Comcast is accepting proposals for the two largely Hispanic-American-owned, English-language networks it plans to launch in some markets in January 2017, the company said in a Wednesday news release. The two will be among 10 independently owned and operated networks Comcast is launching as part of its public service commitments in its 2011 acquisition of NBCUniversal, it said. The cable company said it would look at such criteria in the proposals as whether the network is fully financed, already launched and has existing multichannel video programming distribution; whether the management group is well established and has relevant experience; and its price. The network proposals are open for any major genre, such as children's programming, movies, news and sports, Comcast said. The deadline for proposals is Oct. 9. The 10 networks to launch by 2019 will include four that will have majority African-American ownership, two with substantial Hispanic-American ownership, two operated by Hispanic-American programmers, and two other independents, Comcast said. The company already has launched five independent networks, it said: Aspire, BabyFirst Americas, BBC World News, El Rey and Revolt.

The only major difference between online video distributors and multichannel video programming distributors is in the quality or quantity of programming they offer, with OVDs still lagging behind MVPDs, New England Sports Network (NESN) said in an FCC filing posted Tuesday in docket 14-261 on the agency's proceeding on how to define OVDs under the MVPD umbrella. Largely repeating comments it filed last week for the 17th video competition report (see 1508210033), NESN repeated its argument that OVDs are "a full-fledged substitute of broadcast, cable and satellite technology, and consumer access online video both via TV sets and via devices like tables and phones that substitute for TV sets." NESN had no specific policy positions, but said it submitted its arguments about substitutability because that mindset "must be the foundation of any sensible policy in this area."

Cablevision's Optimum Online customers will have entree to CBS All Access and Showtime Internet services, making it the first multichannel video programming distributor to provide the online CBS offerings, the companies said Tuesday, saying they signed a new, multiyear carriage agreement. The deal covers retransmission consent for CBS-owned stations and continuing carriage of CBS Sports Network, Showtime and Smithsonian Channel. Cablevision and CBS gave no details on pricing or timing for the Optimum Online offerings.

July's ruling by a federal judge bolsters the argument that stretching the definition of a multichannel video programming distributor to certain types of over-the-top providers is consistent with the Communications Act and Copyright Act, FilmOn X said in a filing posted Monday in FCC docket 14-261. The decision by U.S. District Court Judge George Wu in Los Angeles was that FilmOn X potentially was entitled to a compulsory license under Section 111 of the Copyright Act because it operates somewhat like a cable system (see 1507170024). The court also said the Copyright Office's opposition to extending a Section 111 license to Internet-based distributors "is not grounded in the statutory text or congressional intent, but instead is based on policy views," FilmOn X said. Given that, FilmOn X said it reiterated its support for the FCC-proposed reinterpretation of MVPD guidelines to include some online distributors of multiple channels of video programming.

CableLabs expects product certification submissions soon for its new super-fast broadband specification, DOCSIS 3.1, wrote Belal Hamzeh, CableLabs director-broadband evolution. The next equipment interoperability event for the spec is set for Sept. 14-25, he wrote on the group's blog Monday. There have been five "very successful" such interops, "with strong vendor participation," including for cable modem and cable modem termination system vendors, he wrote: "We saw visible signs of how DOCSIS 3.1 technology will change the industry including the delivery of multi-Gbps performance."

Cross MediaWorks bought pay-TV advertising and data services company BlackArrow, Cross MediaWorks said in a Monday news release. Financial details weren't disclosed. Cross MediaWorks said the deal will allow it to expand the products and services it offers to pay-TV companies and advertisers. BlackArrow CEO Nick Troiano will become CEO of Cross MediaWorks and a board member, while Cross MediaWorks Chief Technology Officer Stephanie Mitchko-Beale will take over CTO/Chief Operating Officer responsibilities.

Netflix plans to partner with SoftBank for its launch into Japan Sept. 2, it said in a Monday news release. Under the agreement, SoftBank customers will be able to sign up for Netflix at SoftBank stores and at major electronics retailers, and through the SoftBank website or its call centers, and the monthly Netflix subscription fee will be added to their SoftBank bills. The mobile company also said it will begin pre-installing the Netflix app on its smartphones, starting later this fall.

Cogeco Cable's Atlantic Broadband subsidiary completed its $200 million takeover of MetroCast Communications of Connecticut, it said in a Thursday news release. The deal was announced in June (see 1506080049). Cogeco Cable CEO Louis Audet said that nearly three years after first entering the U.S. market, the Montreal-based company sees the MetroCast acquisition as marking a "continuing ... expansion into key growth markets" and will add to growth expected to come from the launch of such services as Metro Ethernet for businesses and TiVo.

The woes about pay-TV subscriber losses are overblown, since over-the-top (OTT) competition isn't providing a good alternative, TDG Research analyst Alan Wolk said in a blog post Thursday. "Unless you’re an infrequent TV viewer, the cord-free experience quite frankly sucks" and the growth of OTT services "seems to have exacerbated the problem rather than ameliorated it," Wolk said. Pay-TV market research firms have pointed out in recent days the declining numbers of multichannel video programming distributor customers reported in Q2 (see 1508200024). While the 13 largest MVPDs lost about 500,000 subscribers, the top nine -- which have close to 90 percent of the cable pay-TV customer base -- had about half the customer losses they had in Q2 2014, while Q2 2015 saw the smallest Q2 losses since 2008, Wolk said. Meanwhile, an OTT system that's as robust as a cable package isn't much cheaper, and adding on streaming services, kids-and-sports programming and a premium subscription service like HBO or Showtime results in a package that "may well be as expensive [as]the one you were getting from Comcast," Wolk said. An OTT-centric experience also is more cumbersome because "going from app to app may work on your phone, [but] it’s not a particularly expedient way to watch television," Wolk said. But he said "pay-TV’s current advantages may not last forever. While a cloud-based universal program guide for OTT may still just be a pipe dream, it’s not in the same league as flying cars" and a good customer experience with better features could be a selling point for an OTT system even if it has fewer channels, he said. While OTT resellers that bundle various services together could emerge, "We're not likely to see a massive exodus anytime soon" from pay-TV, Wolk said.

The Q2 drop in pay-TV subscribers was the biggest it ever tracked, Strategy Analytics said Thursday in a report. But average revenue per user continues its long climb, Strategy Analytics said, with Time Warner Cable APRUs up 1.4 percent year over year, Dish Network up 4.5 percent, Charter Communications up 4.6 percent and DirecTV up 6.5 percent; AT&T now owns DirecTV. The top 20 pay-TV operators in the U.S. combined lost 479,000 subscribers, while Canada lost 53,000. Despite the subscriber losses, "there are clear opportunities for the pay TV providers as they begin to roll out over-the-top video services" like Dish's Sling TV, said Jason Blackwell, director of Strategy Analytics' service providers strategies, in a statement. CenturyLink, Comcast and Verizon are debuting over-the-top services this year, and AT&T seems likely to do so, having acquired DirecTV, Blackwell said. Earlier this week, Leichtman Research Group said that the cable industry's Q2 broadband subscriber gains mainly came at telco ISPs' expense (see 1508180028).