The FCC must not remove state jurisdiction over intrastate communications and preserve the joint governmental structure in its Universal Service Fund and Intercarrier Compensation proceeding, state officials said during a seminar held by the National Regulatory Research Institute Wednesday. Other top concerns for state regulators include cost and contribution methods, they said.

House Republicans are thinking about using the Universal Service Fund to help pay down the budget deficit, Congressional documents show and Hill and industry officials told us. Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., circulated a slide presentation among his colleagues Tuesday that contained cuts and savings proposed in talks with Vice President Joe Biden, including between $20 billion and $25 billion in “spectrum/USF” savings.

House and Senate Democrats objected to draft spectrum legislation floated Wednesday by House Commerce Committee Republicans. The draft bill, which will be the subject of a House Communications Subcommittee hearing Friday, does not give the 700 MHz D-block to public safety, unlike the Senate’s bipartisan spectrum bill. Like S-911, the House draft would authorize the FCC to conduct voluntary incentive auctions, but it limits the FCC to a single auction of broadcaster spectrum. Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Calif., introduced a separate spectrum bill Friday related to unlicensed use.

The record is clear that the FCC should act “expeditiously” to identify spectrum in the 217 MHz to 222 MHz range for positive train control (PTC), the Association of American Railroads (AAR) said in reply comments filed at the FCC (http://xrl.us/bkzwnp). Comments have been almost universally supportive of giving railroads the spectrum they need to comply with a mandate from Congress in the Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008, AAR said. PTC systems are designed to protect trains from collisions, overspeed derailments and other threats to rail safety.

A proposal by major players in European broadband networks failed to completely win over alternative telecom providers, commercial broadcasters and digital rights activists at a European Commission CEO roundtable in Brussels Wednesday, representatives of those companies said. The 11 recommendations on how to spur investment in broadband, which include a call for differentiated services, were requested by Digital Agenda Commissioner Neelie Kroes and drafted by corporate chiefs drawn from content providers, equipment makers, investors and telecom operators, the EC said. Kroes said after the meeting that while the work produced no consensus, it “certainly helped to build mutual understanding."

News Corp.’s withdrawn bid for British Sky Broadcasting leaves the would-be acquirer with a large amount of cash on hand, potentially clearing the way for other media purchases, said industry executives. Another try at the U.S. satellite TV market seems unlikely, but a content acquisition is possible, they said. News Corp. said Wednesday it won’t bid for the 61 percent of BSkyB it doesn’t own, as controversy over phone hacking by a News Corp.-owned newspaper continues to heat up in the U.K.

The Senate Commerce Committee is considering a statutory ban on all third-party charges on landline phone bills, Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., said at a committee hearing Wednesday. The committee released a study on cramming, the practice of billing customers -- often on behalf of third parties -- for products or services they either didn’t order or don’t want. Each third-party charge costs consumers between $10 and $30, and most are unauthorized, Rockefeller said. Telcos place $2 billion in third-party charges on customers’ landline bills every year, the committee said in its report.

Executives from six private sector groups touted the Senate’s PROTECT IP Act as a critical means to combat “job killing” Internet theft. The comments came at a Capitol Hill briefing Wednesday hosted by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Coalition Against Counterfeiting and Piracy. General Counsel Rick Cotton of NBCUniversal rejected the idea that the bill would “break the Internet” and said website blocking already occurs and should be used against sites dedicated to IP theft. He acknowledged that the bill lacks sufficient language to prevent the growth of cyberlockers and websites that stream infringing content.

Radio stations are making efficient use of spectrum, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said Tuesday as the agency approved a rulemaking on low-power and translator stations in the FM band. The number of listeners of terrestrial broadcast radio has been rising, and the spectrum is used “efficiently,” he said. The rulemaking notice eying a tiered system for the commission to leave space for future low-power FM (LPFM) stations when processing thousands of pending translator applications is “managing spectrum wisely,” Genachowski said. There are about 6,500 pending requests for translators from a 2003 filing window, Commissioner Robert McDowell said at the agency’s monthly meeting. He and other agency officials spoke of the longstanding tension between LPFM and translator stations for new channels.

Verizon Wireless, which opened its LTE Innovation Center in Waltham, Mass., Tuesday, is partnering with companies of all sizes to help create devices and solutions for LTE networks, executives said during a webcast. A sister Application Innovation Center will be opened next month in San Francisco, said David Small, chief technical officer.