When it comes to FCC implementation of the Local Community Radio Act signed into law by President Barack Obama this month (CD Jan 6 p8), low-power FM (LPFM) and translator representatives told us they have different recommendations while relying on the same section of the legislation for authority. A commission official encouraged the submission of recommendations on how HR-6533 -- meant to make it easier for LPFM seekers to get new station licenses in urban areas where spectrum is scarce -- affects a proceeding on implementing a 2003 auction of translators, said Womble Carlyle broadcast lawyer John Garziglia, representing a dozen radio companies. That group and Prometheus Radio Project filed comments posted Monday to docket 99-25, both citing Section 5 of the act.

The split Congress could agree on spectrum and privacy matters, former Hill aides said Saturday on C-SPAN’s The Communicators. But it’s likely Senate Democrats and House Republicans will continue to butt heads on net neutrality, and it will take time to get new members comfortable with communications issues before Congress can move forward on a rewrite of the 1996 Telecom Act, they said.

There is “an overwhelming consensus” among those that filed comments at the FCC that the commission should not repurpose public safety narrowband spectrum to allow for broadband use, AT&T said in reply comments. Motorola agreed with AT&T. But T-Mobile and Sprint Nextel said changing the rules to give public safety the option of using the spectrum for broadband should not cause the problems cited by many commenters.

LAS VEGAS -- The FCC could begin auctioning broadcast spectrum within “the next year or two” if Congress approves sharing the proceeds with spectrum holders, Chairman Julius Genachowski said in a Q-and-A session late Friday after his speech at the Consumer Electronics Show (CD Jan 10 p2). He said commission staffers have begun “creating the framework” for the auctions, in case they're authorized.

The hiring of Ray Baum to the House Commerce Committee could signal heightened Capitol Hill interest in pursuing Universal Service Fund reform this year, state and industry officials said. Baum was chairman of the Oregon Public Utilities Commission and the state chairman of the Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service. Some wireline industry lobbyists said they believe Baum may try to revamp the bill worked out last year by Rep. Lee Terry, R-Neb., and former Communications Subcommittee Chairman Rick Boucher, D-Va.

Rep. Edolphus Towns, D-N.Y., took himself out of the running for ranking member of the House Communications Subcommittee, clearing the way for Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Ill., to take the job. Towns will join the Commerce Committee, according to a list we obtained of Democratic committee assignments. Also, House Judiciary Committee Republicans announced chairmen and vice chairmen for its subcommittees. Late Friday, Commerce Committee Republicans announced their subcommittee assignments.

Motorola Solutions, NCTA, Cellular South and the Wireless Internet Service Providers Association all filed petitions for reconsideration at the FCC last week, asking it to make changes to white spaces rules. The commission approved an order on use of the TV white spaces at its Sept. 23 meeting. The agency said the band can be used for “super Wi-Fi."

LAS VEGAS - Tablet devices are poised to become “our most personal computers” in a transition that will be akin to the switch from mainframe to personal computers, said Mike Rayfield, general manager of Nvidia’s mobile business unit. During each such transition over computing’s history, the amount of people using the devices has increased by an order of magnitude or more, he told a Consumer Electronics Show panel on disruptive technologies. “We're going to look back in a few years and find that a large part of the world’s population did their first computing on a smartphone or a tablet device.” New high-powered smartphones have the same specifications a top-of-the-line notebook PC had a few years ago, he said. “It’s beyond disruptive,” he said. “It’s one of those half-dozen events in the computing industry that we'll all look back and are excited to be a part of."

Usage-based pricing may increase consumer costs and thereby limit the reach of online video, but it won’t diminish Internet streaming’s threat to traditional pay TV, Credit Suisse analysts concluded in a report to investors Friday. Analysts used Canada -- which has allowed usage-based pricing since 2008 -- to set up a case study. Credit Suisse’s Canadian cable analyst, Colin Moore, volunteered as the guinea pig. He found that using Netflix streaming services to watch 32 episodes of “Mad Men” in a month raised the family’s bill by $12.

More state and local governments likely will have their own Facebook pages, after the social networking site modified portions of its terms of agreement this week, state officials told us. Groups like the National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) are negotiating similar agreements with other social media companies including YouTube.