An initiative to reduce the power used by set-top boxes expanded to include another STB maker. Pace PLC joined the voluntary agreement between makers of consumer electronics and multichannel video programming distributors that itself expanded in December to also include advocates for reducing the devices’ energy consumption, said NCTA on its blog Tuesday (http://bit.ly/1n7GVGK). It said a request for proposal for field verification of STB energy use was finalized Feb. 25, when the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy and Natural Resources Defense Council first met with the steering committee of CE and MVPD interests that ACEEE and NRDC joined. The RFP will be issued next week, and those interested in being a contractor to confirm that the amount of energy the set-top boxes promise to use isn’t exceeded can contact cable lawyer Paul Glist of Davis Wright at paulglist@dwt.com for a copy, said NCTA. It said CableLabs has now put on its website (http://bit.ly/1czw5mv) information on STB power use of the six largest cable operators, which also are participating in the initiative. CableLabs helped assess the devices (CD March 3 p4).

Comcast NBCUniversal has fulfilled the merger conditions imposed by the FCC as a condition of approving it’s merger deal, the company said in a news release (http://bit.ly/1dgzJF3) on its third annual report on the conditions to the FCC Tuesday (http://bit.ly/1dTHJJc). Comcast said it exceeded conditions requiring preservation of local news by airing more than a thousand hours of local news programming than required on NBC- and Telemundo-owned stations, and surpassed conditions requiring expanded broadband deployment by 6,289 miles, 141 percent of the requirement, said the report. Comcast “extended its broadband plant to 718,511 additional homes, or 180% of the year-three milestone of 400,000 homes-passed,” said the report. Comcast exceeded requirements for the number of VOD offerings it provided, and the number of PSAs it aired. “Total children’s VOD programming choices during 2013 averaged 6,871 per month. This represents 4,093 more children’s VOD choices than the 2,778 average monthly choices available before the deal,” Comcast said. Comcast has also “repositioned Bloomberg Television in all relevant markets” into news neighborhoods as ordered by the commission in September, though its appeal of the matter is still pending. Comcast fulfilled conditions on online video deals by entering into “a variety of contract arrangements” with online video distributors without entering into arbitration, though an application for review remains pending filed by several content companies of a merger condition that would give Comcast access to third-party contract information, the report said. Comcast has not received any program carriage complaints from multichannel video programming distributors, the report said. “It is simply indisputable that we have honored -- in fact, over-delivered -- on our commitments,” said Comcast Executive Vice President David Cohen in the release. “And we'll continue to do so."

CableLabs plays “a significant role in advancing key strategic cable industry initiatives,” said NCTA CEO Michael Powell about the industry’s research and development organization’s work under its CEO Phil McKinney. CableLabs has been increasingly working on technical issues with stakeholders who disagree with its members on policy (CD March 3 p4). “CableLabs’ expertise was critical in assessing the technical capabilities and power consumption of set-top boxes that led to the historic energy agreement” in December between pay-TV companies and power-use efficiency advocates, said Powell in a written statement Friday. CableLabs has “also led the effort to provide a thorough technical analysis demonstrating Wi-Fi’s ability to successfully share spectrum” in the 5 GHz band “without causing harmful interference,” he added.

After the Supreme Court’s rejection of the Tennis Channel’s cert petition (CD Feb 25 p15), it’s now “appropriate” for the parties in the program carriage case between Cablevision and Game Show Network to consider “scheduling preparation needs for trial,” said Chief Administrative Law Judge Richard Sippel in an order issued Friday. The case had been on hold pending resolution of the Tennis Channel matter, which involved a similar dispute over whether program carriage rules require a provider to carry a channel on a specific tier. GSN and Cablevision must submit a joint status report by March 6, “describing discovery needs and proposed dates for deposing witnesses, exchanging evidence, and commencing trial,” the order said.

Time Warner Cable’s placement of its new SportsNet LA network on its basic tier will cause Los Angeles subscribers to pay an additional $60 per year, said broadcaster advocacy group TV Freedom in a blog post Wednesday (http://bit.ly/1fUmtU1). A Time Warner Cable deal with the L.A. Dodgers to air all of the team’s regular season games for the next 25 years on SportsNet LA cost $8.35 billion, a “hefty pricetag” that will motivate TWC to “force” subscribers to pay higher fees, TV Freedom said. Time Warner Cable is also negotiating with DirecTV, Dish Network and Cox Communications to allow them to offer the channel, which would translate to higher fees for their subscribers as well, TV Freedom said. “At a time when it’s increasing rates for its own programming, and forcing all of its customers to pay for a channel some may not want, TWC is in Washington seeking government assistance to change the rules of the game on retransmission consent negotiations related to TV broadcast programming.” Time Warner Cable didn’t comment. The company agreed in February to be bought for about $45 billion by Comcast.

A letter from the Department of Justice asking the FCC to decide joint sales agreements are attributable also condemns joint retransmission consent negotiations, said the American Cable Association in an ex parte filing. DOJ said joint retransmission consent negotiations by separately owned broadcasters in the same market should be deemed illegal unless “reasonably necessary for some other efficiency-enhancing combination of the station’s operations,” ACA said. DOJ also expressed skepticism that circumstances making joint retrans negotiations necessary could arise, ACA said. In the wake of the DOJ letter, the commission should “deem the coordination of retransmission consent negotiations as per se attributable under the media ownership rules,” ACA said.

Approving vertically-integrated Comcast-NBCUniversal’s proposed purchase of Time Warner Cable, without modifying program access rules for buying groups, could harm “consumers and the competitive pay-TV market,” said the CEOs of 53 multichannel video programming distributors in a letter to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler Tuesday. The companies want the FCC to change its definition of a buying group to include the National Cable Television Cooperative, the group through which most small and mid-size MVPDs purchase their content. NCTC doesn’t meet the commission’s definition because the commission requires buying groups to be liable for the contracts of all of members, something NCTC doesn’t do, and the American Cable Association has sought such a change (CD Jan 14 p7). Because NCTC doesn’t fit the definition of a buying group, program access rules preventing MVPDs that are also programmers from discriminating against buying groups don’t apply, said the letter. “Because NCTC has no means of utilizing the program access rules for redress against discrimination, our companies, and all other NCTC members, have essentially no protection from cable-affiliated programmers, in stark disregard of Congress’ intent.” Companies that signed the letter include Atlantic Broadband, Buckeye Cable Systems, Cincinnati Bell, Frontier Communications -- for which current executive vice president and former Republican FCC Commissioner Kathleen Abernathy signed -- RCN, TDS and Wide Open West.

The Supreme Court voted not to grant cert on a petition from Tennis Channel asking the court to reverse the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit’s decision on the channel’s carriage complaint against Comcast (http://1.usa.gov/1hiPhsN). Tennis Channel is “disappointed” but the result was “not entirely surprising given the Court’s crowded docket,” it said in a statement. “There remain a number of available options for Tennis Channel in the case, and we are considering our next steps in light of these options,” Tennis Channel said. Comcast said it’s “pleased” that the lower court ruling in its favor “will stand,” a Comcast spokesperson said in an email. Tennis Channel is still availible on Comcast systems, Comcast pointed out. The rejection of the cert petition is likely to restart the action in an ongoing program carriage case at the FCC, between the Game Show Network and Cablevision. Both parties in that case had asked FCC Administrative Law Judge Richard Sippel to delay the matter pending the results of Tennis Channel’s Supreme Court filing. A joint status report is due in the GSN v. Cablevision matter in March.

Chipmakers joined multichannel video programming distributors (CD Feb 21 p10) in asking the Environmental Protection Agency to make more allowances in the coming Energy Star version 4.1 for set-top boxes, so consumer video devices that are smaller than STBs can work with Ultra HD and high efficiency video coding (HEVC) and processing (HEVP). Broadcom and Entropic’s comments on EPA’s proposed revisions to v4.1 were posted Friday on the agency’s website (http://1.usa.gov/1gNEg3a). “Many manufacturers are designing client boxes with HEVC and UltraHD functionality,” wrote Broadcom (http://1.usa.gov/1fG3H2v). Thin clients connect to the bigger, higher-energy consuming gateway devices that send encrypted MVPD video to the smaller devices. “These client boxes require additional processing power for decoding UltraHD resolution HEVC streams and displaying it to an UltraHD output,” said Broadcom. EPA’s current base allowance for the clients doesn’t “take this additional processing power into consideration,” said the chipmaker. “Unfortunately, EPA’s Final Draft attempts to restrict these new Use Cases” of UltraHD display and enabling HEVP, wrote Entropic (http://1.usa.gov/1hfcTNQ). “The overwhelming demand/requirement for such next-gen Thin Client” system on chips is to support such “functionality,” said the company. “EPA’s restrictions on UltraHD and HEVP Allowances dis-incentivize efficient next-gen 4K-capable Thin Clients, and mistakenly incentivize higher-power full-featured STBs."

The Comcast/Time Warner Cable deal “can either contribute to the steady decline of African American wealth or be part of the nation’s course for economic recovery,” said the Rainbow PUSH Coalition in a statement Thursday. The coalition commended Comcast for “positive investments” in broadband and minority new media ventures that resulted from the Comcast/NBCUniversal deal. “A deal of this size could generate tremendous value for the economy and citizens seeking a pathway towards economic recovery,” said Rainbow PUSH. If divestiture is a condition of regulatory approval of the Comcast/TWC buy, it should include “a component focused on the creation of new, minority cable operators,” Rainbow PUSH said. “These opportunities for minority ownership can help narrow the disparities that contribute to the wealth gap in African American communities."