Publication of two new CableLabs specifications on point-to-point coherent optics is “the beginning of a sea change for the way data is distributed into the network,” blogged Matt Schmitt, principal CableLabs architect. The new specs unveiled Friday, which CableLabs members and their “manufacturer partners” hope to bring to market quickly, have the potential to expand by a factor of 10 “the capacity of existing cable operator fiber access networks,” while also “meeting ever-increasing capacity demands at the lowest possible cost,” said Schmitt Monday. The opportunities with coherent optics technology “go well beyond improving service to residential broadband customers,” he said. Cable operators also are “ideally placed to support next-generation wireless services like 5G,” he said. “These networks will place network endpoints right where wireless transmitters are needed, and with plenty of capacity to support wireless demand growth in addition to wired growth.”
Federal appellate judges overturned a ruling that Time Warner Cable violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, further undercutting broad definitions of restricted automated telephone dialing systems (ATDS). A district court ruling, which cited a now-vacated FCC decision, was based on an incorrect statutory interpretation, ruled a unanimous three-judge panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit of Court of Appeals Friday in Araceli King v. TWC, No. 15-2474. The panel noted the district court granted plaintiff King partial summary judgment on a claim that the company knowingly or willfully violated the TCPA by using an ATDS to call King's cellphone 153 times without her consent. The panel said the district court "relied primarily" on a 2015 FCC ATDS definition that was invalidated by the D.C. Circuit in ACA International (see 1803160053). The commission "broadly construed the term 'capacity' and thus extended the TCPA to reach any device that could be modified by software changes to perform the functions of an autodialer," said 2nd Circuit Judge Gerard Lynch's opinion on an appeal by TWC, part of Charter Communications. "In the wake of ACA International, which invalidated that Order and thereby removed any deference we might owe to the views the FCC expressed in it, we must decide independently whether the district court’s broad understanding of the 'capacity' a device must have in order to qualify as an ATDS under the TCPA is a supportable interpretation of the statute. We conclude that it is not." Although not bound by the D.C. Circuit interpretation, "we are persuaded by its demonstration that interpreting 'capacity' to include a device’s 'potential functionalities' after some modifications extends the statute too far," Lynch wrote, vacating and remanding the district court ruling. A King attorney didn't comment Monday.
Charter Communications is renewing its push to have the FCC clarify its "advance notice" rules governing programming and channel position changes, with a docket 17-317 filing posted Friday on a meeting with Media Bureau staff. Charter urged the bureau to consider the issue in the media modernization proceeding or as a Further NPRM in the docket. Northwest Broadcasting and several communities alleged Charter was violating the 30-day advance notice rule with a blackout earlier this year in those markets (see 1802120044 and 1804050049).
Comments will be due July 30, replies Aug. 13, on the cable leased access Further NPRM the FCC adopted at its June meeting (see 1806070021), says a notice for Friday's Federal Register.
Judge Richard Leon's opinion earlier this month allowing AT&T's buy of Time Warner (see 1806120060) doesn't break new legal ground, but its significance is as a reminder of the importance of evidence-based antitrust and as "a triumph of the role of economic analysis in antitrust law," Joshua Wright, executive director of the Global Antitrust Institute at George Mason University, and antitrust lawyer Jan Rybnicek, of Freshfields Bruckhaus, blogged Wednesday for the Federalist Society. That it was a vertical transaction and that DOJ was litigating without presumption of illegality of any merger that creates undue market concentration point to how powerful a tool that structural presumption is for government, they said. That presumption "may be doing real harm" if merger challenges go through even without evidence that the transaction is likely to hurt consumers, they said. The relatively little weight Leon gave DOJ documentary evidence shows that while ordinary course documents will still have a place in deal investigations, care needs to be put on relying on “ 'hot' documents" that conflict with testimonial evidence and economic analysis, wrote former FTC Commissioner Wright and his ex-aide.
Discovery’s TV Everywhere Go apps are available on select Samsung smart TVs, said the companies Wednesday. GO versions of Discovery, Animal Planet, TLC, SCI and Investigation Discovery are available now, and new HGTV and Food Network apps, plus additional networks, will launch on the platform soon, they said. The apps are also available on Roku, Apple TV, iOS, Android, Amazon Fire, Chromecast and Xbox One.
When considering the Alliance for Community Media 2016 petition seeking waiver of certain FCC registration and certification requirements for public, educational and government access video producers, the FCC should make clear such a waiver doesn't make PEG channels generally exempt from closed caption provision rules, disability interests said in a docket 05-231 filing Wednesday. They said the FCC should also make clear that any PEG programmer exemption wouldn't preclude eliminating exemptions that could apply to PEG channels if the agency narrows or eliminates categorical exemptions. They said the agency should make clear that PEG channels carrying at least some nonexempt programming must certify which programs are exempt. And they said the FCC should reaffirm it will hold video programmers ultimately responsible for violating relevant captioning rules. The disability interests included Telecommunications for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, National Association of the Deaf and the Hearing Loss Association of America. ACM asked for waiving registration and certification for PEG video producers distributing video programs over PEG or other exempt channels. It said such certification and registration is "needless" for the legions of average citizen program owners using PEG access channels if they're distributing on channels exempt from captioning rules, as many such channels are.
The rate at which cable companies replaced lost pay-TV subscribers with broadband subscribers slowed in Q1, Moody's said Monday. It said that growth was driven by Comcast and Charter Communications, which had broadband growth of -0.3 percent and -0.5 percent, respectively, and have nearly 80 percent of the sector's subscriber count.
Comments are due July 10, replies July 20 on American Cable Association's petition to the Media Bureau asking for a waiver of the FCC's Dec. 20 talking guide requirements deadline for some limited classes of MVPDs (see 1806180050), said a public notice Monday in docket 12-108.
For now, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals should keep in abeyance NCTA's appeal of the FCC's 2008 cable leased access order pending the agency completing a rulemaking that contemplates vacating the order, the agency said in a docket 08-3369 status report (in Pacer) filed Monday. It said if the FCC decides to vacate the NCTA-challenged order, the case will become moot. Commissioners in June adopted a Further NPRM proposing to vacate the order (see 1806070021).