Media association heads grabbed the top three spots in our survey of non-profit group salaries. The field was led by RIAA President Cary Sherman at nearly $3.2 million. He was followed by former NCTA President Kyle McSlarrow at nearly $2.7 million and NAB ex-President David Rehr at $2.5 million. All figures are based on the groups’ most recent tax returns -- 2009 except where noted.

Seeking to sustain their sales momentum in the booming commercial services market, major North American cable operators are starting to pursue mid-sized and larger companies more aggressively in their territories while continuing to focus on their core market of smaller firms.

Wireless carrier MetroPCS asked the FCC to clarify several items MetroPCS regards as ambiguities and make some limited changes to the Universal Service Fund/intercarrier compensation order adopted at the commission’s Oct. 27 meeting. Several states also asked the commission to reconsider or clarify several state-specific issues in the order.

Public, educational and governmental channels groups say they are looking toward legislation to keep PEG channels accessible and affordable to viewers, as they continue to keep an eye out for action on petitions pending at the FCC. The PEG community is trying to build momentum behind the Community Access Preservation Act, introduced by Reps. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., and Steve LaTourette, R-Ohio, and ensure that an October FCC rulemaking notice about basic service tier encryption won’t pose a barrier to PEG channels, some PEG advocates said.

The FCC’s soon-to-be two new commissioners, Jessica Rosenworcel and Ajit Pai, come to the job with substantial experience as Senate aides. The question some observers are asking is whether putting two former Hill aides on the commission will help the FCC’s sometimes rocky relationship with the Hill, highlighted by the ongoing dispute between Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, and Chairman Julius Genachowski over the release of documents on the FCC’s approval of a waiver allowing LightSquared to offer terrestrial service using mobile satellite service spectrum.

Continuing to make strong inroads against the incumbent telcos, U.S. cable operators will likely wind up producing at least $6 billion in commercial services revenue this year, up a healthy 20 percent from 2010, according to the latest data available. Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Cox Communications alone are poised to generate at least $4.3 billion in commercial services revenue collectively for the year.

Southern Company Services and the Utilities Telecom Council pushed back against Public Knowledge in docket 07-52, arguing that the FCC’s net neutrality rules could threaten the emerging “smart grid.” Southern Companies had asked the commission to reconsider part of its net neutrality rules but its petition was assailed by Public Knowledge, which said utility companies could seek declaratory judgments in court based on individual facts in a given specialized service. USTelecom said it was generally sympathetic to Southern’s point of view, but suggested that the commission reject its petition for reconsideration.

T-Mobile’s ability to secure a national data roaming agreement only as part of the “breakup fee” after AT&T’s proposed buy of T-Mobile fell apart shows why the FCC needs to impose a shot clock on negotiations over roaming agreements between carriers, Blanca Telephone said in reply comments at the FCC. In a June petition, Blanca asked the FCC to “reconsider and reverse” a decision in its April data roaming order not to adopt a time limit for roaming negotiations (http://xrl.us/bmmens). The Wireless Bureau sought comment in November. But AT&T said no new information has been introduced that would justify the FCC’s reversing a policy call made in the April order.

Despite Q3 progress on BTOP projects overall, some faced delays due to problems in negotiating franchise agreements and getting permits. An $11 million project in Oregon stalled in Oregon City over franchise fee issues, while a project in Ohio was behind schedule due to delays in “make-ready” and other permitting. But NTIA expects the pace of delivered miles to continue to increase in coming quarters now that most infrastructure recipients have completed environmental and historic preservation requirements, it said.

Apple kept courts in three German cities busy over eight days in mid-December with what has been described as “the smart phone wars.” The Regional Court in Duesseldorf Dec. 22 declined to grant a preliminary injunction and stop distribution of the Samsung’s Galaxy Tablet 10.1 N, but the preliminary distribution stop for the 10.1 N predecessor, the Galaxy Tab 10.1, still stands.