DOJ's Antitrust Division finished its response to the Protect Democracy Project's Freedom of Information Act request for any White House communications about AT&T's Time Warner buy (see 1803060004) and is working with the group to provide information about material withheld from production, said a docket 17-cv-2409 joint status report (in Pacer) filed Friday with U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The report said DOJ's Office of Information Policy finished processing all results located in its initial searches but recently learned that a technical issue may have affected an initial search of email records and it now needs to re-run its email search. It will need at least three months to complete the remedial search and process records retrieved from the search.
Beyond just limiting the ability of local franchise authorities to add fees and other requirements that deter broadband deployment, the FCC should consider whether the Permanent Internet Tax Freedom Act bars licensing fees on cable modem services over public rights of way, Citizens Against Government Waste said in a docket 05-311 posting Thursday. In backing the LFA Further NPRM on September's agenda (see 1809050056), CAGW said restricting LFAs' ability to put franchise and fee requirements on non-cable services offered by franchise cable operators will stop those localities "from gaming the system and holding up future broadband deployment."
With the FCC denying the Competitive Enterprise Institute petition for reconsideration of conditions on Charter Communications' buys of Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks (see 1809100048), CEI's petition for writ of mandamus on the recon petition is dismissed as moot, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ordered (in Pacer) Thursday in docket 17-1261.
TiVo added German, Italian and Portuguese language support to a module within its content discovery platform, the company said Wednesday. The platform provides natural-language understanding technology, relevant results and a personalized entertainment experience.
The Competitive Enterprise Institute plans to appeal FCC denial of its petition for reconsideration regarding conditions put on Charter Communications' buys of Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks. In a letter (in Pacer, docket 17-1261) Wednesday to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, CEI agreed with the FCC that the agency's recon petition denial (see 1809100048) moots the writ of mandamus it had filed to force the agency to act on that petition. That agreement "is not a waiver of these standing arguments that will be addressed in a successive appeal," the group said.
Monday's scheduled oral argument regarding the Competitive Enterprise Institute's writ of mandamus seeking FCC action on a petition of reconsideration was postponed, said an order (in Pacer, docket 17-1261) Tuesday from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. The FCC requested postponement after the agency on Monday issued an order denying CEI's recon petition regarding conditions on Charter Communications' buys of Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks (see 1809100048).
Consumer "loyalty" often “trumps content” or price as the determining factor in over-the-top subscriber churn or retention, David Browne, Comcast Technology Solutions senior director-product management, told a Parks Associates webinar Thursday. “There really is no silver bullet for countering churn,” said Browne. “If you consider churn part of the natural ebb and flow of your business, you come to the conclusion that some consumers, you will never win back. It doesn’t matter how many dollars you throw at that win-back campaign.” There’s the “inverse conclusion” some customers “will come back anyway” when an OTT service streams content they are interested in, he said. “If you’re a stackable service” that specializes in “short-form” content that’s “topical,” there's a much different “churn profile” than more “general” OTT entertainment services, he said.
U.S. District Judge Anita Brody of Philadelphia preliminarily approved a settlement and certified the class in litigation alleging Comcast tied rental of its set-top boxes to subscribing to premium cable packages, breaking the Sherman Act and state laws, said a docket 09-md-02034-AB opinion (in Pacer) Wednesday. Comcast would pay $15.5 million.
Discovery Communications, moving headquarters to New York City next year (see 1801090026), sold its Silver Spring, Maryland, HQ to developer Foulger-Pratt and Cerberus Capital Management, it said Thursday. Neither Discovery nor Foulger-Pratt commented on the price. The cable programmer said it signed a lease on 60,000 square feet in Silver Spring for its Maryland Network Hub, for functions including government relations and some network and support operations.
The Dolan family is suing Altice USA for allegedly reneging on terms of Altice's buy of Cablevision, via ongoing layoffs at News 12 Networks. In a complaint filed Wednesday in Delaware Chancery Court, Cablevision founder Charles Dolan and other family members allege Altice agreed in the 2016 takeover to maintain News 12 employment level for at least five years and incur up to $60 million in losses doing so. Plaintiffs allege it cut 70 positions in 2017 and notified them last week of plans to lay off dozens more this week and to cut 10 percent of News 12 staff each successive year. Those downsizings have "no basis in economic reality" given News 12 profitability, according to the suit. Also suing is News 12 anchor Colleen McVey, who is to be laid off this week. The suit asks for a permanent injunction and a court order that Altice operate News 12 in compliance with its business plan at least through 2020. The plaintiffs also filed an accompanying motion for a temporary restraining order. Altice emailed that the suit is meritless and it plans to defend itself "vigorously." It said "our News 12 team is comprised of the most talented journalists and staff in the news business and Altice USA remains committed to offering meaningful news coverage, enhancing our news product for our local communities, and growing our audience."