Beyond the FCC's April 12 vote on axing its requirement cable operators maintain hard copies of their channel lineups in their local offices (see 1903210062), the agency's current look at leased access revision, electronic delivery of notices to cable customers and the scope of local franchise authorities is aimed at "ultimately delivering a more modernized set of regulations," Chairman Ajit Pai told America's Communications Association members Thursday. He didn't give specifics on timing. Two eighth-floor officials also told us timing of those other media modernization items isn't clear.
Xfinity created voice commands and smart bulb integration for the X1 remote tied to the NCAA Men’s Basketball tournament, it said Wednesday. Beginning Thursday, Xfinity customers with the X1 voice remote and either xFi internet or Xfinity home service can see lights mapped to the 68 teams in the tournament. Integration works with color-emitting bulbs from Lifx or Philips Hue, priced under $50 each, the Comcast business said.
Household spending on subscription over-the-top video services has held steady for three years, averaging just under $8 per month since 2016, reported Parks Associates Wednesday. Adoption of multiple services, or expensive services, by some consumers appears to be offset by a large base of consumers who subscribe to one or two relatively inexpensive services, including 30 percent of consumers who don’t spend any money on OTT video services, it said. “The stability in average household spend belies the activity going on under the surface,” and that trend may end this year, said analyst Brett Sappington. Netflix, Hulu and Amazon continue to add subscribers, services such as ESPN Plus are also experiencing “phenomenal growth,” and Disney and AT&T's WarnerMedia plan to enter the fray this summer. Sappington sees three possible scenarios in the morphing market: More households become OTT streaming households, rival services begin to pull subscribers away from Netflix “or that spending number will go up.” The deluge of OTT platforms created more competition for video based on choice and content quality, but even as consumers spend more time viewing digital media, OTT platforms are experiencing a lag in customers’ insights, loyalty and revenue, said Barry Nolan, chief strategy officer, Swrve. OTT platforms need to deliver “the perfect message at the perfect time,” he said.
Cablevision founder Charles Dolan asked the New York Public Service Commission to look into Altice USA's compliance with conditions the PSC put on the 2016 buy of Cablevision. In a letter Tuesday to the state, Dolan said Altice potentially "has flouted its commitments" by its layoffs of close to 70 workers at Cablevision's News 12 subsidiary. It said a finding that Altice violated the conditions should be met with an order it restore or replace the terminated workers and should bar further staff reductions. The layoffs are also subject of Dolan family litigation in Delaware Chancery Court against Altice (see 1809050032). Altice emailed that it "continues to invest in News 12 and we are pleased with the network’s ongoing achievements, including growth in ratings and digital viewership," "has met all of its workforce commitments" and is "in compliance with our merger agreement.”
The market for children’s programming “has changed significantly in recent years, including a marked shift to online consumption,” Viacom and NCTA told an aide to FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly Wednesday, per a filing Monday in docket 17-105. Modernize rules to “provide non-broadcast program networks greater flexibility to serve their audiences,” they asked.
NSI bought Platinum Tools to broaden its product portfolio and reach new customers, it said Thursday. Platinum Tools provides cable management solutions, structured wiring products, tester kits, cutters, crimpers and other products for electrical, industrial, security, audio/video, commercial, residential, datacom and telecom applications. On possible organizational changes resulting from the acquisition, an NSI spokesperson emailed that the companies are working to create a “unified path forward” over the next 90-100 days. Meantime, it’s “business as usual,” she said. Platinum employs about 40 and will continue to operate out of Newbury Park, California.
Communities such as Rochester, New York, and Milwaukie, Oregon, are exceeding and violating the cable franchise fee caps for cable operators, highlighting the need for the FCC to move quickly and affirm such fees are legally barred or else they will just proliferate, NCTA said in a docket 05-311 posting Thursday. The FCC hasn't specifically addressed such fee limits, so state and local governments keep imposing duplicative right-of-way fees on provision of non-cable services over cable systems beyond the 5 percent cable franchise fee cap Congress established, NCTA said. The cities didn't comment.
As 80 percent of internet traffic will be video content this year, the AdRoll digital marketing platform announced Wednesday an artificial intelligence-based solution to reach customers across desktop, tablet and mobile web. Machine learning determines the optimal bid price per impression and analyzes user behavior to send the appropriate video ad to the right user.
Cable representatives took their case for in-kind contributions counting as franchise fees, counting against the statutory cap, to a meeting with FCC Media Bureau Chief Michelle Carey and Office of General Counsel and Office of Economics and Analytics staffers, said a docket 05-311 posting Wednesday. NCTA, Comcast and Charter Communications said it's wrong to interpret the Cable Act definition of public educational and government access facilities so that channel capacity isn't treated as a capital cost excluded from franchise fees. Only costs associated with construction of PEG access facilities are capital costs excluded from the cap, the cablers said.
The FCC should let cable operators show compliance with kidvid rules once yearly, not quarterly as now required, the American Cable Association told Media Bureau staff in a March 6 meeting, it filed, posted Monday in docket 18-202. Give operators more time to collect and post programmer certifications, and don't fine small ones that made a good-faith effort to comply, ACA said. “Adopting these reforms would significantly reduce the 16-20 hours per quarter burden that ACA members incur trying to collect, process, and post their certifications.”