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.

Trade negotiations have to adjust as Internet-enabled communication technologies develop, said Deputy Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Telecommunications and Electronic Commerce Policy Jonathan McHale Monday. Speaking at an event hosted by the FCBA, McHale said the USTR is beginning to approach trade negotiations through the lens of emerging technology and is considering restarting World Trade Organization (WTO) negotiations with the same perspective.

Time Warner Cable reported Q3 results that did not live up to Wall Street expectations Monday; its shares dropped 6.4 percent, closing at $91.93. The company lost about 140,000 basic video subscribers and added 85,000 broadband subscribers, it said. Analysts expected better, several wrote in notes to investors. “For the better part of a year, Time Warner Cable has played second fiddle to Comcast,” Bernstein Research analyst Craig Moffett wrote in a note to investors. “Each quarter, TWC’s growth metrics (especially in video) have been sloppy while Comcast’s have been tight,” he said. Investors had overlooked that in recent months as cable stocks rallied, he said. But “all of TWC’s numbers are just a touch light, and they suffer from the inevitable comparison to Comcast,” he said.

Bipartisan support for satellite export reform will continue whether President Barack Obama is re-elected or a new administration takes office under Mitt Romney, lawmakers and satellite industry experts said. If the administration changes, there could be a delay in implementing reforms as new Cabinet members and department heads are put in place, some executives said. This year, the House passed the FY 2013 National Defense Authorization bill (HR-4310), which included an amendment that would ease export regulation of domestic satellites and components (CD May 21 p3). The provision was similar to legislation introduced by Rep. Howard Berman, D-Calif., ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, which proposed removing commercial satellites from the U.S. munitions list to a less restrictive list.

Unlicensed spectrum provisions as proposed in the FCC’s Oct. 2 notice of proposed rulemaking on the incentive auction have sparked one of the biggest likely fights over auctions rules -- the 700 MHz guardbands and how much spectrum will likely be set aside for unlicensed use. Republican Commissioners Robert McDowell and Ajit Pai both are questioning whether the proposal allocates too much spectrum to unlicensed use at the expense of licenses carriers need to offer wireless broadband, industry and agency sources said. The future of the proposal likely will be determined by who wins Tuesday’s presidential election, sources agree.

A federal three-judge panel should vacate an FCC ruling that barred Northern Valley Communications from requiring long-distance phone companies to pay an access charge on calls to an end-user that receives Northern Valley’s services for free, the competitive LEC argued Monday before the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. The telco had been levying an access charge on telcos providing long-distance service for calls delivered to its customers. Northern Valley was one of many telcos the FCC said had engaged in “traffic pumping schemes,” in this case because it serves conference-calling companies that naturally generate high incoming call volumes. Although the FCC originally allowed Northern Valley to levy the access charge tariff, the agency said in a brief it eventually rescinded its approval in 2011 over changes to the tariff’s wording (http://xrl.us/bnx5qr).

The FCC reported that as of Friday morning the number of cell sites still down over a 146-county area most affected by Sandy is 15 percent, down from 19 percent Thursday and 25 percent Tuesday morning in a larger area following the storm. Cable outages were at 17 percent in the 146-county area and 911 call center problems remain, the agency said. The FCC has also issued four additional grants of special temporary authority.

Charter Communications wants to deploy new set-top boxes with downloadable security features and has asked the FCC for a waiver of its ban on leasing boxes with integrated security and navigation features. Such a waiver would let it put in place an “open-standard-downloadable security solution that supports third-party retail devices,” the cable operator said in its request (http://xrl.us/bnxn3m). Charter requested a two-year waiver of the FCC’s integrated security ban. After two years, it would no longer deploy new integrated security devices “and therefore would no longer need a waiver from the integration ban,” the company said.