Charter Communications' 2023 carriage deal with Disney that includes access to Disney+ (see 2309110034) may not fix the declining linear cable bundle as many thought it would, Lightshed Partners said this week. Indications that few Charter cable subscribers are activating their free Disney+ accounts point to a problem with the linear cable bundle -- the bundle is bloated, LightShed said. An even-bigger bundle that now includes streaming and is increasingly expensive appears to be driving yet more cord-cutting rather than making the bundle more compelling or sticky, it said. Focusing on lower affiliate fees and far lower minimum distribution packaging requirements may be a better route for multichannel video programming distributors, it said. Those would let MVPDs offer smaller and cheaper video packages, with subscribers able to add on whatever streaming apps they want, it said.

The FCC shouldn’t directly or indirectly ban bulk broadband billing agreements, ACA Connects said during a call with an aide to Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, according to an ex parte filing posted in docket 17-142. A ban would lead to rate increases for residents in multiple tenant environments, ACA said. In addition, it would prompt worse services for MTEs, the group said. MTE owners could evade FCC rules by building internal networks and charging tenants without the right to opt out, the filing said. “These networks -- unlike those of ACA Connects’ members providing bulk services -- would tend to lock in current technology and capacity limits because an MTE owner serving its own tenants would not be subject to the same competitive forces as a broadband provider.” The FCC should “proceed cautiously” and shift from a proposed Further NPRM on bulk billing to a notice of inquiry, ACA said: “We are confident that such an inquiry would provide additional support for the Commission to refrain from intervening to regulate bulk billing arrangements.”

The Q1 2024 inflation adjustment figure for cable operators using Form 1240 is 3.05%, said the FCC Media Bureau and Office of Economics and Analytics in Tuesday's Daily Digest. In the year-ago quarter, it was 4.14%.

Comments are due June 28, replies July 5, on a Warner Bros. Discovery petition seeking a waiver from the FCC requirement that its TBS and TNT networks provide a certain amount of audio-described programming per quarter. The requested waiver would run July 1, 2024, through June 30, 2027, and cover multichannel video programming distributors carrying the WBD networks, according to a public notice Friday.

Banning early-termination fees (ETF) and requiring prorated refunds would hurt consumers, but should the FCC go that route, it should ban only "unjust or unreasonable" whole-month billing, NCTA and cable operators said Thursday in docket 23-405. Recapping a meeting with Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel's office and Media Bureau Chief Holly Sauer, the cablers said that approach would "preserve the benefits of reasonable ETFs" and protect consumers from excessively high ETFs. Reasonable ETFs would be transparently disclosed, or cable companies could grant a grace period, letting consumers cancel video service without incurring a fee, they said. Moreover, the record would need further development before supporting extending ETF rules to bundled services, they added. Representatives of Comcast, Charter Communications and Cox Enterprises also met with the FCC on these items. In December, FCC commissioners 3-2 approved a video service fees NPRM that proposes banning ETFs and requiring prorated refunds when service is canceled (see 2312130019).

A WideOpenWest minority shareholder is calling the unsolicited, $4.80 per share offer for the cable company "offensively low." In a letter Thursday to WOW's special committee evaluating the purchase offer from DigitalBridge Investments and Crestview Partners (see 2405030047), LB Partners said the $4.80 offer "discounts a reasonable valuation by half." WOW's fiber assets are "destined to be a massive source of value," LB said in the letter, which was filed with the SEC. It said that while fixed broadband providers are facing heavy competition from 5G fixed wireless providers, that fixed wireless access offering will become a smaller threat as mobile operators allocate more of their spectrum toward higher-value mobile services. That moderation of FWA competition "is set to propel [WOW] performance for years to come," LB said. Between June and early November 2023, WOW stock bounced between $6.90 and nearly $9, before a big drop; since then, it has largely traded at less than $4.

Expect to see cable providers following Comcast and offering bundled streaming products, nScreenMedia's Colin Dixon wrote Monday. Comcast is rolling out a discounted bundle of Peacock, Netflix and Apple TV+ for Xfinity customers. Dixon said Comcast's StreamSaver bundle might have a small impact on the decline of video subscribers, but its real goal is retaining broadband subscribers. The value of a discounted subscription VOD bundle is that it could entice some broadband subscribers who were considering quitting to stay, he said. The bundle also could lure mobile customers from wireless carriers to Comcast's mobile service, he said. At the same time, the bundle could accelerate the traditional video business's decline, he said. But other cable providers will want to defend their broadband businesses with their bundles, he said. Comcast said Tuesday the StreamSaver bundle will cost $15/month.

Bleichmar Fonti is conducting an investigation into the unsolicited nonbinding preliminary proposal that WideOpenWest received May 2 from DigitalBridge Investments and various Crestview Partners entities to buy for $4.80 a share in cash all the outstanding shares of WOW that Crestview doesn’t currently own (see 2405030047), the law firm’s overview page said. It’s probing the proposal to determine whether WOW’s board “is conflicted, engaging in an unfair process, and agreeing to an unfair amount to be paid to shareholders,” it said. WOW doesn't comment on pending legal matters, a spokesperson said in an email Wednesday.

Mediacom is boosting the speed of some of its Xtream broadband service tiers this week, with Xtream Internet 100 going from 100 Mbps to 250 Mbps, and Xtream Internet 300 from 300 Mbps to 500 Mbps, the company said Tuesday. In addition, it said it was replacing its Connect2Compete Plus low-cost program with Xtream Connect, which offers 100/20 Mbps speeds for $15 monthly to households participating in various federal social safety net programs.

WideOpenWest's high-speed data subscriber declines are slowing, CEO Teresa Elder said Tuesday as the company announced its Q1 2024 results. The company said it ended the quarter with 489,700 high-speed data subscribers, down from 508,700 the same quarter a year earlier but down only slightly from Q4 2023. That's because WOW has more-simplified pricing, increased minimum speeds to 300 Mbps and boosted 500 Mbps customers to 600 Mbps, Elder said. WOW ended the quarter with 79,300 video subs, down 117,100 from a year ago. Elder said that decline comes as WOW continues a transition from its linear video offering to having customers use YouTube TV (see 2305150027). WOW took no questions during its 13-minute earnings call, citing DigitalBridge Investments and Crestview Partners' unsolicited bid to buy it (see 2405030047).