With President-elect Barack Obama set to lead in 2009, FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein hopes broadband deployment and other “long-neglected” issues “finally get the attention they deserve,” he said Thursday in a keynote at a University of Nebraska College of Law conference. Afterward, a panel of telecom officials said the FCC and Congress should focus on broadband deployment next year.

Federal net neutrality legislation appears likely, but only if the courts overrule the FCC’s August Comcast- BitTorrent decision and say the commission does not have the legal authority to enforce its broadband principles, speakers said Thursday at the University of Nebraska’s space and telecommunications law and policy conference. They disagreed on whether Congress should approve legislation regardless of whether the Comcast case passes legal scrutiny.

The FCC should have given notice of a rare closed-door meeting of commissioners, even if not required to do so, said administrative law professors and media activists. The Oct. 10 meeting on digital TV outreach (CD Oct 15 p1) seems to have obeyed the Sunshine Act, said those people, as did former commissioners and former aides in the agency general counsel’s office. Members discussed no pending regulatory items, so as far as the law is concerned the event wasn’t an open meeting, all agreed. Views differ on whether the FCC should have given public notice of the meeting.

David Krone resigns from Comcast as senior vice president of corporate affairs without announced plans… Kerry Knott, leaving Comcast as head of Washington, D.C., office (CD Oct 30 p15), to be outside consultant to NCTA… FCC appointees as co-chairs of 2011 World Radio Conference (WRC-11) Advisory Committee: Thomas Navin of Wiley Rein and Paul Margie of Harris, Wiltshire & Grannis; Alex Roytblat, FCC International Bureau, will direct FCC preparatory activities … Discovery promotes Ian Parmiter to senior vice president, integrated advertising sales marketing… Greater Media CEO Peter Smyth adds title of chairman… New telecom and broadband analysts at Ovum research firm: Mark Little, ex-Entertainment UK, Jonathan Doran, ex-Yankee Group, Emeka Obiodu, ex-Global Insight, ex-consultant Mike Sapien, William Lee, ex-LG Electronics, Charlie Davies, ex-Cancer Research UK… New Gannett board members: Howard Elias, EMC Global Services, and Scott McCune, Coca-Cola Co… New at SCTE Foundation: Marv Nelson adds title of vice president; Jim Hughes, CommScope, chairman of fundraising committee.

Communications will get more attention from Congress and the new administration, starting with the analog TV cutoff, industry and Hill officials told us. One bill must pass, Hill aides said: Reauthorization of the Satellite Home Viewer Act, a possible vehicle for controversial broadcast industry provisions on carriage and indecency rules. Legislation to promote broadband access has wide bipartisan support but may be harder to pass, given the economic slump and disagreement over government’s proper role.

The International Telecommunication Union plans to increase developing countries’ participation in creating standards, said Chairman Richard Wiley of the Advisory Committee on International Communications and Information Policy. David Gross, U.S. Coordinator for International Communications and Information Policy, said telecom industries worldwide feel “lots of ripples” from the financial crises but not major ones. They spoke during a meeting of advisory group Thursday.

Only Congress can fix the universally acknowledged shortcomings in the Copyright Act’s section 115 compulsory license for musical works, industry groups told the Copyright Office in comments. CTIA, the NAB and Google’s YouTube said in separate filings that the office would exceed its statutory authority were it to proceed in the rulemaking. They join the majority of commenters who have urged the office to put the brakes on the rulemaking or otherwise leave alone “ancillary issues” such as the status of buffer and server copies (CD Sept 2 p3). Performing rights organizations said they were concerned the office was straying beyond section 115’s core focus of mechanical licensing royalties.

Anne Boyle, Nebraska Public Service Commission, becomes chairman of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners’ committee on consumer affairs… Sea Launch promotes Kjell Karlsen to president and general manager, replacing Robert Peckham, taking new job at Boeing… CapRock Communications promotes David Cavossa to vice president of its SatCom Division… Charles Levine, ex-Sprint, joins RCN board… World Wrestling Entertainment promotes Cheryl Kong to vice president-marketing, Canada, Latin America and China.Greg Orlando, ex-aide to Rep. Mike Ferguson, R-N.J., becomes aide to FCC Commissioner Deborah Tate, specializing in wireline matters… New FCBA officers: Mark Schneider, Sidley Austin, president; Robert Pettit, Wiley Rein, president-elect; Lauren Van Wazer, Cox Enterprises, secretary; Yaron Dori, Covington & Burling, assistant secretary; Bryan Tramont, Wilkinson Barker Knauer, treasurer; Ryan Wallch, Willkie Farr & Gallagher, assistant treasurer… TLC names Brent Willman, ex-Game Show Network, chief financial officer… Luis Avila-Marco, ex-Scientific- Atlanta, becomes Juniper Networks senior vice president, corporate development… DTV software firm ANT names Jim Denenny, ex-RealNetworks, U.S. general manager… Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission staff moves: Mark Vasconi promoted to acting assistant telecom director; Executive Director David Danner will also act as the agency’s secretary.

A long-awaited FCC vote on the XM-Sirius merger won’t be completed this week and it may take several weeks for all the commissioners to vote, we've learned. FCC Commissioner Deborah Tate has left on a trip to Africa without voting on the merger, and several issues are unresolved. Tate has emerged as a swing vote on the merger. FCC Chairman Kevin Martin three weeks ago circulated among his fellow commissioners a draft order to allow the merger. Sirius and XM agreed to merge a year ago February.

John Quale, 61, a former FCBA officer and an attorney for TCI and others, died Sunday. A partner at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, he worked earlier at Kirkland & Ellis and Wiley, Rein & Fielding. He was a founding partner of Wiley, Rein and headed its mass media communications group. After he was diagnosed with bladder cancer, he and his wife, Diane Zipursky Quale, founded the Bladder Cancer Advocacy Network. A memorial service is set for 2 p.m. Wednesday at the National Press Club, with a reception immediately after. His wife and five children survive him. The family said gifts to the organization could be made in his memory.