LAS VEGAS -- ViaSat will launch its Excede high-speed broadband service Monday, reigniting competition with Hughes Communications and DSL and cable providers. Excede, which will deliver 12/3 Mbps download/upload speeds, will be sold on two-year contracts with 7.5 ($49.99), 15 GB ($79.99) and 25 GB ($129.99) monthly data packages, company officials said. Extra 4 GB packages will likely eventually be available for customers that want to buy extra capacity, and those who are nearing their monthly limit will get email and cellphone alert notifications, said ViaSat’s WildBlue Chief Operating Office Stephanie Copeland. The contracts will include a satellite modem built around a Cavium’s Octeon multi-core 500-700 MHz processors as well as receiving dish and feed horn, company officials said. Installation will be $149.

OPASTCO and NTCA are considering a merger, the rural associations told their members. “Our dialogue began in the spirit of cooperation and collaboration to strengthen the rural telecommunications industry and give our memberships the best opportunities, tools and resources for the future,” OPASTCO and NTCA said in a joint email. “We have found consensus in several areas and will continue to work through issues and concerns."

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, doesn’t think he should have to ask congressional Commerce Committee chairmen to act as intermediaries in his ongoing standoff (CD Jan 6 p1) with FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski over access to documents related to the LightSquared proceeding, a Grassley spokeswoman said. Grassley, the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, is blocking a vote on the pending nominations of Jessica Rosenworcel and Ajit Pai to seats on the FCC because Genachowski has refused to provide the documents. Genachowski has argued that the FCC historically has honored document requests only from the chairman of committees with jurisdiction over the commission, and he has cited supporting guidance in the Congressional Research Service’s non-binding Congressional Oversight Manual.

Implementation of the Local Community Radio Act (LCRA) could lead to more community radio stations and community involvement in minority communities, some LPFM advocates said Monday at a New America Foundation event in Washington. There are some hurdles that applicants and the FCC must take on to make the process successful, they said.

Supreme Court justices limited discussion of First Amendment issues on the government’s appeal of a lower court ruling against the FCC finding indecent a single curseword or incident of nudity on broadcast TV. Oral argument Tuesday mainly focused on how the agency’s so-called fleeting indecency policy squared with the high court’s landmark Pacifica decision, which allowed the commission to censure indecent content on terrestrial radio and TV. The 1969 Red Lion case involving spectrum scarcity didn’t come up, conforming with expectations (CD June 28 p1).

Seventeen parties opposed making FCC filings contain full copies of any materials cited in their pleadings or ex parte submissions. Many comments on a commission public notice said the rule would be unnecessary and burdensome, and all filings in docket 10-44 opposed the requirements the agency asked about. The FCC said the new rules, which it didn’t propose but only asked about, could increase transparency and efficiency in proceedings, as well as make materials more readily available for anyone (CD Dec 2 p7).

LAS VEGAS -- Questions are likely to continue to arise about usage-based pricing and whether some high-use subscribers should pay more than those that use much less, industry officials said during a panel Monday at CES. One key, speakers said, is that consumers have usage measurement tools available so they can see that the overwhelming majority utilize little enough bandwidth that they don’t face caps or extra charges, panelists said.

The FCC continues working on several radio rulemakings, has completed one proceeding and may finish two others later this year. The attention by staffers in the Media Bureau to radio issues is in contrast to what some see as the commission’s overall lack of attention to other media issues. The agency in December approved a tribal radio order, which industry lawyers said the bureau made quick work of. By contrast, the commission is more than a year behind schedule on its media ownership review, in which industry lawyers said radio isn’t much in play.

Civil rights and “digital divide” erasure advocates gave mixed reviews to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski’s Lifeline reform proposals Monday. As expected (CD Jan 9 p7), Genachowski promised what he called “cost controls” and “a budget” for Lifeline and Link-Up, with most of his efforts focused on rooting out some 200,000 duplicate claims and building a database to prevent future “waste.” The draft order will circulate Tuesday, Genachowski said.

News licensing startup NewsRight doesn’t follow the business model of Righthaven, the struggling law group that sued bloggers for reposting articles, but litigation isn’t out of the question, President David Westin told us. The organization, launched in the summer as the Associated Press’s News Licensing Group, last week said it signed up 29 news and information partners and investors, including The New York Times Co. and Hearst, covering more than 800 websites whose content it has authority to license (CD Jan 6 p12). Focused on digital text for the moment, NewsRight is in “very preliminary” talks with organizations interested in having licensed video and still images from NewsRight’s partners, Westin said.