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The Federal Communications Commission has adopted an order that would give broadcasters two years to translate emergency crawls into audio for the blind and sight-impaired, and for cable operators to pass those along to their viewers as well. Some in the industry had sought a three-year phase-in, while accessibility advocates had wanted a year. The FCC split the difference. The FCC did not apply the mandate to over-the-top providers or TV Everywhere delivery of video content, but did issue a Notice of Further Proposed Rulemaking asking whether it should do so.

Google submitted a formal set of remedies to the European Union that will soon be shown to rivals and customers as part of settlement talks to end a two-year probe into claims its search results discriminate against competitors.

The EU’s goal is to “secure legally binding commitments” from Google as part of the settlement negotiations, EU Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia told reporters in Washington. European users should have the “widest possible choice in search,” he said. A settlement would allow the Mountain View, California-based company to avoid possible fines for abusing its dominance. “Google has a lot more market power in Europe than in the U.S., more than 90 percent,” Almunia said. “To avoid abuse we need to guarantee that users of the search engine have a choice and that search results have the highest possible quality.”

[Commentary] Fairsearch -- an anti-Google group that counts Microsoft, Oracle, Nokia, and about a dozen other Google competitors as members -- filed a formal complaint with the European Commission about the search giant's "predatory distribution of Android at below cost." Apparently, Fairsearch believes that it's "predatory" for a company to gain market share by giving its software away for free.

The argument should alarm anyone who benefits from free software—which is to say everyone who uses the Internet. Apparently, Fairsearch believes that it's "predatory" for a company to gain market share by giving its software away for free. That stance would have sweeping implications for the software industry because so many software companies distribute software for free. Competition laws are supposed to benefit consumers, not a company's competitors. It's easy to see how Microsoft and Nokia might have been harmed by Google's decision to price its mobile operating system at zero. But there's no reason to think the strategy is harmful to consumers. To the contrary, consumers benefit greatly from the low price and broad selection of Android handsets. And despite those low prices, Android faces competition from mobile operating systems made by Apple, Microsoft, Research in Motion, Mozilla, and others.

A federal judge threw out an anti-trust case brought by airlines passengers who accuse internet provider GoGo of illegally raising the price of in-flight service to rates as high as $17.95. In a decision issued in San Francisco, US District Judge Edward Chen ruled that GoGo, despite supplying 85% of all internet-equipped airplanes in the US, does not have a monopoly.

The company’s customers include Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, Delta, US Airways, and Virgin America. In throwing out the case, Chen accepted GoGo’s argument that it doesn’t have dominant market share because it covers only 16% of all US airplanes, and it’s possible for the remaining planes, which do not offer Internet, to sign up with a competing service provider. The Internet contracts are sold on airplane-by-airplane basis, and not across entire airlines. The passengers sued GoGo in October, claiming that competitor Row44 charges only $5 for an entire flight of internet service but that airlines can’t drop GoGo because of ten-year contracts that lock them in. They also argue that GoGo’s internet technology is inferior because it relies on ground-to-air tower transmission rather than the satellite service offered by Row44 and Jet Blue’s ViaSat service.