TiVo doesn’t “see much evidence of cord-cutting,” Evan Young, senior director-product marketing, told the Piper Jaffray investor conference in New York Wednesday. “Because of the economy there may have been sort of a cord-shaving in the past few years,” he said. But “the kinds of people who would cut the cord might not have been the highest value subscribers in the first place,” he said.

Incumbents and competitive carriers offered a strikingly different vision for how the FCC should analyze competition in the special access marketplace, in reply comments posted Wednesday in WC docket 05-25. ILECs argued against expansive market power analyses, cautioning that undue complexity could make models unworkable. They also warned the commission that it lacks the authority to alter the terms of current special access agreements. CLECs pleaded with the commission to take immediate action to prohibit exclusionary terms and conditions in current contracts, and undertake a “traditional” market power analysis instead of relying on simple triggers.

The question of how to preserve competition between Verizon and cable companies dominated the filings the Department of Justice posted this week, the latest in court documents from stakeholders in U.S. and State of New York v. Verizon Communications, Verizon Wireless, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Cox Communications and Bright House Networks. Justice proposed a final decision on how to better open up competition last fall, sought comments and this week addressed concerns raised in the four comments submitted by the Communications Workers of America, Boston, Montgomery County, Md., and RCN Telecom. Justice wants its proposed decision to move forward in court as originally drafted, despite commenter concerns.

Executives from T-Mobile and Nokia Siemens Networks said Wednesday in testimony at the FCC’s 3.5 GHz workshop a key to rapid deployment in the 3.5 GHz band is setting aside part of the spectrum for licensed use. The FCC launched a rulemaking in December aimed at opening the 3550-3650 MHz band for shared use and use by small cells (CD Jan 13 p6). FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski told attendees small cells are one way of helping address the “massive challenges around all of the demand for spectrum” caused by the spiraling use of tablets and smartphones.

House lawmakers launched a full-court press on cybersecurity issues Wednesday, holding three hearings to examine what rules and law enforcement tools are needed to increase the nation’s cybersecurity defenses. Separately, President Barack Obama met with U.S. CEOs Wednesday afternoon to discuss cybersecurity issues, according to the White House schedule released to the press. In the meeting, which was closed to the press, the president planned to discuss his cybersecurity executive order and “solicit the CEOs’ input on how the government and private sector can best work together to improve the nation’s cybersecurity,” the White House said. The CEOs at the meeting included Randall Stephenson of AT&T, David Cote of Honeywell International, and Wes Bush of Northrop Grumman, among others, according to White House Press Secretary Jay Carney.

Rovi will deploy its TotalGuide interactive program guide (IPG) with a half-dozen small- and medium-size cable operators in the first half, but it will be a “slow process” that’s not expected to generate “meaningful” revenue until 2014, Rovi Chief Financial Officer Peter Halt said Wednesday at the Piper Jaffray investor conference.

Whether the Justice Department needs the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) to go after cybercriminals when unauthorized access is the only crime is ripe for debate, House Crime Subcommittee Chairman Jim Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., said during a subcommittee hearing Wednesday. Sensenbrenner pointed to a hypothetical situation where someone accessed a computer without authorization but did not take any information. “Shouldn’t the Justice Department have a tool to be able to do something about that even though no other crime was committed?” he asked. The CFAA was used to prosecute Internet activist Aaron Swartz -- who committed suicide in January before his trial -- for downloading a massive archive of subscription academic articles, though Swartz’s name didn’t come up in the hearing and CFAA reform was already a priority for civil liberties groups.

With the U.S. “barreling toward” all-Internet Protocol networks, Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev., said he worries that infrastructure isn’t up to the IP challenge. Networks may be insufficient to accommodate huge increases in video-content streaming and other changes, he said at an American Cable Association conference. That the FCC hasn’t closed its docket to apply Title II common-carrier telecom rules to broadband means “a proposed rulemaking is hanging over your heads,” which “alone slows down progress,” Heller told executives of small- and mid-size cable operators in Washington Wednesday.

The U.S. needs to start resurrecting its image as a “great actor” in international telecommunications and highlight its good works on issues like cybersecurity, as it gears up for conferences after the World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT), said Roxanne McElvane, senior counselor on International Development in the FCC’s International Bureau and the chair of the ITU’s Development Sector Study Group 1, at an International Telecommunication Advisory Committee (ITAC) meeting Tuesday to prepare the U.S. for the upcoming World Telecommunication Development Conference (WTDC). The WTDC, scheduled for March 31-April 11, 2014, in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, is one of several ITU-led conferences scheduled for this year and next that will determine the future structure and policy actions of the ITU. The U.S. was one of 55 nations that did not sign onto a revised version of the International Telecommunication Regulations (ITRs) at WCIT; 89 nations signed the revised ITRs (CD Dec 17 p1).

Several Senate Commerce Committee members want Congress to modernize rules that govern the communications market. From federal E-rate polices, to video regulations, lawmakers at Tuesday’s FCC oversight hearing said it’s time to take a hard look at what should be done to modernize the 20th century rules that govern the market now.