Baltimore, Boston, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia and Oklahoma City and other localities challenged the FCC August cable TV local franchise authority order. Their 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals petition for review Thursday (in Pacer, docket 19-72760) echoed plaintiffs including Los Angeles and Portland, Oregon (see 1909190058), Eugene, Oregon (see 1909120028) and Hawaii (see here, in Pacer, docket 19-72699) in saying the order was arbitrary, capricious and violated the Constitution and the Communications Act. Pittsburgh filed a similar petition last week with the 3rd Circuit (in Pacer, docket 19-3478), and the court said it might be required to transfer the petition to the 9th Circuit, where other such appeals are consolidated (see 1910150015). The D.C. Circuit Thursday ordered (in Pacer) a similar petition by Chicago, Denver, Seattle and others consolidated with the 9th Circuit. The agency didn't comment Friday.
The “highly competitive” pay-TV industry, with its "expensive content and network deals,” will prompt Sony Interactive Entertainment to shut down the PlayStation Vue streaming service in January, blogged Deputy President John Kodera Tuesday. “We have decided to remain focused on our core gaming business,” said Kodera. “PlayStation fans can continue to access movie and TV content through the PlayStation Store on PS4 and via our partnerships with top entertainment apps.”
The FCC should revisit the “arbitrary” five-year sunset of the requirement ATSC 3.0 broadcasts and 1.0 simulcasts be “substantially similar,” said NCTA in a meeting Wednesday with Media Bureau and Office of Engineering and Technology staff, per a filing posted in docket 16-142 Monday. The substantially similar requirement and the use of the A/322 standard should be maintained “until the ATSC 3.0 marketplace is sufficiently developed,” NCTA said. The FCC should also monitor the effects of the transition on cable operators, the group said. “Allowing temporary vacant channel use instead of sharing currently used broadcast channels could impose new and unreimbursed costs on cable operators, such as costs for acquiring new receiving equipment.”
To give the court enough time to consider issues raised in NCTA's motion to enjoin the Maine attorney general from enforcing the state's new public, educational and governmental channel law (see 1909300068), Maine won't start enforcing the law during the pendency of the motion or for 60 days afterward, it said in a letter Friday (in Pacer, docket 19-cv-00420) to U.S. District Judge Nancy Torresen of Portland. It said NCTA withdrew a request for a ruling by Nov. 18, the date when one provision of the law was to go into effect.
Hawaii joined the cities and local interests challenging the FCC’s cable TV local franchise authority order. The docket 19-72699 petition for review (in Pacer) Thursday came atop a similar petition the pre- vious day by the Alliance for Communications Democracy (ACD); Alliance for Community Media; U.S. Conference of Mayors; San Antonio; Portland, Maine; Palo Alto, California; Bowie, Maryland; San Fran- cisco; and Marin County, California. The Hawaii and ACD complaints, like those previously filed by other appellants (see 1909190058), said the order violates the Constitution, Communications Act and FCC prec- edent. The agency didn’t comment Friday. In a U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit motion Thursday (in Pacer, docket 19-1221), the commission moved to consolidate ACD complaint with other appeals with the 9th Circuit (see 1910150015). The agency also is trying to get the appeals transferred to the 6th Circuit (see 1909170067).
Warning of "irreparable harm" to local governments by the FCC local franchise authority order, the National Association of Counties in a docket 05-311 posting Wednesday supported a stay of the order pending the outcome of legal challenges in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. Locality groups including the National League of Cities seek the stay (see 1910080041).
Comcast's Peacock streaming service launching in April won't try to replicate Netflix and other subscription VOD services, but instead will focus on advertising support and a mix of nonexclusive content, originals and acquired exclusives like The Office, NBCUniversal CEO Stephen Burke said Thursday on a Q3 call. He said Universal will continue to sell its motion pictures to premium networks like HBO. Q3 revenue was $26.8 billion, flat year over year on pro forma basis, with Comcast having added Sky in Q4 2018. Comcast ended the quarter with 26 million residential broadband subscribers, up 1.2 million; 20.4 million residential video customers, down 560,000; and 9.95 million residential voice customers, down 220,000. Mobile subscribers numbered 1.8 million, up 800,000. Comcast CEO Brian Roberts said monthly data usage of its broadband subscribers has more than doubled over the past three years. He said NBC topped prime time ratings for adults ages 18 to 49 for the sixth consecutive 52-week season. He said its NBCUniversal and Sky are starting work on joint production of content and are creating a global news channel. Asked about Comcast interest in the citizens band radio service auction or C-band or millimeter-wave spectrum for its mobile business, Roberts said it "will always be opportunistic" when looking at means of offloading wireless traffic from its Verizon mobile virtual network operator to its own network. Asked when cord-cutting trends might level off, analysts were told the operator's focus is on video profitability and that might mean customers receiving lower-end or promotional video packages could be moved to broadband-only packages instead.
Reading Cable Act Section 621, which lets cable operators use easements when constructing networks, in a constrained, technical sense flouts the language and stated purpose of the act and runs contrary to the its legislative history and FCC interpretation. That according to NCTA in a 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals amicus brief (in Pacer, docket 19-2442) Tuesday backing defendant-appellee Charter Communications in an appeal by Stephen West, who sued over the addition of fiber cable to a utilities transmission tower on his Indiana land. West, appealing a lower court dismissal, said (in Pacer) reference in 621 to a dedicated easement is to be understood as indicating transfer of a specific property right, and franchises like Charter can't access a private utility easement without the property owner formally deeding the right to use the easement for utilities to the public.
Massachusetts Department of Telecommunications and Cable's argument DirecTV Now rebranding makes Charter Communications' effective competition petition moot (see 1910210040) is erroneous, since the service itself remains the same, Charter said in an FCC docket 18-283 posting Wednesday. It said the state is using some redacted data in its argument about DirecTV Now/AT&T TV Now availability in the cable ISP's franchise area and doesn't explain why it couldn't file earlier. The cable operator said the extreme lateness of the state's submission, the day the FCC sunshine notice, doesn't give the commission enough time to evaluate it, so disregard it. The state didn't comment.
Music labels' claims that Charter Communications profited from direct copyright infringement by its internet subscribers and didn't stop or limit the infringing activity are plausible, U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael Hegarty of Denver said in a docket 19-cv-00874 recommendation Monday (in Pacer), responding to a Charter motion to dismiss the vicarious music piracy complaint (see 1905290002). Hegarty recommended against dismissal. Charter outside counsel didn't comment Tuesday.