House Republicans as expected included the draft spectrum bill by Communications Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., in spending legislation to extend the payroll tax cut and other items. The House GOP unveiled the text of the “extenders” bill Friday morning (http://xrl.us/bmkks2). The chamber is likely to vote on the package this week, the House Rules Committee said. The extenders bill is unlikely to survive in its current form, but could foreshadow a final deal that includes spectrum, said telecom lobbyists and analysts. Also Friday, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., condemned House proposals to provide $3 billion for broadcaster relocation and to force public safety to return narrowband spectrum.

Friday saw at least four more appeals of the Universal Service Fund order (CD Oct 28 p1), as AT&T, NTCA, NASUCA and the Vermont Public Service Board filed in three different appellate circuits. NTCA and NASUCA each filed in the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va.; Vermont filed in the 2nd Circuit in New York; and AT&T filed its appeal in the D.C. Circuit. They join earlier appeals, one from CLEC Core Communications in Richmond (CD Dec 5 p11) and another from Pennsylvania regulators filed in the 3rd Circuit in Philadelphia (CD Dec 6 p2).

Broadcasters and multichannel video programming distributors exchanged more words on retransmission consent deals late last week. Mediacom, which has criticized the FCC for not issuing an order changing retrans rules (CD Sept 2 p3), sent a letter to the agency saying broadcasters’ efforts to head off the changes are works of fiction. No retrans order is circulating at the commission, and none seems poised to soon, an agency official said.

The Department of Justice will file a motion either to withdraw its antitrust case against AT&T’s proposed purchase of T-Mobile or to suspend the case indefinitely. Frustrated that AT&T withdrew its FCC petition to acquire T-Mobile (CD Nov 28 p1), U.S. District Court Judge Ellen Huvelle said she would entertain Justice’s motion in arguments Thursday. She also said she wanted to hear from FCC General Counsel Austin Schlick, who will be “invited” to Thursday’s hearing.

It will be “more of the same” for the FCC in 2012, Chief of Staff Eddie Lazarus told the Practising Law Institute conference Friday. The FCC still has significant work left expanding broadband adoption and addressing the country’s spectrum deficiencies, he said. Privacy experts on a separate panel said they expect the FTC and FCC to increase their focus on online privacy and cybersecurity issues in the coming year.

The FCC could use a procedural rulebook, former FCC chairman and current NCTA CEO Michael Powell said in an interview to air Saturday on C-SPAN’s The Communicators. It’s an issue Powell pushed during his time at the agency and one that still needs to be addressed, he said when asked about the need for legislation changing the way the FCC operates. “The FCC really doesn’t have a rules-of-procedure book,” he said. “Other agencies have a very clearly published set of rules about how things are done.” At other agencies, processes for voting on items and how commissioners can call up items from bureaus are clearly addressed in rules, he said.

An FCC International Bureau draft report on the competitiveness of the satellite market points to competitive concerns in the marketplace, said industry executives and an agency official. The report, which analyzes three years -- 2008, 2009 and 2010 -- is expected to voice some agency worry on satellite operator capacity pricing, they said. The report, which will be considered as part of the FCC’s Tuesday open meeting, is on circulation and could still see modification.

All sides of the AT&T/T-Mobile deal will be back in court Friday, and AT&T appears to have doubled-down on the ongoing litigation to preserve the embattled deal. Two cases, one between the Department of Justice and the other between AT&T and Sprint and C Spire, are set for status hearings in U.S. District Court in D.C. Friday morning. AT&T has spent much of the last two weeks in battles with the FCC over the commission’s decision to release a staff report on the proposed T-Mobile acquisition (CD Dec 2 p5) and the FCC’s spectrum screen standards (CD Dec 6 p1).

Outgoing Democratic FCC Commissioner Michael Copps sought an open proceeding to determine spectrum screen standards years before AT&T resurrected the issue in its battle with the FCC (CD Dec 6 p1), records show. In 2008, Verizon petitioned the FCC for permission to buy Alltel. Copps concurred in part and dissented in part, but in his statement (http://xrl.us/bmkh98) he criticized the commission for not putting its spectrum standards out for public comment.

Spectrum and cybersecurity are top priorities for Democrats and Republicans on the House and Senate Commerce committees, committee aides said Thursday. On a panel at the Practising Law Institute conference, the aides said the House and Senate are close to consensus on a spectrum bill and agree on several areas related to cybersecurity. FCC process reform action will likely continue in the House, but Senate Democrats remain uninterested, the aides said.