NBCUniversal may face an arbitration request from an upstart online video distributor (OVD). It could seek a programming deal with the company under terms of an FCC order approving Comcast’s purchase of control in NBCU that gives OVDs the rights to buy some content accords if they strike distribution deals with other programmers. Project Concord Inc.’s request may be the first such instance of an OVD intending to seek arbitration to get access to shows from Comcast’s cable channels or the NBC broadcast-TV network to distribute them online, consumer advocates who opposed the NBCUniversal deal told us. The OVD’s request was made public in an FCC filing last week. It asked the agency not to pause issuance of a protective order to keep programming contracts confidential while it reviews Comcast’s request to change a condition in the 2011 order (CD Feb 22 p4).

The FCC’s Consumer Affairs Committee is looking at the FCC’s controversial new website, with an eye on whether it’s user friendly for consumers, CAC member Ed Bartholomew of Call for Action said during a meeting of the advisory committee Friday. Bartholomew, who chairs the Consumer Empowerment Working Group, said CAC members are planning a call with FCC officials to ask about the commission’s goals in making major changes to the website.

FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell still hopes to see commission action early this year on Universal Service Fund contribution reform. The FCC approved an order in October addressing the distribution side of USF and an order on the USF’s Lifeline program in January. Followup work on both is expected to consume much of the Wireline Bureau’s attention this year.

Gray TV would have to look at selling its spectrum in an auction should one be set up, President Bob Prather told analysts during the broadcaster’s quarterly earnings teleconference Friday. “If an auction happened out there and there was a real viable market, and we thought selling the spectrum was more valuable than doing what we're doing with television, then we'd have to look at it.” Prather said he doesn’t expect there to be an auction any time soon.

Advocates for public, educational and government channels are pushing to close the gap between states that haven’t touched franchise agreements between cable operators and municipalities and states that passed legislation that no longer required such agreements. Some advocates said legislation that would require cable companies to provide PEG support could revive channels that lost funding, but such action could be hindered by the election year.

T-Mobile is reinvesting the $3 billion breakup fee it got from AT&T in its network, with an initial roll out of LTE next year, company officials said Thursday. Much of the discussion on a call with analysts was about what’s next for T-Mobile USA in the aftermath of AT&T’s failed buy of the German-owned challenger. In some recent dockets at the FCC, T-Mobile has been reasserting itself as a key challenger to AT&T and Verizon (CD Feb 22 p1).

Lawmakers said online privacy legislation is needed to support the voluntary consumer privacy proposal touted by the Obama administration Thursday. Their comments came shortly after the White House unveiled its proposal for baseline consumer privacy protections online. The Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights is a voluntary code of conduct that aims to protect privacy rights of online consumers while giving them more control over how their information is handled, the White House said.

Dish Network’s wireless aspirations are contingent on a quick FCC approval of the company’s S-band applications, said Dish Chairman Charles Ergen during the company’s Q4 earnings call Thursday. A rejection or delay in approving Dish’s applications to use mobile satellite spectrum terrestrially would force the company to revisit its interest in joining the wireless business, he said. Ergen spoke at length about the FCC and its consideration of Dish’s purchase of TerreStar and DBSD and associated waivers of MSS rules.

U.S. Internet players will abide by the spirit of net neutrality for the foreseeable future, regardless of the outcome of appeals against the FCC’s 2010 rules, the agency’s recently departed chief of staff predicted. Net neutrality has become the “norm” in the U.S., Eddie Lazarus told an Information Technology & Innovation Foundation event Thursday. The type of heated rhetoric that occurred over net neutrality and this year over legislation that’s now being debated on intellectual property rights could be the harbinger of future debates, Lazarus said. He voiced hope there will be more wireless competitors, and that LightSquared’s spectrum will eventually be put to more use, and has no regrets about how the commission handled the company’s waiver.

Canoe Ventures will focus on developing VOD and TV Everywhere ad technology, dropping its interactive TV goals, the company said. As a result, Canoe will reduce its staff from about 150 to 30 employees, close its New York City offices, and consolidate its engineering-focused operations at its Denver facilities. There, Canoe CEO Joel Hassell, former chief technology officer, will run operations, a spokeswoman said.