Matt Daneman

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.

NAB came out swinging against retransmission consent negotiation proposals suggested by multichannel video programming distributors. It labeled them "a cynical ploy ... to use government to lower their cost of doing business," in a filing Thursday in FCC docket 15-216. ATVA said broadcaster arguments the FCC can't or shouldn't pursue such retrans negotiation rule changes as restricting online blocking or blackouts prior to marquee events don't hold water. "The public ... bears the brunt of broadcaster misbehavior," it said.

How the FCC will handle cable system franchising authorities seeking recertification in an era of presumed competing provider effective competition won't be clear until the agency starts making decisions on some of the recertification applications before it, cable franchising authority experts told us. "It's too early to read the tea leaves," said Dan Cohen of Cohen Law Group. "[However,] I don't think we can assume because of the [effective competition] order ... that the FCC is simply going to deny all these petitions." Echoed Mike Bradley of Bradley Hagen: "Until we see some order coming out of the FCC, it's hard to gauge how successful franchising authorities might be." The American Cable Association, National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors (NATOA) and NCTA didn't comment.

Dish Network, which opposes regulatory OK of Charter Communications' buy of Bright House Network and Time Warner Cable, probably is hoping not so much to derail the $89.1 billion deals -- as the company maintains -- but to have conditions that would advantage its Sling TV online video distribution service, said several experts, including those skeptical of such transaction curbs. "The louder [Dish CEO Charlie Ergen] is, the more influence he has in what those conditions might be," Boston College Law School associate professor Daniel Lyons said. And Dish on Comcast/TWC was joined by Cogent and Netflix in trying to block that deal outright, noted a cable lawyer. Dish seemingly is trying to have conditions imposed on the deal beyond those voluntarily proposed, such as deeper commitments that last longer, the attorney said.

Now needing additional downlink spectrum for its terrestrial broadband network, LightSquared is asking the FCC for reallocation and auction of a slice of spectrum used by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and for conditions on its spectrum license that would let LightSquared share it. By giving up 10 MHz of spectrum as part of an agreement with GPS companies, the LightSquared LTE network "cannot be deployed without access to alternative downlink spectrum" compatible with the company's L-band uplink bands, meaning the FCC needs to reallocate the 1675-1680 MHz band for commercial sharing, it said in a filing to be posted Thursday in docket 12-340.

The growing number of suits against DirecTV and the NFL over supposed antitrust violations springing from the NFL Sunday Ticket subscription package could take years to resolve, Caleb Marker, of law firm Zimmerman Reed, tells us. Various sports bars across the country brought the litigation in recent months after Comcast, DirecTV and the NHL in September settled a 2012 federal class-action suit alleging similar activities by the NHL in how it made hockey game video content available via the Internet and TV. That NHL litigation helped spur the numerous state and federal suits against the NFL, said Marker, counsel in a number of the suits against the NFL and DirecTV.

Citing concerns about being elbowed out of the Connect America Fund Phase II competitive bidding process, the satellite industry is pushing the FCC to ensure that satellite is evaluated on equal footing with fiber-to-the-home (FTTH). "The FCC has a longstanding policy favoring technology neutrality for CAF that has served the public interest resulting in increased innovation, service quality and reduced costs to consumers," the Satellite Industry Association said in a filing Tuesday in docket 10-90. Due to such satellite innovations as high-throughput space stations and broadband via nongeostationary constellations, SIA said, "It would be a mistake for the FCC to abandon such a policy now."