The FCC is likely to approve Time Warner Cable’s $3 billion purchase of Insight Communications, agency and industry officials told us last week. They said career agency officials from the Media and Wireline bureaus are working on reviewing the deal, and seem poised to soon recommend it be approved. The forthcoming order would waive a rule barring common LEC/cable system ownership in the same franchise area, the industry and commission officials said. They said the companies, though, may not get the order approved before the end of this year (CD Dec 5 p18), as they have asked be done.

The House passed an omnibus appropriations bill including $340 million for the FCC for fiscal year 2012. It voted 296-121 to pass the measure Friday afternoon. The omnibus was the result of bipartisan negotiations, and the Senate was expected to approve the measure later Friday or early Saturday. Meanwhile, negotiations continued in the Senate on the payroll tax cut legislation that contains language authorizing the FCC to conduct voluntary incentive auctions. The Senate was expected to vote early Saturday, unless it reaches a deal sooner.

Cox Communications agreed to follow three cable peers and sell AWS spectrum licenses to Verizon Wireless. Also like the carrier is doing with Bright House Networks, Comcast and Time Warner Cable (CD Dec 5 p5), Verizon Wireless and Cox will promote and market each other’s service. The agreements take off the table another chunk of AWS spectrum and come at a per-MHz/POP price that appears lower than what Verizon Wireless agreed to pay the SpectrumCo members for their AWS licenses. Foes of industry consolidation said the deals are beginning to raise competition concerns.

A bug in Carrier IQ software captured cellphone users’ SMS text messages, Carrier IQ said last week. By design, the software collects numbers dialed, URLs visited, and locations of dropped calls, among other things, it said in a letter released late Thursday to Senate Privacy Subcommittee Chairman Al Franken, D-Minn. Carrier IQ and the carriers and handset makers that have admitted being Carrier IQ customers said the data collection software is a diagnostic tool that does not violate the Electronic Communications Privacy Act or the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.

Wireless tower company Crown Castle will buy NextG Networks, the nation’s largest provider of outdoor distributed antenna systems (DAS) for $1 billion, Crown Castle said Friday. NextG has more than 7,000 DAS nodes already in operation with another 1,500 under construction, with 80 percent of the nodes in the nation’s 10 largest metropolitan areas, Crown Castle said. The purchase is Crown Castle’s biggest since it acquired Global Signal in 2007.

The FCC may certify Spectrum Bridge as the first TV white spaces database with permission to start commercial operations in the U.S., industry and agency officials told us last week. That could lead to deployment of the first commercially available white spaces technology as early as Q1. The FCC Office of Engineering and Technology earlier this year completed a 45-day public trial of the Spectrum Bridge database(CD Nov 14 p13) and this month began a 45-day trial of rival database provider Telcordia Technologies, making those the first two of the 10 commission-designated database operators to be ready for trials. White spaces devices, including one produced by Spectrum Bridge’s partner KTS, are being tested in the OET lab, and could soon be certified for commercial use as well, said industry executives.

Eddie Lazarus’s pending departure as chief of staff to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski will create a key opening for what is expected to be his last full year as chairman. Similar to the role of White House chief of staff, a job which didn’t even exist before the Eisenhower Administration, the FCC chief of staff has become a key behind-the-scenes player at the commission.

Smaller wireless carriers are ramping up pressure on the FCC to take steps as part of any approval of AT&T’s buy of 700 MHz spectrum from Qualcomm to reconsolidate the lower 700 MHz band, enhancing their ability to get handsets at reasonable prices. The Rural Cellular Association, C Spire and Vulcan Wireless have been particularly active, holding a series of meetings at the FCC in recent weeks.

Some small retransmission consent disputes around the country are beginning to heat up as TV stations and distributors fail to reach new deals. Dish Network called out Heritage Broadcasting for ending talks this week over carriage of WFQF-TV and WWTV-TV Traverse City, Mich. And the American TV Alliance criticized Cordillera Broadcasting’s negotiating position against Time Warner Cable in Corpus Christi, Texas.

It seems unlikely spectrum negotiations are finished between the House and Senate Commerce committees, despite frustrations voiced by each side, multiple telecom industry lobbyists said Thursday. But governance of the public safety network continues to divide the chambers, they said. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., complained Wednesday that the House had halted talks on a spectrum deal (CD Dec 15 p1). House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., responded that he’s waiting for the Senate to pass its own spectrum legislation. Congressional leaders said Thursday they were moving closer to agreement on a payroll tax cut bill, which has been used as a vehicle for spectrum legislation.