The International Trade Commission voted to begin a Section 337 Tariff Act investigation into allegations that imports of semiconductor devices made by Broadcom and included in a range of downstream products are infringing patents held by Tessera, the ITC said last week. In its May 23, complaint, Tessera alleged Broadcom is copying its patented designs for chips used in network devices and set-top boxes. It alleged infringing chips are included in devices made by Arista Networks, Arris, Asus, Comcast, HTC, Netgear and Technicolor. The ITC will consider whether to issue a limited exclusion order and cease and desist orders against those companies. Those companies declined to comment or didn't comment right away Friday.

The assertion that Cox violated antitrust laws with set-top box rental policies "rests on sleight of hand," equating that customers in Oklahoma City couldn't access two-way cable services without a two-way set-top to a refusal by Cox to sell such services, Cox said in a reply brief (in Pacer) Thursday in the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Class-action plaintiffs Richard Healy et al. are appealing (see 1603010016) a U.S. District judge's 2015 overturning of a $6.31 million jury verdict against Cox for its set-top rental policies (see 1511130005). The company said the District Court erred in rejecting its proposed jury instructions that would have focused on whether the firm deprived consumers of any choices they otherwise would have had in the set-top market and in giving instructions requested by the plaintiff letting the jury find coercion and foreclosure "purely on the basis that a two-way [set-top] is technologically necessary to access certain cable services." Cox said if the court reverses the District Court's decision, it should be entitled to a new trial using proper instructions. Counsel for Healy and the others didn't comment Friday. Oral argument isn't scheduled.

Pushing for increased competition in the program navigation market is the right move, but any industry agreement on a standardized approach will take years, with implementing that standard nationwide taking even longer, said the TV Neutrality Alliance (TVNA) in an ex parte filing Thursday in FCC docket 14-261. The FCC should focus on a "bigger, more viable prize" -- creating competition in multichannel video programming distribution by moving on its proposal to classify some types of over-the-top as MVPDs, the group told Media Bureau officials including Chief Bill Lake and aides to Chairman Tom Wheeler and Commissioners Mike O'Rielly and Ajit Pai. Since online video distributors don't have the same capital expenditure hurdles that cable and satellite operators do, that regulatory change "can open the door to a wave of new entrants that are poised to bring innovative services, navigation tools and 'skinny bundles' to consumers today," said TVNA members Pi Omni Media, Telletopia Foundation and BitTorrent. TVNA has been actively lobbying (see 1606140018) on the OTT-as-MVPD proposal that was seen as largely dormant (see 1606060033). MVPD interests have proposed a compromise plan on Wheeler's unlock the set-top box initiative (see 1606200048).

Viacom is expanding its subscription VOD footprint with the unveiling Wednesday of BET Play, which provides direct mobile access to BET's TV series, documentaries and award shows, it said in a news release. The BET Play app and content "significantly expands the brand's geographic availability by making it available direct to consumer in many markets where it has not previously had an established presence on TV,” said Michael Armstrong, general manager-International Brand Development at Viacom International Media Networks. The programmer said it now offers Viacom Play Plex mobile TV apps for each of its major international TV channel brands.

The FTC signed off on Comcast's acquisition of DreamWorks Animation, the agency said in an early termination notice Monday. Comcast has said it expects to conclude the $3.8 billion deal by year's end (see 1604280010).

Altice completed its $17.7 billion takeover of Cablevision, it said in a news release Tuesday. Altice said, with Cablevision and Suddenlink under its belt, Altice USA is the No. 4 U.S. cable operator, with 4.6 million customers in 20 states. The New York Public Service Commission approved the deal last week (see 1606150056). Altice founder Patrick Drahi said Altice USA "is a key pillar of our business" and the next step is to "accelerate network investments and bring innovative products and services to U.S. customers by leveraging our global operational expertise, scale and resources." It said goals for Altice USA include increased broadband speeds through network upgrades; introduction of a low-income broadband offering; rollout of an all-in-one home center that puts set-top boxes, routers and Wi-Fi modems in one device and debut of a new customer interface that integrates VOD, online content and improved navigation and recommendation tools. Company president Dexter Goei will be chairman and CEO of Altice USA, with co-President/Chief Financial Officer Charles Stewart and co-President/Chief Operating Officer Hakim Boubazine, Lisa Rosenblum as general counsel and Lee Schroeder as head-government affairs. Separately, Zoom Telephonics Monday filed a reply to Altice/Cablevision opposition (see 1606140015) to the Zoom petition for reconsideration of FCC approval of that deal. In its reply in docket 15-257, Zoom said Altice/Cablevision argued there was ample time through the ex parte process to bring its arguments to the agency, but Zoom said the FCC put a Dec. 7 deadline on submission of pleadings and that it had been in talks with the applicants on trying to resolve the cable modem practices but those talks ended in April when Altice/Cablevision for the first time said they believed they were in compliance with FCC rules and wouldn't make any changes. "Since this was just a few days before the staff issued its decision, it would not have been possible to prepare and file anything with the Commission in time for it to have been considered," Zoom said. It petitioned the FCC to reconsider its approval of Charter Communications buy of Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks (see 1606100043). In its opposition to the petition filed Monday in docket 15-149, Charter said the Zoom complaint reargues complaints about modem billing policies that already were rejected by the FCC in its approval of the deals.

Broadcast and pay-TV interests have been making numerous trips to the FCC -- and the Office of General Counsel in particular -- to lobby on the agency's possible totality of circumstances test reforms. Multichannel video programming distributor representatives including Mediacom Senior Vice President-Government and Public Relations Tom Larsen, American Cable Association Senior Vice President-Government Affairs Ross Lieberman and Dish Network Deputy General Counsel Jeff Blum met with FCC General Counsel Jonathan Sallet to discuss commission authority to deem it a violation of good-faith negotiating rules to refuse to extend a retransmission consent agreement under some circumstances and to require interim carriage of a station as a means of remedying violations of good-faith retrans, said an ex parte filing in docket 15-216 Tuesday. The MVPD group filers said nothing in Section 325 of the Cable Act precludes the FCC from ordering a station to give its consent to interim carriage as a remedial measure. They said last week's U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit decision upholding FCC net neutrality rules (see 1606140023) backs the idea that the Administrative Procedure Act's notice requirements don't bar the agency from being able to order interim carriage as a remedial measure or the revised good-faith rules that have been proposed for reforming its totality of circumstances test. Broadcasters also met with Sallet to argue Section 325 authority. They said its "express authority of the originating station" language about who can grant retrans consent is unambiguous and the FCC has no discretion to read that it has implied authority. Whatever authority the agency has under Section 325 to set up regulations for retrans "cannot strip stations of the basic right to decide whether or not to consent," said the broadcast group -- including Anne Lucey, CBS senior vice president-regulatory policy; Susan Fox, Disney vice president-government relations, Jared Sher, 21st Century Fox associate general counsel; and Victoria Jeffries, Univision assistant general counsel-public policy -- said an ex parte filing Tuesday. The broadcaster group also met with Chairman Tom Wheeler aide Jessica Almond, said an ex parte filing. It said the group said the argument broadcasters can force cable distributors to carry affiliated nonbroadcast networks "defy empirical marketplace realities," and treating bundling as a per se violation of the good-faith bargaining requirement would hurt competition. The broadcasters submitted as proof 2015 pay-TV subscriber data showing networks affiliated with broadcasters "have a variety of penetration levels." NAB, in an ex parte filing recapping its own meeting with Sallet, said it argued its case that under the Copyright Act, the FCC lacks authority to stop a blackout of copyrighted programming from online distribution to the benefit of pay-TV broadband subscribers during a retrans consent impasse. It also said MVPDs are ignoring the underlying issue: whether the FCC "can stretch its narrow good faith authority to regulate broadcast stations' copyrighted content generally and their online offerings specifically." The agency "cannot presume ... it can regulate online content simply because that content is distributed via the Internet by an entity that also happens to be a broadcaster who at times engages in retransmission consent negotiations," NAB said.

A delay in wrapping up a major subscription VOD agreement and the underperforming Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows will mean down earnings for Viacom for the quarter ending June 30, the company said in a news release Friday. The company said Q3 earnings, to be reported Aug. 4, will likely show adjusted diluted earnings per share of $1-$1.05; Q3 2015 brought adjusted diluted EPS of $1.47.

The Media Alliance is backing a push by over-the-top multichannel video programming distributors, broadcasters and BitTorrent for reclassification of some OTT providers as MVPDs, with a certification step for non-facilities based online video distributors that would have them subject to MVPD rules (see 1606140018). In an FCC filing Friday in docket 14-261, Media Alliance said the TV Neutrality Alliance idea "is a common-sense way to interpret the rules" that will alleviate regulatory uncertainty.

The FCC Wireline Bureau set up docket 16-197 for monitoring Charter Communications' compliance with conditions imposed by the agency on its buys of Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks, the agency said in a public notice Thursday. Conditions range from offering a low-income broadband offering to requiring an overbuild of Charter's broadband network footprint (see 1605060059).