The FCC should grant time extensions to stations that need to buy new equipment to comply with the commission’s proposed procedural update to the Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation Act rules, said NAB in comments filed in response to the commission’s November FNPRM on the proposed update (http://bit.ly/1aaVmBV). The proposed changes are prompted by changes in March to the Advanced Television Systems Committee algorithm used to calculate loudness (CD Nov 5 p18). Because the CALM Act legislation references the old standard, the commission proposal would update the language with the new standard. NAB supports the proposed change, and said most stations should be able to follow the proposed new standard with “relatively low-cost software upgrades” within the proposed one-year deadline. However, some stations may need to buy additional equipment, and may need time to do it, since most 2014 budgets have already been finalized, NAB said. The commission should “clarify that it will look favorably on requests for waivers for extensions of time” to comply with the proposed new standards, NAB said.

The FCC should raise the maximum effective radiated power for low power FM stations from 100 watts to 250 watts and hold an FM translator window exclusively for LPFM licenses, said the Prometheus Radio Project in an ex parte filing this week (http://bit.ly/1hHfVLF). Those changes would “significantly unburden” LPFM stations while addressing the problem of limited signal coverage, a “major threat” to LPFM, Prometheus said. The FCC should also delay a proposed FM translator filing window for AM stations until all LPFM applications have been resolved, Prometheus said. That window should also be restricted to Class D and C stations, the filing said.

CTIA unveiled a website aimed at helping wireless subscribers make sense of the apps on their phones. CTIA, its members and the app developer community “created KnowMyApp.org so you know how the most popular apps use data,” CTIA said Thursday. “With Intertek Testing Services North America, we offer data usage estimates on some of the most popular apps in the Apple and Google stores.” Offering advice to help networks and devices run better, including using Wi-Fi connections when possible, CTIA said: “Adjust your apps’ settings to stop or minimize updates unless you're on a secure Wi-Fi hotspot. Minimize apps that aren’t in use so they're not running in the background. Uninstall any apps you don’t use.”

Twitter (TWTR) stock value was up by nearly 4.8 percent at the close of the New York Stock Exchange Thursday (http://bit.ly/K77WLU). After closing at $70 per share on Tuesday, Twitter stock was trading at $73.31 per share by the end of trading Thursday.

The Telecommunications Regulatory Board of Puerto Rico asked to withdraw its petition to opt out of the National Lifeline Accountability Database, in a letter to the FCC posted Thursday (http://bit.ly/18N4MZh). The board had previously sought a participation waiver because it had already implemented a similar database. Due to cuts to the board’s budget, however, it won’t be able to make the Puerto Rico database compliant with the Lifeline rules, it said. “The Board commits to maintaining the current Puerto Rico database to retain its ability to eliminate and prevent duplicates in the Lifeline rolls until such time as Puerto Rico has been successfully migrated to the national system,” which will happen in the spring, it said.

Doctor Television Channel (DrTV), a broadcast network with a focus on medical news and health related programming, will launch Jan. 6, it said in a news release Thursday. DrTV’s focus is on “medical programming by medical professionals,” said DrTV president Jim West in the release. The channel has affiliation agreements in 93 markets, covering almost 30 million homes, the release said. The largest affiliate group signed is DTV America with 68 TV markets. The new channel allows the affiliate group to “build partnerships with local medical professionals” to “reach consumers with targeted health initiatives and community programs,” said DTV America CEO John Kyle.

The Rockstar Consortium has become a “patent dragnet” that’s intent on killing off Google’s Android mobile operating system, Google said Monday in a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in San Jose. Apple, BlackBerry and Microsoft are among the Google competitors that co-own Rockstar, which some critics claim is a patent assertion entity. Rockstar has filed multiple lawsuits against Google over the Android OS, including one in October that alleged Google had violated Rockstar-owned Nortel patents because of Google’s purchase of Motorola Mobility (CD Nov 4 p18). Rockstar’s lawsuits have created “a cloud on Google’s Android platform; threatened Google’s business and relationships with its customers and partners, as well as its sales of Nexus-branded Android devices; and created a justiciable controversy between Google and Rockstar,” Google said in the lawsuit. Rockstar did not comment.

Speculation about a possible Sprint/T-Mobile US merger “will continue to persist,” said Wells Fargo analyst Jennifer Fritzsche Thursday in an email to investors. There would likely be “little resistance of such a move from both” AT&T and Verizon Wireless, Fritzsche said. “If the industry continues to see more consolidation, we remain confident that Sprint will play a key role."

The FCC should maintain a “flexible regime” in its oversight of closed captions, said NAB in an ex parte filing Tuesday (http://bit.ly/1cUfWad). Broadcasting is a “diverse industry” with “some errors and latency issues that cannot be avoided, due to human and transmission issues,” said NAB. The commission should continue to allow broadcasters to use the Electronic Newsroom Technique (ENT) to provide captions, the filing said. A phase-out of ENT “could likely result in a loss of competitive local news coverage, as well as additional voices in the market,” NAB said. Instead, the commission should “work with industry to examine how ENT can be better utilized to ensure local viewers have improved access to important news and information,” said the filing.

Purple Communications supports a request for a temporary waiver of the FCC’s speed-of-answer requirements for Video Relay Service, it said Tuesday (http://bit.ly/1kJzDsp). ZVRS, Sorenson and the Communication Axess Ability Group asked earlier this month for waiver of the requirements, set to go into effect Jan. 1 (http://bit.ly/1bsDL80). Purple said it shares the FCC’s desire for consumers to get a faster speed of answer, but “without properly funding an elevated service level through increased VRS rates, the revised standard is neither operationally practical nor ultimately in the best interests of the consumers who are the intended beneficiaries of the standard,” the VRS provider said. In a separate filing Tuesday, Purple stressed the need for “greater interoperability” in the VRS industry (http://bit.ly/1kJCqSw). “The use of legacy equipment is the largest switching barrier preventing free consumer choice of providers, further perpetuating the highly concentrated market status quo,” it said.