The FCC is formally launching a public-private initiative, which will be under the Consumer and Government Affairs Bureau. Examples of the kinds of programs the initiative is targeting include the Connect to Compete program, the Digital Textbooks Initiative and the FCC’s cybersecurity small business initiative, the FCC said Wednesday.

The FCC has some options to prevent cable operator withholding from multichannel video programming distributor rivals the channels the operators own when a program access exclusivity ban sunsets Oct. 5, a draft notice of proposed rulemaking says, according to agency officials. They said the Media Bureau NPRM that’s tentatively set for a vote at the March 21 meeting, but may be approved before then, reaches few if any conclusions about how the agency should proceed. Instead, the item seeks comment on several scenarios for program access rules post-Oct. 5, when their five-year extension expires, commission officials said.

Some public broadcasters want more money from the government to pay for fees to change channels as part of an FCC repacking of TV stations before the agency auctions the frequencies of those agreeing to give up some or all of their spectrum. Although some provisions in the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act that became law last month recognize public broadcasters’ interests, some public TV executives said they must monitor how the auction will be implemented and the relocation process. The provisions provide $1.75 billion for relocation costs for broadcasters, some of which say that’s not enough money.

Network operators have enough incentive to protect networks from cyber attacks, major telecom industry officials said Wednesday at a House Communications Subcommittee hearing. But legislators should remove barriers to information sharing, promote cybersecurity education and invest in research and development, they said. The witnesses said new mandates are unnecessary and potentially burdensome. “We don’t know what it is that you should be telling us to be doing,” said AT&T Chief Security Officer Edward Amoroso.

Following its plan to be a “disruptive force” in the radio business, Pandora said in its fiscal Q4 earnings webcast Tuesday it expects to be “larger than the largest FM or AM radio station in most markets in the U.S.” by the end of the year. With significant growth in listener hours, the Internet radio company’s relevance to traditional radio advertising buyers “is skyrocketing,” said CEO Joe Kennedy.

BRUSSELS -- Spectrum regulators and users must rethink spectrum allocation in order to make white spaces and other shared uses possible, speakers said Wednesday at a Forum Europe conference on an EU policy for dynamic spectrum access. Cognitive technologies will squeeze more out of radio spectrum, but in practice “we're a long way” from having them, said moderator and Aetha Consulting partner Amit Nagpal. Despite successful white spaces trials in the U.S. and U.K., the regulatory issues for dynamic shared access are far from resolved, regulators and industry representatives said.

The FCC is expected to conduct a voluntary incentive auction of broadcast spectrum in 18-24 months, said Amy Levine, a senior aide to Chairman Julius Genachowski. Blair Levin, who led FCC development of the National Broadband Plan, warned that the U.S. is “moving backwards, not forwards” in getting more spectrum online for broadband. They spoke at a Minority Media and Telecom Council forum Tuesday.

TV stations need ownership flexibility because the spectrum auction the FCC wants to hold could hurt the industry unless it continues to use multicasting and other arrangements linking separately owned stations within a market, some broadcasters said. Networks and affiliates alike cited last month’s passage of spectrum legislation in saying the agency shouldn’t place new limits on use of multicast channels to transmit signals of two or more network affiliates. But networks and affiliates disagreed on whether the agency should lift a ban on common ownership of more than one top-four rated broadcast network. And nonprofits and station owners of all stripes disagree, in comments on a media ownership rulemaking notice, on whether new media ginned up enough competition to TV to warrant more broadcaster mergers and acquisitions, much as they disagreed in the last quadrennial review.

Smaller ISPs are taking a variety of approaches to managing consumer bandwidth use, and many are watching closely the moves by industry peers such as Time Warner Cable, which is again testing a usage-based pricing model in Texas. TWC has said it will offer a slightly lower bill to customers who accept a lower monthly bandwidth allotment of up to 5 GB a month, with overages costing $1 per additional GB. Companies that have recently instituted new broadband policies said they affect very few subscribers.

Republicans beat back Democratic opposition to a broad proposal to revamp FCC process, approving HR-3309 by a 31-16 vote Tuesday. But Democrats joined Republicans in supporting by voice vote an amended HR-3310 to consolidate FCC reports. The bills next move to the House floor. But the Democratic-controlled Senate has shown little interest in FCC revamp.