Comcast has retreated from its earlier defenses of its proposed buy of Time Warner Cable, Dish Network said in a partially redacted ex parte filing Monday. Comcast previously portrayed online video distributors as a benefit to its content and ISP businesses, but now “applicants acknowledge OVDs are a threat,” Dish said. Comcast also shifted its stance on whether the merger will lead to a rate increase and whether it ever considered an out-of-footprint over-the-top offering, Dish said. Comcast also “sidestepped” Dish arguments about the cable company’s “evasion” of previous merger conditions, Dish said. “The point is not that Comcast will overtly violate the law, but that Comcast can and will exploit any lack of clarity, complexity in the facts, and the likely frequent inability of either the Commission or possible victims to detect the relevant conduct,” Dish said. "This is just another example of Dish repackaging its old arguments and misrepresenting the facts," a Comcast spokeswoman told us. "We’ve already responded to their claims, and will do so again in due time.”

Comment dates have been set in the FCC's proceeding on whether it should adopt a “rebuttable presumption” that cable operators are subject to effective competition, the commission said in a public notice Friday. That rebuttable presumption would mean that cable companies would no longer need to prove that there is effective competition in a given market. The rule change is based on provisions in the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act Reauthorization intended to help small cable operators, but would apply to all cable companies. Comments are due April 9, and replies April 20, the PN said.

Protecting its market power from erosion by online video is Comcast’s incentive to hold back content and throttle online video distributors (OVDs), said Netflix in an ex parte filing posted online in docket 14-57 Thursday. Though Comcast has argued it wouldn’t have incentive to foreclose OVDs, Netflix disagreed. Comcast’s theory that foreclosing OVDs isn’t desirable because it wouldn’t provide the cable giant with new market power relies on the assumption that Comcast doesn’t fear losing market power to OVDs, Netflix said. “OVD substitution of traditional Comcast services is both real and recognized by Comcast itself as potentially undermining its position in the market,” Netflix said. Comcast’s internal documents, released as part of the merger review, also show concern about the market threat of OVD, Netflix said in a heavily redacted section of the filing. Comcast didn't comment.

Charter stockholders approved the issuance of shares in connection with Comcast's planned buy of Time Warner Cable, Charter said in a news release Tuesday. The issued shares of common stock are connected with Charter’s acquisition of 33 percent of GreatLand Connections, which will be spun off from Comcast under the TWC deal.

The FCC should waive a requirement that cable systems pass through emergency info on a secondary audio programming (SAP) stream for small cable systems that provide analog service, the American Cable Association said in a waiver petition filed Wednesday. The requirement has a May 26 compliance deadline, but cable systems using analog systems can’t pass through SAP to their subscribers, ACA said. Applying the new rules to systems incapable of full compliance “will harm these operators and their subscribers” when alternative means of compliance or additional time could “achieve full industry participation at a later date,” ACA said.

Scripps Networks is set to acquire a 52.7 percent interest in Poland’s TVN for about $617 million, the acquirer said in a news release Monday. The U.S. programmer will also assume about $887 million in debt in the deal, which is subject to regulatory approvals under Polish law, it said. TVN had a 22 percent share of Polish viewing in 2014, Scripps Networks said.

Cablevision and HBO reached an agreement that will give the cable operator's Optimum Online customers access to the channel's stand-alone streaming service, HBO Now, via the Internet, said a news release from Cablevision. It said the deal makes Optimum the first cable provider to partner with HBO on the service, which is expected to launch in April (see 1503090035).

The FCC is seeking comment on whether it should adopt a “rebuttable presumption” that cable operators are subject to effective competition, it said in an NPRM Monday. “Such an approach would reflect the fact that today, based on application of the effective competition test in the current market, the Commission grants nearly all requests for a finding of effective competition,” the NPRM said. The proposal is also intended to implement one of the provisions of the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act Reauthorization, the NPRM said. The FCC wants to know if the change would “reduce regulatory burdens on all cable operators -- large and small -- and on their competitors, while more efficiently allocating the Commission’s resources and amending outdated regulations,” the NPRM said. Comments are due 20 days after publication in the Federal Register, replies 30 days.

The FCC should grant EchoStar's petition for waiver of the analog tuner requirement, to benefit consumers, CEA said in a comment posted Tuesday in docket 15-47. The commission should let EchoStar sell a new model of SlingLoaded HD, Internet-enabled DVR in the U.S., which doesn't include an analog over-the-air tuner, it said. Digital-only devices are cost-effective and the analog tuner requirement should be eliminated for all manufacturers, it said. Delaying this could create a generation of devices with "vestigial analog tuners" while manufacturers comply with "a rule that no longer matches market realities," CEA said. EchoStar's waiver petition and a similar one from Funai in docket 15-42 "are evidence that device manufacturers want to offer consumers the benefits of digital-only devices in upcoming product lines," CEA said. "Eliminating the requirement would also alleviate market uncertainty, permitting manufacturers to introduce innovative, lower-cost, and energy-saving devices in the same timeframe that the remaining analog TV broadcasters have to fully transition to digital broadcasts." CEA was the only commenter in both the Funai and the EchoStar dockets, replies in which are due March 17 and March 19, respectively.

The FCC Media Bureau is seeking comment on an American Cable Association petition requesting a three-year extension of the HD carriage exemption for smaller cable systems, and it tentatively has concluded that granting the extension serves the public interest, said a further NPRM issued Thursday. The HD carriage exemption is set to expire June 12, and a three-year extension would lengthen it to June 12, 2018. “We tentatively conclude that the exemption is still necessary to protect the subscribers of small cable systems from the costs and service disruptions that may result from requiring those systems to deliver HD signals in HD beginning in June 2015,” the bureau said. It seeks comment on the threshold for small cable systems. Comments are due 20 days in docket 98-120 after the FNPRM appears in the Federal Register, replies 10 days after initial comments.