The letter said Wheeler would be able to “hit the ground running” as chairman and listed his achievements in the private sector and as an advocate for the cable and wireless industries “when they were the insurgents challenging the established players.” Wheeler “has consistently fought on the side of increasing competition,” said the letter. “He understands the importance of reclaiming the pro-competition, pro-innovation, pro-growth regulatory ideal."

A Dish Explorer app for Android-based tablets isn’t on the horizon as Dish Network focuses on iPad for controlling its multi-room Hopper DVR, Dish Product Manager Robert Sadler told us at the Pepcom-sponsored DigitalFocus product showcase in New York.

FCC auction rules should guarantee that smaller carriers, especially those that need lower frequency spectrum, are able to expand their spectrum portfolios, the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division said in a filing at the commission. The letter comes as the agency examines whether it should restrict the ability of Verizon Wireless and AT&T to bid in the upcoming incentive auction of broadcast-TV spectrum.

Debate on the actual language of a treaty updating broadcasting copyright protections begins in July, World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Copyright Law Division Director Michele Woods told us Friday. The April 10-12 meeting of the Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR) gave delegations the opportunity to discuss issues in depth, and the July meeting is likely to focus on the three core matters of who will benefit from the treaty, what the object of protection will be, and what rights broadcasting organizations will be granted, she said. NAB and the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) said progress was made at the “intersessional” meeting, including a growing consensus that signal protection must be extended to the Internet, but the Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA) said agreement on any issue is as far away as ever.

The fight to reform communications law in Illinois has quietly evolved in recent months, as industry delivers broad rhetoric while consumer advocates wait with concern, both sides told us. AT&T has emerged as one of the primary proponents of what it sees as needed changes, even from 2010 Illinois law, and has come out with public statements, ads, a study the telco funded and a website to that end. The AT&T message ties communications reform to public safety, with repeated references to the benefits wireless broadband gives first responders, as well as economic investment. But no legislation has hit the Illinois floor, leaving consumer advocates worried that industry might try to rush a bill through.

The House Communications Subcommittee approved a bill by a voice vote Thursday aimed at codifying the U.S. policy against “government control” of the Internet, during a brief vote that clocked in at less than 10 minutes. Democrats continued to raise their objections that the bill, as currently written, could be used to challenge the FCC’s net neutrality order, but agreed to offer no amendments in order to negotiate the bill during the full committee markup. Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., acknowledged that there “still appears to be a misunderstanding about what this legislation does and doesn’t do.” Walden said his staff are willing to speak with minority staffers “in good faith, between now and the full committee markup, to see if we can come to an agreement. Nothing will be off the table, nothing,” Walden said in his opening statement. “We should give this an opportunity to work.”

Commissioner Joshua Wright outlined his agenda for his time at the FTC, including a focus on encouraging the agency to issue a policy statement on unfair methods of competition, at an American Bar Association meeting Thursday. During the second day of the three-day conference, former FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz spoke about the role of politics in the agency, and Division of Privacy and Identity Protection Associate Director Maneesha Mithal told attendees about consumer protection responsibilities when user-facing companies employ cloud service providers.

Tom Power, deputy federal chief technology officer, said Thursday the success of FirstNet isn’t guaranteed, but he’s confident the public safety network will be a success. Power warned that the $7 billion set aside for FirstNet by Congress out of auction proceeds will likely be the only money to come directly from the federal government. The adequacy of the $7 billion was raised repeatedly throughout a forum sponsored by wireless infrastructure association PCIA, the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials and the Maryland/D.C. Wireless Association.

Inmarsat plans to launch the first Inmarsat-5 satellite this year as part of its forthcoming Ka-band network, Global Xpress. The network will expand Inmarsat’s services in mobility and bandwidth to serve governments and the private sector (CD July 23 p15). Executives involved in the rollout at Inmarsat and companies it’s working with said in interviews that they're making progress on the product to improve satellite Internet coverage.

The White House said it’s not satisfied with a cybersecurity bill despite its adoption of some amendments aimed at addressing privacy concerns approved during markup by House Intelligence Committee members. The amendments “reflect a good faith-effort to incorporate some of the Administration’s important substantive concerns, but we do not believe these changes have addressed some outstanding fundamental priorities,” White House spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said Thursday via email. The Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) (HR-624) passed the committee 18-2 during a closed markup session Wednesday afternoon. The bill, which passed the House last year but didn’t reach the Senate, is now expected to be considered by the full House next week, the committee said in a news release after the vote.