The FCC said it received prohibited written presentations in the local franchise authority proceeding in which commissioners at Aug. 1 adopted an order on franchise fee definitions and LFAs' ability to levy them on non-cable services over cable infrastructure (see 1908010011). The seven presentations in docket 05-311 were from Massachusetts, Oregon and Arkansas communities, Maryland's Montgomery College and individuals, said a public notice Monday, saying presentations to decision-makers are generally not allowed from the day after release of the meeting's sunshine agenda until the text of the item is issued. The presentations "will be associated with, but not made part of the record," it said.

The cable industry hopes for at least incremental improvements in the retransmission consent regime via the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act reauthorization that Congress likely will act on later this year, said America's Communications Association Chairman Patricia Jo Boyers in the latest ACA Connects podcast, released Thursday. She said bigger hopes are tied to the Modern TV Act (HR-3994) and the possibility of its repeal of the retrans regime. She said what's spent on retrans cuts into what ISPs can spend on extending or upgrading their networks. "It's real for me," said Boyers, the president of Boycom Vision.

The cable industry continues "to whine, bitch, moan and complain like little children" about the supposed burden of cable leased access rules yet "happily" takes money for providing that leased access, said the Leased Access Programmers Association (LAPA) in a docket 07-42 posting Tuesday. Cable operators say leased access rules violate their First Amendment rights, but the Constitution doesn't give "the right to big business to control what the media may choose to disseminate or not to disseminate to the American public," LAPA said. It said the FCC's eliminating the requirement cable operators offer leased access on a part-time basis (see 1906060029) leaves most programmers without options since they can't afford to pay for a full-time channel. It said cable operators never presented evidence they were losing money by offering part-time access.

Comcast is boosting eligibility of its Internet Essentials program of broadband access for low-income subscribers, with new criteria opening it up to an estimated 3 million more households in its footprint, the company said Tuesday. It said about 7 million households now are eligible, and 2 million households have signed up since it launched the program in August 2011. It's adding as eligible applicants who are participating in one of a variety of government assistance programs such as Medicaid, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and Supplemental Security Income, it said. The Free State Foundation applauded the move.

The FCC Media Bureau rejecting beIN Sports' Comcast carriage complaint (see 1907020056) instead of referring it to an administrative law judge was an unprecedented departure from agency precedent "and offends the Constitution," the programmer said Friday in a docket 18-384 emergency application asking the agency to review the bureau order. The FCC didn't comment. In the redacted filing, beIN said the bureau finding that Comcast's carriage decision had legitimate commercial reasons didn't give it any opportunity for discovery and accepted Comcast's position based on beIN's not providing evidence that could be obtained only through discovery. It also said Comcast actions run contrary to that company's assertions about making its decision not to carry beIN due to business considerations.

Viacom and the National Cable TV Cooperative signed a renewed distribution agreement allowing for continued carriage of Viacom networks by NCTC member companies, they said Tuesday. Financial terms weren't disclosed.

America’s Communication Association seeks a clarifying footnote on an FCC draft order on direct dialing to 911 (see 1907250037). The draft would require fixed multi-line telephone services to be configured to provide dispatchable location information “automatically” when a user places a 911 call, ACA filed, posted Friday in docket 18-261. A footnote said “the dispatchable location information associated with a fixed MLTS device must be conveyed to the [public safety answering point] when a user places a 911 call, without further intervention by the user at the time it places the call.”

NBCUniversal's streaming service is aiming for April launch, with The Office -- which generates 5 percent of Netflix's traffic but that Netflix is losing -- a tentpole for the platform, NBCU CEO Stephen Burke said Thursday as Comcast announced Q2 results. He said the service will have some original programming, but NBCU expects the "vast majority" of its viewership to come for its acquired rather than original content. Comcast said it had revenue of $26.9 billion, up 24 percent over last year. It had 25.6 million residential broadband customers, up 1.2 million. CEO Brian Roberts said it's on pace for a 14th consecutive year of adding more than a million net broadband subscribers, while in Europe, Sky added 304,000. Comcast has 20.6 million residential video customers, down 432,000; 10 million residential voice customers, down 205,000; and 1.6 million wireless lines, up 805,000. Asked about possible deals, Roberts said the cable operator is focused on its current properties, with the Sky deal being opportunistic.

The streaming media player market has flattened, up a point from 2018, with penetration in 39 percent of U.S. broadband households, reported Parks Associates Wednesday. Purchase intentions are higher for 2019 than in previous years, Parks said. Connected device makers may need to shift focus from hardware sales to service and advertising revenue as ownership reaches saturation, said the researcher. “Streaming media has reshaped how US consumers interact with entertainment content and services, so as the market matures, sales increasingly come at another vendor’s expense,” said analyst Kristen Hanich. Roku (39 percent) and Amazon (30 percent) are “clear market leaders” of the installed base of streaming media players, benefiting from broad product portfolios with lower price points, she said. Roku and Fire TV adoption grows at the expense of Chromecast and Apple TV, said fellow analyst Craig Leslie.

The Montana Cable Telecommunications Association's shutting its doors effective Dec. 31 doesn't necessarily portend similar steps by cable groups in other states, but it's a reflection of the pressures on cable operators everywhere, American's Communications Association President Matt Polka told us Tuesday. MCTA, founded in 1959, said the move was due to members' declining video subscriber numbers from cord cutting and video programming cost pressures.