Matt Daneman

California Public Utilities Commission review of Charter Communications' buying Bright House Networks and Time Warner Cable potentially "can be accelerated," TWC CEO Rob Marcus said in a conference call Thursday as the company announced earnings. On regulatory approval of the $89.1 billion pair of deals, Marcus said TWC and Charter are "working constructively with FCC, and DOJ to ensure that they are in a position to approve the deal expeditiously," though he said he couldn't give a timetable for closing. California has said it's on track to make a decision in June on the deals (see 1601130060). Marcus also said TWC is beta testing in New York City an IP video product "that eliminates the need for a leased set-top box." For the year, TWC said it spent $5.82 billion on programming and content, up nearly 10 percent from 2014. Marcus said the cable industry is in the "very early days" of offering content a la carte -- a trend that could shift leverage and lead to slower programing cost growth. When asked about Verizon's small-bundle Custom TV package, Marcus said, "The only reason that we haven't run headlong into a custom TV-type solution is that we've really made a great effort to simplify our offerings as we tried to turn our residential business around, and keeping things simple," with that approach helping in the company's customer numbers -- ending the year up 32,000 video customers.

Beyond its planned purchase of Tennis Channel, Sinclair isn't eyeing other cable acquisitions in the immediate future, Chief Financial Officer Chris Ripley said Thursday. "We've looked extensively through the cable network universe to find this acquisition," he said in a conference call on the $350 million acquisition (see 1601270066). "We turned over every rock. We always look at every opportunity [but] we're not on the hunt like we were before this to find an opportunity."

The FCC should explore forming a video-purchasing cooperative to "mitigate the harm to local residential broadband Internet access service competition" that would come from Charter Communications' buying Bright House Networks and Time Warner Cable, Incompas said in an ex parte filing posted Thursday in docket 15-149. Such a cooperative would aid small multichannel video programming distributors in competing against larger incumbent MVPDs, "including by incentivizing competition in New Charter's proposed footprint," the telecom association said. "A market-based solution such as the Cooperative is superior to any proposed build-out commitment that could be imposed upon Charter" because such a commitment wouldn't address the lack of competition for residential broadband service, it said. Some cable operators already use the National Cable Television Cooperative.

Critics of Charter Communications buying Bright House Networks and Time Warner Cable are continuing to lobby the FCC, seeking conditions or full blockage. The docket had been relatively quiet until the FCC paused the 180-day shot clock earlier this month, one cable industry lawyer told us. The shot clock resumed Wednesday and stood at 118 days Friday.

A new coalition of companies, public interest groups and trade associations is promising Capitol Hill lobbying, consumer outreach and a host of other steps to block Charter Communications' proposed buy of Bright House Networks and Time Warner Cable. A similar Stop Mega Comcast coalition launched in 2014 in opposition to Comcast's now-dead attempt at buying TWC, and many of the same members are part of the Stop Mega Cable Coalition announced Thursday.

With air travelers increasingly demanding high-speed Internet while aloft, satellite companies’ in-flight connectivity businesses are growing. "There's not enough bandwidth for all the markets we're going after," said Don Buchman, vice president of ViaSat's commercial mobility business. Air-to-ground (ATG) connectivity could start regaining some lost market share depending on how quickly the FCC moves on a Qualcomm petition for establishing an in-flight air-to-ground mobile broadband spectrum in the 14-14.5 GHz band on a secondary basis, satellite industry consultant Tim Farrar said. "It's really a critical time to see how that balance will shape up over the next five to 10 years."

NAB, NATOA and Minnesota's Northern Dakota County Cable Communications Commission petitioned the FCC Media Bureau to reconsider the expiration of some local franchising authority certifications related to the agency's 2015 effective competition order. The three petitioned the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in August, asking it to review the June order establishing that the cable market is effectively competitive in every franchise area and put the onus of rebutting that presumption on franchising authorities (see 1508280033). The petition filed Tuesday in docket 15-53 -- pointing to the Media Bureau's December order, which listed franchising authorities that had sought new certification -- asked for reconsideration "so that the Bureau may vacate its [effective competition] findings and certificate expirations" if the D.C. Circuit sets aside the effective competition order.

A broader definition of multichannel video programming distribution to include some types of over-the-top video could be a boon for OTT operators looking to add local broadcast content to their offerings, or is a solution in search of a nonexistent problem, panelists said Tuesday at an FCBA panel. Such a reclassification is "putting a thumb on the scale way before it's necessary or appropriate," said 21st Century Fox Associate General Counsel Jared Sher. Minus the protections that come with MVPD categorization, some OTT providers "are going to be left 'under the bottom,'" said Jonathan Allen of Rini O'Neil.

Multichannel video programming distributors may be at a disadvantage in the fight over possible changes to good-faith retransmission consent negotiation rules, former FCC official Adonis Hoffman told us Friday. "Because of their proximity to communities and the high-touch nature of television, I give the edge to broadcasters, who are hyper-local and have a high name-identification quotient. Plus, broadcasters have shown their ability to mobilize members of Congress who understand that all politics is local," Hoffman, who was chief of staff to Commissioner Mignon Clyburn, said in an email. In multiple filings posted Friday in docket 15-216, broadcasters and MVPDs and allies assailed each other's arguments about possible changes to the "totality of circumstances" test and defended their own turf. Thursday was the deadline for reply comments.

As analysts question how much CEO Tom Rutledge's comments about the online video distribution market could create problems for Charter Communications' bids to buy Bright House Networks and Time Warner Cable, Charter is adding to its public interest commitments. This time, it's pledges on board and employee diversity. An industry official said the company began work on its memorandum of understanding with various civil rights organizations in July, shortly after Charter/TWC/BHN was announced, and the MOU doesn't reflect any concerns about regulatory approval.