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.
The boom in programming from diverse sources available on numerous outlets underscores that most-favored nation (MFN) and alternative distribution method (ADM) clauses haven't blocked the growth of multichannel video programming distributor (MVPD) alternatives, according to cable interests. In a meeting with FCC Media Bureau Chief Holly Saurer (docket 24-115), cablers defended ADMs and MFNs and said the agency shouldn't imbalance programmer/MVPD negotiations by stopping MVPDs from seeking the same pricing and terms programmers offer to others. Meeting with the Media Bureau were representatives of NCTA, Charter, Comcast and Cox Communications.
A proposed Charter Communications/Liberty Broadband combination would fix tax issues stemming from the requirement that Liberty -- the single largest shareholder of Charter -- sell into Charter's share repurchase program, MoffettNathanson's Craig Moffett noted Wednesday. The note recapped a conversation with Liberty Chairman John Malone. On Monday, Liberty Broadband said Charter had made an offer and that it had counter-offered. Liberty said the proposed deal has a closing date of June 30, 2027. According to Malone, Charter proposed a transaction that would exclude GCI, which Liberty owns, but Liberty's counteroffer includes GCI. A GCI transaction would require FCC approval, according to Malone.
Charter Communications is making a series of service commitments and benchmarks for its Spectrum broadband service. It said Monday that those commitments include a full-day credit for any neighborhood outage that lasts more than two hours and no annual contracts for any residential service. Within 15 minutes of identifying a neighborhood outage, the company said, it will notify affected customers and give an estimated restoration time. It said it would provide full refunds for any service within 30 days if a subscriber isn't completely satisfied. Charter rolled out Spectrum internet packages with guaranteed pricing for up to three years.
NCTA supports an FCC proposal exempting some video programmers from captioning registration and certification requirements when another entity, such as a programming network, has filed the relevant certification, the cabler said in comments posted Wednesday in docket 05-231. “Adopting the proposed exemption would relieve numerous program suppliers, including many small businesses, of needless paperwork obligations,” NCTA said. “Removing this regulatory burden will have no impact on the substantive captioning obligations for nonbroadcast programming.” The agency should make filing such certifications on behalf of multiple networks easier, NCTA said.
Noting WideOpenWest's limited cash on hand and declines in its high-margin broadband subscribers, S&P on Friday downgraded the cable operator's long-term credit trading from B to B- and its senior secured debt rating from B+ to B. It said management must take some cost-cutting steps and reduce capital spending; however WOW's longer-term viability depends on expanding into new markets. Lacking liquidity could mean capital spending reductions and a decline in revenue, S&P said.