Good morning tech

Coalition urges FCC to block NBC-U merger with Comcast: Public comments were due Monday on the possible $30 billion marriage of these companies. Just in time, a coalition of media companies, unions and nonprofits is urging the
Federal Communications Commission to block the merger of Comcast and NBC
Universal. The coalition, made up of organizations including
media giant Bloomberg, the Writers Guild of America, West and advocacy
groups like Free Press and Media Access Project, wrote
to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski on Monday voicing their opposition to
the proposed
merger of Comcast and NBC Universal.

Intel may settle with FTC: The Federal Trade Commission’s anti-trust case
against chip giant Google may be winding down, the WSJ reports. Terms have not
been disclosed, but Intel would likely have to modify its practices. The
settlement would prevent an appearance before an FTC administrative law judge
in September that could have forced disclosure of company secrets, including its customers relationships with HP, Dell, IBM and Acer. “The company
has been grappling for several years with antitrust proceedings in Europe, Japan and South Korea as well as suits by the
FTC and the New York.” 

SCHEDULED

…2:30 p.m. The Senate Commerce subcommittee on competitiveness holds a hearing
on “Innovation in America:
Opportunities and Obstacles.” Russell Senate Office Building, Room 253.

QUESTIONED

…What can’t Google do? That’s the raison d’etre for startups hoping to fill
the gaps in the search giant’s services. One hopeful, Quora, allows people to
pose and answer questions. (WSJ)

NUMBER PUNCH

100… Dollar value of a fine San
Francisco may begin imposing on retailers if they do
not display a value for how much radiation their mobile phones emit. A vote on
the law is expected today. (FT)

FOR THE WATERCOOLER

FINGERPRINTS: Pro-consumer activist group Free Press is known for railing
against well-financed advocacy by big telecommunications companies. But in some
instances, if it can’t beat them, the organization may see logic in joining them:
the group signed a letter as part of its campaign against Comcast’s merger with
NBC Universal. The letter’s properties show that it was authored by Arik Ben
Zvi, a managing director at Glover Park Group, one of the city’s largest lobbying shops.
Glover Park Group represents Verizon.