As some broadcasters gear up for a mobile emergency alert system pilot project, they said they expect the EAS project to complement the current system and lead to further use of mobile DTV. With three public TV operations as test markets for the project, it will reassert the role of broadcasters as initial informers during emergencies and disasters, some executives said.

With an early 2012 timeframe looking more likely for passing spectrum legislation (CD Nov 30 p4), House Commerce Committee Democrats sought to delay Thursday’s Communications Subcommittee markup of the draft bill by Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore. In a letter Wednesday to their Republican counterparts, full committee Ranking Member Henry Waxman, D-Calif., and subcommittee Ranking Member Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., said members need more time to understand the new language of the GOP bill released Tuesday. A delay would also allow members to resume two-party negotiations “that we abruptly ended in early October."

The FCC Wednesday approved a long-awaited order approving a secondary spectrum allocation sought by the Alfred Mann Foundation for wirelessly connecting neuromuscular microstimulators implanted in patients with brain and spinal cord injuries and neuromuscular disorders. FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell questioned why it took the FCC five years to act. The FCC approved a notice of inquiry at its July 2006 meeting asking about emerging medical technologies, including those outlined in the Alfred Mann proposal. The order approved Wednesday in a 4-0 vote allocates 24 MHz of 400 MHz band spectrum in four band segments for the MedRadio service on a secondary basis.

The U.S. already faces a “spectrum crunch” and “we should be doing something about it,” Rep. Cliff Stearns, R-Fla., said Wednesday at a Roll Call forum. Stearns said the next critical step is an inventory, especially of spectrum used by the Department of Defense. Stearns is chairman of the Commerce Committee’s Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee.

SAN FRANCISCO -- The high cost of producing local programming is part of what keeps PBS the main programming supplier for noncommercial TV stations, said President John Boland of San Francisco public radio and TV stations KQED. About 10 percent of KQED-TV’s budget goes to PBS, but the programmer’s shows make up 80 percent of its schedule, he said at San Francisco’s Commonwealth Club late Tuesday. PBS President Paula Kerger told the event that federal funding remains vital for public TV stations.

NARUC might not appeal the FCC’s order on Universal Service Fund as a single bloc because states have varying views on the order, telecom industry officials told us. Though it’s uncertain if NARUC will appeal, the decision would depend on how much common ground there is among states, John Burke, chair of NARUC’s telecom committee, told us. Meanwhile, the industry has been lobbying at states to prevent appeals, a state official said. Despite a few states’ different views on preemption, NARUC has been consistent with its opposition to state preemption (CD Aug 26 p5).

Globalstar’s path forward for offering terrestrial service in its mobile satellite service (MSS) spectrum appears to have several immediate obstacles, said industry executives. Globalstar maintains that the use of its terrestrial spectrum is relatively straightforward since the agency previously approved Globalstar’s use of ancillary terrestrial spectrum. Globalstar, which had its ATC abilities suspended, hopes to regain ATC compliance to use Big Low Earth Orbit L-band (1610-1617.775 MHz) and the S-band (2483.5-2495 MHz) terrestrially. Globalstar has said it should receive an FCC ATC gating criteria waiver, similar to the one received by LightSquared and being sought by Dish Network, that would allow Globalstar to offer terrestrial-only service.

There was little agreement on a Federal Emergency Management Agency webcast Tuesday about when the government should next test the national emergency alert system. Several problems with the simulation have been identified since a Nov. 9 EAS test (CD Nov 18 p1), which was the first time the EAS was triggered nationwide. When Manny Centeno, FEMA program manager for the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System, asked the roundtable participants when the next test should be, dates as early as April 1 and as late as November, were suggested.

Independent cable networks split with multichannel video programming distributors over an FCC proposal to extend a requirement that MVPDs not favor their own content over unaffiliated channels to more types of pay-TV companies. A program carriage notice of proposed rulemaking (http://xrl.us/bk3ueg) said any MVPD that owns content should be barred from discriminating in carrying independent channels on the basis of a programmer’s lack of affiliation with another subscription-video provider (CD Aug 2 p10). The American Cable Association, DirecTV and NCTA were among those that objected to that proposal. In other comments posted Tuesday to docket 11-131 (http://xrl.us/bmjswu), Verizon said the NPRM was right to exclude newer MVPDs. Indies that have filed program carriage complaints said they ought not to face discrimination from any pay-TV provider, even if it doesn’t own content.

The FCC will let AT&T and Deutsche Telekom withdraw their merger application, while at the same time releasing the staff memo that gave failing grades to AT&T’s buy of DT’s T-Mobile, agency officials said Tuesday. Chairman Julius Genachowski and members of his staff had been pondering how to take both steps (CD Nov 29 p1). Public release of the memo opens the door for the document to be entered as part of the record in the government’s lawsuit to block the deal.