Matt Daneman

With its eye on 5G networks enabling products like virtual reality offerings and a route to better serve the enterprise market, Charter Communications is starting "5G-like" field trials using its wireline network and high-capacity radios using licensed and unlicensed spectrum "as learning opportunities," CEO Tom Rutledge said in an earnings call Thursday. He also raised the possibility of a partial commercial rollout before year's end of Charter's planned wireless offering (see 1611030041). And the operator may seek relief from FCC conditions on its approximately $90 billion in cable mergers and acquisitions.

The FCC now should have all the information it needs to decide on Ligado's LTE plans with release of National Advanced Spectrum and Communications Test Network (NASCTN) findings on LTE signals effect on GPS devices, Ligado officials said Thursday. The 428-page test report released Wednesday backs up the company's contention that its broadband terrestrial low-power service in spectrum adjacent to GPS won't interfere with the real-world functioning of various device categories, the company said. Ligado argued its proposed power and out-of-band emission levels protect GPS (see 1602250032). GPS Innovation Alliance didn't comment.

Ajit Pai's FCC direction on undoing broadband regulation doesn't surprise Commissioner Mignon Clyburn, since Republicans were clear under then-Chairman Tom Wheeler that they disagreed with some rulings and postures such as its approach to net neutrality, she said in a six-minute interview Tuesday on WNYC AM/FM New York's The Takeaway. But the principles of net neutrality aren't dead, she said, calling them "beyond partisanship." How "we execute them, that might be different," she said. Clyburn said there's a general expectation ISPs shouldn't be allowed to throttle or block web access and there should be some privacy protections. She also said there's infrastructure investment and business certainty "because we have clear rules of the road.”

The FCC is in for increased scrutiny of anything it does because of overarching interest in what it will do on net neutrality, agency watchers tell us. "As an issue, it sadly sucks a lot of the air out of any communications or FCC room," said NetCompetition Chairman Scott Cleland.

The consensus is broad that governmental/commercial spectrum sharing increasingly will be the norm, but one big hurdle is the lack of a good model for what that sharing would look like, said panelists at a Washington Space Business Roundtable lunch Friday. For now, the 3.5 GHz band "is the poster child for trying," said Russ Matijevich, HawkEye 360 vice president-sales. Ligado Chief Legal Officer Valerie Green said that "so far, 3.5 is working pretty well."

When FCC Chairman Ajit Pai axed numerous bureau inquiries and actions earlier this month without prior notice or explanation (see 1702030058 and 1702030070), he was well within his rights under the Administrative Procedures Act, APA and communications law experts tell us. Ending inquiries into issues like zero rating effectively signals taking a different enforcement direction without having to go through a process of eliminating those rules -- an approach numerous agencies under the Trump administration likely will take, some said.

Viacom's turnaround plan will focus primarily on six flagship brands, rebranding its Spike channel as the Paramount Network next year, and be "highly selective" in any over-the-top deals, with those being mostly for library content, CEO Bob Bakish said in an analyst call Thursday. The flagship brands are Nickelodeon, Nick Jr., MTV, BET, Comedy Central and Paramount, with Viacom planning for each brand to contribute a film or two per year to the Paramount slate, Bakish said, with one example being the four Paramount films planned through 2020 using Nickelodeon intellectual property. Other branded networks, like VH1, "will not go away" but will work to reinforce the flagship brands, Bakish said. He said Viacom's turnaround plan also involves using company resources like ad sales and data to help grow multichannel video programming distributor partners as it looks to deepen its MVPD relationships instead of what has been transactional relationships "related to zero-sum economic negotiations." Bakish said Viacom is creating a new business unit to produce short-form video content for distribution by owned-and-operated and third-party platforms. Chief Financial Officer Wade Davis said the company expects strong growth starting in the second half of the year from the changes. Viacom said fiscal Q1 revenue rose 5 percent to $3.3 billion from the year-ago quarter, due mainly to better theatrical sales and growth in domestic affiliate revenue from subscription VOD and OTT agreements. In a note to investors Thursday, Wells Fargo analyst Marci Ryvicker said the results "prove to us that the turnaround is real and likely to continue." She said Viacom's plan "makes sense" and likened it to past Time Warner efforts at breaking down silos between its brands, "which seems to have worked." She upgraded the stock to "outperform." The emphasis on the six flagship properties makes sense but doesn't go far enough, and there should be a wind-down of niche networks over time, Citi analyst Jason Bazinet emailed investors. Viacom shares closed up 4.3 percent on Thursday at $43.89.

Time Warner shareholders will vote Feb. 15 on the proposed $108.7 billion purchase by AT&T Feb. 15, TW CEO Jeff Bewkes said in an earnings call Wednesday, saying the regulatory process continues and the deal is expected to close later this year. He said HBO passed 2 million over-the-top subscribers in the U.S. and launched OTT offerings in Spain, Brazil and Argentina last year. Bewkes also said there will be a growing number of partnerships with OTT services that offer HBO. He said Turner is "an anchor tenant" on the various virtual multichannel video programming distributors that have been launched, and also will be on Hulu's upcoming service. Turner CEO John Martin said virtual MVPDs DirecTV Now, Sling and PlayStation Vue are gaining subscriber traction, having close to 2 million subscribers in aggregate. Warner Bros. CEO Kevin Tsujihara said it sees big growth opportunities in China via a subscription VOD partnership with Tencent and the creation of local language content. He also said Warner is making "a lot of progress" on launching its own premium VOD offering, with a big driver being an alternative distribution route for middle-market films such as adult dramas that increasingly are challenged in standard theatrical releases. TW said it finished the year with revenue of $29.3 billion, up 4 percent, with growth in HBO, Turner and Warner Bros.

FCC Office of Engineering and Technology testing involving spectrum used for Wi-Fi and dedicated short range communications (DSRC) is taking a little longer than previously expected, and the results will help inform how the agency proceeds, commission officials said at a sometimes contentious FCBA CLE Wednesday. The goal was to finish the Phase I testing in January, but “you learn things as you go,” and the testing still is working on DSRC detection protocols, OET Chief Julius Knapp said. "We are trying to move things as fast as we can."

With the rocketing number of commercial space launches in the U.S. and mushrooming potential commercial space activities, a big challenge for regulators is keeping up with the commercial space industry, experts said at a Federal Aviation Administration commercial spaceflight conference Tuesday. That proliferation of commercial launch activity means the FAA needs to change how it licenses launches, Administrator Michael Huerta said, calling the current system “not sustainable" because of the large amount airspace that gets blocked off for each launch. The nation’s airspace system is built for traditional aircraft, and each commercial space launch license “is essentially an exception,” Huerta said.