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).
Viacom's advertising-supported Pluto TV streaming service rolled out Pluto TV Latino -- 11 linear Spanish and Portuguese-language channels with content such as dubbed Hollywood films and telenovelas, it said Monday.
The FCC Media Bureau granted a Massachusetts Department of Telecommunications and Cable petition for reconsideration of a previous bureau order finding effective cable competition in the town of Templeton, northwest of Worcester. In the Thursday docket 13-172 order, the bureau said Comcast didn't oppose the recon petition.
Charter Communications is opposing a Massachusetts Department of Telecommunications and Cable (MDTC) request that Charter's petition for determination of effective competition in Massachusetts and Hawaii communities based on the presence of DirecTV Now be held in abeyance. Charter said MDTC's argument about DirecTV Now's declining subscriber numbers relies on information that's both speculative and immaterial because the local exchange carrier test doesn't have a penetration requirement, in a docket 18-283 opposition posted Friday. It said if the FCC grants its petition and DirecTV Now ceases to compete in Hawaii and Massachusetts, those states can seek recertification to regulate it. MDTC in its abeyance petition said minus a turnaround there's no guarantee of DirecTV Now's continued viability. It also said the FCC instead should finalize its proposed changes to basic tier regulation by local franchise authorities (see 1810230037), which could make the Charter petition moot.
Small ISPs are between a rock and a hard place on offering cable TV because it's unlikely to generate a net operating margin, but many subscribers still want traditional cable service and will gravitate to ISPs that can bundle it with broadband, CCG Consulting President Doug Dawson blogged Wednesday. Finances are different for big ISPs that are able to get programming more cheaply, meaning they have wider operating margins so each cable customer adds to the bottom line, he said.
Three 2020 Democratic presidential hopefuls urged FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and DOJ Antitrust Division head Makan Delrahim Tuesday to review Sinclair's buy of 21 regional sports networks and Fox College Sports from Disney (see 1905030059) “and the effects it would have on consumers.” Disney's sale of the sports networks follows their acquisition as part of the buy of most of the assets of 21st Century Fox (see 1901140039). “We are particularly concerned that adding ownership of these [sports networks] to its existing local television stations could allow Sinclair to increase fees on consumers and be used by the company as leverage to allow it to force its partisan political messaging on a larger swath of the American population,” wrote Sens. Cory Booker, D-N.J.; Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.; and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass. “It is clear that Sinclair has an explicit interest in, and commitment to, relaying partisan political messages to its viewers -- making its recent anti-competitive expansion attempts into millions of additional households all the more concerning.” Distributors “understand the value of live sports and the limited number of un-bundled live sport streaming options available to consumers leave ‘sports fans ... tethered to their cable bundle,” the senators said. “Therefore, the agreement with Disney offers Sinclair an opportunity to charge consumers more by packaging their cable and broadcast programs.”