State and local interests continue to press for repeal of the cable mixed-use rules. According to a filing Friday in docket 05-311 recapping a meeting with FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks' office, the state and local interests also advocated for a ruling that cable franchise obligation compensation must be for marginal cost, not fair market value. The local and state interests -- including Boston, Dallas, Los Angeles County, Hawaii and the National League of Cities -- this month had a similar meeting with Commissioner Anna Gomez's office (see [Re:2401080032]).
Expect to see Wi-Fi 6E and Wi-Fi 7 adopted this year, driven by increased demand for newer generation Wi-Fi networks, NCTA Chief Technology Officer Rikin Thakker said Wednesday. Also driving popularity of Wi-Fi 6E/7 will be their ability to use 6 GHz band spectrum, particularly as more countries open up the band, he said. Thakker said more cable operators will upgrade plants to DOCSIS 4.0 in 2024 as they move to multi-gig speeds. He expects some will deploy extended DOCSIS 3.1 as a precursor to end-to-end DOCSIS 4.0. He also said NTIA's National Spectrum Implementation Plan will set out strategies for bands of importance to cable -- 3.1-3.45 GHz, 7.125-8.4 GHz and 37-37.6 GHz.
The cable industry will report broadband subscriber losses of around 136,000 in Q4, which would be the largest decline on record, TD Cowen wrote investors Tuesday. It said fixed wireless is a competitive threat from low-end subscribers, and fiber to the home is a threat "everywhere else."
The National Content & Technology Cooperative joined the Associated Carrier Group, which should grease the path for NCTC cable operator members wanting to launch mobile virtual network operator service, NCTC said Tuesday. ACG membership lets NCTC members take advantage of discounts with mobile original equipment manufacturers, it said.
The FCC Wireline Bureau approved a transfer of control of Tennessee-based cable and fiber connectivity operator CableSouth from parent Hunt Group Holdings to Australia's Macquarie Group, according to a notice in Thursday's Daily Digest. It said that under the deal Hunt and Macquarie will each own 50% of CableSouth, with Macquarie having de facto control. CableSouth does business as SwyftFiber and SwyftConnect.
Ad-supported Disney+ is now a part of all Charter Communications' Spectrum TV Select packages at no extra cost, Charter and Disney said Thursday. The streaming service's availability is the result of a distribution agreement the two reached in September (see 2309110034). Tom Montemagno, Charter executive vice president-programming acquisition, said that as the video industry evolves, the cabler is "committed to including direct-to-consumer apps like Disney+" with its Spectrum service.
Wall Street might start looking at cable growth in 2024 as "a game of inches with growth and investment narratives dependent on short-term promotions and competitor offers rather than structural drivers," Barclays said in a note Thursday. Price hikes will likely be a focus again for the telecom industry in 2024 as they were during the past few years. Barclays also said a slowdown in cable subscriber growth due to issues such as competition from new entrants in a low-growth environment is likely to be exacerbated by Verizon and T-Mobile having greater access to spectrum for fixed wireless. An additional worry for cable is that AT&T is moving further into fixed wireless. Traditionally, cable grew through speed upgrades and price hikes. With Comcast and Charter offering minimum speeds "way higher than needed for most households," pricing becomes more important, Barclays said. However, price hikes come with trade-offs, it added, pointing to increased fixed wireless competition and wireless-only growth.
The Q3 2023 inflation adjustment figure for cable operators using Form 1240 is 3.33%, said the FCC Media Bureau and Office of Economics and Analytics Thursday. In the year-ago quarter, it was 4.37%.
Comcast customer data including usernames, hashed passwords, contact information, last four digits of Social Security numbers, dates of birth, and secret questions and answers was accessed in a hack exploiting a Citrix software vulnerability, the cabler said Tuesday. The hack occurred Oct. 16-19, it said in a notice alerting customers of the incident.
Wideopenwest is piloting a test in the Panama City, Florida, market using distributed access architecture modes to increase capacity on its hybrid coaxial fiber network and offer multi-gig speeds, it said Tuesday. The cabler said the tested technology lays the framework for offering symmetrical multi-gig speeds via DOCSIS 4.0. It said under the test, customers in a specifically designated area will enjoy speeds of 2 Gbps/200 Mbps. Test phases will make those speeds available to current and new subscribers in additional markets later.