An array of Ohio communities can't regulate Time Warner Cable basic rates, the FCC Media Bureau said in an order Monday. It rejected opposition from the villages of Cleves and North Bend that data TWC used regarding ZIP codes was flawed, because Cleves didn't given any evidence of data flaws or suggest a better method. The Media Bureau said North Bend's assertion that TWC inflated the DBS subscriber count "advocates conflicting approaches" and said there's no basis to question the accuracy of the Satellite Broadcasting and Communications Association data TWC used. The order covers more than 15,000 households, the largest of which was Deerfield. TWC separately had sought a finding of low penetration effective competition for the village of Ripley based on its serving only 30 percent of the households there -- a petition the FCC also granted. The FCC in recent weeks has issued orders finding effective competition in numerous communities in Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Virginia and Washington (see 1602190036, 1602240037, 1602180042 and 1601220003).

U.S. District Judge Robin Cauthron in Oklahoma City erred in overturning a $6.31 million jury verdict against Cox Communications for its set-top box rental policies (see 1511130005) when she said the plaintiff had to identify specific competitors wanting to sell set-tops in the Oklahoma City market but didn't because of Cox's tying policy, said class action plaintiffs Richard Healy et al. in an opening brief filed Monday with the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. That proof requirement was "fabricated out of whole cloth" and contrary to Supreme Court and 10th Circuit precedent, the plaintiff said. He asked the appellate court to reverse Cauthron's decision giving judgment in favor of Cox and restore the jury verdict. Regardless of the validity of the proof requirement, Healy said, the court record shows substantial evidence of specific competitors excluded from that set-top market because of Cox requiring rental of one of its set-tops to access all Premium Cable content and features. The plaintiff said Cauthron's ruling wrongly disregarded evidence that the plaintiff class had suffered injury in paying $6.31 million worth of "supracompetitive" set-top rental rates. The Healy brief also requested oral argument. Cox didn't comment Tuesday.

The FCC Media Bureau plans a daylong public workshop March 21 on video marketplace issues such as competition, diversity and innovation, it said in a news release Tuesday. The workshop -- 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at FCC headquarters -- will be one of two planned on the topic, it said.

American TV Alliance officials met with FCC Media Bureau staff to talk specifics about some proposals (see 1512010052) for changes to the totality of circumstances test for good faith retransmission consent negotiations, ATVA said in an ex parte filing Monday in docket 15-216. ATVA said the Media Bureau meeting covered such ground as local vs. national ratings in defining marquee events as part of its push to restrict blackouts of such programming and the details of its proposal to allow temporary importation of distant signals. ATVA said it also discussed labor law doctrine requiring negotiations until impasse and how that could play into broadcaster/multichannel video programming distributor talks. ATVA has been aggressively lobbying on proposed changes to the totality test (see 1602190044).

Altice arguments haven't shown any material evidence of how it will deliver benefits it claims its buy of Cablevision will provide, and the savings it hopes to see "will implausibly be doing double duty, both to increase investment and to help service the substantially increased debt Cablevision will be carrying post-transaction," MFRConsulting said in an FCC filing Monday in docket 15-257. MFRConsulting has repeatedly raised red flags about the deal (see 1602190041 and 1512300024). Its latest filing said Cablevision's announced monthly cable modem fee hike from $4.95 to $9.99 is an example of Altice/Cablevision's ability "to raise prices without a basis" and Altice paints a "confusing and arguably inconsistent picture" of its Cablevision relationship by claiming the two will be separate operations yet Cablevision also will benefit from being part of Altice's worldwide operations. It also raised numerous questions about Altice's answers in response to an FCC information request (see 1602260029). "Altice has ignored and continues to fail to rebut the substantial evidence [demonstrating] that it has not delivered such benefits with its other properties," MFRConsulting said. Altice didn't comment.

Vivendi Universal has paid $775 million to Liberty Media to settle 2003 claims regarding Vivendi's 2001 purchase of Liberty Media's stake in USA Networks, Liberty Media said Friday as it announced its Q4 2015 financial results. Liberty said the $775 million settlement ends appeals both parties had filed regarding a 2013 judgment in which Liberty Media was awarded roughly $1 billion. Liberty Media in its original suit alleged "outright fraud, misrepresentation and concealment" regarding Vivendi's hiding of its liquidity crisis at the time of the USA Networks deal.

Granite Falls, Minnesota, can't regulate the basic-cable rates of Mediacom, an FCC Media Bureau order said Friday. It denied the city's opposition to the cable operator's effective competition petition. The bureau agreed with the company that it "sufficiently demonstrated that DBS subscribership exceeds more than 15 percent in Granite Falls," a prong of the effective competition threshold. The city's assertion that DBS competition doesn't restrain cable prices "lacks merit as the statutory effective competition test does not permit a determination of whether one form of video competition is more effective than another in keeping rates reasonable for the public," the order said. Also last week, the bureau agreed with Comcast and Time Warner Cable in other Minnesota and Ohio communities where the municipalities had objected (see 1602180042).

A U.S. District Court magistrate judge in Chicago threw out his 2015 summary judgment ruling in a lawsuit brought by cable line technicians against Comcast, granting part of the plaintiffs' motion to reconsider. The 2012 complaint alleged Fair Labor Standards Act and Illinois Minimum Wage Law violations as Comcast would encourage its technicians to spend time before and after their shifts doing such tasks as loading or unloading their vehicles and that they were entitled to compensation for time they spent on call as they were “highly restricted” during such on-call shifts. The motion for reconsideration dealt with only the on-call claim. In an order issued Thursday, Judge Young Kim said the motion "shed a clearer light on the facts in the record" by highlighting testimony that supported the argument Comcast had a custom or practice of compensating employees for time spent on tasks but that individual managers began encouraging or instructing workers to work off the clock. "The plaintiffs are not simply changing strategy on this point or rehashing old arguments but rather drawing attention to the court's misapprehension of the facts presented," Kim said. Comcast didn't comment Friday.

Any Charter/TWC/BHN approval needs to be predicated on blunting the tools at New Charter's disposal for hurting emerging over-the-top services -- like Sling TV -- Sling TV CEO Roger Lynch and other Dish Network executives told FCC staff in a meeting Wednesday. Those tools are usage-based pricing, interconnection fees, bundled pricing, the additional leverage it will have in negotiating contractual restrictions with programmers and its ability to work around open Internet rules to discriminate against online video distributors (OVD), Dish said at the meeting, according to an ex parte filing to be posted in docket 15-149. Charter Communications buying Bright House Networks and Time Warner Cable "will give the combined company innumerable ways through which to thwart competing OVDs," Dish said as it also repeated its call for the FCC to deny the merger. Agency officials at the meeting included Media Bureau Chief Bill Lake and Owen Kendler, who's heading the FCC working team overseeing the deals' review. Dish individually and as part of the Stop Mega Cable coalition has repeatedly called for the FCC to reject the Charter/TWC/BHN deals (see 1602240030 and 1601050039). Charter didn't comment, but in an ex parte filing Friday in the docket it recapped two days of meetings with FCC staff to talk about New Charter commitments regarding settlement-free interconnection, broadband service without usage-based billing or data caps and its low-income residential broadband offering. The meeting's roster included Kendler and FCC General Counsel Jon Sallet and such Charter executives as Catherine Bohigian, executive vice president-government affairs. Some experts have said Sallet's increased involvement in the New Charter review indicates FCC approval with conditions may be near (see 1602190062). The FCC's unofficial 180-day shot clock for reviewing Charter/TWC/BHN stood Friday at 153 days.

The FTC signed off on Sinclair's planned $350 million purchase of the Tennis Chanel (see 1601270066), it said in an antitrust review early termination notice Wednesday. According to the FTC, the notice indicates it and the Justice Department have finished their reviews of the proposed transaction and aren't taking any enforcement action.