NCTA continues to meet eighth-floor staffers about a possible clarification to rules on how certain notices are provided to subscribers, meeting with an aide to Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, said a docket 17-317 posting Monday. That meeting included executives from Charter Communications and Comcast. It follows a similar meeting with Chairman Ajit Pai's office (see 1811010047).
Localities are raising red flags about the FCC Further NPRM approved in September that would treat cable operators' in-kind contributions required by local franchise authorities as franchise fees and subject to a cap (see 1809250017). The FNPRM "threatens to limit or eliminate public, educational and government access channels all meant to better help inform and empower the public" through smaller franchise fee payments, Oakdale said in a docket 05-311 posting Monday. Malibu and Colma, California, were among the many sending nearly identical letters. With some cable operator expenses like institutional network capacity costs and access channel costs passed along to subscribers, letting those MVPDs deduct the fair-market value of those costs from their franchise fees would essentially let them double-recover, giving them a windfall, the Massachusetts Municipal Association said. MMA said the proposal could hurt PEG channel access because municipalities would be forced to move resources from other areas to PEG programming or see the scope of the channels reduced or eliminated. It said letting operators install equipment for non-cable services such as small cells in rights of way without local regulation or compensation would also be a windfall at taxpayers' expense.
Two regional cable installation firms with which Comcast didn't contract make "only conclusory and irrelevant assertions and invective" in their claims it opted not to use them because of their white ownership and because Comcast colluded with two other firms that did make the cut, the cable operator said in a docket 18-2316 brief (in Pacer) last week with 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. It said plaintiffs Cable Line and McLaughlin Communications don't plausibly allege anticompetitive agreement among the defendants, and the argument Comcast ceased doing business with them because of the owners' race "is devoid of substance." Comcast and the defendant-appellee installation companies "clearly had an agreement," since Comcast had no legitimate business purpose to shut out other installation companies, destroying competition, the plaintiff-appellants said in their brief (in Pacer) in September. They said they were never given an opportunity for discovery.
Media Bureau waivers of FCC rules requiring accessibility of user interfaces on navigation devices for some small and mid-sized MVPDs is "very welcome" since those systems would have racked up $100,000-plus to comply, the American Cable Association said Monday. Those expenses could have forced operators out of business, driving up customers' monthly bills in others, ACA said. The bureau's Friday waiver order said the limited circumstances waivers will provide relief to small cable systems that can't do the network upgrades, and the limited nature of the waivers -- covering only cable systems subject to the Dec. 20 deferred compliance deadline -- also justifies the waivers. In a public notice Monday, the bureau reminded entities not covered by the waver that the two-year deferred compliance deadline is Dec. 20.
The FCC should clarify cable operators can give subscribers written notice directing them to websites where some required information like rate cards and channel lineups can be found, NCTA, Comcast and Charter Communications representatives urged an aide to Chairman Ajit Pai, recounted a docket 17-317 posting Thursday. The cable interests pushed the agency to allow flexibility in electronically providing mandatory notifications.
With Jaguar Communications and KSMQ Public Service Media resolving a carriage dispute for Jaguar's cable system, the FCC Media Bureau said Tuesday it approved KSMQ withdrawing July's must-carry complaint. It terminated the docket 18-215 proceeding. KSMQ-TV is licensed to Austin, Minnesota.
Perhaps the biggest debate on cable among investors is how much 5G could threaten the industry's broadband market share, a longtime analyst said in a video released Tuesday by Citigroup. It's “a more uncertain environment than it's been” for the industry, said Jason Bazinet. Part of that is how far 5G from small cells will propagate through structures, he told an audience: 1,500 feet as some including in cable think or 3,000 feet as 5G "bulls" expect. The answer "makes a world of difference in terms of whether or not this is real," Bazinet said, because the shorter distance means about 20 percent of Americans can get in-home 5G over wireless networks v. 60 over the longer distance. "It may in fact be a wireless technology that dismantles the cable industry." Adding to uncertainty is whether T-Mobile and Sprint succeed in combining (see 1810310051) and building such a product, since Verizon is the only other major U.S. carrier that says it will do in-home fixed 5G. In a 5G-bullish outcome, "essentially, every single broadband net add is going to go to these networks, and cable stocks are done," the analyst said. "This big tent that the cable industry built because of that big, fat coaxial wire is now really vulnerable," he said earlier: "Because if something goes wrong with the internet" product financial stability, "the whole house of cards comes crashing down." CTIA didn't reply to queries Wednesday and NCTA declined to comment.
Harmonic saw Q3 Ultra HD sales increase 138 percent sequentially, said CEO Patrick Harshman on a Monday-evening earnings call. It was “particularly impressive” because such Q2 sales were up 200 percent year-over-year, he said: “We’re well positioned to take advantage of growing worldwide interest in deploying and monetizing high-quality ultra high-definition programming.”
Direct broadcast satellite's ongoing subscriber losses, as well as virtual MVPDs having to raise their rates after apparently selling below cost, bode well for Charter Communications' video subscriber trends, CEO Tom Rutledge said on an earnings call Friday. AT&T reported a Q3 loss of 346,000 DirecTV subscribers (see 1810240049) while Dish Network hasn't yet reported results. Rutledge said many content companies are going direct to consumer, but their lack of experience in being video distributors means they're often not effectively securing their content, the result being widespread password sharing. Rutledge said Charter's Spectrum Mobile service, launched after Labor Day, ended the quarter with about 21,000 subscriber lines, and that in coming months the company will introduce allowing subscribers to transfer their existing handsets and means for making it easier to switch an entire household's mobile service. For the quarter, Charter said it had revenue of $10.9 billion, up 4.2 percent year over year; 23.3 million residential internet subscribers, up 4.9 percent; 16.1 million residential video subscribers, down 1.6 percent; and 10.2 million residential voice subscribers, down 1.8 percent. Charter shares closed Friday down 6.29 percent to $295.01.
Massachusetts is resisting a Charter Communications effort to get 32 Massachusetts franchise areas and Kauai, Hawaii, to be declared effectively competitive due to the existence of DirecTV Now (see 1809170020). The LEC effective competition test requires a direct physical connection between a company providing local exchange service and the household, and DirecTV Now fails that test, the Massachusetts Department of Telecommunications and Cable said in a docket 18-283 posting Thursday. It said DirecTV Now doesn't provide service comparable to Charter's and doing so would reclassify online video distributors as MVPDs, subject to cable franchising and other regulatory requirements. It said DirecTV-parent AT&T doesn't provide video programming services in the franchise areas since FCC rules require the LEC have and provide a physical connection -- something AT&T doesn't. And it said finding effective competition by a non-facilities-based over-the-top service would undermine FCC policy goals of limiting internet regulation and encouraging facilities-based investment. The Massachusetts attorney general said in a separate filing DirecTV Now availability depends on Charter's fixed broadband internet services and that "raises serious legal questions" about whether DirecTV Now can be the basis for determining effective competition. It said the FCC should require from Charter information about how common it is for it to be the only fixed broadband internet provider in a franchise area, download speed packages available to customers in those franchise areas, and whether Charter throttles those speeds for customers who don't take its cable TV services. It also requested the FCC consider holding an evidentiary hearing or refer the petition to an administrate law judge. Charter and Kauai County didn't comment Friday.