Small and mid-sized cable ISPs are asking the FCC to support tentative conclusions of the draft Further NPRM that would treat cable operators' in-kind contributions required by local franchise authorities as franchise fees and subject to a cap (see 1809250017). In a docket 05-311 posting Monday, 19 operators said LFAs increasingly demand they pay for new rights-of-way authority for offering broadband and other services over their already authorized facilities and for in-kind exactions above the 5 percent cap. Signatories included Cable One, Full Channel, Mediacom, Midcontinent, RCN Grande Wave, Shentel and TDS.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals shot down Comcast and Charter Communications asks for rehearings en banc of November decisions allowing claims of discrimination in their programming choices to proceed (see 1812060052). In a docket 16-56479 order Monday, Judges Milan Smith and Jacqueline Nguyen voted to deny Comcast's petition, with Judge Mary Schroeder recommending. No judge of the full court requested a vote on the petition for rehearing. In a docket 17-55723 order and opinion Monday, the same panel said the same about Charter's petition. The panel said it's withdrawing its prior opinion and entering a superseding opinion still affirming a lower court's decision to deny Charter's motion to dismiss. According to the superseding opinion, written by Smith, a plaintiff doesn't have to plead that racial discrimination was the but-for cause of a defendant's conduct, only that racial discrimination was a factor. The court said Section 1981 federal rights law is narrowly tailored to serve government interest in preventing racial discrimination and that Charter's First Amendment rights don't bar the claim.

U.S. antitrust authorities won't challenge CommScope buying Arris, the seller said Friday. The Hart-Scott Rodino Act waiting period recently expired and Arris shareholders approved the acquisition, expected to be completed by June 30, Arris said. FTC/DOJ OK was expected (see 1811080051). As is typical, the commission wouldn't tell us if it had approved the deal, worth about $7.4 billion. "We remain on track with the remaining regulatory requirements," emailed an Arris spokesperson.

Comcast Xfinity joined the Super Bowl spirit (see 1901290017), noting X1 customers can use voice remotes while watching the game. Xfinity Home customers with Philips Hue or Lifx lights can use voice commands to change colors to match those of the Los Angeles Rams and New England Patriots, a Comcast spokesperson emailed Thursday. The company emailed customers about the commands Sunday, she said. X1 customers can get statistics from the sports app and see who’s at the front door via smart camera by issuing voice commands, wrote Bryan Kissinger, director-digital home product management.

Any national spectrum strategy needs to try to promote more spectrum for unlicensed use, given the importance of Wi-Fi, and recognize fixed and mobile roles, NCTA noted it commented to NTIA. It seeks NTIA recommending the FCC open the 5.9 GHz band to unlicensed use and a cautious approach to opening up C band and 6 GHz bands that ensures incumbent operations -- such as cable industry use -- are protected. Earlier this week, NTIA released the comments, many submitted during the partial shutdown (see 1901300043). NCTA blogged Thursday that the optimal route “allows for these services to continue to expand as consumers’ demands for connectivity and TV increase."

Redesignating an N11 number for a national suicide prevention and mental health crisis hotline would be unwise considering their heavy use, NCTA said in FCC docket 18-336 Tuesday. It said its three largest members carried 556,879 611 calls during October and November, along with 369,044 211 calls, 363,935 311 calls and 92,196 511 calls. That shows the "complicated challenge" with consumer outreach and education related to some redesignation and the FCC should look instead at a non-N11 number, it said. ATIS opposes repurposing an N11 number (see 1812110033).

Cable manufacturer Chromis is taking orders for DisplayPort 1.4 active optical cables it’s billing as 8K-HDMI-ready. The pre-terminated cables support 8K60 display stream compression, 8K30 and 4K120 video, it said. No power is required, said the company.

Over-the-top services will speed their global expansion over the next five years, with more than 310 million connected households having at least one by 2024, blogged Parks Associates Wednesday. As content companies and service providers look to capture more revenue, Western Europe and other global markets will have more subscriber growth than the U.S., Parks said. Challenges for companies looking to expand globally include device preferences that vary by country and higher rates of mobile high-speed services with no access to fixed services, it said. U.S. households prefer smart TVs or streaming media devices, for instance. Content is the ultimate determination of a service’s success, but “small variations in pricing and user experience can cause significant adoption differences across countries,” said analyst Brett Sappington.

Though Comcast plans to launch its own video streaming service in the first half of 2020 (see 1901140030), it anticipates licensing content to other over-the-top players, depending on what prices it can command, executives said in a Q4 call. CEO Brian Roberts said Comcast's streaming aim is to better monetize online viewership by offering its content online "with a very light ad load." He said it should be scalable, taking it quickly to breakeven. Comcast said as it rolls out the offering internationally in some countries, it will launch subscription VOD only, without advertising, or employ other strategies. Consolidated revenue for the quarter, including Sky, was $27.9 billion, up 26 percent year over year. It's increasing the 2019 dividend by 10 percent to 84 cents a share. The operator ended 2018 with 25.1 million residential broadband customers, up from 23.9 million; 21 million residential video customers, down from 21.3 million; and 10.2 million voice customers, down from 10.3 million. Comcast closed on its Sky takeover in October (see 1810090028). Roberts said Comcast rolled out 1 GB to nearly all 58 million homes and businesses in its footprint in 2018. Many won't need those speeds, a panel heard later Wednesday (see 1901230053).

MPAA said it added a nontraditional studio member: Netflix. It lets the association "more effectively advocate for the global community of creative storytellers,” said MPAA CEO Charles Rivkin Tuesday. Existing members are Disney, Fox, Paramount, Sony, Universal and Warner Bros. Netflix didn't comment.