AT&T and Univision were to continue the cease-fire in their retransmission consent dispute, with access to the Univision network and some other stations -- which was brought back onto U-verse for last week's Democratic presidential debate (see 1603080045) -- extended to 1 a.m. Thursday, Univision said in a news release Tuesday. Univision's other remaining networks would remain unavailable, it said.

American TV Alliance repeated its case the FCC can and should change the rules for good-faith negotiation of retransmission consent, submitting a 292-page filing Wednesday in docket 15-216 that includes a collection of submissions from members and ATVA arguments on the FCC's authority to make changes and reasons it should back ATVA ideas for such changes. Pointing to the authority given the FCC in the Communications Act and under the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act Reauthorization Act of 2014, and related Copyright Act provisions, ATVA said none of its proposals for good-faith rules changes (see 1512010052) violate federal statute. In its filing, ATVA explained some of its proposed changes, saying broadcasters are inaccurately characterizing its proposed prohibition of blocking the transmission of content to certain viewers that they otherwise make broadly available for free online. It also said there's no First Amendment barrier to rules "banning such anticompetitive and anti-consumer conduct." ATVA similarly said there are no Copyright Act barriers because the proposed rule wouldn't force broadcasters to license their programming, but would apply only to programming already licensed or arranged to be distributed over the Internet. The ATVA filing includes past filings by the American Cable Association, Mediacom and Time Warner Cable.

Alternative distribution method (ADM) clauses in carriage agreements are anticompetitive, hurt the video market and require FCC action "to negate the harmful effects [on] competition and diversity," Ride TV CEO Michael Fletcher said in a filing Monday in docket 15-149. Ride said independent networks like it need relief from practices like ADMs because multichannel video programming distributors "have no right to restrict programmers from distributing their programming via all distribution methods so long as the programmer honors the 'most favored nations' clause of their agreement." Ride said it's not carried on Bright House Networks, Charter Communications or Time Warner Cable systems, but it supports conditions on Charter/TWC/BHN as called for by Herring Networks (see 1603090028).

Extending Charter Communications' broadband-related voluntary conditions to 10 years would ensure online video "has an opportunity to grow without being thwarted by cable incumbents," Public Knowledge President Gene Kimmelman told FCC officials in a meeting on PK's concerns about Charter buying Bright House Networks and Time Warner Cable. "A ten-year duration for conditions provides a sufficient window for investors to have confidence that new business models will have a chance to develop and for streaming competitors to become established," Kimmelman told FCC staff including Owen Kendler, who's heading the working team overseeing the deals, said a filing Monday in docket 15-149. Any Charter/TWC/BHN approval also should address potential set-top box and programming diversity harms, PK said. In a statement Tuesday, Charter said it's "proud of the commitments we’ve made and [is] confident our transactions will deliver significant public interest benefits. We will continue to work with the regulatory agencies towards their timely approval."

Mediacom plans to spend $1 billion over the next three years on a variety of projects, including upgrades and expansion of its broadband network, it said in a news release Monday. Under its Project Gigabit, Mediacom said it plans to deploy a 1 Gbps broadband network "to virtually all" of the 3 million homes and businesses in its 22-state footprint. The first Project Gigabit communities should be online by Q4, it said. Mediacom also said it will use the $1 billion to expand its high-capacity network in downtown areas and commercial districts, its Wi-Fi access points in high-traffic commercial and public areas, and its residential video, Internet and phone network by a minimum of 50,000 additional homes. In a statement, Mediacom CEO Rocco Commisso said it "decided to accelerate our capital spending over the next 3 years because our Company wants to be the engine that drives economic growth and development for businesses and residents in the communities we serve.”

The 13 largest multichannel video programming distributors lost 385,000 video subscribers in 2015, more than the 2014 and 2013 losses combined, said Leichtman Research Group. LRG said the nine largest cable companies lost 345,000 video subscribers -- the smallest cable losses since 2006, while direct broadcast satellite providers added 86,000 subscribers, with those numbers including gains from Dish Network's Sling TV. Minus Sling, DBS providers lost 450,000 subscribers, Leichtman said in a news release Thursday. The top phone providers lost 125,000 video subscribers during the year, it said. In just Q4, Leichtman said, the largest cable companies added about 125,000 subscribers, their first quarter of net video additions since Q1 2008, DirecTV's additions of 214,000 subscribers marked its best quarter since Q4 2010, and AT&T's U-verse lost 240,000 subscribers vs. a 73,000 gain a year earlier. Overall, 2015 was the best year for cable providers since 2006, with 870,000 fewer losses than 2014, while telcos had 1.17 million fewer net additions than in 2014 and their worst year since the addition of video services in 2006, said LRG analyst Bruce Leichtman.

The Stop Mega Cable coalition is continuing its railing against Charter Communications' proposed buys of Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks, with members lobbying staff of Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, according to an ex parte filing Thursday in docket 15-149. The meeting involved representatives from beIN Sports and the Sports Fans Coalition, Consumers Union, Dish Network, ITTA, NTCA and Public Knowledge. They cited what they see as various potential harms from Charter/TWC/BHN, and repeated previous arguments (see 1602240030) about the broadband, online video distribution and programming market harms that would come from consolidation of market power in New Charter's hands, plus the likelihood of coordinated actions with Comcast.

AT&T concealed that it was buying DirecTV and planned to wind down U-verse when it induced Herring Networks to sign a distribution agreement in 2014 for the cable company's A Wealth of Entertainment and One America News Network on U-verse, and then reneged on a pledge to put those networks on DirecTV, Herring said in a lawsuit filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles. Herring said its decreasing distribution on U-verse is resulting in smaller licensing fees, and asked for unspecified damages "believed to be in excess of $100 million," plus injunctive relieve blocking AT&T "from eroding AT&T U-verse subscribers." In a statement, AT&T called the suit "baseless." The telco said it offered to carry both Herring networks on DirecTV "at reasonable, market based terms" and the suit "is simply a ploy by Herring to negotiate a slanted deal."

Sept. 23 is the deadline for filing a claim on a class-action lawsuit against Cablevision alleging Sherman Antitrust Act violations in its set-top box policies. In an order Thursday, U.S. District Judge Madeline Arleo of Newark, New Jersey, certified the class in Gary Marchese et al vs. Cablevision and set the claim filing deadline in the 2010 suit, which alleged Cablevision tied the sale of some video services to rental of a Cablevision set-top. The order said the class includes all Connecticut, New Jersey and New York residents who subscribed to Cablevision and paid a monthly set-top lease fee between April 30, 2004, and now. Arleo also signed off on the proposed forms of notice to the settlement class about a proposed settlement, with those notices to be sent by Cablevision within 110 days. A hearing on final approval is scheduled for Sept. 12, according to the order. In a class-action settlement agreed to by the plaintiffs and Cablevision in December, Cablevision agreed to activate any certified third-party set-tops bought by a subscriber from a third-party retailer and to provide "reasonable cooperation and ... technical assistance to interested manufacturers" of third-party set-tops. Cablevision in the settlement agreement also agreed to give current subscribers a free, four-month subscription to over-the-top SundanceNow service regardless of whether they file a claim form. Subscribers who had tenure of 36 months or less will be entitled to a $20 credit, five free months of multiroom DVR service, free lease of an additional Cablevision set-top for eight months or a free three-month subscription to Starz/Encore, according to the settlement agreement. Claimants with 36 to 72 months tenure are entitled to a $30 credit, eight months of the DVR, 13 months of an additional Cablevision set-top, or three months of Starz/Encore and of Showtime. Claimants with more than 72 months of tenure are entitled to a $40 credit, 11 months of the DVR, 18 months of an additional set-top, or three months of Starz/Encore and Showtime plus four months of Optimum SportsPak. Former subscribers who file claim forms will be entitled to four free months of OTT service SundanceNow and a cash payment of $20, $30 or $40, depending on how long they had been subscribers.

Lacey, Washington, can't regulate Comcast basic cable rates because Comcast is subject to effective competition there, the FCC Media Bureau said in an order Thursday. It rejected opposition from the city that Comcast used outdated 2010 census data, saying use of census figures was consistent with FCC precedent and the city didn't demonstrate the direct broadcast satellite penetration rate in Lacey fell below the required 15 percent threshold. The order covers roughly 17,000 households.