Comcast's seeming renewed interest in wireless communications might signal its next strategic step, said BTIG analyst Walter Piecyk in a blog post Friday. That Comcast is reportedly in talks with Verizon to renegotiate its mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) contract that it has never used is "a surprising new development," as well as an indication Comcast's 2011 sale of AWS spectrum to Verizon was at too-low prices, Piecyk said. While cable companies have touted Wi-Fi First as their response as the wireless industry becomes a growing competitive threat, "an attractive MVNO deal would be critical to execute that strategy," he said. However, because Comcast is trying to renegotiate points to its Verizon deal, even if Comcast activates the existing agreement this year, "we suspect it will talk it down as merely a limited trial," Piecyk said. Given the slim profit margins on MVNOs, Comcast might be better served by a wireless acquisition, and the company reportedly is in some sort of talks with Sprint and almost surely with T-Mobile as well, he said.

Arguments by big programmers against changing the FCC's interpretation of what a multichannel video programming distributor is and against changing content distribution rights "provide no concern for what options should be included in the new definition of MVPDs that would address consumer concerns regarding skyrocketing pay TV costs ... only that they want to continue with the status quo," BiggyTV said in a filing posted Friday in docket 14-261. The MVPD status quo "does not promote innovation or competition," BiggyTV said, and new MVPD definitions should cover online video distribution efforts by existing MVPDs "so that the playing field for new entries is leveled." MVPDs all should have the same access to in-home devices for distribution of their own over-the-top services over rivals' hardware, and no MVPD should have exclusivity because of a technology platform or relation to "transmission based" MVPDs, it said. BiggyTV also called for content creators to be able to negotiate separate license fees and not be forced to sign exclusively with an OTT MVPD and argued against bundling, and it backed the American Cable Association calls that various retransmission consent negotiating tactics like blackouts of marquee events be considered bad faith. Separate ex parte filings by an overlapping array of programmers made up of CBS, Scripps Networks Interactive, Time Warner, Viacom and Walt Disney had almost identical wording as they argued against FCC involvement in buying of programming rights for online distribution, and such "'cut and paste' lobbying should embolden the FCC to make the pro-consumer changes within the new definition of MVPDs," BiggyTV said. The proposed MVPD interpretation before the FCC now "in no way represents 'new' law or regulation" but simply would reconcile FCC policy with Congress' intent that "a service which distributes live, linear video programming in a way that is functionally equivalent to cable television and satellite distribution systems similarly qualifies as an MVPD," Sky Angel said in a filing posted Thursday in the docket. Pointing to MVPD program access rules, Sky Angel said "consumers deserve the pro-competitive protections that Congress put in place ... so that small and start-up entrants, such as Sky Angel, or established companies intending to move into new offerings, may have access to the regulatory tools in place and intended to support new live linear video distribution services."

Shipments of set-top boxes will grow this year, but revenue will be down due to price wars at the high end and growing numbers of economy units in emerging markets, IHS said in a report. Unit shipments in the first quarter of 2015 were up 3 percent from the same quarter a year earlier, IHS said. The global set-top box market was $4.2 billion in the quarter, down 3 percent sequentially. Cable set-top box sales were down 2 percent in the first quarter, while headed gateways and hybrid IP/QAM devices grew, IHS said, saying it expects to see strong unit growth for High-Definition Multimedia Interface dongles such as Amazon's Fire TV Stick HDTV, Google's Chromecast and Roku HDMI sticks. The number of HDMI dongles sold worldwide could top 27 million by 2019, IHS said.

Cable One is investing $9 million this year in Gulf Coast upgrades, which will give customers enhanced speed and reliability in their Internet, cable and phone service, said a news release from the company. Over the past five years, Cable One has invested more than $28 million on the Gulf Coast, the release said. This fall, Cable One in Pascagoula, Mississippi, will more than more than triple its fiber backbone capacity and cable modem network infrastructure through 12 channel bonding, it said.

The FCC should pay closer attention to pay TV consolidations and their effect on independent programmers and on the diversity of programming, the Starz network said in an ex parte filing posted Tuesday in docket 14-90. The imbalance of power between multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs) and independent programmers "is so significant that most companies will not raise concerns to the FCC or in public for fear of retribution," Starz said, saying that was the reason the topic came up so little in AT&T/DirecTV merger. While that merger is expected to lead to lower programming costs for AT&T/DirecTV, those cuts likely will fall heavily on small and independent content providers, Starz said. The FCC's public interest responsibilities need to include paying attention to the fact major MVPDs will lean toward "programming with the broadest appeal to the detriment of niche and diverse audiences and at the expense of small and independent programmers," Starz said. The filing detailed a series of meetings between Starz and FCC representatives, including network CEO Chris Albrecht; Omari Hardwick, star of the Starz series Power; FCC General Counsel Jonathan Sallet; and Commissioners Mignon Clyburn and Jessica Rosenworcel. Starz didn't oppose the AT&T/DirecTV merger but signed a new carriage deal with AT&T shortly after the FCC approved the merger last week.

Time Warner Cable added Israel, Romania and Thailand to the countries in its Business Class Phone Global Calling Plan, the company said Tuesday. The plan offers discounted rates on calls to more than 50 nations.

Buying online distribution rights should be an option -- not a requirement -- for programmers, and such a rule wouldn't be much help to the nascent over-the-top marketplace, AMC Networks officials told FCC representatives in a meeting on the agency's proposed reinterpretation of the definition of a multichannel video programming distributor to include some types of online video delivery. Making them buy online distribution rights from content holders -- especially when such rights are sometimes not available, or come at a huge price -- would put programmers at a negotiating disadvantage, "exacerbating the already unequal playing field between affiliated and unaffiliated programmers," AMC said in an ex parte filing posted Wednesday in docket 14-261. Meanwhile, the OTT marketplace "is already developing rapidly, without any need for governmentally enforced access to programming," AMC said.

Numerous media companies hope to block Viacom's attempts to get program distribution agreements (PDAs) with Cablevision. In an order filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, U.S. Magistrate Judge James Cott approved a motion by content providers including CBS, Discovery Communications, ESPN and HBO, allowing them to intervene in Cablevision's 2013 lawsuit against Viacom for allegedly forcing the cable company to carry ancillary networks in order to obtain such core networks as MTV and Nickelodeon (see 1302280044). Viacom filed a motion earlier this month asking the court to compel Cablevision to provide PDAs spelling out pricing and other carriage commitment details. In their motion last week seeking the right to intervene and also opposing the Viacom motion, the content companies argued that the information Viacom is seeking in its discovery requests "is neither relevant nor necessary" and producing the information raises confidentiality issues. "Viacom has not demonstrated that it is entitled to intrusive, far-reaching discovery" of Cablevision carriage agreements, the media companies said.

Comcast and Discovery Communications signed a new carriage agreement, the two said Monday. The deal includes TV Everywhere rights, allowing Xfinity TV customers to access Discovery programming on multiple platforms.

Mediacom is aiming large doses of snark at NAB as it pushes the FCC to retool retransmission consent rules. In a filing posted Monday in docket 10-71, the cable company referenced everything from Star Trek and Flip Wilson's "the Devil made me do it" catchphrase to South Park and the Nazi Party as it attempted to rebut NAB arguments made earlier this month against greater regulatory control over retrans as the agency has begun rulemaking for the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act Reauthorization's Section 103, which covers retrans (see 1507140021). NAB is distracting the FCC by arguing that multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs) are bigger bad actors, as "that would simply mean there are two scamps, rather than only one scalawag that the FCC needs to sit in the corner," Mediacom said -- while adding that NAB allegations of MVPD misdeeds such as poor customer service, excessive equipment fees and questionable billing practices are groundless. Mediacom also scoffed at the NAB's much-repeated argument that blackouts are engineered by MVPDs to leverage FCC intervention: "The absurd premise underlying this claim is that poor, gullible, meek and powerless station owners like CBS Corp., Disney, Fox and Sinclair Broadcast Group have been maneuvered and coerced into ordering station blackouts against their will," Mediacom said. The cable company also likened the argument that MVPDs cause blackouts to Germany's framing Poland as the aggressor to legitimize its 1939 invasion. NAB is making "a giant leap" when it argues that since most retransmission consent negotiations are resolved without blackouts, such negotiations do not need FCC intervention. Pointing to Star Trek's Mr. Spock once saying he was needed most of all "among a shipload of illogical humans," Mediacom said he was needed more elsewhere -- "In a roomful of broadcast industry lobbyists relying on assorted logical fallacies to defend the status quo for retransmission consent." NAB did not respond to a message seeking comment Monday.