Comcast will roll out a pay-as-you-go TV and Internet service in four states in 2016 and nationwide in 2017, the company said in a news release. Xfinity Prepaid Services will let consumers sign-up for TV or Internet service and refill their subscription for seven or 30 day increments "any time they like," the cable ISP said. The initial rollout will be in Michigan, Georgia, Florida and Indiana, it said. Comcast will also offer the service at Boost Mobile locations, the company said.

Fifty-nine percent of U.S. households have a subscription VOD service, up from 47 percent in 2014, Leichtman Research Group said in a news release Wednesday. SVODs are particularly popular among cord-cutters and cord-nevers, with 70 percent of households without a pay-TV subscription having an SVOD, compared with 57 percent of pay-TV subscribers, Leichtman said. Among those who have an SVOD service, 47 percent subscribe to more than one, Leichtman said. It said 41 percent of adults watch video on non-TV devices such as home computers and mobile devices on a daily basis, and 62 percent do so weekly, with those numbers up from 27 percent daily and 53 percent weekly three years ago. The data are based on surveying 1,209 households nationwide. “SVOD services are in the majority of U.S. households, and along with video to non-TV devices, have become core components in allowing pay TV non-subscribers to cobble together a variety of viewing options,” said President Bruce Leichtman. The report is based on a survey of 1,209 U.S. adults done by phone in May-June 2016.

The number of cable ISP-provided Wi-Fi hot spots has reached 500,000 nationwide, NCTA said in a blog post Wednesday, citing the Cable WiFi Alliance. Saying that number has doubled in the past two years, NCTA said "that means more customers can experience near-ubiquitous broadband connectivity, and communities benefit knowing there is secure, reliable internet access already built out."

The Charter Communications/Frontier Communications legal battles over advertising are coming to an end. In a joint stipulation (in Pacer) of dismissal filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Bridgeport, Connecticut, both companies asked for voluntary dismissal with prejudice of their legal claims. No settlement terms were made public. The two indicated earlier this month they were in talks that could end their reciprocal federal lawsuits on ad claims (see 1607110017).

Binge watching is now the norm, with 57 percent of TV viewers saying they regularly watch three or more episodes of the same show in one sitting, be it by streaming, DVR, VOD or TV marathons, GfK MRI said in a news release Tuesday. GfK said 14 percent reported binge watching "all or most of the time," with another 18 percent doing so "frequently" and 25 percent saying about half their TV viewing is in a binge. When asked what they binge on, 41 percent reported predominantly watching TV shows they have never seen before vs. 35 percent opting for "old favorite" programs, GfK said. Twenty-two percent said most of their binging is of original content from streaming services, it said.

The National Labor Relations Board likely won't address whether a union was bound to a no-strike agreement at the time of its 2014 work stoppage, so putting legal proceedings on that on hold is delayed justice, Time Warner Cable said in a brief (in Pacer) filed Monday in the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The brief was in opposition to an NLRB motion (in Pacer) filed last week to stay briefings and further proceedings on the appeal until the agency issues a final decision on a related unfair labor practice complaint before it. International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, AFL-CIO, Local Union No. 3 is appealing a U.S. District Court in Brooklyn's ruling upholding of an arbitrator's award of damages to TWC after the work stoppage, and the company is cross-appealing the portion of the Brooklyn court's judgment that denied confirmation of part of a 2015 final arbitration award ordering the union to refrain from further violations of the no-strike prohibition. The NLRB, in its motion, said such a stay wouldn't impede TWC's ability to collect the money damages of the judgment if it's affirmed, and "the clarifying effects of a Board determination" would help the union and cable operator better evaluate their litigation positions and aid the court in assessing the merits of both sides' appeals. A stay "would also avoid needlessly preempting the Board’s deliberative process in the pending unfair labor practice case," NLRB said. TWC said "whatever the Board may (or may not say) about that issue at some unknown time in the future is of no 'significant value' to this Court, and the NLRB’s speculative and legally baseless assertions to the contrary provide no legitimate basis for this Court to stay its proceedings." If the NLRB rules on whether the union and TWC had a no-strike agreement, it will be based on precedents and legal standards different from those material to the appeal, the company said. It's now part of Charter Communications.

CBS Studios' new Star Trek series will be beamed up to Netflix subscribers under an international licensing agreement the companies announced in a news release Monday. Each episode will be available on Netflix within 24 hours of its U.S. premiere, the companies said. Netflix also will have the entire library of the various Trek series by the end of the year, they said. The new Star Trek series will debut on CBS in January, with the premiere episode and all subsequent episodes being available in the U.S. exclusively on the CBS All Access subscription VOD service.

Former Fox News host Gretchen Carlson's sexual harassment complaint should be heard in a Manhattan federal court because alleged harasser Roger Ailes doesn't live in New Jersey, where the lawsuit was filed, and none of the alleged acts occurred in New Jersey, Fox News head Ailes said in a motion (in Pacer) Friday in U.S. District Court in Newark, New Jersey. He asked the court to transfer the case to the Manhattan federal court or for an order staying the case pending disposition of a petition filed there Friday (in Pacer) to compel arbitration. Ailes said in court paperwork he withdrew his motion to compel arbitration filed in the New Jersey court (see 1607110014). Carlson, in a filing (in Pacer) in Newark Friday in opposition to the motion to compel arbitration, said the arbitration clause in her Fox News contract identified the parties involved only as her and the network, not any particular executives. "It would be grossly inequitable, asymmetrical and contrary to settled law ... to read the contract as Ailes urges this Court by requiring Carlson to secretly arbitrate against Ailes, a non-signatory, while permitting Ailes to publicly sue employees in open court," she said.

The pay-TV backed set-top proposal doesn’t address the security concerns pay-TV carriers have said they're worried about, Amazon officials said in meetings Wednesday with Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, Chairman Tom Wheeler, Chief Technologist Scott Jordan, and aides to Rosenworcel, Wheeler and Commissioner Mignon Clyburn, according to an ex parte filing. Hardware-based digital rights management is the “gold standard” for security and isn’t addressed in the pay-TV proposal, Amazon said. That’s in contrast with the FCC set-top NPRM, the company said. If the FCC goes with the pay-TV app proposal, it should require carriers to “adhere to the standard practices and business terms of app distribution,” provide their full channel lineup and on-demand library to customers using third-party boxes, and require pay-TV companies to provide access to guide and search metadata, it said in docket 16-42.

Residents of public housing and those receiving Department of Housing and Urban Development assistance who live in Comcast's service territory are now eligible to take part in its Internet Essentials low-income broadband program, the cable company and HUD said in a news release Friday. According to the two, the Internet Essentials expansion -- including a Comcast pilot effort in public housing earlier this year -- encompasses an estimated 2 million residences and covers close to 40 percent of all HUD-assisted housing in the nation. Between its launch in 2011 and December 2015, Internet Essentials has signed up more than 600,000 low-income families, the two said. The Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council applauded the expansion. In a statement, President Kim Keenan said, “As we aim to close the digital divide, this is the kind of bold action that it will take to connect every American home without regard to socio-economic status.” The National Digital Inclusion Alliance similarly lauded the move and urged other ISPs to follow suit. NDIA said "the real test will be in how this program is implemented, how the barriers are handled and whether subscribers have access to local digital literacy training and technology support they need to take advantage of the offer." Numerous housing authorities offer digital literacy training and technology support for public housing residents, but Housing Choice voucher users live in privately owned housing, NDIA said: "How will they get the outreach, training and support that everyone including Comcast acknowledges to be critical for the program's effectiveness?"