The FCC totality of circumstances test review is missing a few examples of egregious practices, and they also should be looked at as possible bad-faith negotiating, Mediacom said in an ex parte filing posted Tuesday in docket 15-216. Mediacom included a list of those negotiating practices, such as refusals to agree to a continuation of carriage before a complete negotiation breakdown -- saying blackouts should only come when the parties have reached a final impasse -- and the setting of dates for expiration of retransmission consent agreements other than the standard three years -- since these non-uniform durations give stations additional leverage. Also on its list are demands by local broadcasters for a certain level of retrans revenue to fund the production or purchase of locally oriented programming without having to prove the money is actually going to that purpose, and invocation of network exclusivity rights during a broadcaster-imposed blackout -- which would mean the FCC also would have to label an out-of-market station not letting its signal be imported by a multichannel video programming distributor during a blackout as bad faith as well, Mediacom said. The NPRM on the totality of circumstances test (see 1509030044) also "is strangely silent" on enforcement of good-faith negotiations, and should consider such penalties as forcing the reopening of negotiations for 90 days -- along with service to be restored for 90 days -- in the face of a prima facie showing of bad faith, Mediacom said. The company also listed other acts that should be considered inconsistent with the good-faith obligation, such as broadcasters requiring MVPDs to waive the right to pursue any remedies for misconduct that seemingly broke the law, forcing MVPDs to install set-top boxes, and refusing to offer different MVPDs the same non-economic rights or benefits in the same market on roughly similar terms.

Altice's takeover of Suddenlink will be good for rural subscribers, particularly through better broadband, they said in a joint FCC filing posted Tuesday in docket 15-135 in which they both make a public interest case for the transaction and remind the agency that regulatory approval has been pending almost four months. Even though Suddenlink operates mostly in smaller, rural areas, it "has endeavored to deploy broadband throughout its footprint," now offering high-speed data to more than 97.5 percent of the homes it passes nationally, the two said. The company is in the midst of its Project Gigaspeed to bring 1 Gbps service to most customers by the end of 2017, though "its ability to do so is not assured," Altice and Suddenlink said. "Project Gigaspeed is a multi-year program and it will require considerable year-over-year funding to achieve its objectives," the companies said, saying Suddenlink spent more than $35 million on it last year and expects to spend more than $170 million before it's done. "Although Suddenlink has in place a plan for Project Gigaspeed, funding decisions for that plan are made annually and other business priorities can affect them," the two said. Being taken over by Altice would give the combined company "access to considerable financial resources, often at advantageous terms that are not readily available to smaller providers like Suddenlink," they said. Citing major network upgrades and higher speeds in such markets as Belgium, France and Israel, the two said Altice "has demonstrated repeatedly that it continually invests in networks to ensure their long-term viability and growth." Meanwhile, with the proposed deal not having seen any material objection either at the FCC or elsewhere, the FCC "should complete its review ... and approve the proposed Transaction promptly," they said. Altice also is buying Cablevision -- a deal which "should not have any effect on the timing or substance" of the commission's Suddenlink review, Altice and Suddenlink said.

Rovi signed an extension with Time Warner Cable of an existing interactive program guide license and distribution agreement and patent license agreement, the vendor said Monday in a news release.

Both NCTA and the American Cable Association want to intervene in the lawsuit challenging the FCC's effective competition order. In motions filed Monday in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, both groups argued their interests -- and the interests of their members -- in the outcome of the suit. "ACA and its members have a strong interest in ensuring that the Effective Competition Order is upheld," ACA said in its filing, saying it "thus seeks ... to ensure that its members' interests are adequately represented in this ongoing review." NAB and NATOA are among those asking the court to review the June order establishing that the cable market is effectively competitive, ending most state and local regulation of cable companies' basic cable tiers (see 1508280033).

Cablevision and Verizon jointly agreed to drop claims and counterclaims against one another about allegations of false advertising. In a stipulation of dismissal filed Monday in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, the two agreed their claims were dismissed with prejudice. Neither company immediately commented. Cablevision sued Verizon in federal court in January over Verizon ads saying it offered "the fastest WiFi available," with Verizon making a counterclaim over Cablevision ads accusing it of being a "liar" making "false" claims. U.S. Magistrate Judge Gary Brown of Central Islip, New York, in August granted Verizon a temporary restraining order blocking any ads asserting it is lying in its ads (see 1508120027).

Over-the-top use is growing rapidly among younger Hispanic millennials, Centris Marketing Service said in an analysis released Friday. OTT use by Hispanics ages 18-24 in Q2 jumped 14 points year over year, as they increasingly use free video streaming services or subscription VOD offerings rather than rent or purchase video online, Centris said. Among older Hispanic millennials aged 24-34, OTT usage was relatively flat year over year, the survey said. The Q2 data came from a survey of more than 800 Hispanic millennials, Centris said.

Comcast will pay nearly $16.7 million in cash plus provide $33.3 million in free subscriber services under a settlement of a 12-year-old class-action lawsuit. Under the terms of the settlement approval entered Wednesday in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, the roughly 800,000 class members who no longer get Comcast services will get $15 cash, while current subscribers can choose either a $15 credit off their bills or credit toward various Comcast services such as six pay-per-view movies, four months of upgraded Internet services or a two-month Movie Channel subscription. According to court paperwork, any current subscribers who submit a claim form but choose no option will automatically get the Movie Channel option. The settlement class is any current Comcast subscriber or anyone who subscribed between Jan. 1, 2003, and Dec. 31, 2008, to Comcast video programming services other than basic cable in Philadelphia and surrounding Bucks, Chester, Delaware and Montgomery counties. Class counsel will seek up to $15 million in fees and costs to be paid from the cash part of the settlement fund, the settlement order said. Comcast was sued in December 2003 over claims the cable company was using monopoly power to overcharge Philadelphia-area subscribers. More than 2 million current and former Comcast subscribers were part of an earlier plaintiff class seeking $875 million, but the pool narrowed after the Supreme Court overturned the larger class certification in March 2013 (see 1303280052). In a statement Friday, Comcast said it was "pleased the Court has approved the settlement reached at the end of last year that brings this long-running matter to closure."

Turner Broadcasting and WME-IMG jointly are creating a competitive electronic gaming league that will include live events and televised coverage to air on TBS, Time Warner said Thursday. Atlanta's Turner Studios will be headquarters for the league and primary operations facility for the live gaming events, and Turner Sports will produce the competitions along with WME-IMG. Counter-Strike: Global Offensive will be the featured game during the league’s first season, to start in 2016, it said.

RCN launched a free app, RCN2Go, that allows customers to watch on-demand and live video content via their Android devices, it said Thursday. The app follows a similar RCN iOS app for watching on Apple devices, RCN said.

New consumer products like the Apple TV box and Amazon's $50 Fire tablet and its updated Fire TV point to a TV future with tablets rather than DVRs or videogame consoles being the foundation of living room streaming, The Diffusion Group analyst Joel Espelien said in a blog Tuesday. Apple TV and the iPad Air 2 share the same A8 processor, while Fire TV's MediaTek MT8173 processor is similar to the MediaTek 8135 behind the new Fire HD tablets, TDG said. That means Apple and Amazon streaming boxes will be on the same annual upgrade cycle as their tablets -- something "unheard of in living room devices," TDG said. It also creates a challenge for Microsoft as it now needs to consider putting out a $99 Surface-based Windows 10 streaming box "to get away from the long product cycles endemic to video console design," TDG said. The new consumer products also indicate that voice search is increasingly a staple of the mobile phone and tablet space operating systems. "Consumers are steadily evolving toward a new paradigm of video consumption based on app stores, device home screens (that show multiple apps), app home screens (that show featured content) and anchored by robust voice search," TDG said, adding that the traditional electronic program guide "is history." Amazon's plan to support 4K streaming video in Fire TV illustrates the likelihood that streaming, not broadcast, will be the driver of 4K adoption, TDG said. The Apple TV hardware platform almost surely will support 4K by next fall, TDG said.