcast channels over the Internet because the company doesn’t face the same statutory obligations that bind cable providers, said founder and CEO Chet Kanojia. Aereo is more like an equipment manufacturer, and as such shouldn’t be required to pay broadcasters to access their signals over the public airwaves, he said Wednesday in a videotaped interview to be shown on C-SPAN’s The Communicators.

Collection of metadata could lead to abuses of power by government officials acting in the interests of national security, said members of the House Judiciary Committee at a hearing Wednesday. They called for a closer scrutiny of these surveillance measures to maintain civil liberties while protecting national security.

Colorado’s legislative audit committee pressed the EAGLE-Net Alliance to produce documents and meet next month. The auditors had first requested several documents from NTIA stimulus grantee ENA, focused on connecting Colorado’s schools, in March. “I am disappointed that ENA has refused to produce these documents requested by the Committee,” said the Tuesday letter from Colorado State Rep. Angela Williams (D), the committee chairwoman, and seven other state legislators. It asked the intergovernmental entity to produce the records by Aug. 15.

Senate Republicans criticized what they called cost and service deficiencies of President Barack Obama’s recent proposal to reform the E-rate program. During a committee hearing Wednesday, Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., questioned whether the president’s proposal would unfairly benefit those in schools in more urbanized areas. Obama recently proposed to modernize the E-rate program to ensure that schools and libraries are connected through broadband of at least 100 Mbps with a target of 1 Gbps (CD June 7 p7).

The FCC’s 15th annual video competition report, in the same format as last year’s report, contains few surprises, said agency official in interviews. “It’s very close to last year’s report,” said an agency official. The report is due to be voted on by the commission Friday, the first time in several years the commission has kept to the annual schedule mandated by the 1996 Telecom Act. The 14th report was released last year, but the 13th came out in 2009. The 14th report contained data on the rise of online video distributors, the cost to multichannel video programming distributors of acquiring content, the effect of ISP data caps on competition (CD July 23/11 p6).

The FCC approved a deal by General Communication Inc. and Alaska Communications to share spectrum and form the Alaska Wireless Network (AWN), a limited liability company that will hold and operate both companies’ wireless facilities. Alaska’s largest wireless operators unveiled the deal in June 2012 (CD June 6/12 p10). Commissioner Ajit Pai released a statement late Monday asking why approval took so long.