AT&T’s $14 billion “Project Velocity IP” plan to expand its wireline and wireless broadband network will broaden the company’s reach into areas that are “underserved and unserved” by this technology thus far, industry analysts and brokers told us. AT&T told investors at a company conference Wednesday that it plans to spend $8 billion to expand its 4G LTE wireless broadband coverage and $6 billion to increase offerings of its U-verse and U-verse IPDSLAM services.

Stakeholders met Wednesday to discuss developing a voluntary code of conduct on mobile privacy practices at a meeting convened by NTIA on “mobile application transparency.” They presented a discussion draft of the code (http://xrl.us/bnyh4e), which includes requirements for privacy policies, data retention and deletion policies and information on the process to get data deleted. App developers who don’t collect user data “shouldn’t be stuck with a whole set of rules that will send them fleeing the market,” said Future of Privacy Forum Director Jules Polonetsky, but some apps collect massive amounts of data, and they should be subject to those rules.

State utility commissioner elections saw widespread Republican victories Tuesday. There were 16 Republican wins, 10 featuring incumbents, and three Democratic wins. That includes three Montana Republicans, who maintain leads but weren’t formally declared as of Wednesday afternoon. Four Republicans ran unopposed, as did a Democrat.

Though Time Warner’s Warner Bros. studio produces much of the hit TV programming on the air today, the company does not expect to apply that expertise toward creating a new broadband network of original programming, CEO Jeff Bewkes said Wednesday. “We're the lead supplier of basically everything to every network,” Bewkes said of its studio. “So far, we think that’s the best way to play it,” he said during an earnings teleconference.

California redistricting following the 2010 Census proved to be a killer for Republican House Commerce Committee members in the 2012 election. At our deadline, Rep. Mary Bono Mack, R-Calif., was trailing by more than 4,000 votes in her race against Democratic challenger Paul Ruiz, a physician (http://xrl.us/bnyhyp). Rep. Brian Bilbray, R-Calif., was losing his reelection bid to former San Diego Councilman Scott Peters, a Democrat, by more than 600 votes. And Rep. Dan Lungren, R-Calif., was losing to Ami Bera, a well-funded Democratic physician, by a margin of less than 200 votes, according to the California Secretary of State website (http://xrl.us/bnyhv6). House Judiciary Committee member Rep. Howard Berman, D-Calif., lost his tightly fought battle to Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Calif., who challenged Berman after the two House veterans were re-districted into the same district (CD July 5 p6).

A potential merger of DirecTV and Dish Network would be a “doable deal,” since both satellite services face a mature video market and heightened competition from broadband operators, Dish Chairman Charles Ergen said on an earnings call.

BAKU, Azerbaijan -- NTIA Administrator Lawrence Strickling said the U.S. remains strongly committed to preventing changes in the International Telecommunication Regulations (ITRs) that would subject the Internet to U.N. oversight. Speaking at the opening session of the Internet Governance Forum, Strickling said people all over the world know how partisan and contentious the U.S. electoral campaigns have been, but “on one issue all Americans stand shoulder by shoulder: that the Internet remains stable, secure and free from governmental control."

Two new filings at NTIA on the conceptual network architecture of the proposed FirstNet show that the FirstNet board faces a big job in educating potential users of the network, officials said. The Department of Defense Chief Information Officer Public Safety Communications Working Group said the board should look closely at the foreign ownership of any carriers who work with the new network. The FBI-Law Enforcement Executive Development Association (FBI-LEEDA), meanwhile, submitted a survey questioning whether its members will be willing to pay to take part in the network. NTIA has been posting comments since they started to arrive at the agency (CD Nov 1 p1), but last week pushed back the deadline until Friday.

Cablevision executives said they have received unsolicited bids on the cable systems it acquired from Bresnan and now operates as its Optimum West division. Business at those systems “is going gangbusters,” said Chief Financial Officer Gregg Seibert during a teleconference with analysts Tuesday. “We've had these unsolicited indications. We're going to listen to them, but there is no assurance a transaction is going to take place here.” Cablevision took control of the Bresnan systems in the Western U.S. in December 2010 in a deal valued at about $1.4 billion.

Comcast asked the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a ruling upholding certification of a class, in a case brought by Philadelphia-area subscribers alleging the cable operator violated federal antitrust laws when it consolidated its systems in that region (CD May 14/07 p4). By “clustering” its systems, Comcast was able to reduce competition from rivals including cable overbuilder RCN, and raise its rates 11 percent annually, the plaintiffs had argued. The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in August 2011 that a lower court didn’t exceed its discretion when it certified the class.