A computational study submitted to the FCC by AT&T explores questions about how many broadcasters must participate in a given market for the agency to hit various targets for clearing spectrum for resale to carriers and also identifies pressure points. The news is mostly good, AT&T said. The study found that some 200 broadcasters must voluntarily give up spectrum to hit a target of 84 MHz of spectrum being made available for auction without “domain constraints” identified by the FCC, with 250 exits needed if these constraints are taken into account. A domain constraint means that one broadcaster cannot be assigned to a given channel, mostly because of treaties with Canada and Mexico, which forbid U.S. stations from being assigned to channels where they would interfere with stations across the border, the report explained (http://bit.ly/1ng4WJq). It’s by Michael Kearns and Lili Dworkin of the University of Pennsylvania. “As important and interesting as these questions are, to date scant analysis on these questions has been offered,” said AT&T Vice President-Federal Regulatory Joan Marsh in a Wednesday blog post (http://bit.ly/1iaiRoz). There are few “black and white” answers, Marsh wrote. “For any clearing target, there are almost unlimited variations on possible broadcaster participation and a very large number of possible repacking solutions. But from the research, an outline of the scope of the possible begins to emerge.” The report also found that some surprising markets will likely be among the most challenging to clear. It said Milwaukee is on the list because of its closeness to the congested Chicago market, and North Carolina and South Carolina because they are tied into the “challenging East Coast daisy chain.” Challenges presented by the auction “are without a doubt significant,” but the analysis demonstrates that “as long as the financial incentives are attractive, a successful outcome is well within reach,” Marsh wrote. AT&T officials including Marsh explained the findings in a meeting last week with Gary Epstein, chairman of the Incentive Auction Task Force; Julius Knapp, chief of the Office of Engineering and Technology; and other FCC officials, said a Tuesday filing in docket 12-268 (http://bit.ly/1nPJQom). AT&T should be commended for taking on such a complex topic, and the results “reaffirm” past filings by broadcasters, NAB Executive Vice President Rick Kaplan told us. “It also sheds light into some of technical fundamentals and rudimentary questions that are necessary to help craft a first-rate auction and repacking process. NAB continues to work with all interested and affected industries to enhance the proposed FCC auction and repacking modeling.” The domain constraints include some issues like those concerning borders “that maybe can be negotiated away,” said Preston Padden, executive director of the Expanding Opportunities for Broadcasters Coalition. “But it also includes constraints that cannot be made to go away like the five UHF public safety channels in New York City.”

Correction: The bill number of Maryland’s Communications Tax Reform Act is HB-1492 (http://1.usa.gov/1r0WFwZ) (CD June 16 p).

The FCC has “ample authority” to oversee ISPs under current law, said Phoenix Center President Lawrence Spiwak in a research paper being released Wednesday (http://bit.ly/1pe75tG). Three recent cases out of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit -- Comcast v. FCC, Cellco Partnership v. FCC and Verizon v. FCC -- show that broadband ISPs are still subject to direct jurisdiction under Communications Act titles II, III and VI, the paper said. “The FCC’s decision to classify broadband Internet access as a Title I information service does not a fortiori mean that the Commission has abdicated its authority over Broadband Service Providers altogether.” The cases hold that the commission’s ancillary jurisdiction over broadband ISPs “remains alive and well,” as long as the agency “ties the use of that jurisdiction” to specific delegation of authority under Title II, III or VI, the paper said. With Verizon v. FCC, the commission has “an additional hook for ancillary authority under Section 706,” the paper said. “The real question -- as always -- is whether the agency will exercise its authority wisely.”

Top officials from the Ford Foundation, Knight Foundation, MacArthur Foundation and other similar groups met with FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler to discuss the “transformative role” the Internet has played in “reordering” cultures, said a filing posted by the commission Monday. “While each of the foundations present has a unique mission and a diverse array of grantees working on myriad challenges around the world, each one understands the importance of a truly open Internet that provides a level playing field,” the groups said (http://bit.ly/1y9ZKiU). The FCC is considering new net neutrality rules replacing those largely thrown out by a federal court inJanuary (CD May 16 p1). The meeting took place June 10, said the filing in docket 14-28.

The FCC can avoid many pitfalls by relying on Telecom Act Section 706 to protect an open Internet on a case-by-case basis, rather than imposing new net neutrality rules, said a paper by John Mayo, executive director of the Georgetown Center for Business and Public Policy. Mayo said the debate has divided observers into two ideological camps, but there is a middle road. “An output-centric 706 approach allows the nation to move forward without ex ante Title II regulatory rules imported from an era of public-utility regulation of telephone service,” he wrote in a report released Monday (http://bit.ly/1i5pUPi). Use of Section 706 allows the FCC to use “regulatory methods” to “encourage the deployment on a reasonable and timely basis of advanced telecommunications capability to all Americans,” he said.

Friday’s FCC workshop on GPS protection and receiver performance opens with remarks by FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler and features keynote remarks by Air Force Maj. Gen. Robert Wheeler, deputy chief information officer at the Department of Defense, said the schedule released Friday (http://bit.ly/STQKhw). Panels will take on the importance of GPS to critical infrastructure and public safety and GPS/Global Navigation Satellite System receiver performance, among other topics. The session is to start at 9 a.m. at FCC headquarters and end with remarks by FCC Office of Engineering and Technology Chief Julius Knapp at 5 p.m.

The popular John Oliver segment on net neutrality was “creative” and “funny,” but “satire is not C-SPAN,” FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler told reporters after the meeting Friday. Oliver’s 13-minute attack on the proposed net neutrality rules, featured June 1 on HBO’s Last Week Tonight With John Oliver, was apparently enough to crash the agency’s comment filing system (CD June 3 p5). The segment, which Wheeler watched twice, “represents the high level of interest that exists in the topic in the country, and that’s good,” Wheeler said. After a brief pause, Wheeler added: “I would like to state for the record that I'm not a dingo. I had to go look it up. It’s a feral, wild animal in Australia.” Oliver had said having a former cable lobbyist in charge of passing net neutrality rules was akin to asking the dingo to watch your baby.

The FCC is adjusting the Form 477 broadband deployment data filing window, which it extended by about a month, said the agency in a public notice in docket 11-10 Wednesday (http://bit.ly/1v434ts). The window typically runs July 1-Sept. 1 for data through June 30; the window for that data now is July 31-Oct. 1, the agency said. The changed timeline is due to “ongoing development and testing” of the Form 477 interface for collecting large volumes of fixed and mobile broadband deployment data previously collected by NTIA, the agency said. NTIA shifted control over broadband mapping to the FCC.

Arent Fox began a blog (http://bit.ly/1hRPJSS) focusing on telecom and technology, said the law firm in a news release Thursday. It said Deadlines & Headlines “aims to provide clients with updates from lawyers at the firm on the legal issues that are impacting the telecommunications, mobile, and technology sectors."

Verizon CEO Dan Mead met with FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler this week in part to discuss the TV incentive auction, industry officials told us. Wheeler made clear to Mead that the FCC expected Verizon to play an active role in the auction, industry sources said. No filing on the meeting had been posted by the FCC Thursday afternoon. Wheeler met with both Mead and new CTIA President Meredith Baker, a former FCC commissioner. Verizon has signaled concerns that the FCC imposed limits that will restrict the company’s bidding in the auction. Verizon Senior Vice President Craig Silliman said in a recent interview on C-SPAN the carrier has concerns “about putting any sort of restrictions in auctions,” (CD May 30 p5). By most accounts Verizon and AT&T scored a victory May 15 when the commission approved auction rules (CD May 16 p5).