Suddenlink Communications ended 2015 with its basic video customer numbers down 4 percent due to its replacing Viacom in its channel lineup in 2014, while residential high-speed Internet grew by 6.4 percent and its residential telephone customer base grew by 5.3 percent, it said in a news release on its FY 2015 results Tuesday. During Q4, the company started its Operation GigaSpeed, which will see it upgrade its residential Internet service to top speeds of 150 Mbps in most markets and up to 1 Gbps in 28 markets, it said. During the year, Suddenlink spent $84.2 million on nonrecurring expenses as part of Altice's plans to buy the cable company, which the FCC approved in December (see 1512180035). Altice acquired 70 percent of Suddenlink later that month.

Getting its program listings on interactive program guides is a constant viewer request, and the FCC seemingly has the power to require the listing of community channels -- especially because there's no technical reason its programming isn't listed, said Oregon public, educational and government programmer Capital Community TV (CCTV) in a filing Tuesday in docket 16-41. CCTV said it operates an HD server for its three channels, but it's still waiting for HD cable TV channels and that lack "is another roadblock." In a separate filing Monday in docket 16-41, the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) said the FCC as part of its inquiry into the issues facing diverse and independent programming (see 1602180044) should "preserve rural programming," and singled out RFD-TV for its rural- and agriculture-centric programming. "If rural Americans lose access to RFD-TV, then they lose virtually the only source of television news programming that focuses on rural and agricultural policy issues," AFBF said.

Any leveling of the playing field between broadcasters and multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs) needs to look beyond retransmission consent negotiation rules revision and "address holistically the constellation of rules that have led to today's grossly uneven playing field" that tilts in favor of major MVPDs, Sinclair Senior Vice President-Strategy and Policy Rebecca Hanson told FCC officials including Media Bureau Chief Bill Lake. MVPDs have pushed for the FCC to give them regulatory negotiating advantages as part of the agency's examination of the good-faith negotiation rules, but Sinclair said major MVPDs' claim that they need government intervention against far smaller broadcasters "cannot be justified under any fair policy rationale," according to an ex parte filing Tuesday in docket 15-216 recapping the meeting. MVPDs also have complained about broadcaster negotiation terms, but most such negotiations are successful without any blackouts, "proving that such negotiating terms do not result in 'negotiations breaking down,' which is what Congress asked the FCC to review," Sinclair said. Sinclair repeated its argument (see 1603160042) that nonmonetary deal terms offered by broadcasters in negotiations help keep the cash portions of such deals lower: "Thus if MVPDs are concerned about rising retransmission costs, they should not be asking the FCC to ban any non-monetary deal terms from negotiations." In a separate ex parte filing in the docket Tuesday, Networks for Competition and Choice Coalition (NCCC) members said new and small MVPDs are particularly vulnerable to permanent loss of subscribers if they can't reach retrans consent agreements with broadcasters, and broadcasters use such leverage to force noncompetitive terms and unjustified rate increases. "The Commission must not ignore the fact that the retransmission consent marketplace is not working for smaller and new entrant MVPDs," NCCC said, saying the FCC must require negotiating parties in retrans talks to provide data substantiating or verifying claims, which would let small and new MVPDs better evaluate the prices being discussed. "Shining a light on the process could help ease the price discrimination between large, incumbent MVPDs, who are able to secure volume discounts and smaller providers who do not possess the leverage to negotiate favorable terms," NCCC said. The FCC also should limit or restrict nondisclosure agreements so retrans consent terms can be more freely shared with courts, regulatory agencies, legislators and membership associations and organizations, it said. NCCC said forced bundling should be considered a per se violation of good-faith negotiating, or alternately institute a rebuttable presumption that bundling is bad faith behavior in retrans talks. And it said the FCC should require negotiating parties to make their proposals at least six months before the end of an existing contract, and consider it a per se violation for negotiators to insist on contract expiration dates that are within 30 days of marquee events or other special programming or to withhold retrans consent around or during a major marquee event. FCC Media Bureau staff and representatives of Incompas, ITTA, NTCA, the Open Technology Institute at New America and Public Knowledge also attended the NCCC meeting.

Charter Communications received an extra two months to respond to a $10 billion complaint from Entertainment Studios Networks (ESN) and the National Association of African American Owned Media (NAAAOM) (see 1601280063), as U.S. District Judge George Wu of Los Angeles signed off Friday on a joint stipulation agreed to by the companies. The order now gives Charter until May 31, instead of March 31, to respond to the ESN/NAAAOM complaint alleging the cable company racially discriminates against African-American-owned media companies -- including ESN -- by withholding carriage. The suit also named the FCC as party to such violations.

Along with suing Comcast for racial discrimination in program carriage and contracting decisions, Entertainment Studios and the National Association of African American-Owned Media (NAAAOM) are petitioning the FCC to investigate the cable company's compliance with conditions on diverse programming stemming from its buy of NBCUniversal. In a filing Friday in docket 10-56, Entertainment Studios and NAAAOM said Comcast violated its voluntary commitment in the NBCUniversal takeover to add to its carriage four independently owned and operated programmers in which African-Americans have a majority or sizable ownership interest. Instead, they said, Comcast "has chosen to deal with organizations that are nothing more than front organizations." Two such channels Comcast subsequently added are Revolt, spearheaded by Sean "Diddy" Combs, and Aspire, launched by Earvin "Magic" Johnson. But Entertainment Studios and NAAAOM said GMC TV manages Aspire and Johnson seemingly spends almost no time at the network, while Comcast supposedly has an ownership stake in Revolt, thus making it not independent. Meanwhile, the complainants said, Entertainment Studios -- which is wholly owned and operated by an African-American -- was passed over and continues to be passed over even though Comcast still has two other channels to fill. In its petition, NAAAOM and Entertainment Studios ask the FCC to seek data on the ownership and management structures of Aspire and Revolt, on the numerous other proposals Comcast supposedly received from African-American-owned and -operated channels but passed on, and on Comcast's processes to find other channels to satisfy the condition terms. They also said if the data indicates Comcast isn't complying, the FCC should "take immediate corrective steps" and consider penalties such as fines or nonrenewal of licenses. In a statement Monday, Comcast said, “Since NAAAOM’s frivolous lawsuit has gone nowhere, it is now trying the same string of inflammatory, inaccurate, and unsupported allegations before the FCC. Just as a court has already once dismissed their case having found no plausible claim for relief, we believe this complaint is also completely without merit and will defend vigorously ourselves. Comcast is proud of our outstanding record supporting and fostering diverse programming, including programming from African American owned and controlled cable channels. We currently carry more than 100 networks geared toward diverse audiences, including multiple networks owned or controlled by minorities.” Neither Aspire nor Revolt commented. The Entertainment Studios/NAAAOM suit against Comcast and Time Warner Cable was dismissed in 2015 (see 1508100017) and subsequently amended and refiled. Entertainment Studios and NAAAOM also are suing Charter Communications Ref: 1603250028]) on allegations of racial discrimination in programming (see 1603250028).

As the FCC gets closer to a decision on Charter Communications' proposed buys of Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks, numerous interested parties continue to suggest conditions to the agency. In an ex parte filing Monday in docket 15-149, Incompas said in a meeting with Commissioner Mignon Clyburn's chief of staff, David Grossman, it discussed its suggested condition of requiring New Charter join a video programming purchasing cooperative and that its interconnection policy be extended to seven years (see 1601280047). In a separate ex parte filing Monday, Nvidia recapped a meeting with Owen Kendler, who's overseeing the Charter review team, at which it again said any Charter approval should come with conditions that would stop it from preventing third-party devices such as Nvidia's Shield TV from having access to the authentication credentials needed to work with various TV Everywhere apps (see 1601220017). Charter and TWC denied they're blocking (see 1602120046). And the California Emerging Technology Fund, in a filing Monday, repeated its case that Charter's proposed low-income broadband offering should have lower qualification limits (see 1601290025). It also said any New Charter approval should require a $285 million donation by the company for broadband adoption areas in Southern California. Charter didn't comment. And in a filing in the docket Monday, the Stop Mega Cable coalition recapped a meeting of representatives from Common Cause, Consumers Union, Dish, ITTA, NTCA, Open Technology Institute, Public Knowledge and Writers Guild of America, West with Grossman. At the meeting, the coalition said, it went over its oft-made arguments on how Charter/TWC/BHN could hurt the broadband, streaming video and programming markets and ultimately consumers (see 1602090019). The FCC's unofficial 180-day shot clock for reviewing the deals hit 180 days Thursday (see 1603240017).

Charter Communications would get two extra months to respond to a $10 billion complaint from Entertainment Studios Networks (ESN) and the National Association of African American Owned Media (NAAAOM) (see 1601280063), said a joint stipulation filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles. Instead of March 31, Charter's deadline for response to the complaint would be May 31, according to the stipulation. The court filing also said it applied only to Charter; ESN and NAAAOM are also suing the FCC. The complaint alleges Charter racially discriminates against African-American-owned media companies -- including ESN -- by withholding carriage, and that the FCC is party to such violations. The agency didn't comment Friday.

The FCC asked an unfunded association of community groups, schools, government agencies and libraries in five states about its thoughts on Charter Communications' plans for broadband access for low-income households and how it came to its recommendations, said an ex parte filing Friday in docket 15-149. The Coalition for Broadband Equity said that, in a call with FCC staff that included Owen Kendler, who is overseeing the Charter transaction review team, the agency asked about coalition members' views on the broadband program eligibility criteria, costs and duration. The filing said the FCC also asked whether the coalition's recommendations for a $50 million annual commitment to marketing and customer support for the discount program, with an annual enrollment goal of a minimum 200,000 households, came from specific cost or budgeting data from similar community initiatives. The coalition said those figures are "not out of line" for community outreach and training program costs. The coalition said it also discussed its recommendations for how effective community-based programs need to operate, with "consistent, supportive personal interaction with potential new broadband adopters as well as with neighbors and organizations" that can help in the efforts. The coalition has pushed for broader eligibility requirements in New Charter's residential cable Internet access for low-income households program (see 1512100016). The FCC's 180-day unofficial shot clock for review of Charter's plans to buy Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks hit 180 days Thursday (see 1603240017).

TiVo shares closed 23 percent higher Thursday at $9.45 following a report in the The New York Times that the company was in “advanced negotiations” to be sold to Rovi. Shares in Rovi closed 1.3 percent lower Thursday at $19.81. After a deal closes, TiVo shareholders would own about 30 percent of the combined company, the report said. TiVo and Rovi representatives didn’t comment. In TiVo’s latest earnings call in early March (see 1603020001), interim CEO Naveen Chopra fielded questions about the company’s possible mergers and acquisitions strategies, but as a buyer, not as a seller. “Obviously, we can't comment on any specifics in terms of how we deploy our own resources, how we think about M&A opportunities,” Chopra told a questioner. “We continue to look at a lot of things, as we've shown in the past when we have seen opportunities that we think are strategic and consistent with the areas where we are looking to grow.” If such deal opportunities “make financial sense, we're willing to do them,” he said.

AT&T has gone through a "Kafka-esque metamorphosis" with its stance on retransmission consent reform, a hypocritical flip-flop from its traditional position favoring a light regulatory touch, NAB said in a filing Thursday in docket 15-216. In the filing, NAB contrasted AT&T's comments on issues like data roaming, intercarrier compensation and mobile spectrum holdings -- in which the company decried excessive regulation -- with its advocacy in proposed changes to good-faith negotiation rules (see 1603170056), where AT&T is pushing for a variety of rules on broadcaster actions. "One might wonder: is AT&T making a drastic philosophical shift across the board?" NAB said, saying the company "is not alone among its pay TV brethren in abandoning its traditional regulatory philosophy in the lone context of retransmission consent advocacy" and pointing to Verizon and New Charter. "However, AT&T's role reversal is particularly noteworthy" since the company has "unmoored itself from its longtime support of measured and smart regulation," NAB said. AT&T didn't comment.