Comcast Ventures sees its Zenefits investment as a foot into a potentially $30 billion human resources services industry, principal Callum King wrote in a company blog post. Zenefits earlier this month said it raised $500 million in a Series C round of funding, with the money to be used for such needs as rolling out new products. King said the Comcast/NBCUniversal venture capital fund was one of the investors, putting the money in because of Zenefits' growth -- growing to more than 10,000 customers and close to 1,000 employees in its roughly two-year history -- as well as because of the potential market size and its business model. "Zenefits provides quality HR software for free and makes money by acting as their customer’s insurance broker," King wrote. "As the company continues to expand its product portfolio, they will become even more valuable for customers." Since its 1999 start as Comcast Interactive Capital, Comcast Ventures has invested in more than 100 companies, including Broadbus Technologies, CTI Towers, Intellon and TiVo.

The FCC Media Bureau granted TiVo’s request for a temporary waiver of the agency’s home networking digital interface requirement for cable operators that use the company’s set-top boxes, said an order in Friday's Daily Digest on docket 97-80. The waiver expires June 1, 2017, and though Verizon and NCTA had asked for the waiver to be industrywide, it applies only to companies using TiVo boxes, the order said. TiVo had argued that its set-tops already meet the intent of the home networking requirement by allowing consumers to send video content throughout their homes.

Comcast will roll out its new residential multigigabit broadband service to customers throughout the cable ISP's service areas in Colorado, Minnesota, Oregon, Texas, Utah and Washington state starting this summer, the company said in multiple news releases Thursday (see here, here, here, here and here). Gigabit Pro is a symmetrical, 2 Gbps service that will be delivered via fiber-to-the-home, said the operator.

NCTA backs FCC efforts to repurpose USF low-income money to promote broadband adoption by low-income consumers, the association said executives told Office of Strategic Planning Chief Jonathan Chambers and Wireline Bureau officials. Potential barriers are an "overly burdensome" eligible telecom carrier designation process "that could preclude broadband providers from participating in a Lifeline universal service program for broadband," said NCTA in a Wednesday filing in docket 12-23. It said cable operator programs for low-cost broadband to low-income consumers include: Bright House Networks, Cox Communications, Eagle Communications, Mediacom and Suddenlink's Connect2Compete; Comcast's Internet Essentials; and Midcontinent’s Broadband Lifeline Assistance program. Commissioners may vote on a Lifeline reform NPRM at their June 18 meeting (see 1505010051).

Comcast and PBS are partnering to make more programming available on Xfinity On Demand services, said the cable operator in a news release Wednesday. The service will now have recently aired episodes from more than 50 PBS series, including episodes from primetime shows like American Experience, Antiques Roadshow, Call the Midwife and Frontline, it said.

Competitive alternatives to cable are “ubiquitous,” said NCTA in a meeting Tuesday with an aide to FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, according to an ex parte filing posted Wednesday in docket 15-53. The FCC needs to update its effective competition rules “to reflect these marketplace realities,” NCTA said. Opponents of making effective competition a rebuttable presumption haven't demonstrated consumer harm, NCTA said. Even if effective competition rules change, the availability of must-carry broadcast stations still would be governed by the 1992 Cable Act, NCTA said.

The FCC Enforcement Bureau disrespected Administrative Law Judge Richard Sippel and abandoned its responsibility to the public interest by asking for an extension to file comments in a proceeding and then deciding not to do so, said Sippel in an order filed Wednesday in docket 12-122, Game Show Network's carriage complaint against Cablevision. Sippel, at the bureau's request, granted the bureau seven additional days to file comments on a motion for summary decision filed by Cablevision. But Tuesday the bureau filed a submission saying it had carefully reviewed the filings in the case, and it would file no additional comments because the GSN and Cablevision filings “fully and fairly state the issues pending before the Presiding Judge.” This “pointless submission” didn't “enlighten” anyone involved in the case, Sippel said, and insulted his willingness to grant extensions. Sippel ordered the Enforcement Bureau to file comments on whether summary decision is appropriate by noon May 27. The FCC didn't comment.

The FCC should narrow the scope of the effective competition proceeding (see 1505150035) and take targeted steps to streamline the current process in an effort to assist small cable operators, NATOA said in an ex parte filing posted Monday in docket 15-53. The Intergovernmental Advisory Committee also expressed concern that cable operators, once subject to a presumption of nationwide effective competition would seek to move public, educational and governmental (PEG) access channels from the basic tier of service. The commission's proposed rule would not only affect rates charged for basic tier services, but also PEG carriage, uniform pricing within the franchise area and equipment fee increases, the ex parte said.

Charter, Cox and NCTA said cable voice customers understand the services may not work in power outages. Their comments came in a meeting with FCC Office of Strategic Planning and Public Safety Bureau officials on the agency's battery backup and IP transition proceedings. That apparent widespread consumer understanding in the "decade since the Commission adopted disclosure and labelling rules -- a period in which cable operators have added roughly 30 million voice customers -- strongly suggests the current rules are achieving their intended results," said NCTA in an ex parte filing posted Tuesday to docket 13-5. "Cable operators are open to discussing ways in which we could work with the Commission to facilitate the distribution of additional educational material." Consumers relying on legacy voice services may need additional efforts to ensure they understand the capabilities of IP-based networks once they switch to them, and are mainly LEC and not cable operator users and would be covered under any IP transition rules, said NCTA. It, Charter and Cox asked the agency to hold workshops or start a working group "to discuss the myriad issues raised" by extended power outages. Even following such blackouts, "an exceedingly small percentage of cable voice customers purchase batteries" for customer premises equipment, said the association. "Any mandate to provide batteries to all VoIP customers would be tremendously wasteful and would impose significant unwarranted costs on consumers." Cablevision, also an NCTA member, and Charter made similar arguments in another recent FCC meeting (see 1505060046).

The Video Advertising Bureau is replacing the Cabletelevision Advertising Bureau to unite nearly all broadcast and cable networks with multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs), raising the bar on research, data and analytics, and expanding the market for ads in professionally produced video content, said VAB in a Monday news release. The organization comprises 110 networks and the 11 largest MVPDs, it said. Leading the VAB will be the team that has run CAB for the past 12 years, it said. Sean Cunningham will be president-CEO; Chuck Thompson, executive vice president; and Danielle DeLauro, senior vice president-strategic sales insights, said VAB.