Business news in brief

The Federal Communications Commission on Wednesday stopped an informal 180-day clock in its review of both Comcast's bid for Time Warner Cable and AT&T's proposed purchase of DirecTV, and suspended deadlines for comments, citing arguments by programmers over disclosing their contracts with the cable and satellite-TV companies. CBS, Walt Disney, and 21st Century Fox are among companies asking the FCC to take more steps to limit who can review programming contracts. - Bloomberg News

A trade show that planned to move its annual event to Atlantic City, after bad experiences in 2012 and 2013 at the Convention Center, has reconsidered and will return to Philadelphia in August, the Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau and the center said Thursday. To fulfill its contract, the NBM Show, sponsored by National Business Media, a trade magazine publisher/trade show producer, held one more show, in September, at the Convention Center, attended by 4,700 people. The Colorado-based group said its experience in September - several months after management and work-rule changes - was a positive reversal from 2012 and 2013. In 2014, the NBM Show generated $3.8 million in regional impact, the convention bureau estimated. - Jane M. Von Bergen

Johnson & Johnson plans to have 250,000 doses of experimental Ebola vaccine ready for clinical trials in May. The vaccine combines a shot from J&J's Janssen unit in the Netherlands with one developed by Danish biotechnology company Bavarian Nordic A/S, New Brunswick, N.J.-based J&J said. (Its McNeil Consumer Healthcare unit is based in Fort Washington.) Paul Stoffels, chief scientific officer, said the vaccine would be tested in healthy volunteers in January, toward producing one million doses in 2015. - Bloomberg News

Pennsylvania Treasurer Rob McCord has joined financial officials from other states in urging companies in the Russell 1000 with no female board members to bring membership up to 30 percent women and to ensure there also is racial diversity. "As institutional investors and concerned women's organizations, we are requesting that your board of directors take positive action to correct the lack of meaningful diversity among its members," said the letter, sent Thursday to companies including Brandywine Realty Trust and Triumph Group Inc. locally. It is from the 30 Percent Coalition, a group of state officials, institutional investors, unions, and religious groups headed by Vicki Kramer of Philadelphia. - Jane M. Von Bergen

Canonsburg, Pa.-based generic-drug giant Mylan Inc. said it still plans to complete its deal to buy a chunk of Abbott Laboratories' overseas generics business in first quarter 2015 and reincorporate in the Netherlands, but the two companies have slightly adjusted the terms of the transaction. Shareholders of Mylan will own about 78 percent of the restructured company, down from about 79 percent, according to an SEC filing. The move follows new rules issued by the Treasury Department last month aimed at curbing corporate inversions. - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Ace Ltd. CEO Evan Greenberg said he expects an increase in insurance-industry mergers and acquisitions as competition squeezes profit margins. Potential buyers "will see no way of getting their growth or actually keeping themselves from shrinking, or margins deteriorating, and they see this as their only option," he said. Zurich-based Ace has major Philadelphia-area operations. - Bloomberg News

Target is betting free shipping and 35,000 new items will fuel a turnaround in its holiday fortunes. Target, which now offers free shipping for those who use its branded payment cards, is extending that to all purchases through Dec. 20. - Bloomberg News

Reynolds American Inc., the second-biggest U.S. tobacco company, plans to snuff out smoking at desks or offices, conference rooms, hallways and elevators, starting next year. It will allow e-cigarettes. - AP

About 1,000 Bank of America debit transactions on the new Apple Pay system were duplicated, a processing mistake between the bank and at least one payments network. An Apple spokeswoman said, "They're working on a fix that will be available shortly and reversing any duplicate transactions." The system launched Monday with such participants as JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup, Visa, MasterCard, and American Express. - Bloomberg News