Windstream hires Randy Nicklas, formerly of XO Communications, as executive vice president- engineering, and chief technology officer … RIAA promotes Steven Marks to newly created position of chief-digital business, and he remains general counsel … CableLabs hires Tom Lookabaugh, ex-ViaSat, as executive vice president-R&D … MIPI Alliance, which develops interface specifications for mobile and related industries, promotes Peter Lefkin to full-time managing director, and hires Mike Krell, ex-Alereon, as director-marketing and membership … Tollgrade Communications hires James Andrus, ex-Echelon Corp., as vice president-global smart grid sales … Wohler Technologies promotes John Terrey to vice president-sales … FCC Intergovernmental Advisory Committee open slots filled by: Sonja Reece, mayor pro tem of Normal, Ill., for municipal seat; and Susie Allen, Colville Confederated Tribes, tribal seat.

Nomination sent to the Senate for Ryan Crocker to be member of Broadcasting Board of Governors for term expiring Aug. 13, replacing Victor Ashe, whose term expired, and for Crocker to be reappointed to BBG for a term ending Aug. 13, 2016 … New York State Wireless Association elections to board include: Christopher Fisher, Cuddy & Feder, as president; and as directors Stephen Banks, KMB Design Group; David Bronson, Phillips Lytle; Carl Calabrese, Masiello, Martucci, Calabrese & Associates; and Joseph Messineo, AT&T.

Media securities sales: Nielsen said as many as 40.25 million shares will be sold by some existing investors in a secondary offering in which the company won’t get any proceeds (http://bit.ly/166v1rJ). That stake is worth about $1.43 billion at current prices. ... Suddenlink affiliates are offering $750 million of senior notes due in 2021, and will use the proceeds to buy back other bonds maturing in 2017, the cable operator said in a news release Monday (http://bit.ly/11yTVyQ).

Nominations sent to Senate for previously announced presidential plans to appoint: Penny Pritzker secretary of commerce, replacing John Bryson, resigned; Tom Wheeler to be FCC member for term expiring June 30, replacing outgoing Chairman Julius Genachowski, and also for a five-year term as a reappointment starting July 1 … Triton Digital promotes Jean-François Gadoury to chief technology officer.

Quarterly media company results: News Corp. reported net income of $2.9 billion for Q3 2013, vs. the $1 billion for the same period last year. A company release (http://bit.ly/15qaluK) said the income gains were related to the acquisition of an additional ownership stake in Sky Deutschland and the sale of the company’s stake in New Zealand’s Sky Network Television, along with an $11 million gain from shares of BSkyB that were repurchased. It said the gains were “partially offset” by $56 million of restructuring charges related to the company’s international newspaper businesses. News Corp. had $9.54 billion total revenue for Q3, a 14 percent increase from the prior-year quarter. News Corp. said “approximately 55 percent of the revenue increase reflects growth at the Cable Network Programming, Filmed Entertainment and Television segments,” though the growth was offset by lower revenue in publishing. ... AMC Networks reported a 17.1 percent increase in net revenue to $382 million in Q1 this year compared to a year ago, a release said (http://bit.ly/YIhVOa). AMC also improved in net income, to $62 million from $43 million the prior-year quarter. The company said the gains were driven by the company’s original programming, such as Portlandia and The Walking Dead.

FCC Chief of Staff Zac Katz named senior fellow at USC Annenberg’s Center on Communication Leadership & Policy … Renee Gregory, aide to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, to stay at commission as chief of staff, Office of Engineering and Technology … Acting U.S. Trade Representative Demetrios Marantis leaves to head international government, regulatory and policy at mobile payment company Square … Robert Pick, Comcast, joins ValueVision board … SeaChange International Chief Financial Officer Michael Bornak resigns effective May 31; Anthony Dias promoted to senior vice president and will be interim chief financial officer during the search for a permanent CFO … Amy Hood promoted to Microsoft chief financial officer, replacing Peter Klein … Christin McMeley, ex-Charter Communications, joins Davis Wright as a partner in the firm’s Washington, D.C., office …Lobbyist registrations: RIAA, Capitol Counsel, effective April 1.

Q1 media results: Arbitron profit fell 8.4 percent from the year-ago quarter to $16.3 million, the company said in a news release (http://bit.ly/YvIbFW). Arbitron said some of the hit came from $3.2 million in expenses related to the company’s pending acquisition by Nielsen Holdings, which was approved by Arbitron’s shareholders in April. Expenses in Q1 also rose because of “planned incremental investments in Arbitron Mobile panels, costs associated with address-based sampling, in-person recruiting, and cell-phone household recruiting,” Arbitron said. Revenue rose 34 percent to $112 million. ... Nexstar profit dropped from $3.16 million to $705,000. The company blamed some of the drop on the absence of political ad revenue, but said (http://bit.ly/15q8XIs) it had a record quarter for net revenue, with a 34.2 percent increase to $112.2 million. CEO Perry Sook predicted the company would generate “record revenue and free cash flow in 2013, even without the benefit of the record levels of political revenues we generated in 2012."

President Barack Obama sends nominations to Senate for previously announced appointments of: Anthony Foxx, mayor of Charlotte, N.C., to be secretary of transportation, replacing Ray LaHood; Michael Froman, PSP Capital Partners, to be U.S. Trade Representative, replacing Ronald Kirk; and House Judiciary Committee member Mel Watt, D-N.C., to be director of Federal Housing Finance Agency for a five-year term … Paul de Sa, ex-FCC, was hired in August by Sanford Bernstein as vice president-senior research analyst.

Q1 media company results: Liberty Global reported net earnings for Q1 of $22.9 million, up from $8 million during the same period in 2012, said a release Monday (http://bit.ly/10EgGJP). The company also had a 9 percent increase in revenue over Q1 last year, to $2.77 billion. Liberty said it’s “on track” to complete its buy of Virgin Media before the end of Q2, with shareholder votes scheduled for early June. ... Discovery Communications reported Q1 net income of $231 million, up 4 percent from Q1 2012, said a release Tuesday (http://bit.ly/13r3Gfp). Discovery had revenue of $1.16 billion, up 7 percent from the same period last year. The company had 17 percent growth in revenue from its international networks, the release said. ... Charter Communications reported a net loss of $42 million for Q1 Tuesday, an improvement over the same period last year, when the company lost $94 million (http://bit.ly/12QAMT8). The company’s revenue grew 4.9 percent for Q1, to $1.9 billion. Charter said the revenue increase was “driven by growth in video services revenue and Internet and commercial customers.” Charter said it added 56,000 customers since the previous quarter, which is down from a gain of 86,000 in the first quarter of 2012. The company said its “all-digital initiative” will be completed by the end of 2014. Charter said the FCC’s recent waiver of the CableCARD requirement for Charter “will allow the Company to deploy set-top boxes without CableCARDs, improving the economics and speed of its all-digital initiative."

Sheppard Mullin hires as partners from Hogan Lovells to Business Trial practice group and Communications team: Gardner Gillespie, Dave Thomas and Paul Werner … Disney promotes Adam Bonnett to executive vice president-original programming, Disney Channels Worldwide, new position … MobiTV promotes Cedric Fernandes to chief technology officer … Alianza cloud-based voice service firm hires as vice presidents: Mark Gardner, ex-Mavenir Systems, for global sales; and Kevin Mitchell, ex-Acme Packet, marketing … Zonoff connected home company hires Dave DiOrio, ex-Quartics, as vice president-customer programs … Qualcomm elects Jonathan Rubinstein, formerly with Hewlett-Packard, to board.