Multichannel video programming distributors have a 15-day window to hand over data on reach and number of subscribers in a franchise area if a franchising authority wanting certification to regulate a cable operator's basic service tier requests it, according to FCC-amended effective competition rules. The agency filed a small-entity compliance guide Wednesday to spell out compliance with the new effective competition regime. Franchising authorities seeking to establish that a local market lacks effective competition request the data from the MVPD if it's not otherwise available, the guide said. Meanwhile, to oppose such franchising authority regulation, a cable operator can file a petition for reconsideration in which it either disagrees with the franchising authority or demonstrates the presence of effective competition through low penetration, municipal provider or LEC effective competition, the guide said. A cable operator filing a petition for reconsideration will automatically stay any imposition of rate regulation pending the results of the recon proceeding, according to the FCC.
Both Game Show Network and Cablevision continue to try to poke holes in each other's legal arguments about whether the cable operator discriminated against the programmer. Wednesday was the deadline for responses to proposed findings of fact and proposed conclusions of law filings submitted earlier this month in docket 12-122 (see 1509140026). The FCC Enforcement Bureau is scheduled to weigh in by Oct. 15, with closing oral argument Oct. 29 before Chief Administrative Law Judge Richard Sippel. When Cablevision in 2011 moved GSN from the basic tier to a sports tier, it was discriminatory because Cablevision used a "must-have" test that didn't apply to its own affiliates and admits its affiliates probably would fail, GSN said in its 72-page response. And while Cablevision keeps focusing on "certain irrelevant details" like minor variations in demographic information among audiences for GSN and Cablevision-affiliated WE tv and Wedding Central, the evidence overwhelmingly shows GSN and WE are similarly situated, GSN said. And the fact it has added subscribers since the retiering doesn't change the fact it was harmed by that retiering, GSN said, saying testimony makes it clear it was Cablevision that first broached the idea of returning GSN to basic if part owner DirecTV would carry Wedding Central. GSN lacks any evidence to back its claim of favoritism as it disregards that Cablevision carried its affiliated networks "on market terms and at market rates" and that it was DirecTV -- not it -- that broached the idea of the satellite company carrying Wedding Central, Cablevision said in its 71-page response. GSN also ignores the evidence the move to retiering started in 2010 when numerous networks -- not just GSN -- went under carriage assessments because their contracts had lapsed or were about to, opening the door for them to be retiered or canceled, Cablevision said. The evidence of GSN and WE tv being similarly situated was "cherry picked," the cable company said, saying when confronting evidence the retiering decision was "to save programming costs incurred by broadly carrying a network that only a tiny fraction of Cablevision’s subscribers watched, GSN resorts to dismissing such evidence as 'pretextual.'"
If the American Cable Association now says it isn't looking to stop local stations from signing exclusivity deals with networks and syndicators, the FCC should no longer listen to its request to put limits on broadcasters' ability to put together such deals, NAB said in a filing to be posted in docket 10-71. ACA has in the past been staunchly against any network interference with out-of-market retransmission consent between local stations and multichannel video programming distributors, NAB said. But pointing to a recent ACA statement that if the FCC repeals the syndicated exclusivity and network nonduplication rules, as Chairman Tom Wheeler has advocated (see 1508120051), it should protect significantly viewed stations but meanwhile doesn't need to limit other exclusivity arrangements, NAB said the ACA "now supports broadcasters negotiating for exclusivity with networks" except for the one limited circumstance regarding significantly viewed stations. NAB said it was "relieved that ACA has adopted a less extreme position in its sustained efforts to limit payments to the content owners that drive consumers to its pay service." The broadcaster group also repeated its call to keep the existing exclusivity rules as a means for preventing stations from expanding their "zone of exclusivity" through affiliation agreements. "Rather than throw the entire well-established regime of local signals/local carriage into flux and hope for the best, there is no better option than to keep these effective rules in place," NAB said. ACA said its stance and comments have been consistent.
TLC should issue a refund to cable subscribers who don't want to watch its show Sex in Public, said the Parents Television Council in a news release Tuesday. “TLC once stood for The Learning Channel, but today it stands for Totally Ludicrous Content,” said PTC. Sex in Public is a new show about an undercover therapist who asks strangers to discuss their sex lives on camera, PTC said. “Because TLC is part of the cable network bundle, it can use its unfair business leverage to force every cable subscriber in the country to pay for its explicit content, whether subscribers want it or not,” said PTC President Tim Winter. PTC said it's urging advertisers to drop TLC because of the show. TLC didn't comment.
The FCC totality of circumstances test review is missing a few examples of egregious practices, and they also should be looked at as possible bad-faith negotiating, Mediacom said in an ex parte filing posted Tuesday in docket 15-216. Mediacom included a list of those negotiating practices, such as refusals to agree to a continuation of carriage before a complete negotiation breakdown -- saying blackouts should only come when the parties have reached a final impasse -- and the setting of dates for expiration of retransmission consent agreements other than the standard three years -- since these non-uniform durations give stations additional leverage. Also on its list are demands by local broadcasters for a certain level of retrans revenue to fund the production or purchase of locally oriented programming without having to prove the money is actually going to that purpose, and invocation of network exclusivity rights during a broadcaster-imposed blackout -- which would mean the FCC also would have to label an out-of-market station not letting its signal be imported by a multichannel video programming distributor during a blackout as bad faith as well, Mediacom said. The NPRM on the totality of circumstances test (see 1509030044) also "is strangely silent" on enforcement of good-faith negotiations, and should consider such penalties as forcing the reopening of negotiations for 90 days -- along with service to be restored for 90 days -- in the face of a prima facie showing of bad faith, Mediacom said. The company also listed other acts that should be considered inconsistent with the good-faith obligation, such as broadcasters requiring MVPDs to waive the right to pursue any remedies for misconduct that seemingly broke the law, forcing MVPDs to install set-top boxes, and refusing to offer different MVPDs the same non-economic rights or benefits in the same market on roughly similar terms.
Comcast started a cross-platform video service, Watchable, that pulls video content from online video networks and programs. The service is available at Watchable.com and on Apple products as well as to Comcast's X1 users, the company said in a blog post Tuesday. Content providers include AwesomenessTV, Buzzfeed, CelebTV, Discovery Digital Networks, Fast Company, Mashable, NBCUniversal, The Onion, Scripps Networks Interactive, Vice and Vox.
Altice's takeover of Suddenlink will be good for rural subscribers, particularly through better broadband, they said in a joint FCC filing posted Tuesday in docket 15-135 in which they both make a public interest case for the transaction and remind the agency that regulatory approval has been pending almost four months. Even though Suddenlink operates mostly in smaller, rural areas, it "has endeavored to deploy broadband throughout its footprint," now offering high-speed data to more than 97.5 percent of the homes it passes nationally, the two said. The company is in the midst of its Project Gigaspeed to bring 1 Gbps service to most customers by the end of 2017, though "its ability to do so is not assured," Altice and Suddenlink said. "Project Gigaspeed is a multi-year program and it will require considerable year-over-year funding to achieve its objectives," the companies said, saying Suddenlink spent more than $35 million on it last year and expects to spend more than $170 million before it's done. "Although Suddenlink has in place a plan for Project Gigaspeed, funding decisions for that plan are made annually and other business priorities can affect them," the two said. Being taken over by Altice would give the combined company "access to considerable financial resources, often at advantageous terms that are not readily available to smaller providers like Suddenlink," they said. Citing major network upgrades and higher speeds in such markets as Belgium, France and Israel, the two said Altice "has demonstrated repeatedly that it continually invests in networks to ensure their long-term viability and growth." Meanwhile, with the proposed deal not having seen any material objection either at the FCC or elsewhere, the FCC "should complete its review ... and approve the proposed Transaction promptly," they said. Altice also is buying Cablevision -- a deal which "should not have any effect on the timing or substance" of the commission's Suddenlink review, Altice and Suddenlink said.
Rovi signed an extension with Time Warner Cable of an existing interactive program guide license and distribution agreement and patent license agreement, the vendor said Monday in a news release.
Cablevision and Verizon jointly agreed to drop claims and counterclaims against one another about allegations of false advertising. In a stipulation of dismissal filed Monday in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, the two agreed their claims were dismissed with prejudice. Neither company immediately commented. Cablevision sued Verizon in federal court in January over Verizon ads saying it offered "the fastest WiFi available," with Verizon making a counterclaim over Cablevision ads accusing it of being a "liar" making "false" claims. U.S. Magistrate Judge Gary Brown of Central Islip, New York, in August granted Verizon a temporary restraining order blocking any ads asserting it is lying in its ads (see 1508120027).
Both NCTA and the American Cable Association want to intervene in the lawsuit challenging the FCC's effective competition order. In motions filed Monday in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, both groups argued their interests -- and the interests of their members -- in the outcome of the suit. "ACA and its members have a strong interest in ensuring that the Effective Competition Order is upheld," ACA said in its filing, saying it "thus seeks ... to ensure that its members' interests are adequately represented in this ongoing review." NAB and NATOA are among those asking the court to review the June order establishing that the cable market is effectively competitive, ending most state and local regulation of cable companies' basic cable tiers (see 1508280033).