SAN FRANCISCO -- A broad self-regulatory effort concerning online marketing intends to simplify its program for consumers and to undertake a “big national campaign” to inform them about it, in response to supportive prodding from the top of the FTC, the coordinating lawyer told us. Chairman Jon Leibowitz and Jessica Rich, the Division of Privacy & Identity Protection’s assistant director, are “both positive” on the Digital Advertising Alliance’s Self-Regulatory Program for Online Behavioral Advertising and a new extension, Stu Ingis of the Venable law firm said after a presentation late Tuesday at a Practising Law Institute seminar where he handicapped the chances of a federal law on the subject as “quite low.”

ATLANTA -- Consumers are already beginning to treat the iPad as a smaller TV set in their homes, even though the popular tablet is not even two years old yet, at least when it comes to their usage patterns, said Matt Zelesko, senior vice president-Web services for Time Warner Cable. Speaking during the SCTE Cable-Tec Expo this week, Zelesko said subscribers to Time Warner’s new iPad application tend to leave the application running as if the tablet were a TV set. In other words, they keep it on as background video entertainment while they carry out other tasks at home.

FTC nominees Maureen Ohlhausen and Jon Leibowitz told Senate Commerce Committee members at their confirmation hearing Tuesday that the agency is working hard to ensure consumers have sufficient privacy protections on the Web. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., said he favored a Do-Not-Track mechanism and a rigorous enforcement regime as a means to ensure consumer privacy online.

Important questions remain on the viability of on-orbit servicing technologies aimed at extending the life of satellites, Arianespace President Clay Mowry said at the Washington Space Business Roundtable. The idea has floated around the industry for years, he said Tuesday. While the ideas have gained prominence in recent months, with MDA and ViviSat touting coming technologies, much is untested and its affect on the launch industry remains unclear, he said. “We need to see the concept proven out."

The Communications Workers of America accused Verizon of being a bad corporate citizen, and exploiting weaknesses in the federal and state tax codes to avoid paying taxes. The charges came in a report released Tuesday. Members of the CWA union clashed with Verizon earlier this year during a sometimes bitter two-week strike, that ended in early September. The report draws on one released two weeks ago looking at broader tax avoidance by U.S. corporations by Citizens for Tax Justice (CTJ).

The use of digital tools is allowing the media industry to make strides in local journalism, but reduced resources and news staffs are taking a toll on local coverage, public media officials said Tuesday. Universal broadband is key to filling gaps, said Steve Waldman, former aide to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski. He led work on the report issued in June on the future of the media industry. “You have these gaps that are really significant,” but “we can have the best media system we've ever had if we can figure out the right way on how to do these things,” like ensuring that non-profit media has sustainable business models, Waldman said during a symposium at the University of Missouri’s journalism school.

ST. LOUIS -- While some panelists at NARUC’s annual meeting see a continuing state role in a broadband world, others urged regulators to be mindful of market changes that have resulted in loss of revenue. And while some said they can live with the FCC’s Universal Service Fund order, others find it unacceptable.

There’s no reason to ban any cross ownership of daily newspapers and radio or TV stations in the same market, the new head of the Newspaper Association of America said after her first 65 days on the job. The NAA hopes the FCC in its ongoing review of all media ownership rules will entirely rescind the ban, Caroline Little said during Q-and-A at a Media Institute luncheon Tuesday. “We'd like to get no cross-ownership whatsoever,” Little told us about the current rules. Another NAA executive visited the commission last week to press the agency to change cross-ownership rules. A draft rulemaking notice on the quadrennial review proposes to allow waivers to be sought of the ban in the top 20 markets, restoring a rule remanded by an appeals court this summer (CD Nov 15 p5).

The FCC “put the cart before the horse” when it ordered that relinquished Universal Service Fund cash shouldn’t be redistributed among a state’s eligible telecom carriers, telecom lawyer Todd Daubert told an appellate panel Tuesday. That January order paved the way for last month’s universal service order (CD Jan 4 p2), but Daubert,representing the Rural Cellular Association and the Universal Service for America Coalition before a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, said the FCC exceeded the “plain language” of Section 254(d) of the Telecom Act.

ST. LOUIS -- The FCC is careful not to disturb states’ role as it revamps the Universal Service Fund and intercarrier compensation system, said Wireline Bureau officials at NARUC’s annual meeting Tuesday. They didn’t address the timing of the order’s release, though several state officials expect it to be out before Thanksgiving.