The FCC determined that AT&T’s buy of wireless communications service licenses from Comcast, Horizon Wi-Com, NextWave and San Diego Gas & Electric won’t result in competitive harm and will mean finally seeing the spectrum in play for wireless broadband. Commissioners wrapped up voting on the order Tuesday, shortly before it was released that night. The ruling wraps together four separate transactions and had been expected (CD Dec 19 p12).

Hopes that the changes coming to the Environmental Protection Agency set-top box energy efficiency specifications account for next-generation consumer electronics products were expressed in recent interviews with CE and multichannel video programming distributor executives. MVPDs and device makers are in the initial stages of coordinated efforts to cut home device power use to mostly deploy starting next year, among set-tops with DVRs, those with hard drives that stop spinning after four hours of inactivity. Such light-sleep boxes are one way 11 top cable operators, DBS providers and telco-TV companies and four of their suppliers, all of which earlier this month signed a voluntary agreement (VA), plan to cut the amount of electricity used by dormant set-tops (CD Dec 7 p5). Efficiency advocates say the agreement (http://xrl.us/bn46yj) lacks firm commitments to buy future-generation set-tops that can almost completely shut down and yet power up quickly.

All providers and purchasers of special access service must respond to the FCC’s data request on the state of the special access marketplace, according to the long-awaited order which was released Tuesday. The order exempts companies with fewer than 15,000 customers, and fewer than 1,500 business broadband customers, from providing data regarding best-efforts business broadband Internet service. “Nascent technologies,” such as wireless ISPs, are included in the request. Chairman Julius Genachowski called the order “a carefully crafted nationwide collection of facilities, pricing, and demand information” that will give the FCC “an exceptionally robust data set to analyze the market for special access services.” A deadline for submitting the special access data won’t be set until the Office of Management and Budget gives Paperwork Act Reduction approval, an FCC official said.

Analysts view an order reallocating Dish Network’s mobile satellite service spectrum for terrestrial use and an accompanying H block notice of proposed rulemaking as mostly positive, now that the details of what the FCC did last week are public (CD Dec 18 p10). The order, as expected (CD Dec 13 p8), allows Dish to transfer or assign its spectrum rights without restrictions, which the agency said “should dramatically increase the value of this spectrum.” The FCC approved the order on an electronic vote before last Wednesday’s FCC meeting, so the details did not get a full public airing last week.

LightSquared’s proposal that it be allowed to permanently relinquish the 1545-1555 MHz band, while instead deploying terrestrial downlink operations at 1670-1680 MHz, is being greeted with some skepticism by GPS operators. LightSquared sought bankruptcy protection in May as company executives tried to find a new path forward after the FCC suspended a waiver in February that would have allowed LightSquared to use the satellite spectrum it controls for a wholesale LTE network. Comments were due Monday, and some filed early in docket 12-340 generally supported the revised plan (CD Dec 17 p17).

Nielsen and Arbitron executives told stock analysts they don’t expect the federal government to block for competitive reasons Nielsen’s proposed acquisition of Arbitron. Nielsen, the main provider of TV ratings data, agreed to buy Arbitron, which provides radio ratings, for about $1.25 billion in cash. “It really is as simple as Arbitron is in the radio business and we're in the TV world,” Nielsen CEO David Calhoun said during a teleconference Tuesday. “The overlaps -- you can barely find any.” He said the companies have studied the antitrust implications and “we feel good about it.” If the government blocks the transaction, Nielsen will owe Arbitron a 10 percent breakup fee.

The FTC issued orders seeking information about data-collection practices of nine data brokers. The orders, which were approved unanimously by commissioners, ask recipients to detail “the nature and sources of the consumer information the data brokers collect; how they use, maintain, and disseminate the information; and the extent to which the data brokers allow consumers to access and correct their information or to opt out of having their personal information sold,” the FTC said (http://xrl.us/bn63uc). The nine companies are Acxiom, Corelogic, Datalogix, eBureau, ID Analytics, Intelius, Peekyou, Rapleaf and Recorded Future.

The death of Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, will create new vacancies atop both the Judiciary and Commerce committees in the next session of Congress, lawmakers said Tuesday. Senate Judiciary Chairman Pat Leahy, D-Vt., now the longest serving member of the upper chamber, was sworn in as the new president pro tempore on Tuesday and could now succeed Inouye as chairman of the Appropriations Committee. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., told reporters Tuesday she will likely become the next chairman of the Judiciary Committee after Leahy announces his departure from the committee. Separately, Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., said no decision had been made on who would fill the Commerce seat vacated by Inouye, who passed on Monday night after suffering from a respiratory illness.

Europe’s digital agenda is going well but “it’s not enough” because the digital economy is growing seven times faster than the rest of the economy, Digital Agenda Commissioner Neelie Kroes said at a Tuesday press briefing. She set out revised priorities for 2013-2014, and warned that risk-avoidance in Brussels and national governments must stop. “I'm in a fighting spirit” about showing that Europe isn’t just about accounting and rules, but about giving people opportunities, she said. The European Commission also listed the actions it will take by the end of this legislative cycle in 2014 to modernize copyright laws for the online world.

SAN FRANCISCO -- A federal judge said he will rule “as quickly as I can” on a motion for a preliminary injunction against a new California law that would require registered sex offenders to give local law enforcement a list of their ISPs and certain online user names. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and Electronic Frontier Foundation challenged the law, which voters approved as Proposition 35 on Election Day. U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson oversaw a hearing Monday on that motion and another to allow the ballot measure sponsors to intervene on behalf of California. Henderson said he is inclined to grant the latter motion and took both matters under submission. The law has yet to take effect as the court weighs the injunction motion.