Los Angeles and Portland, Oregon, joined Eugene, Oregon, in legally challenging the FCC's cable TV local franchise authority order. In a 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals petition to be posted Thursday, L.A. and Portland -- plus plaintiffs Kirkland, Washington; the Sacramento Metropolitical Cable TV Commission; and Porland's Mount Hood Cable Regulatory Commission -- ask for a court review. After last month's Eugene petition, more plaintiffs were expected (see 1909120028). Similar to the Eugene challenge, the latest petition said the order was arbitrary and capricious and in violation of the Communications Act, FCC regulations and the Constitution. Portland and the others also asked to have the petition consolidated with Eugene's. The FCC didn't comment.
Comcast and programmers will win their legal challenge of a Maine law requiring cable provide channels a la carte (see 1909100041), American Enterprise Institute's Daniel Lyons blogged Tuesday. The Communications Act pre-empts that, and the law raises problems such as that cable companies usually buy content in agreements that spell out how it will be marketed and few programmers make channels available individually, he said. It's problematic the law applies to cable TV but not other MVPDs, he said. Section 544(b)(1) of the Communications Act says franchise authorities can't "establish requirements for video programming," and federal courts have used that section to invalidate franchise authorities trying to dictate particular channels or programs be part of a cable company offering, he noted.
The FCC asked the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to transfer an appeal of its August cable-TV local franchise authority order to the 6th Circuit, as expected (see 1909120028). A motion Tuesday (in Pacer, docket 19-72219) said the order largely responded to the 6th Circuit remand of an earlier order, and transfer would "maintain continuity and consistency" in review of interrelated orders. It said the 6th's familiarity with case particulars "would serve the interests of judicial economy." The agency said the motion is opposed by petitioner Eugene, Oregon, and backed by NCTA, which has moved to intervene in the case (see 1909130059).
Optimum and Suddenlink customers will have access to the Amazon Prime Video catalog directly from their provider’s interface along with other streaming, on demand and live video services, said parent Altice Monday. Prime content also will be accessible by voice via the Altice One voice-activated remote control. Subscribers need an Amazon Prime account for access, emailed an Altice spokesperson Monday. It’s the second collaboration between the companies; they recently partnered on the Altice Amplify smart speaker with Alexa.
NCTA wants to intervene on the FCC's behalf in the Eugene, Oregon, lawsuit challenging the agency's August cable local franchise authority (LFA) order (see 1909120028), said a 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals motion Friday (in Pacer, docket 19-72219). It said reversing the FCC order would open up cable operators again to LFAs demanding in-kind cable-related extractions that exceed the 5 percent cap on franchise fees. Vacating the order would free LFAs to putting regulations on non-cable services offered over cable systems, thus hurting competition, consumer choice and deployment, NCTA said.
Streaming service catalogs averaging 40,000 TV episodes and movies create “discoverability challenges,” said Gracenote, launching a video identification system Thursday to streamline the process for distributing content to over-the-top services, smart-device makers, and cable and satellite-TV providers. Citing the “massive growth cycle” of the entertainment industry as new services, platforms and devices look for additional content, more descriptive metadata and universal identifiers are needed so viewers can easily search, including via voice assistants, said the company. Studios and networks can register content with the Nielsen unit.
America’s Communications Association, the Competitive Carriers Association and Charter Communications met with aides to FCC Commissioners Brendan Carr, Jessica Rosenworcel and Geoffrey Starks about their proposal for the C band. The groups called mid-band spectrum “vital to unleashing the power and promise of 5G, and underscored that how this spectrum is reallocated will have significant impact on our nation’s wireless and broadband future,” said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 18-122.
A Maine law mandating cable operators provide a la carte options, being challenged in federal court, is unique to that state, a cable lawyer told us Tuesday. L.D. 832, which became law in June, violates federal law and the First Amendment and would result in higher costs and fewer programming choices, said cable operator Comcast and a variety of programmers in a complaint last week (in Pacer, docket 19-cv-00410) in U.S. District Court in Bangor. The suit asks for the defendants including Gov. Janet Mills (D) to be permanently enjoined from enforcing or giving effect to the law. The cablers said the law would require extensive and expensive modifications to distributors' network infrastructure; ordering, subscription management and billing systems; and consumer equipment, and give rise to costly contractual disputes between programmers and distributors. Plaintiffs also include A&E, C-SPAN, CBS, Discovery, Disney, Fox, New England Sports Network and Viacom. Defendants also are state Attorney General Aaron Frey (D) and Bath, Berwick, Bowdoin, Bowdoinham, Brunswick, Durham, Freeport, Woolwich and other communities Comcast serves. The governor's office didn't comment.
RDX closed on its buy of Charter Communications' managed cloud services Navisite (see 1908260005), they said Monday.
Comcast and LG launched the Xfinity Stream beta app for LG’s smart TVs from model years 2017-19, they said Thursday. Customers can access live, on demand, and cloud DVR programming included with their Xfinity TV subscription on LG 4K and HD smart TVs without a set-top box. LG's in the Xfinity TV Partner Program.