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.

Stop Mega Comcast Coalition’s arguments against the Comcast/TWC deal in recent press conferences and FCC filings contain many “factual inaccuracies,” Comcast said in a blog post Thursday. The coalition’s frequent reference to Comcast’s neighborhooding dispute with Bloomberg doesn’t take into account Bloomberg’s recent request that the “FCC excuse Comcast from the fully-satisfied neighborhooding requirements so that Comcast could fulfill Bloomberg’s specific channel placement priorities,” Comcast said. Bloomberg CEO Michael Bloomberg, “is one of the many respected third parties who have come out in favor of this transaction, “ Comcast said. The blog also challenged the Coalition’s references to issues with PlayStation 4s being able to authenticate HBO Go on Comcast broadband. “Comcast’s authentication of HBO Go isn’t remotely related to the Open Internet requirements, which address how Comcast provides broadband Internet access service to its retail customers, not whether Comcast shares its cable customers’ credentials with third parties,” Comcast said. The post also challenged Coalition assertions that Comcast doesn’t sufficiently distribute works of independent programmers or that it violated requirements for stand-alone broadband offerings. “While there are legitimate issues that the FCC and the DOJ are reviewing related to this transaction, the ones raised here aren’t among them,” Comcast said.

Broadcom’s BCM7252 system-on-a-chip (SoC) is “powering” the world’s first Ultra HD set-top box for Android TV, the chip maker said Wednesday. The SoC is embedded in the Freebox set-top offered by Free, the French Internet TV provider, Broadcom said. The BCM7252 delivers the performance and security levels required for Android TV certification and also is the first device to support HEVC-encoded, 10-bit 4K content at 60 frames a second, it said. The BCM7252 is in production and the Freebox is being shipped to subscribers starting this month, Broadcom said.

The FCC Media Bureau granted ESPN’s request for exemption from video description rules that are applicable to the top five national nonbroadcast networks, the bureau said in an order and public notice Friday in docket 11-43. The top five national nonbroadcast networks are defined by an average of the national audience share during prime time of nonbroadcast networks that reach 50 percent or more of multichannel video programming distributor households and have at least 50 hours per quarter of prime time programming that isn't live or near-live or exempt from the video description rules, the bureau said. MVPD systems that serve 50,000 or more subscribers have to provide 50 hours of video description per calendar quarter during prime time or children’s programming for these networks, as of July 1, the bureau said. ESPN provides less than 50 hours per calendar quarter of prime time programming that isn’t live or near-live, it said. After ESPN’s exemption, the top five nonbroadcast networks that are subject to the video description requirements are Disney Channel, History, TBS Network, Turner Network Television and USA Network, it said.

Comcast’s Xfinity Wireless gateway is still the industry’s fastest device at more than 700 Mbps, said Allion USA in an analysis released last week. The analysis shows that Comcast delivers speeds that are more than seven times greater than the speeds offered by the AT&T gateway and almost 20 percent faster than the most current Verizon gateway, Comcast said in a news release Tuesday. The analysis said the Xfinity and Verizon Wireless gateways had 3x3 antennas and the ability to leverage both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands, compared with the AT&T’s 1x1 antenna system and single band.

Charter Communications "has never prevented customers from attaching their own modems to Charter's network," it said in an ex parte notice Feb. 26 in FCC docket 14-57. A Charter spokesman noted that Charter addressed Zoom Telephonics' issues in the ex parte notice. Charter restricted subscribers from attaching customer-owned modems for more than two years with rules for certification of cable modems, Zoom said (see 1503090030). This statement is incorrect and based on an erroneous FAQ page on Charter's website and "was never Charter's policy," Charter said in the filing. Charter customers used third-party modems during this time, it said. Several third-party modems were "inhibiting signal delivery and preventing customers from obtaining advertised speeds," so Charter had a right to restrict the attachment of devices that could harm its network, it said. Charter's standards "are necessary to protect Charter's network and ensure a positive customer experience," it said.

A survey of more than 3,000 adults found 4.2 percent planning to cut pay-TV service within the next six months. The Digitalsmiths survey found that 7.9 percent expected to change their services, and 2.5 percent expected to switch to an online app or rental service. It said 8.9 percent had switched pay-TV providers within the previous three months. The survey also found that more respondents increased services than decreased them.

HBO’s new stand-alone streaming service -- HBO Now -- will launch in April and be available via subscription exclusively to Apple customers, a news release from HBO parent Time Warner said Monday. When the service is launched, Apple customers can subscribe using the HBO Now app on an iPhone, iPad or iPod touch or directly on Apple TV for $14.99/month. HBO will offer a 30-day introductory free trial period to new HBO Now customers who sign up through Apple in April. The service provides instant access to HBO programming over the Internet. HBO CEO Richard Plepler used Time Warner’s investor meeting in New York last fall to drop the news that the company will offer a "stand-alone HBO streaming service" in 2015 (see 1410150095).

Time Warner Cable asked the FCC Media Bureau to reconsider its petition for special relief for effective competition for three Massachusetts communities that TWC cable systems serve, it said in a petition for reconsideration filed Friday in docket 12-1. The commission granted in part and denied in part TWC's petition in a Feb. 5 memorandum opinion and order. Direct broadcast satellite (DBS) penetration in Adams exceeds the 15 percent statutory threshold for effective competition, TWC said. A recount found that DBS penetration in Adams is 15.22 percent, TWC said. The bureau rejected that Adams is subject to effective competition by discounting the DBS subscriber count by 0.87 percent, subtracting five homes from the count as seasonal, vacation and temporary dwellings, which brought DBS penetration to 14.90 percent, it said. The bureau “failed to follow its own precedent,” TWC said.