Comcast's spun-off cable networks clearly will consider deals, though whether they're bought or buy other networks remains to be seen, MoffettNathanson's Craig Moffett noted Tuesday. The spinoff makes deals far more likely since, as a publicly traded company, it will have a market-derived valuation and be easier for the sides to reach mutually agreeable terms, he said. Taxation issues mean no deal happens before 2026, at the earliest, he added. Its large cable portfolio "make[s]" Warner Bros. Discovery "the most natural dancing partner" for a deal.
NCTA's argument that the FCC needn't clarify its "all-in" video pricing order on franchise fees (see 2411190065) shows why clarification is necessary, local governments and allies said in a docket 23-203 filing posted Monday. The filers said that while NCTA recognizes what the law says about franchise fees, the FCC incorrectly said otherwise in a footnote in the all-in order. Signing the filing were the Texas Coalition of Cities for Utility Issues, Boston, Mount Hood Cable Regulatory Commission, Fairfax County, Virginia, and NATOA.
Noting the lack of action on its 2019 applications for review (see 1905150057 and 1908020007), beIN Sports is urging that the FCC address the issue before the commission's January meeting. In a docket 13-384 filing posted Tuesday, it said carriage issues raised against Comcast that resulted in the applications for review still need addressing. The sports channel said the applications for review should be treated as reconsideration petitions, allowing the Media Bureau to make decisions about them.
Altice USA's Optimum fiber network now reaches 500,000 residential customers, it said Thursday, adding that its network passes more than 2.9 million homes in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. It said its recent fiber network expansion and investment includes more than $40 million in Long Island this year.
Comcast's spinning off its cable networks and digital assets is a clear signal the company is "exiting the cable business," Rich Greenfield of LightShed Partners said Wednesday on CNBC. The spinoff, announced Wednesday, will include USA Network, MSNBC, CNBC, Oxygen, Syfy, E! and Golf Channel, along with digital assets Fandango, Rotten Tomatoes, GolfNow and Sports Engine. Comcast said the publicly traded spinoff "will have significant scale" and its assets will be anchored by news, sports and entertainment content reaching close to 70 million U.S. households. Comcast said it expected the spinoff to take a year to complete. Comcast Chairman-CEO Brian Roberts said the spinoff "will be ideally positioned for success and highly attractive to investors, content creators, distributors and potential partners.” Comcast President Mike Cavanagh said NBCUniversal, with its NBC broadcast and streaming properties, including Peacock, as well as Bravo, Telemundo and its theme parks and film and TV studios, "will be on a new growth trajectory, fueled by our world-class content, technology, IP, properties and talent -- all working in concert with each other as an integrated media company.” Comcast said Mark Lazarus, NBCUniversal Media Group chairman, will be CEO of the spinoff, with Anand Kini, NBCU CFO, as its CFO-COO. “As a stand-alone company with these outstanding assets, we will be better positioned to serve our audiences and drive shareholder returns in this incredibly dynamic media environment across news, sports and entertainment,” Lazarus said. Greenfield said that while cable programming will be a long-tail business, the deal signals Comcast no longer sees it as a growth enterprise. He said there may be investor skepticism the spun-off networks can stand on their own and the spinoff will likely seek other cable networks it can add to build scale.
Clarifying the FCC's "all-in" video pricing order to spell what does or doesn't count as a franchise fee isn't necessary, as the order itself is clear, NCTA said in a docket 23-203 filing posted Tuesday. If the FCC wants clarity, it should ensure that its statement in the order about public, educational and governmental access support fees remains in line with agency precedent on the item, NCTA said. Any clarification could reaffirm that all charges and payments for PEG facilities are excluded from the all-in pricing rule "whether they are characterized as franchise fees or not," it said. NCTA was responding to a local franchise authorities petition seeking the clarification (see 2411140004).
GCI plans to end cable service by the summer. In an email to subscribers this week, it said the plans come as customers increasingly move to over-the-top streaming options. "We are proud of our decades-long history of providing cable TV service to Alaskans, but we believe the right path forward is to support customer choice on video by focusing our resources on providing the best internet and mobile data experience in Alaska." In the email, it pointed subscribers to such OTT options as YouTube TV, Hulu and Xumo.
Cable One saw slight broadband subscriber losses in Q3 owing to the end of the affordable connectivity program, it said Thursday as it announced results. The company said it ended Q3 with 960,000 broadband residential primary service units (PSU) -- flat from Q3 2023 -- and lost 5,300 subscribers in Q3 from ACP. If not for the ACP losses, it would have had 1,900 net additions for the quarter, it noted. Cable One said it ended Q3 with 112,000 video residential PSUs, down from 141,000 a year earlier; and 70,000 residential voice PSUs, compared to 82,000 a year earlier. Multiple cable operators saw ACP-related hits to their broadband numbers in Q3 (see 2411050006).
If not for the end of the affordable connectivity program, Charter Communications would have added broadband subscribers in Q3, CEO Chris Winfrey said Friday as it announced Q3 results. Comcast said the same about its Q3 broadband losses Thursday (see 2410310013). Charter said it lost 113,000 residential internet customers in the quarter. CFO Jessica Fischer said it retained the vast majority of subscribers who were previously receiving an ACP benefit. She said Q4 will likely see 100,000 internet subscriber disconnects for non-pay, as well as some voluntary disconnects, with ACP's end factoring in both. After Q4, the one-time impact from the end of the ACP program should be completed. Winfrey said Charter saw "significant" initial impact from hurricanes Milton and Helene due to power outages and downed poles and trees. He said all but roughly 10,000 customers have had their service restored. He said Charter is restoring service in the Asheville, North Carolina, area and pockets of Tampa Bay. Fischer said Charter anticipates 400,000 new subsidized rural passings in 2024 -- 35% more than in 2023, but lower than its original 2024 plan of 450,000 as it moved construction labor to storm-damaged areas. Winfrey said Charter now offers symmetrical, multi-gigabit speeds in eight markets, including Cincinnati, Dallas, Louisville and Rochester, New York, and is broadly marketing it. Network upgrades to bring symmetrical multi-gig speeds to other markets will be done by year's end. He said Charter's network upgrade should be done in 2027. Charter ended Q3 with 28.2 million residential internet subscribers, down from 28.6 million year over year; 12.4 million residential video subscribers, down from 13.8 million; 5.9 million residential voice subscribers, down from 7 million; and 9.1 million residential mobile lines, up from 7 million. It had revenue of $13.8 billion for the most-recent quarter, up from $13.6 billion the same quarter a year prior. MoffettNathanson's Craig Moffett wrote that going forward, Charter's broadband losses will be smaller "now that the worst of the ACP impact has been felt." He said fixed wireless access and fiber to the home competition also likely has peaked, "even if only slightly so."
Altice is rolling out a pair of video service packages, Extra TV and Everything TV, on Nov. 4. They come atop the company's Entertainment TV package introduced earlier this year and are the capstone of Altice's reworking of its video service to provide more viewer choice, it said Wednesday.