TV stations in markets where local stations have agreed to share resources often air the same news programming, a study of local news in eight markets found. “The obvious and unambiguous result was a reduction in the number of separate news voices in the market,” said the study by University of Delaware Professor Danilo Yanich. The stations shared resources including anchors, scripts, video, graphics and reporters, said the study filed with the FCC Monday (http://xrl.us/bmgxdy).

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski proposed a new plan to support small business cybersecurity efforts, during a speech at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Monday. The Small Business Cyber Planner is a free online tool to help U.S. small businesses increase their cybersecurity awareness and protections, and will be available on the FCC website in “a few weeks,” Genachowski said. The Department of Homeland Security endorsed the plan and encouraged small business owners to implement strong cybersecurity policies.

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski proposed a new plan to support small business cybersecurity efforts, during a speech at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Monday. The Small Biz Cyber Planner is a free online tool to help U.S. companies increase their cybersecurity awareness and protections, and will be available on the FCC website in “a few weeks,” Genachowski said. The Department of Homeland Security endorsed the plan and encouraged small business owners to implement strong cybersecurity policies.

Alaska’s governor said FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski didn’t seem to heed his advice to ensure that any changes to the Universal Service Fund account for his state, which has costs to deliver rural telecom and broadband that are the highest in the U.S. “Any reduction in current USF levels of support would reduce these services, increase local access charges which are already the highest in the nation and, in some cases, would likely jeopardize basic services in our most rural communities,” Sean Parnell (R) wrote last week. “I have written to you directly on several occasions and submitted official comments since USF reform was first proposed. Yet, still, it would appear that my message has not reached you and your staff.” He’s “dismayed” to hear the draft proposal the agency is considering would “slash annual USF high cost support to Alaska over the next five years by as much as 70 percent,” or up to $160 million, Parnell wrote. The USF sends Alaska about $200 million yearly, more support per line than any state, an FCC spokesman said Friday. “The current system funds multiple carriers in urban areas in Alaska, like Anchorage, yet other areas in remote areas of Alaska go unserved by broadband or mobile services. We will continue to work with all affected stakeholders in Alaska in the short-term and long-term to find fiscally responsible solutions that provide carriers in Alaska with the certainty needed -- and explicit support necessary -- to invest in broadband and mobile services to all Alaskans.” Parnell’s Oct. 17 letter was posted in docket 10-90 on Thursday (http://xrl.us/bmgpm6). Alaska cable operators like GCI and telcos have sought a separate plan for the state, as FCC members are scheduled to vote this week on a USF and intercarrier compensation order (CD Oct 20 p18).

Helped by solid wireless growth, Verizon posted Q3 profit of $3.5 billion, up 31 percent year-over-year. The revamp on Universal Service Fund and intercarrier compensation would benefit some of the company’s business, but it’s still too early to tell the impact on each business unit, Chief Financial Officer Fran Shammo said Friday. The carrier netted 882,000 new postpaid customers during the quarter versus the 584,000 in the year-ago quarter. But net postpaid additions slowed down sequentially as the company added 1.3 million customers in Q2. Verizon had 107.7 million customers at the end of the quarter, up 6.5 percent year-over-year. Postpaid churn was 0.94 percent, a slight improvement from the year-ago period. The carrier added two million iPhones in the quarter, bringing its year to date count for iPhone sales to some 6.5 million. Verizon ran out of the iPhone 4S in stores on the first day it was launched, Shammo said. Verizon supports completing the USF overhaul, promoting broadband and moving from voice to broadband subsidy, Shammo said. The regulatory changes that the FCC is contemplating might not be exactly what the industry wants, but they're a step in right direction, he said. Verizon, a net payer, would see some benefit as a result of the overhaul but there would be “some puts and takes within our portfolio,” he said. Verizon’s wireless and business operation could see some benefit, he said. But the company will have a better understanding of the impact after it sees more details of the proposed changes, he said. Regarding the impact of Sprint Nextel’s plan to get rid of some roaming expense via network upgrade, Shammo said it’s not a near-term issue and Verizon’s revenue from Sprint is not material at all. There has to be a lot of execution in order for the roaming expense reduction plan to happen, he said. On LTE expansion, Verizon now has LTE in 165 markets, covering 186 million POPs. The company plans to have 175 markets covered by Nov. 17, have two-thirds of the country covered with LTE by mid-2012, and finish covering its 3G footprint with LTE by the end of 2013, Shammo said. Verizon sold 1.4 million LTE devices in the quarter, up from 1.2 million in Q2. Of its 1.4 million LTE devices in the quarter, Shammo said just over half of them were smartphones and the rest were data-only devices. Following the ongoing industry trend of declining voice connections, Verizon’s total voice connections, including FiOS digital voice and traditional voice lines, decreased 7.6 percent year-over-year to 24.5 million. However, broadband service continued to grow. The operator had 8.6 million broadband customers by the end of the quarter, up 2.8 percent year-over-year, helped by growth in FiOS broadband subscriber gains. FiOS TV was another bright spot with 131,000 net new FiOS TV connections, growing its total FiOS TV connections to 4 million by the end of the quarter. The operator expects to add even more TV customers in Q4 after it’s done with installation backlogs caused by recent hurricanes and a strike.

Wireless carriers pushing for a bigger piece of the Universal Service Fund pie through a larger Mobility Fund still likely face an uphill fight, despite advocacy by Commissioner Mignon Clyburn (CD Oct 21 p1). With several parts of the USF/intercarrier compensation order in flux, wireless industry officials said Friday the three Democratic commissioners are not united in agreeing that more money should be added to the wireless fund. Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., on Friday separately voiced a number of objections to USF reform proposals before the FCC.

Helped by solid wireless growth, Verizon posted Q3 profit of $3.5 billion, up 31 percent year-over-year. The revamp on Universal Service Fund and intercarrier compensation would benefit some of the company’s business, but it’s still too early to tell the impact on each business unit, Chief Financial Officer Fran Shammo said Friday. Meanwhile, union workers at Verizon joined the Occupy Wall Street protest Friday over “Verizon’s corporate greed,” a move that Verizon called “misdirected outreach."

TracFone offered the FCC further data, based on its experience, on why it believes tightening the rules for eligible telecom carrier enrollment could cut Universal Service Fund costs by $760 million annually. The comments came in a call with Wireline Bureau officials (http://xrl.us/bmgmch). TracFone said it estimates requiring Lifeline customers to furnish their date of birth and Social Security number would cut costs by $192 million, requiring ETCs to make Lifeline customers self-certify their continuing Lifeline eligibility annually would mean another $270 million in savings, and disconnecting customers who do not use the service for 60 days or who do not pay their bills for 60 days would cut $230 million. TracFone explained that because it imposes eligibility requirements, the company rejects one in five applicants, de-enrolls 26 percent of its Lifeline customers for failure to self-certify continuing Lifeline eligibility each year and cuts off service to another 24 percent under its 60-day non-usage policy.

Commissioner Mignon Clyburn is pressing other FCC members to look more closely at the appropriate size of a proposed Mobility Fund as the agency completes its Universal Service Fund proceeding, her wireless aide, Louis Peraertz, told a Federal Communications Bar Association lunch Thursday. Elsewhere, aides to the four commissioners mostly talked about spectrum, with several conceding that spectrum sharing will be the trend of the future.

Telecom and consumer and states’ rights advocates were making final efforts to blunt the impact of the pending Universal Service Fund and intercarrier compensation system reforms on their interests. The FCC extended the open lobbying period to the close of business Friday. More than one critic accused FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski of being unnecessarily opaque with his intentions. “I think a lot of things are still in flux,” Free Press Political Adviser Joel Kelsey said Thursday. “The details are moving targets.” The proposed USF order is on the agenda for Thursday’s meeting.