Spectrum sharing is critical to Wi-Fi, NCTA said Monday in a post on its blog. “By increasing the amount of spectrum that Wi-Fi can share, our spectrum supply can keep pace with the tremendous growth in Wi-Fi usage and jump-start a new generation of Wi-Fi that can reach speeds of up to a gigabit per second.” The group sees special promise in sharing the 5.9 GHz band with automakers who plan to use the spectrum for crash avoidance systems (see 1402040029). The spectrum was allocated more than 15 years ago for that use, NCTA said. It said that auto manufacturers haven't developed "a commercial product despite millions in government subsidies, which means that today, while there are neither auto nor Wi-Fi technologies in the band, is the perfect moment to rethink how these frequencies can be best utilized and shared and to develop a true win-win solution.”

Comcast CEO Brian Roberts spoke with FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler last week before the company backed out of the deal to buy Time Warner Cable Friday in the face of regulator opposition, according to an ex parte filing in docket 14-57. April 20, Roberts “emphasized that Comcast, as it has in proven in prior transactions, will live up to the commitments it made in the docket,” the filing said. Industry officials familiar with the proceedings told us that concern about Comcast’s record on prior transaction conditions was one of the factors in FCC opposition to the deal (see 1504230060). Charter Communications, Comcast and TWC formally withdrew their applications for the Comcast/TWC Friday, in an ex parte letter filed in docket 14-57. The Comcast and Charter spinoff that was to be created out of Comcast/TWC, also withdrew its application, the filing said.

Beyond the existing video-centric set-top box software, members of the reference design kit community are working on RDK software for broadband devices, said a news release from RDK. Broadband devices, similar to set-tops, can benefit from a software baseline of commonality and standardization that could be enhanced by an RDK-like structure, RDK said. RDK-B is being developed by key operators, system-on-a-chip companies and original equipment manufacturer companies, it said. RDK Management is making the product available as soon as the software and minimal support aspects are ready for the community, and is targeting the second half of 2015, said its release. It confirmed that the joint venture among Comcast, Liberty Global and Time Warner Cable has more than 5 million RDKs running (see 1504070044).

Charter Communications supports an FCC proposal to make it a rebuttable presumption that cable companies face effective competition throughout the U.S., Charter Senior Vice President-Government Affairs Alex Hoehn-Saric said in a meeting Tuesday with Maria Kirby, aide to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, according to an ex parte filing Thursday. The proposed rule change reflects the state of competition that exists today and satisfies the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act Reauthorization, Charter said.

Cablevision is targeting cord cutters with new Internet-focused Optimum products that let consumers have more choices, the company said Thursday. The cord cutter package provides access to high-speed broadband that facilitates a high-quality over-the-top video experience, a digital antenna and the option to add new digital streaming service HBO Now, Cablevision said. There's also an Optimum Everyday Low Price package, which is designed for highly price-sensitive consumers, it said. That package includes Internet Basics 5 Mbps service, Freewheel phone and a digital antenna, Cablevision said.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit ruled against former wrestler Steve “Wild Thing” Ray's appeal of his lawsuit against ESPN, saying U.S. District Court Judge Scott Wright was correct in dismissing the lawsuit because the Copyright Act “preempts Ray's claims” that ESPN misappropriated his name, invaded his privacy and interfered with his prospective economic advantage by re-telecasting his Universal Wrestling Federation (UWF) performances. Ray claimed that ESPN re-telecast his wrestling performances without his consent, saying the matches had been “filmed for future use to generate revenue.” Wright ruled in 2014 that the Copyright Act pre-empted Ray's claims because his performances were part of copyrighted material “and his likenesses couldn't be detached from the copyrighted performances that were contained in the films.” ESPN and Ray didn't comment. The appeals court is based in St. Louis.

Nickelodeon launched the Nick Jr. app for the Apple Watch, enabling better parental controls for the preschool app on the iPhone, the company said Tuesday. When the Apple Watch is used in tandem with the Nick Jr. app for iPhone, parents will be able to manage screen time via a timer, supervise their child’s activities on the phone and regulate the volume settings, it said. “These watch functions are extensions of the user’s iPhone experience and can be accessed by tapping on the Nick Jr. icon on the watch.” Additional features include the ability of parents to see at a glance what kids are watching in the app at any given moment, it said.

The FCC should extend an exemption for small cable systems from requirements to carry HD broadcast signals, said the American Cable Association, NCTA and WTA in comments in docket 98-120 on an ACA petition requesting the extension. “We agree with the Commission’s tentative conclusion that the public interest would be served” by extending the HD carriage exemption until June 12, 2018, NCTA said. The exemption is to expire June 12, 2015. If it isn't extended, “consumers in rural areas could experience service disruptions and discontinuations,” WTA said. NAB opposes a blanket extension. “Downconverting an HD broadcast signal to standard definition (SD) digital or to analog materially degrades that signal,” NAB said. “If a small cable system carries other signals in HD, then permitting it to carry HD broadcast signals in a lesser format pursuant to a continued exemption improperly discriminates against broadcast signals,” NAB said. If the extension is granted, the FCC shouldn't apply it to cable systems carrying other signals in HD, and should re-examine what it considers a small system, NAB said.

Time Warner Cable inadvertently submitted erroneous broadband speed data in several of its submissions to the FCC in connection with the Comcast/TWC transaction, TWC said in a letter posted online in docket 14-57 Thursday. The error affected data for some residential areas that were upgraded to TWC's higher-speed Maxx broadband offering in 2014, TWC said. “Legacy bandwidth tags in TWC’s billing database needed to be translated to accurately reflect upgraded speeds, but that translation inadvertently was not performed when TWC extracted data in preparing its responses,” TWC said. That caused the data submitted by TWC to understate the number of broadband connections “at certain speed thresholds,” TWC said. TWC submitted corrected data in a redacted attachment, the letter said.

California Public Utilities Commissioner Mike Florio filed an alternate decision Friday that calls for the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to reject the Comcast-Time Warner Cable deal. Florio noted in the filing that Comcast already has a history of not abiding by conditions attached to its previous merger with NBCUniversal and that the company is challenging all of the 25 conditions attached to a proposed CPUC decision approving the deal. The CPUC is set to hold an all-party public meeting Tuesday in Los Angeles on the proposed decision approving the deal. “We can’t afford to let one corporation have so much control over our choices and how much we’ll pay to connect and communicate,” a Consumers Union spokesman said in a statement. “We applaud Commissioner Florio for adding his voice to the hundreds of thousands of Americans who have already called for this merger to be rejected. The CPUC should stand with consumers and oppose this deal.”