The FCC should take care that its efforts to stimulate third party retail set-top box competition don't interfere with ongoing video standards-making proceedings, said Microsoft in a meeting Tuesday with Media Bureau Chief Bill Lake and bureau staff. “It is important for the Commission to be aware of these developments and to ensure that any steps it contemplates taking in this proceeding do not adversely affect these industry efforts.” Time Warner executives met with Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel on set-top matters Monday, arguing against the FCC proposal. “It is feasible to increase competition and consumer choice through a regulatory regime based on content companies having a direct licensing relationship with device manufacturers, traditional distributors, and online platforms,” Time Warner said. The filings were made in docket 16-42. Pay-TV companies just made an alternate proposal for an HTML5-based unlock the box approach (see 1606160059), rather than the apps approach the industry has backed and the alternative device tack included in the agency's proposal. CEO Chip Pickering of Incompas, which is part of a coalition of tech and other interests allied with the FCC approach, called it "encouraging" that the cable industry made the proffer. "Their current proposal presents both some positive movement and some familiar limitations that could fall short of delivering an open, competitive marketplace," he said Thursday.

BeIN Media is using Technicolor's Ultra HD technology in its Middle East and North Africa broadcast platform, in advance of the Union of European Football Associations Euro 2016 tournament, it said in a news release Thursday. It said the deal between the two has its 4K set-top box technology being used in beIN's 4K UHD receiver, while beIN is broadcasting a number of the Euro tournament's games in 4K on a dedicated channel, beIN 4K.

WHDH Boston is taking the dismissal of its lawsuit against Comcast to the 1st Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, it said in a notice of appeal (in Pacer) Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Boston. In its original complaint, WHDH claimed Comcast violated an agreement with NBC affiliates made as part of Comcast's buy of NBCUniversal by planning to switch the NBC affiliation from WHDH to an owned-and-operated station (see 1603110031). In his order (in Pacer) to dismiss the suit issued in May, U.S. District Judge Richard Stearns of Boston said WHDH lacked standing to enforce sections of the NBC TV Affiliates Association, and nothing in the affiliates' contract imposes an affirmative obligation on the cable company to negotiate with affiliate stations. He said he also agreed with Comcast's argument that refusing to engage in renewal negotiations doesn't generally amount to monopolistic exclusionary conduct, as WHDH argued. The station argued Comcast's newly owned and operated station will be less successful than WHDH, but at least in the near term "it is a deep-dyed canon of antitrust law that the supplier of a product may vertically integrate its distribution channels without facing liability," Stearns said. Comcast didn't comment Wednesday.

Zoom Telephonics' petition to have the FCC reconsider its approval of Altice's buy of Cablevision regurgitates the same assertions the Media, International, Wireless and Wireline bureaus rejected in their order and fails to rebut that the order said cable modem maker's allegations aren't relevant because they raise no transaction-specific harms, the cable companies said in a joint opposition filed Monday in docket 15-257. Zoom also petitioned for reconsideration of FCC approval of Charter Communications' buying Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks (see 1606100043). FCC OK last month of Altice/Cablevision (see 1605040010) rejected calls by Zoom for modem-related conditions (see 1602050013) as not being transaction-specific. Altice/Cablevision said the thrust of Zoom's argument that Cablevision's modem and billing practices violate FCC rules and the Communications Act was aired during the agency's consideration of the deal: "Zoom's petition identifies precisely the same facts, and rehashes precisely the same arguments, set forth in its Petition to Deny [and] presents nothing new." Altice/Cablevision said Zoom's arguments about the billing practices being contrary to the public interest "involve precisely the sort of unrelated harms that the Commission routinely has refused to consider in its transaction review context." In its petition, Zoom argued the FCC improperly deferred consideration of its allegations relating to cable modem pricing issues and neglected to assess its arguments that the transaction wasn't consistent with the Communications Act, Telecommunications Act and public interest standard. It said it wanted reconsideration of the lack of any conditions to ensure Altice's cable modem certification practices are consistent with FCC rules, and that Cablevision dissuades purchase of third-party modems through misleading information on its website. Zoom said it repeatedly raised the issue of mandating bill transparency during the FCC's consideration of the transaction, but the commission made "manifest error" by neglecting to even consider whether approving the deal without addressing Cablevision billing practices is contrary to the public interest. Zoom's petition wasn't posted on the FCC Electronic Comment Filing System by our deadline, and the agency said it wasn't an ECFS problem.

Cox Enterprises will spend $25 million under the Clinton Global Initiative Commitment to Action to shrink its environmental impact, the company said in a news release Monday. The company said it will look for ideas through its Corporate Strategy and Investments and its Cox Conserves teams, with the aim of eliminating 3,000 tons of landfill waste and cutting its carbon footprint by 20,000 tons. Cox Enterprises said it has a 2024 goal of generating no landfill waste and a 2044 goal of being carbon and water neutral.

A Time Warner Cable bid to have an attorney prohibited from being both trial counsel for Cableview Communications of Jacksonville, Florida, and from testifying as a rebuttal witness was rejected. In an order (in Pacer) Friday, U.S. Magistrate Judge James Klindt of Jacksonville denied without prejudice TWC's motion disqualifying Jack Webb. Cableview sued TWC in 2013 (3:13-cv-00306-MMH-JRK), claiming it interfered in FTS USA's 2012 buy of Cableview, and in its motion TWC said Webb participated in the Cableview/TWC negotiations that resulted in a $65,000 settlement agreement being paid to TWC from the Cableview sale but that Florida Bar rule 4.3-7 bars a lawyer from being trial witness and trial counsel in the same action. Klindt in his order said TWC hasn't established Webb is likely to be a necessary witness, which is required to implicate 4.3-7, since neither party intends to call him: "Although an occasion may arise to render his testimony important at trial, right now it is only a vague possibility." If the issue of the potential hardship Web's testimony might pose to either party comes up at trial, Klindt said, the assessment of that hardship might take into account the testimony's importance, its inconsistency with other testimony and how foreseeable it is to either party. TWC didn't comment Monday.

Entertainment Studios Networks and the National Association of African American Owned Media took a third run at Comcast, filing a second amended complaint (in Pacer) Thursday in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles alleging racial discrimination by the cable company in its decision not to carry ESN channels. The initial complaint, filed in 2015, was dismissed later that year, and an amended complaint dismissed in May by U.S. District Judge Terry Hatter of Los Angeles, who in his order (in Pacer) said ESN/NAAAOM hadn't sufficiently pled facts to make a plausible claim. Hatter said the case was dismissed with leave for one last amendment, and if the second amended complaint has pleading deficiencies, the case would be dismissed with prejudice. The second amended complaint by ESN/NAAAOM covers largely the same ground as its previous complaints -- that Comcast stands out among its major multichannel video programming distributor rivals by not carrying ESN content and that its claims of lack of bandwidth are shown to not hold water when it adds white-owned networks. As in the previous Comcast complaints, ESN/NAAAOM sought $20 billion in damages. In a joint stipulation (in Pacer) Wednesday, ESN/NAAAOM and Comcast said they agreed on a briefing schedule for Comcast's planned motion to dismiss the second amended complaint, with Comcast having until July 11 to move to dismiss, the plaintiffs having an Aug. 8 deadline to respond, Comcast having an Aug. 22 deadline to reply in support of its motion and a hearing on the motion scheduled for Sept. 12. ESN/NAAAOM are pursuing similar litigation against Charter Communications and the FCC (see 1601280063) and petitioned the agency for an investigation of Comcast (see 1603280030). In a statement, Comcast said, “We believe NAAAOM’s and ESN’s third attempt to manufacture a lawsuit against Comcast has no more merit and will fare no better than their previous complaints in this case, and we will vigorously defend ourselves against their inaccurate and unsupported allegations. Comcast is proud of our outstanding record supporting and fostering diverse programming, including programming from African American owned and controlled cable channels. We currently carry more than 100 networks geared toward diverse audiences, including multiple networks owned or controlled by minorities.”

The Supreme Court reaffirmed in last month's Spokeo v. Robins decision that violating a federal statute can provide the basis for standing, with the violation needing only to result in "particularized" and "concrete" harm -- exactly the type of harm plaintiff Alex Braitberg suffered at the hands of Charter Communications, his counsel responded Wednesday in the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Spokeo also made clear that some statutory violations constitute Article III injury, Braitberg said. The filing was in response to a previous Charter citation arguing Spokeo confirmed Braitberg lacked Article III standing since his allegation that Charter violated a Cable Act requirement that cable operators destroy personally identifiable information when it's no longer needed for the reason it was collected is divorced from any concrete harm. Braitberg -- a former Charter subscriber who sued in 2013 after finding out such data as his Social Security and credit card numbers were still on record with the company -- is appealing a decision by a U.S. District judge in St. Louis to throw out his initial lawsuit on the basis for lack of Article III standing.

Centralite, a supplier of connected home devices for branded products from cable companies and retailers, is now selling direct under its own label, it said Thursday in a news release. The company said it was responding to “overwhelming consumer demand” for connected products not offered on other home automation platforms. Centralite’s portfolio has more than 30 devices that it produces for brands including Comcast, Lowe's and Time Warner Cable, and with the branded line it’s enabling partners and customers to access offerings “central to the complete connected experience,” it said.

Al-Jazeera's claim its sports doping documentary never actually accused athlete Ryan Howard of taking performance enhancing drugs fails to make clear why a viewer wouldn't reasonably see it conveying the cable network's endorsement that such an accusation is true, Howard said in a motion (in Pacer) Tuesday in U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia. The Philadelphia Phillies first baseman sued the now-defunct Al-Jazeera America network, plus Al-Jazeera Media Network and Al-Jazeera International for defamation, with Al-Jazeera and defendant Deborah Davies, a reporter, filing a motion to dismiss, while another reporter defendant, Liam Collins, separately filed a dismissal motion. In his opposition Tuesday to the twin motions to dismiss, Howard said the fact Al-Jazeera and the reporters knew that the source of the doping allegations in "The Dark Side" had recanted them before the documentary aired, their failure to corroborate or investigate those allegations and their "motive and even need to generate a sensational story" all go to show they acted with knowledge of probable falsity or reckless disregard for the truth, and the motions to dismiss should be denied. Al-Jazeera didn't comment.