The FCC created a new inbox for comments on Comcast’s planned buy of Time Warner Cable and the associated transfers of systems to Charter Communications, the commission said in a public notice Wednesday (http://bit.ly/1vBdly2). The inbox address is ComcastTWCMerger@fcc.gov, the PN said. Documents submitted to the inbox become part of the official record of the proceeding -- docketed as 14-57 -- and will be posted in the commission’s Electronic Comment Filing System, the PN said. The commission will also host a “Comma Separated Values (CSV) file for bulk upload of comments,” the PN said. There was a delay recently in posting comments to the docket on a document confidentiality issue related to the deals (CD Oct 2 p10).

Comcast X1 customers in San Francisco can access their TV lineup on any connected screen in their home, Comcast said in a news release (http://bit.ly/1BzYu7J). Bay Area X1 customers will also be able to download programs recorded on their DVR to watch on connected devices or stream from the Internet, it said. The live in-home streaming and X1 DVR are also available in Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Houston, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., it said. “Comcast expects that most of its X1 customers will have access to these features by the end of the year,” said the release. To deliver the new features to Xfinity customers, Comcast launched an Xfinity TV app for iOS and Android tablets and smartphones, and a dedicated portal for watching on a computer, it said.

Cablevision filed a defamation lawsuit against Communications Workers of America (CWA) Local 1109, senior union official Chris Shelton and former Cablevision employee Jerome Thompson in New York state Supreme Court, said the operator in a news release. “The CWA union is knowingly disseminating false and defamatory statements in an attempt to negatively impact Cablevision’s business and damage the reputation of the company and its employees,” Cablevision said Wednesday. “It is clear that the CWA will stop at nothing to advance its selfish interests and we are asking the Court to put an immediate halt to their unlawful and malicious activities.” CWA and the other defendants have “made a series of false and malicious statements” concerning Cablevision’s termination of Thompson “in an effort to damage Cablevision’s reputation,” the release said. Thompson was fired for “years-long history of deliberate disregard for Company policies” but CWA says the firing was racially motivated, Cablevision said. “The CWA and other defendants have used social media, online petitions, leaflets and letters to public officials to knowingly spread this false information.” Cablevision is asking the court to enjoin CWA and the defendants from disseminating “false and damaging statements,” the release said. CWA Local 1109 didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Using forbearance to ease the burdens of Communications Act Title II regulation of broadband Internet would likely become a “regulatory morass,” NCTA said in a blog post Thursday (http://bit.ly/1vkLiBC). The FCC would have to “create an entirely new regulatory regime for broadband Internet access from whole cloth,” NCTA said. Nearly all forbearance petitions are opposed, and often opposed “vigorously,” NCTA said. Forbearance petition deadlines are typically extended, and decisions on them are often made by the FCC on the last week or last day, NCTA said. The agency could also provide different relief for different types of entities or for entities in different locations, adding to the complexity, the association said. “The idea that it will be easy for the Commission to decide whether to forbear with respect to dozens of Title II provisions for hundreds of companies defies all logic and experience,” NCTA said. Many of the parties supporting forebearance have filed comments “suggesting that there are almost no provisions of Title II for which they would support forbearance,” NCTA said. “Given the entirely speculative benefits this exercise is likely to produce, the Commission should decline to start down this road at all.” NASUCA sought Title II rules, in a filing posted in the net neutrality NPRM docket Thursday. (See separate report above in this issue.)

A patent for the automated transmission of time-sensitive product information was granted for the e-commerce platform for TV shopping channel HSN2, said HSN in a Tuesday night news release (http://bit.ly/Y3slYW). It said No. 8,768,781 is the sixth e-commerce patent HSN has received.

Arris and Comcast will do field trials of a new, open-source software stack integrated into cable modems that they expect to be a foundation for a coming version of RDK (reference design kit) for broadband devices. Cable operators and vendors use RDK to help run customer devices like set-top boxes in a standardized way that makes upgrades easier and allows for improved features for customers (CD March 3 p4). After next quarter’s field test, new Arris Touchstone TG1682 DOCSIS 3.0 voice gateways with the new software will see general availability in Q1, said the cable equipment vendor and Comcast in a news release Wednesday (http://bit.ly/1rnqLwS). “The RDK was designed to accommodate multiple devices,” said General Manager Steve Heeb of RDK Management, a joint venture that has included a few big cable operators and administers RDK. “This new broadband software development for modems and routers is based on open source code, and plays into the philosophy of the RDK to provide operators with more transparency to the code that runs their video and broadband devices.”

Nielsen and Simulmedia partnered to develop a measurement solution for unmeasured cable network TV audiences. Joint research by the companies will seek to capture the sizable audience activity “that goes unmeasured today on niche cable networks to enable these networks to sell advertising based on reliable, qualified ratings systems,” Nielsen said Tuesday in a news release (http://bit.ly/1x7sHwU). The research was accumulated through the Nielsen People Meter panel and Simulmedia’s set-top box viewing data representing 50 million viewers, it said.

Rovi Corp. has deployed its programming guides on more than half a million standard and high-definition digital terminal adapters (DTAs), the company said in a news release Tuesday (http://bit.ly/Zcgqti). Rovi is providing its TV programming guide “throughout the U.S. and Latin America” through deals with Armstrong, Arris, Cablevision Argentina, Evolution Digital, Pace and “more than a dozen leading cable operators,” Rovi said. DTAs convert incoming digital signals into analog signals that can be viewed on older TV sets, it noted. The devices help cable companies upgrade local systems from analog to digital and optimize bandwidth to support HD channels and high-speed data, said the company. It said Rovi’s DTA Guide “eases the digital transition and enhances the experience for consumers by offering cable subscribers an Interactive Program Guide for navigating content choices."

Alaskan cable and telecom company General Communication Inc. joined the American Television Alliance in an effort to “reform” retransmission consent, GCI said in a news release Thursday.

Time Warner Cable’s responses to FCC information requests about its planned purchase by Comcast were posted in docket 14-57 Friday (http://bit.ly/1wOdj8B). Heavily redacted under a joint protective order, the responses don’t yet include all the information requested by the commission, TWC said. “All non-privileged documents requested in the Commission’s Request for Information will be submitted shortly following adjustments to reflect ongoing clarification discussions with Commission staff,” several responses read. Some responses, such as a request for a list of program access disputes with multichannel video programming distributors, are wholly redacted. Other items contain brief paragraphs of explanation above long columns of redacted information.