WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A federal judge, who had been critical of the Justice Department deal to allow Comcast Corp to buy NBC Universal, signed off on the transaction on Thursday, but added reporting requirements.

The department announced in January that Comcast could buy NBC Universal on the condition it cede control of the popular video website Hulu and make stand-alone broadband service available to customers at $49.95 per month for three years. But the settlement still required final approval from a judge.

In his final order, Judge Richard Leon said he would require Comcast and the department to collect data for at least two years on how many online video distributors, such as Hulu or Netflix Inc, demand arbitration because of a dispute with Comcast.

Online video emerged as a disruptive force for the cable industry as viewing habits changed and audiences increasingly found their favorite entertainment on the PC, tablet or smartphone.

A dispute arising last year threatened to disrupt the Comcast/NBCU deal as Level 3 Communications Inc, which helps Netflix stream videos to viewers, stepped up its attack on Comcast for demanding a fee to carry videos and other bandwidth-heavy Web traffic.

Regulators sought protection for online video by creating a streamlined and less costly arbitration process overseen by the Justice Department to allow online video distributors to get content from Comcast-NBCU when negotiations falter.

Leon expressed concern this process would not allow appeals.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – AT&T Inc employed a small army of economists to promote its plan to buy smaller rival T-Mobile but the Justice Department viewed the deal as snuffing out a plucky competitor to the detriment of consumers.

A review of documents filed with the Federal Communications Commission shows the merger parties as recently as last week were trying to sway government officials with more information to back their proposal.

Despite those efforts, the Justice Department went to court on Wednesday to block AT&T’s $39 billion purchase of Deutsche Telekom’s T-Mobile USA.

A July 13 event hosted by the FCC saw teams of economists and other analysts from the merger partners, and chief deal critic Sprint Nextel, lay out their arguments before FCC and Justice Department officials.

Jonathan Orszag, a former economic adviser to President Bill Clinton, and Dennis Carlton, an economics professor at the University of Chicago and a former senior Justice Department official, were among those in attendance for AT&T at the July workshop, according to a filing with the FCC.

Carlton is a senior managing director at the consulting firm AT&T hired to make its pitch to regulators — Compass Lexecon, a unit of FTI Consulting Inc.

AT&T’s economic model looked at 15 metropolitan areas and concluded through its “merger simulation” that cost and quality benefits of the deal counteract upward pricing pressure.

NEW YORK/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Federal Communications Commission said it has restarted the clock on its review of AT&T Inc’s (T.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) proposed $39 billion purchase of smaller rival T-Mobile USA.

The FCC, which had started examining the deal in late April, had paused what is typically a 180-day review on July 20 after AT&T said it would submit new arguments to support its application.

The regulator said it restarted the process on Friday, day 83 of the review, after it received answers to questions it had asked AT&T, the No. 2 U.S. mobile service.

AT&T has said buying the unit of Deutsche Telekom AG (DTEGn.DE: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) would allow it to quickly add capacity to meet growing demand for high-speed wireless service.

T-Mobile has said it would not be able to remain competitive in the U.S. wireless market as Deutsche Telekom is unable to finance the investments required to handle the explosion in data usage.

“There is now an even stronger record before the Commission that supports prompt approval of our transaction and we would urge the FCC to act quickly to approve it,” Tom Sugrue, T-Mobile senior vice president for government affairs, said in a statement.

But rivals such as Sprint Nextel Corp (S.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) have said the deal, which would vault AT&T to the top of the U.S. market, ahead of Verizon Wireless, will hurt competition.

WASHINGTON, Aug 24 (Reuters) – U.S. cable companies are warning regulators about a plan that would give traditional phone companies a first bite at government subsidies to build out broadband in underserved areas.

The Federal Communications Commission is seeking industry input on plans to revamp a government subsidy program that would help deploy high-speed Internet service to millions of Americans living in rural and costly-to-serve areas.

The plans would modernize the “universal service fund” by shifting its focus to broadband service from phone lines.

Phone companies weighed in last month with their blueprint that would start redirecting the fund beginning in 2012.

The National Cable and Telecommunications Association and the American Cable Association said in a letter to the FCC this week that the phone industry’s proposal falls short.

It fails to constrain costs, gives an unfair advantage to incumbent phone companies, and deprives consumers of potentially superior service, the cable groups said in the letter.

NCTA serves as the chief lobbying arm of the cable industry representing networks and operators like Comcast Corp (CMCSA.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Time Warner Cable (TWC.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), while ACA represents independent companies providing broadband service to 7.6 million subscribers.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Disruption of cell phone service by a rare East Coast earthquake on Tuesday prompted renewed calls for Congress and regulators to provide a dedicated wireless network for emergency workers.

The 5.8 magnitude earthquake centered in Virginia shut federal government agencies some 90 miles away and sent office workers into the streets as tremors were felt as far as Canada.

The Federal Communications Commission said it is assessing a significant disruption to cell service due to the quake and will be looking at ways to improve communications during emergencies.

Verizon Wireless, AT&T Inc, Sprint Nextel, T-Mobile USA and Frontier Communications Corp all reported higher call volumes and network congestion in affected areas, making it difficult to reach out to family and friends after the quake over cell phones.

“We were unable to get cell phone access for a period of about an hour immediately after the quake,” said Dennis Martinez, chief technology officer for the RF Communications Division of Harris Corp.

The large percentage of first responders who rely on cellular data networks for some of their services would have experienced the same outage, Martinez said.

Creating a nationwide mobile broadband network for emergency services is a key 9/11 Commission recommendation that has yet to be put into action as the 10th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks by hijacked airliners approaches.

WASHINGTON, Aug 22 (Reuters) – The U.S. Federal Communications Commission is stripping 83 rules from its books as part of its reform agenda and commitment to a request from President Barack Obama earlier in the year to improve or remove any rules that were out of date, the agency said on Monday.

Among the eliminated rules are Fairness Doctrine regulations that were intended to promote honest, balanced discussion of controversial issues when introduced in 1949.

But as more broadcast stations and cable channels became available, the need to mandate a diversity of viewpoints eroded and the rules were abolished in 1987. The FCC has not enforced the rules in more than two decades, but they were never officially taken off the books.

“As I have said, striking this from our books ensures there can be no mistake that what has long been a dead letter remains dead,” FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said in a statement.

Genachowski called the Fairness Doctrine an unnecessary distraction with the potential to curb free speech.

The rules threatened to strip broadcasters’ licenses if they did not air opposing viewpoints. Their elimination protects religious broadcasters, conservative talk radio and others worried about the implications of the rules’ return.

Other rules deleted included media-related regulations that have not been in effect for years. The FCC said the 83 rules eliminated will not have any significant impact on broadcast businesses.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Consumers will be able to text and send multimedia messages to 9-1-1 emergency call centers under a new plan from the top communications regulator.

The Federal Communications Commission said next-generation 9-1-1 services will allow first responders to better assess emergencies with the ability to see photos and videos of an accident while still enroute. The IP-based infrastructure will also bring more reliability to the 9-1-1 network compared with the current circuit-switched system.

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski unveiled a plan Wednesday to help emergency response communications catch up to the technically advanced mobile devices people use every day.

The FCC is expected to propose rules in September that will address the technical issues behind enabling text, photo and video transmissions to 9-1-1.

Of particular concern to the agency will be ensuring that the country’s broadband infrastructure can handle the bandwidth that new public safety answering points will need.

An FCC official said widespread next-generation 9-1-1 services could be available in the next five to 10 years if the FCC acts and adequate funding is made available for equipment upgrades.

The FCC is also looking at ways to more quickly get the texting component operational.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Consumers will be able to text and send multimedia messages to 9-1-1 emergency call centers under a new plan from the top communications regulator.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski unveiled a plan on Wednesday to help emergency response communications catch up to the technically advanced mobile devices people use everyday.

“It’s hard to imagine that airlines can send text messages if your flight is delayed, but you can’t send a text message to 9-1-1 in an emergency,” Genachowski said.

The FCC is expected to propose rules in September that will address the technical issues behind enabling text, photo and video transmissions to 9-1-1.

Of particular concern to the agency will be ensuring that the country’s broadband infrastructure can handle the bandwidth that new public safety answering points will need.

An FCC official said widespread next-generation 9-1-1 services could be available in the next five to 10 years if the FCC acts and adequate funding is made available for equipment upgrades.

The FCC is also looking at ways to more quickly get the texting component operational.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A congresswoman on Wednesday requested more information on security company McAfee’s report detailing a five-year hacking campaign that breached 72 organizations globally.

Representative Mary Bono Mack, chairman of the House Commerce subcommittee with jurisdiction over cybersecurity, said she was alarmed by the report on a slew of cyber attacks that McAfee has dubbed “Operation Shady RAT.”

In a letter to Dmitri Alperovitch, vice president of threat research for McAfee and author of the report, Bono Mack requested a briefing with his research team and asked how the government and private sector could more effectively mitigate data breaches.

McAfee uncovered the biggest hacking campaign discovered to date, a multiyear campaign targeting governments, corporations, the United Nations, defense contractors and others. Its report, released last week, said a single “state actor” — which the company did not identify — seeking military, diplomatic and economic advantage was behind the attacks.

Intel Corp acquired McAfee, the world’s No. 2 maker of security software after Symantec Corp, in a $7.68 billion deal earlier this year to help it offer customers using its chips more safety from hackers.

Bono Mack, in the letter, asked McAfee if it believed greater public disclosure of significant, potentially damaging breaches would help or harm efforts to curb cyber crime.

The congresswoman introduced legislation in July that would require companies that collect consumers’ personal information to implement data security measures and notify consumers of data breaches.

WASHINGTON, Aug 10 (Reuters) – A U.S. congresswoman on Wednesday requested more information on security company McAfee’s report detailing a five-year hacking campaign that breached 72 organizations globally.

Representative Mary Bono Mack, chairman of the House Commerce subcommittee with jurisdiction over cybersecurity, said she was alarmed by the report on a slew of cyber attacks that McAfee has dubbed “Operation Shady RAT.”

In a letter to Dmitri Alperovitch, vice president of threat research for McAfee and author of the report, Bono Mack requested a briefing with his research team and asked how the government and private sector could more effectively mitigate data breaches.

McAfee uncovered the biggest hacking campaign discovered to date, a multiyear campaign targeting governments, corporations, the United Nations, defense contractors and others. Its report, released last week, said a single “state actor” — which the company did not identify — seeking military, diplomatic and economic advantage was behind the attacks. [ID:nL3E7J32UM]

Intel Corp (INTC.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) acquired McAfee, the world’s No. 2 maker of security software after Symantec Corp (SYMC.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), in a $7.68 billion deal earlier this year to help it offer customers using its chips more safety from hackers.

Bono Mack, in the letter, asked McAfee if it believed greater public disclosure of significant, potentially damaging breaches would help or harm efforts to curb cyber crime.

The congresswoman introduced legislation in July that would require companies that collect consumers’ personal information to implement data security measures and notify consumers of data breaches.