NTIA Administrator Larry Strickling emphasized the importance of future discussions around multistakeholder internet governance, including during the upcoming Internet Governance Forum in Guadalajara, Mexico. Internet governance is one of several issues set to come up during the IGF meeting, which is set for Dec. 6-9. Discussions about the multistakeholder model took on greater importance in the wake of the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority transition in early October (see 1609300065 and 1610030042), Strickling said during a U.K. Internet Governance Forum event. The model “is a diverse, multi-layered system that thrives only through the cooperation of many different parties, operating through consensus, in a bottom-up manner,” Strickling said in a prepared version of Thursday's speech. “Unequivocally, the success of IANA functions stewardship transition serves as a validation of that premise, and of our ongoing and unrelenting commitment to the multistakeholder model.” Stakeholders should build on the handoff's success to “tackle other internet policy challenges,” Strickling said. The multistakeholder approach has worked in the allocation of critical resources like IP addresses and domain names, “but can we bring stakeholders together to address some of these other thorny issues through the consensus decision-making that characterizes the multistakeholder approach? Can the multistakeholder approach help make progress on questions of data protection, software vulnerability research, artificial intelligence, and other emerging issues? I think it can.”

Mobile Future said Diane Smith will become interim chairwoman Jan. 1, replacing Jonathan Spalter, who has been tapped to become USTelecom's CEO then (see 1610040059). She was CEO and co-founder of a Montana IPTV company. In a related move, USTelecom said Allison Remsen, Mobile Future's executive director, would be joining Spalter at USTelecom as executive vice president and chief of staff, starting Jan. 1. Before joining Mobile Future, Remsen was vice president-media relations at USTelecom from 2001 to 2008, press secretary for House Democratic Whip David Bonior of Michigan, and worked in government affairs for NCTA when the 1996 Telecom Act passed Congress, said a release. Succeeding Remsen at Mobile Future meanwhile as executive director is Nydia Gutiérrez, who works in the Latinovations practice of Dewey Square Group, where she advises clients on telecom and other issues. Gutiérrez is no stranger to the carrier group, where she used to be in its strategic communications group. She starts at Mobile Future in the new year and will be leaving her job at Dewey Square.

American Action Forum Director-Technology and Innovation Policy Will Rinehart told us that he and his group are providing "outside guidance" to the Donald Trump transition team but he isn't formally part of the transition team or its FCC "landing" team, as some said (see 1611170041). He said AAF recently put out a tech policy agenda and has been gearing up for the transition, but the group is "more focused on policy than the politics." Also as of Friday, Jeff Eisenach's status on the team seems in limbo, two knowledgeable people told us, a day after speculation and rumors circulated widely that he might have been removed. "It's not so much that he's been definitely dumped," said an industry source, who noted it's unclear if Eisenach will be removed as leader of the Trump transition's FCC team. There does appear to be a short "pause" in the FCC transition team's effort as some sort of review is conducted, the industry source said. An attorney agreed: "There is a pause and review going on. After the pause and review, nobody knows what will happen." Eisenach didn't comment. The Trump transition team didn't comment to us on Eisenach or its FCC team. The Trump team is expected to announce its economic policy landing teams Monday, and those dealing with domestic policy and independent agencies Tuesday, transition officials earlier said (see 1611180020).

NTIA released a report Thursday offering a quantitative analysis of various federal bands for potential sharing. “The release of this report today is an important milestone in our activities aimed at continuing to improve how NTIA manages scarce radio spectrum resources as demand increases from all sides,” NTIA officials said in a blog post. “The results of the quantitative assessments will help NTIA, in consultation with the agencies, determine the extent to which any of these frequency bands should be further evaluated for sharing with commercial users, particularly in major metropolitan areas.” Among its conclusions, the report found that the 3100-3550 MHz band “could be examined more closely to determine if it can be used by commercial providers,” while the 1675-1695 MHz band could also be looked at for sharing, but in only in certain areas.

Sprint and the Wireless Communications Association International threw their weight behind approval of Globalstar's pared-back broadband terrestrial low-power service plans. In a joint filing Thursday in docket 13-213, Globalstar and the two urged the FCC to adopt the proposal. They also said that since the satellite company put forward its revised TLPS plan earlier this month (see 1611100031), the three have talked about the out-of-band emissions limit at the upper edge of its licensed spectrum at 2495 MHz and have worked out emissions limits above 2495 MHz. Globalstar said its TLPS service at 2483.5-2495 MHz shouldn't cause interference issues for Sprint or other broadband radio service (BRS) operators at 2496-2502 MHz or for any educational broadband service (EBS) operators above 2502 MHz. The company also said if it happened to cause BRS or EBS interference, it would "meet its absolute obligation ... to mitigate and resolve such interference." The three also said that they would work together on technical issues during a follow-up FCC proceeding on Globalstar's application to modify its mobile satellite service licenses to provide TLPS.

The U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation randomly selected the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit as the venue for appeals of FCC media ownership rules and the 2014 quadrennial review, it said in a consolidation order Thursday. Prometheus Radio Project challenged the order in the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, while NAB and the News Media Alliance (see 1611140046) appealed the FCC orders in the D.C. Circuit. Despite the panel’s choice, attorneys connected with the matter have told us the D.C. Circuit is universally expected to transfer the case to the 3rd Circuit, which had retained jurisdiction over the case. The Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet and Council and the National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters filed a joint appeal of the rules Wednesday, focusing on the FCC's failure to extend rules designed to incentivize diversity in cable procurement to other industries. "Petitioners seek review of this ruling both as arbitrary and capricious, an abuse of discretion, or otherwise not in accordance with the law and as agency action unreasonably delayed or withheld," the filing said. “Despite representations to the Third Circuit that the FCC Chairman would address this issue in a manner that would allow it to be resolved [in August], the FCC has once again punted the issue,” MMTC and NABOB said. Recounting a call with Media Bureau staff Monday, representatives for Connoisseur Media said in docket 09-182 that it said it was considering filing a petition for reconsideration against the order’s treatment of multiple ownership situations.

The FCC Wireline Bureau cleared the purchase of RCN Telecom Service and Grande Communications Networks by Radiate Holdings. No commenter opposed the grant of a Sept. 1 application to transfer licenses under Section 214 of the Communications Act from Yankee Cable Partners and Grande Investment to Radiate (see 1609020006), said an FCC public notice Wednesday in docket 16-276 noting the bureau approval. The PN said the approval was "without prejudice" to FCC action on "other related, pending applications." The Media, Wireless and International bureaus have yet to act on those applications, an agency spokesman told us. Radiate is a holding company controlled by principals of TPG Capital, with minority partners in Radiate including Alphabet-owned Google Capital, an affiliate of Dragoneer Investment Group and some executives from Patriot Media Consulting. Patriot manages RCN and Grande Communications for Yankee and Grande Investment, respectively, and will do the same for TPG after the close, said a filing (available here). RCN has roughly 474,000 subscribers in Illinois, Massachusetts, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Washington, D.C., and Grande has more than 166,000 in Texas.

FCC financial statements received high marks overall from an independent auditor, according to a memorandum Tuesday from Managing Director Mark Stephens accompanying one piece of the agency's FY 2016 Annual Financial Report (AFR). Although the White House Office of Management and Budget granted the FCC an extension until March 1 to publish its FY 2016 AFR, it didn't extend a Nov. 15 deadline for its "improper payment reporting section," said the memo. It said the rest of the report would be issued before March 1 or when the incentive auction bidding process is completed. The auditing firm Kearney & Co. found the FCC's consolidated FY 2016 financial statements "present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Commission as of Sept. 30," Stephens wrote. He said it was the 11th straight year of "clean audit opinions" for the FCC, which was an "unprecedented accomplishment" for the agency. "The Commission made significant strides in FY 2016 by resolving a prior year finding by the auditors that the FCC was not in compliance with the Debt Collection Improvement Act," he wrote. "This is the first year that the auditors have reported no instances of non-compliance with applicable provisions of laws and regulations for the FCC." The audit did not find "any material weaknesses but did identify three significant deficiencies ... related to Universal Service Fund budgetary accounting, accounting for non-exchange revenue, and information technology controls," he wrote, noting his office concurred with auditor recommendations. On USF, the FCC addressed a previous material weakness regarding budgetary accounting in the E-rate telecom discount program for schools and libraries, but auditors found a significant deficiency in the rural healthcare program, Stephens wrote. He said the FCC was committed to addressing a "new control weakness in accounting for non-exchange revenue" and "remediating information technology control deficiencies."

Once the broadcast incentive auction is completed, participants barred from transaction talks will likely start up again with possibilities including cable/wireless such as a Comcast/Sprint or Comcast/T-Mobile, wireless/wireless such as T-Mobile/Sprint or some company -- potentially any of the four major wireless operators -- combining with Dish Network, Macquarie analyst Amy Yong wrote investors. Convergence is being driven by AT&T's DirecTV Now and by its pending takeover of Time Warner, as well as by Comcast and Charter Communications having activated their mobile virtual network operators, Yong said. She said that given President-elect Donald Trump's opposition to net neutrality, and a change in chairmanship at the FCC -- potentially in the form of current Republican Commissioner Ajit Pai -- likely "will reflect a similar stance."

The enhanced security measures CTA put in place for the last CES (see 1512170062) will largely be repeated for the upcoming January show, Karen Chupka, CTA senior vice president-CES and corporate business strategy, told us at last week’s CES Unveiled New York event. The security measures, including airport-style metal detectors and tight restrictions on bags that could be carried onto show property, were imposed after the Paris and San Bernardino, California, terrorist attacks in fall 2015. “For the most part, we’re going to stick with the same rules,” Chupka told us. “We’re at the point where we have to do what’s right for the show,” she said. “We do have to protect people. That’s the way it is now. We have things in place now, and we have the ability to tighten them, or maybe shift them a little bit.” At last CES, “as we got through the show, we weren’t stopping everybody,” Chupka said. “We were using our best judgment to do things. But had something changed, and we had to go into that lockdown, we would have been able to do that. So we still have to plan for that expectation.” A new change for the upcoming show is asking CES attendees to provide additional personal data such as date of birth when they register, she said: “That’s just one more piece of security.” CES opens Jan. 5 for a four-day run.