Broadband is among the priorities of the new White House Rural Council established Thursday by President Barack Obama through an executive order. The council, which will include representatives of the FCC and the Agriculture and Commerce departments, will support Obama’s plan to expand broadband networks in rural areas, the White House said. Rural telecom companies praised the council’s focus on public-private partnerships to spread broadband. The council will provide recommendations for rural investment and increase coordination between government agencies involved with rural issues. It also will coordinate federal with state, local and tribal government efforts, and promote public-private partnerships, the White House said.

GENEVA -- The idea of new annual fees for satellite network filings, discussed this week at the ITU Radiocommunication Advisory Group (RAG), drew “strong concerns” and strong opposition, sources said. The new fee concept was described in the ITU Radiocommunication Bureau (BR) director’s report to the meeting.

The FCC should start a proceeding to lay out what rules apply to online video distributors (OVDs), Public Knowledge said in comments filed with the commission this week. Its comments and others came in response to the FCC’s latest inquiry into the state of video competition. “The statute at no point expressly requires that cable systems be facilities-based,” Public Knowledge said. Online video providers that meet certain requirements including signal protection, should be allowed to opt into cable operator status under Title VI of the Communications Act, it said. “Such an opt-in would grant regulatory privileges (such as the right to negotiate for retransmission consent) as well as obligations (perhaps must-carry),” it said.

Apple partially complied Thursday with senators’ requests to remove DUI checkpoint applications from its App Store. Apple updated its App Store review guidelines to prohibit apps that include unpublished DUI checkpoint information and are deemed by some to encourage or enable drunk driving. The decision does not ban existing “drunk driving” apps and leaves wiggle room for app developers to use DUI checkpoint information published by law enforcement agencies in future apps.

The FCC should overhaul how it holds radio and TV stations accountable, with the current system “broken,” concluded a report a year-and-a-half in the making and written under the auspices of Chairman Julius Genachowski. Other recommendations that had not leaked out in recent days (CD June 8 p3) are that public TV stations should get the same percentage of proceeds as commercial outlets if they participate in the incentive auction of broadcast spectrum that the commission hopes to get authority from Congress to conduct. Thursday’s report -- informally called by its former name, “The Future of Media” -- also sought an overhaul of the leased access system for cable operators because of underuse and sought changes to an educational programming set-aside for DBS given there’s more demand from content providers wanting in.

AT&T must lease its existing entrance facilities to CLECs at rates reflecting actual costs, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in an 8-0 decision in Talk America v. Michigan Bell Telephone. Justice Elena Kagan wasn’t involved in Thursday’s decision and Justice Antonin Scalia concurred separately. Seven of the justices, led by Clarence Thomas, ruled that the relevant sections of the 1996 Telecom Act were ambiguous, and therefore the FCC’s view of its own rules were owed deference, even though the view was expressed in an amicus brief.

The FCC and Federal Emergency Management Agency will conduct the first “top to bottom” nationwide test of the emergency alert system on Nov. 9 at 2 p.m. EST, both agencies said Thursday. The test is expected to last up to three and a half minutes. The government will base the national test on two EAS tests the government recently conducted in Alaska (CD Feb 3 p5).

AT&T’s buy of T-Mobile has gotten unprecedented support from groups representing minorities, from the NAACP to various Hispanic groups to the Minority Media and Telecommunications Council. If all politics is local, it also has a long memory. Some observers see the support as tied in part to a 1970 FCC consent decree in which AT&T agreed to become more proactive in employing minorities. AT&T has also contributed millions of dollars to minority groups over the years, though the company said that’s not different from contributions made by its large competitors.

The Senate Commerce Committee approved comprehensive spectrum legislation in a 21-4 vote Wednesday. The bill by Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., and Ranking Member Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, would give the 700 MHz D-block to public safety and authorize voluntary incentive auctions, among other things. Communications Subcommittee Ranking Member Jim DeMint, R-S.C., was one of four Republicans who voted against the measure.

A prominent cable lawyer seeks consideration of a new “social contract” -- and of an entertainment tax -- for companies competing with traditional multichannel video programming distributors. Paul Glist, co-chairman of Davis Wright’s communications practice, told an FCBA event that traditional “video platforms typically come with a social contract. So we should be thinking of what might be a better social contract.” Public Knowledge lawyer John Bergmayer, speaking on the same panel Tuesday night, told us later that Glist’s comments have merit in considering how to apply old rules to newer, Internet-based firms. A veteran wireless lawyer said it may be too soon to regulate new Web video technologies.