The FCC wants comments by June 21, replies July 6 on Comcast's petition for a waiver of certain E-rate rules for its Lift Zone initiative, said a public notice Friday in docket 02-6. Comcast asked to waive the gift rule and requirement that libraries pay the "non-discount portion of services" (see 2105130059).

NCTA noted fears the chip shortage could slow broadband deployment. Federal policy on the shortage should be industry- and technology-neutral, NCTA blogged Thursday. It said government efforts to bolster this supply chain, if not "equitable," could strand the tens of billions of dollars being invested in broadband through the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund auction and other actions. NCTA said the U.S. should invest more in R&D and chip manufacturing capacity, and it wants the Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors for America Act fully funded.

Top cable providers had a Q1 net loss of about 775,000 video subscribers, reported Leichtman Research Group Wednesday. Losses in Q1 2020 were 595,000. Comcast slid 491,000 to 19.3 million. AT&T Premium TV, Dish Network, Verizon Fios and Frontier shed 865,000, led by AT&T Premium. Top publicly reporting virtual MVPDs lost 255,000 vs. 210,000 exits a year ago. Overall, top U.S. pay-TV providers dropped 1.89 million vs. 1.95 million losses a year ago. The only pay-TV service to post Q1 gains was fuboTV, which added 42,550 to reach 590,430. Hulu shed 200,000 to 3.8 million, and Sling TV dropped 100,000 to 1.4 million. The top seven cable companies have 43.1 million of the 78.7 million pay-TV subscribers. Other traditional pay-TV services have 28.9 million and vMVPDs 6.7 million. Over the past year, top pay-TV providers lost 4.79 million vs. a loss of 5.12 million in the prior year, said Principal Bruce Leichtman.

Cable One asked for limited waiver of emergency broadband benefit reimbursement rules, requesting an additional month to submit claims for EBB's first three months, in an FCC docket 20-445 petition Tuesday. It sought waiver of the requirement it claim reimbursement within 15 days of the first snapshot date that a subscriber is enrolled in EBB.

Growth in U.S. net new broadband subscriptions fell 16% compared with the 2020 quarter when they got a COVID-19 boost, Pivotal Research Group's Jeff Wlodarczak wrote investors Friday. Subs were up modestly from Q1 2019. He expects 2021 net additions down 35% from record 2020 results but about 20% above 2019. Broadband household penetration finished Q1 at 86.8%, up 0.7% sequentially. Cable, with 98% share net new subscribers, saw a 24% drop year on year, up modestly from 2019. Telcos were “treading water” the last three quarters as DSL losses offset fiber-to-the-home gains; telcos added 18,000 in Q1. Some 19 million copper-based telco data subs “are ripe for cable to steal,” he said. Pay-TV results and outlook remain “ugly,” said the analyst, citing “bloodletting” at former DirecTV properties. Pay TV had a 2.1 million subscriber drop vs. 2.4 million in Q1 2020, the worst quarter, and virtual MVPDs lost 1.9 million. Traditional pay TV “remains a dead man walking,” and if players don’t have a credible direct-to-consumer strategy, “they are in trouble,” Wlodarczak noted. PRG is “increasingly excited” about Dish Network’s wireless buildout, noting “what could be a game-changing service with their [Amazon Web Services] relationship a key piece” (see 2104290045).

Comcast wants an E-rate waiver for a pilot with libraries to offer free internet and educational resources, a petition said Thursday in FCC docket 02-6. It asked for a waiver of the gift rule and requirement that libraries pay the “non-discount portion of services.” This would “open an important new opportunity to help bridge the digital divide and close the homework gap,” the petition said: The goal is 1,000 community center learning locations by Dec. 31.

FuboTV reported 43,000 Q1 sequential net subscriber additions to 590,430 vs. a loss of 28,000 in the largely pre-COVID-19 pandemic year-ago quarter, as the company is positive on bundles for virtual MVPDs like itself. Revenue rose 135% year on year to $119.7 million. Churn fell and it raised forecasts. CEO David Gandler cited to investors Tuesday personalization features, better onboarding and improved targeting. NFL recent carriage deals with major broadcasters and by extension vMVPDs is good for the packages' future, Gandler said: Increasing subscription VOD choices mean the streaming experience becomes more “costly and fractured.” Consumers who care about sports and live TV want aggregation in a “seamless, curated” experience, he said: The bundle “will undergo a revival, and we’ll see a major shift back to aggregation and bundling as individual services begin to raise prices” and it becomes more burdensome to manage numerous services. The stock closed up 9.7% Wednesday at $19.38.

Cox Communications asked for waivers of some emergency broadband benefit program reimbursement requirements, with the connected device reimbursement waiver possibly determining whether it takes part in the EBB connected device program. In an FCC docket 20-445 petition Tuesday, it said not having its requested limited waiver of the connected devices reimbursement process “poses a significant financial risk” since it could be on the hook for discounts if subscribers change EBB providers during the claims process. It separately petitioned for waiver for an additional month to submit reimbursement claims for the program's first three months. It said it's doing initial testing of the reimbursement claims file system it had to develop, and errors or glitches could delay timely claims. Others seek similar waivers (see 2105110072).

The “unfortunate Covid situation was anything but” for connected TV and Roku, Pivotal Research Group's Jeffrey Wlodarczak wrote investors Friday after Q1 revenue rose 79% year on year to $574.2 million. The pandemic accelerated direct-to-consumer streaming video subscriptions “while simultaneously delaying the launch of competitive products to the point that this appears to be arguably a two horse race between Amazon and Roku,” the analyst said. Roku added 2.4 million incremental active accounts, reaching 53.6 million total. Streaming hours grew 1.4 billion to 18.3 billion. Roku expects 2021 streaming hours per account higher than in 2020, said Chief Financial Officer Steve Louden on a Thursday call. The stock closed Friday up 12% at $317.

Devices such as set-top boxes and gateways deployed globally using RDK open-source software tops 80 million, up from 60 million a year ago, RDK Management, the consortium that manages the software, said Wednesday. It said adopters include Comcast, Cox, Shaw, Rogers and Vodafone. It said more than 500 tech manufacturers are affiliated with RDK, up from 430 a year ago.