The largest combination of radio stations in many years likely will be approved later in 2011 and perhaps with few FCC conditions, agency and industry officials predicted based on the Media Bureau review so far. Cumulus in March agreed to buy Citadel in a $2.4 billion deal to form a company with more than 550 radio stations in about 120 markets. Last week, the companies said the transaction should be approved and offered more reasons, which an opponent of media consolidation said sweeten the possible public interest benefits. The transaction and another deal for $500 million may spur a small renaissance in the previously moribund market for radio station mergers and acquisitions, a consultant predicted, although a broker isn’t so sure.

Support for keeping the FCC’s retransmission consent rules as they are came from the Writers Guild of America, West (WGAW), as companies, public interest groups and trade associations filed their comments on the FCC’s proposed rulemaking before Friday’s deadline. Pay-TV distributors, which had petitioned the agency to change the rules, drew support from groups such as Citizens against Government Waste and the Free State Foundation, as well as the National Black Caucus of State Legislators. Those parties favored changing the rules to assure that distributors will be able to preserve carriage of TV stations during retransmission consent disputes.

The FCC’s pending Wireless Competition Report is already being brandished as a weapon by opponents of AT&T’s proposed buy of T-Mobile, even before it’s released by the agency. The report is expected to conclude for the second year that the wireless market has grown more concentrated. Other observers say the report appears likely only to offer the same findings as last year, reaching no conclusions on whether the industry is “effectively competitive,” and thus is not a surprise.

The government may continue using roving wiretaps and other Patriot Act powers that were to expire at 12:01 a.m. Friday. Late Thursday, President Barack Obama signed into law an extension until June 1, 2015, of the government spying powers. The law made no changes to surveillance, but Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., introduced legislation Thursday based on his failed amendment to add privacy protections. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and privacy groups said they were disappointed the renewal had no new protections for U.S. citizens.

The privacy rules covering so-called “smart TV” services and devices aren’t clear, industry executives and public interest advocates said. That could be a problem if such services become popular with consumers, as TV set makers and pay-TV distributors seek to add apps, widgets, interactivity and ad targeting to their services, they said. “The same business models that collect a tremendous amount of data online, and have raised privacy concerns in congress and at the FTC, can now be found on the television set,” said Jeff Chester, executive director for the Center for Digital Democracy. “This is a major privacy issue that is about to boil over and regulators will be caught flat footed by not trying to address it,” he said.

The FCC’s quiet but determined diplomacy with state regulators has helped ease Chairman Julius Genachowski’s path through key elements of the National Broadband Plan, state and federal officials told us. In early May, for instance, the Joint Board on Universal Service filed comments on Genachowski’s proposed Universal Service Fund and intercarrier compensation system revisions. Whatever the Joint Board’s other recommendations, it did not insist that the matter should have been referred back to the Joint Board. FCC officials took that as an implicit endorsements of their efforts, which in turn undermined criticisms from rural carriers that the FCC didn’t have jurisdiction (CD May 4 p2). “There really has been a lot of outreach from this FCC,” Vermont Public Service Board Member John Burke told us at the time. “I think it’s fair to say that the FCC here was pretty much unprecedented on how they reached out to members.”

Spectrum fees assessed on government agencies appear to be off the agenda for the current Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee. A report on spectrum fees for government agencies dominated the last two CSMAC meetings last year (CD Dec 14 p2, Nov 9 p1) and was the subject of continuing debate. CSMAC ultimately called for further study of the issue.

EU governments mostly agree with the European Commission’s proposed five-year spectrum policy plan but the “particularly difficult” subject area means more work is needed to reconcile differences among countries and between the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament, Hungarian Information and Communication Minister Zsolt Nyitrai said at a Friday Telecom Council meeting. Hungary, which currently holds the EU Presidency, has made every effort to accommodate the concerns raised by governments, but several issues will be left to the incoming Polish Presidency to try to resolve, he said. One of the chief questions is whether all, or most, EU members will be able to free up the 800 MHz “digital dividend” band by 2013, which the EC badly wants.

SAN FRANCISCO -- An investigation of the T-Mobile sale that California regulators have decided to consider could influence policymakers in other states and the federal officials with the ultimate say over the deal, officials and transaction opponents told us. California’s Public Utilities Commission (PUC) voted 5-0 late Thursday to consider an inquiry at its next meeting, June 9, rather than allow the proposed purchase by AT&T to be approved automatically earlier in the month under the usual informal procedure.

The FCC’s comment period has closed and industry officials are pressing their cases for Universal Service Fund and intercarrier compensation regime updates at venues from the Hill to the commission. Talks continue, with the hope of reaching an industry-wide consensus, but each sector has already begun pressing cases in ex parte meetings and Hill visits. Rural telcos have been dropping letters off on the Hill, asking legislators to urge FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski “strongly” to “consider the proposals put forward by the rural associations (OPASTCO, WTA, NTCA and NECA).” OPASTCO Vice President Randy Tyree said he hopes Congress will “weigh in and let the FCC know the importance of rural cooperatives that are out there serving and doing a good job.”