Cablevision Systems said Thursday it has extended its Optimum WiFi service to provide free Wi-Fi Internet access to Optimum Online customers along the boardwalk in Long Beach, New York. Cablevision is powering the Optimum WiFi service using 60 hotspots along the 2.2 mile boardwalk. There are now more than 350 Optimum WiFi hotspots in Long Beach, Cablevision said in a news release.

Correction: Cablevision representatives discussed net neutrality and retransmission consent with aides to all five FCC members on June 27 (CD July 3 p13).

The FCC should temporarily extend the integration ban waiver granted to Charter Communications (CD April 22 p3) to set-top boxes the operator is deploying in cable systems that will be transferred to Comcast as part of its deal to buy Time Warner Cable (CD June 6 p7), Comcast said in an FCC ex parte filing (http://bit.ly/1mXvpPY) posted in docket 14-57 Thursday. “The waiver request does not expand the Charter Waiver Order.” The company won’t deploy any new integrated set-top boxes in its own systems or the purchased ones after the deal is complete, Comcast said, saying the request stems from “an abundance of caution.” The extension of the waiver to Comcast would include an April 18, 2016, sunset, Comcast said.

"Who should pay and maintain control of .cable, .broadband, or .HBO?” asked Steve Mace, NCTA systems technology director, in a blog post (http://bit.ly/1sYcol3) Wednesday. “Domain ownership comes at a hefty price,” but “there are many benefits to managing a unique TLD [top-level domain], not the least of which is brand management,” said Mace, who attended the ICANN 50 conference in London last week (CD June 30 p10; June 27 p7; June 24 p7). Mace cited French concerns about .wine at ICANN 50 and its potential for “brand dilution.” “The cable and broadband industry faces similar challenges,” he said. Mace expects to see additional domain issues as ICANN winds down its contract with NTIA and the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority, he said.

Cablevision is committed to “ensuring robust access” to the Internet for its customers, it said in a meeting Friday with aides to all FCC members other than Jessica Rosenworcel, and with FCC General Counsel Jon Sallett, said an ex parte filing posted Wednesday in docket 10-71 (http://bit.ly/1lzQlrc). “Internet openness depends on all actors in the Internet ecosystem,” Cablevision said. The FCC should establish rules for transparency in retransmission consent negotiations, said the cable operator. “Rising programming fees and frequent broadcaster blackouts related to retransmission-consent negotiations are causing substantial consumer harm.”

New Wave and Reach Broadband each requested a further six-month waiver of the Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) compliance deadline. New Wave requested a waiver for 21 of its cable systems, it said in its petition posted Tuesday in docket 04-296 (http://bit.ly/1sV4Kry). The company is working on “bringing its systems into compliance by interconnecting systems which lack broadband access to CAP-compliant headends, by purchasing equipment, and through system shutdowns,” it said. Requiring New Wave to buy and install CAP-compliant equipment in systems that it plans to interconnect to CAP-compliant headends “would be economically wasteful,” it said. Reach requests a waiver for six systems due to its lack of physical access to broadband Internet service necessary for the systems to receive CAP-formatted emergency alert messages, it said in its petition (http://bit.ly/1sV5Vaq). Reach also requested a financial hardship waiver for 15 systems, it said.

Cablevision needs more time to develop its Optimum mobile app to receive and pass through video description and emergency information over a secondary audio channel, the cable company told FCC Media Bureau and Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau staff in a meeting Tuesday, said an ex parte filing posted Friday in docket 12-107 (http://bit.ly/1sKU6DF). Cablevision customers using the app on laptops and PCs can already access information delivered over the secondary audio channel, but “further development and software upgrades and testing are needed” to provide the same service over the mobile app, said the cable operator. It said Cablevision “emphasized the need for the Commission to give it sufficient time to complete this complicated process."

The FCC seeks comment on disclosure of Form 477 data as part of its investigation of the proposed Comcast acquisition of Time Warner Cable. Form 477 is used by the FCC to collect data on broadband and voice service data. Comments are due July 3, the FCC said in a public notice released in a Monday order (http://bit.ly/1wyvs7P).

Edge video providers like Netflix are the source of “persistent congestion” that leads to buffering and fuzzy HD pictures, said NCTA in a blog post Wednesday (http://bit.ly/1qwno4N). Although failure in home networks, ISPs and interconnection points like a content delivery network can also cause congestion, three reports released last week suggest the edge provider is most often at fault, NCTA said. The FCC 2014 Measuring Broadband America report (http://fcc.us/UOiwxo) (CD June 19 p7) “found that, on average, almost all ISPs are meeting or beating advertised speeds,” NCTA said. A Massachusetts Institute of Technology preliminary report (http://bit.ly/1o3xJnS) (CD June 19 p9) measuring Internet congestion found no “widespread congestion among the U.S. providers at their interconnection points in the core of the network,” NCTA said. A third report, from NetForecast, found that Netflix’s analysis of ISP performance included factors ISPs did not control, NCTA said. “Things like choices made by the end-user, available capacity or performance of the Netflix servers.” With the reports eliminating other factors, and assuming that most home networks perform correctly, the reports show that companies like Netflix are responsible for congestion that affects video streaming, NCTA said.

Globosat, a Latin American pay-TV provider, will deploy a Tektronix monitor to ensure quality of its 4K coverage of the 2014 FIFA World Cup. Globosat will use the WVR8300, a “software upgradeable” platform which has a high-performance architecture “designed from the outset to support the throughput requirements of 4K content,” Tektronix said Tuesday in a news release (http://bit.ly/UH7M3E). Global availability of the Tektronix 4K software for the monitor is planned for the third quarter this year, it said.