The American Council of the Blind backs the NBCUniversal limited waiver of video description requirements for its USA Network and other top-five nonbroadcast networks (see 1906140054). ACB opposes creation of a safe harbor for all other non-broadcasters, it said in a docket 11-43 posting Friday.
Disney executives said there's no need for the FCC to expand its MVPD definition, in discussions about ABC's increased distribution via over-the-top video providers with the four regulator commissioners and FCC Chief of Staff Matthew Berry, per a docket 14-261 ex parte posting Friday. It previously opposed OTT operations being considered an MVPD (see 1507140011).
Sinclair reached a multiyear agreement with Charter for continued carriage of the Fox regional sports networks it’s expected to acquire from Disney buying much of 21st Century Fox (see 1905030059), Sinclair said Thursday. The deal also includes carriage for Sinclair’s stations, the Tennis Channel and soon-to-launch Marquee Sports Network, Sinclair said. Preliminary Q2 media revenue for Sinclair is $721 million, in line with Sinclair’s projections of $716 to $725 million, it said. Q2 results will be released Aug. 7.
Arris plans retail availability this month of what it’s calling the industry’s “first true tri-band Wi-Fi 6 mesh systems,” it said Tuesday. Two systems will be available, both built “around the newest Wi-Fi 6 standard featuring the latest wireless and modulation technologies,” said the cable gear-maker that's part of CommScope. Wi-Fi 6 “enables multi-Gigabit speeds across a growing range of connected devices to accelerate everything that consumers do online today,” it said. It also “unlocks a new set of future services and experiences,” including 8K video, augmented reality and advanced smart cloud services. Backers of Wi-Fi 6 claim it can be globally harmonized and deployed rapidly (see 1906270052).
The cable leased access Further NPRM, asking about First Amendment issues for the FCC's leased access rules (see 1906060029), seems to point to an order coming that will eliminate those rules due to widespread availability of online platforms for video programming distribution, video carriage lawyer Paul Feldman of Fletcher Heald blogged Monday. Most of the leased access rules revisions the commissioners approved in June in the order accompanying the FNPRM take effect July 22, Feldman said.
Altice USA's i24 News international news channel is increasing its U.S. coverage in part through the cable company's acquisition of news company Cheddar (see 1906060064), it said Monday.
The Supreme Court need not review a VoIP classification decision by the 8th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals deciding interconnected IP-based voice is an information service exempt from state regulation, Charter Communications said in a Wednesday brief in case 18-1386. “That decision does not conflict with the decisions of any other court,” is “consistent with the views of the FCC,” doesn’t “implicate any issue of national importance,” and is “a straightforward application of the plain terms of the 1996 Act,” the company said. The operator disagreed the decision conflicts with the Vermont Supreme Court's 2013 opinion that some but not all state regulation of information services is pre-empted, as argued by the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission in its petition for writ of certiorari (see 1905010191). The decision doesn't frustrate universal service programs, the MVPD responded to NARUC's June 3 amicus brief. “As the FCC has held and the Tenth Circuit has recognized, designation as an Eligible Telecommunications Carrier turns on whether the provider offers any service on a common carrier basis," Charter said. "Provisioning interconnected VoIP services (irrespective of how they are classified) generally still involves wholesale telecommunications services upstream from the consumer-facing offering, such as those relating to network access and interconnection, meaning that VoIP providers or their affiliates can be common carriers for reasons other than their consumer-facing voice services.” The Voice on the Net Coalition, supporting Charter, expects a cert decision by the first week of October, Executive Director Glenn Richards told us Friday.
Amid speculation Netflix is considering an advertising-supported subscription plan, Hub Entertainment Research released survey results Wednesday saying many subscribers would be open to the idea but only with a “significant discount." If Netflix included ads and kept current pricing, 41 percent said they would definitely or probably keep the service vs. 23 percent who said they would definitely or probably drop their subscription. If Netflix added an ad-supported tier as an option, a $3 lower price could persuade subscribers to sign up for the ad-free alternative, Hub said, while a $1 price drop for ad-supported “wouldn’t move the needle much.” If the current ad-free plan rose by $3, 58 percent of subscribers would switch to an ad-based tier at the current fee; 20 percent would quit, it said. The success of any Netflix ad-supported plan -- whether a replacement plan or supplemental one -- depends on whether consumers feel they’re getting a sufficient price break and value, said analyst Peter Fondulas: “Any attempt by Netflix to use an ad-supported plan as a reason to hike its ad-free price again could seriously backfire.” The July online survey was conducted with 1,765 U.S. consumers ages 16-74 who watch a minimum of one hour of TV weekly. Netflix didn't comment.
The Q1 inflation adjustment figure for cable operators using Form 1240 is 0.9 percent, the FCC Media Bureau said Tuesday. In the year-ago quarter, it was 2.20 percent.
The FCC Media Bureau rejected a 2018 beIN Sports carriage complaint against Comcast. In its docket 18-384 opinion and order Tuesday, the bureau said beIN and Comcast-affiliated Universo aren't similarly situated so beIN's discrimination argument regarding it fails. It said Comcast-affiliated NBC Sports Network is similarly situated and beIN was treated differently from NBCSN, but Comcast didn't discriminate on the basis of that affiliation. BeIN said it's disappointed but "pleased with the acknowledgement [it's] a similarly situated network to that of NBC Sports and that Comcast discriminated against us by treating us differently than other affiliated networks." It said the bureau "agreed that Comcast’s differential treatment ... has the effect of unreasonably restraining us from competing fairly in the market." It said it's "reviewing all of our options concerning this ruling and will continue our efforts to fight Comcast’s discriminatory tactics." The bureau dismissed a similar beIN carriage complaint in March (see 1903290054).