Cox Communications CEO Pat Esser pushed FCC commissioners on the company's "fair path" proposal for resolving retransmission consent disputes (see 1401290066), according to a docket 15-216 filing posted Tuesday. In meetings with Chairman Ajit Pai and Commissioners Brendan Carr, Mike O'Rielly and Jessica Rosenworcel, Cox said fair path involves mandatory, nonbinding mediation and that could be triggered by either side within 30 days of a contract expiration, and during mediation broadcasters can't pull signals or discontinue online access to content. Cox said under its fair path plan, if mediation doesn't produce an agreement, both parties' last best offers would be made public.

CNN and the National Labor Relations Board are still hammering out terms of a proposed judgment on the hiring of former Team Video Services employees at its Washington, D.C., and New York City bureaus. CNN in a docket 15-1112 response (in Pacer) filed Friday with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit suggested four modifications to a proposed judgment (in Pacer) submitted the previous day by the NLRB, including that the judgment explicitly refer to numerous issues being remanded to the board, and that CNN shouldn't be ordered to restore any bargaining unit work without any time frame limitations. The D.C. Circuit was split in August on enforcing the NLRB action against CNN (see 1708040050).

The FCC should increase ancillary service fees for broadcasters using ATSC 3.0 to provide wireless bandwidth and examine whether such uses still constitute broadcasting, said Charter Communications in a letter to the FCC posted in docket 16-142. If the FCC decides “interactive television services are not ‘broadcasting’ then the Commission should clarify that broadcasters may not compel MVPDs to carry such non-broadcasting services as a condition of granting ATSC 3.0 retransmission consent,” said Charter. The FCC should increase the ancillary services fees to reflect “the dramatic increase in the value of spectrum licenses” since the fee was last set 18 years ago and account for the lucrative uses ATSC 3.0 will allow, Charter said. Charter also asked the FCC to restrict how much a simulcast ATSC 1.0 signal is allowed to differ from a 3.0 signal, to restrict low-power stations from “flash-cutting” to the new standard, and to bar broadcasters from making carriage of a 1.0 signal contingent on MVPDs agreeing to carry a 3.0 signal, Charter said. NCTA also said broadcasters should be prevented from requiring carriage of 3.0 in retransmission consent negotiations, in a Wednesday meeting with Media Bureau Chief Michelle Carey, according to an ex parte filing. The FCC shouldn’t let simulcast rules for the new standard sunset after three years as NAB requested, NCTA said. “The Commission must continue to require simulcasting until it determines that conditions warrant allowing a broadcaster to no longer provide an ATSC 1.0 signal.”

The FCC should prevent broadcasters from making MVPDs carry ATSC 3.0 as a condition of carrying their 1.0 signal, said Verizon in a meeting with aides to Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel Wednesday, said a filing the next day in docket 16-142. The FCC should “impose a one-year ‘quiet’ period prior to the expiration of a retransmission consent agreement for an ATSC 1.0 signal, during which time the broadcast station cannot negotiate for the first-time carriage of an ATSC 3.0 signal,” Verizon said. A draft order predicted to be circulated soon isn't expected to contain provisions on 3.0 in retrans negotiations, and isn’t expected to receive Rosenworcel’s vote (see 1710170048). Protections are necessary so MVPDs aren't forced to make expenditures to allow them to transmit 3.0, Verizon said. The carrier endorsed requiring broadcasts to simulcast both standards, and said the agency should require broadcasters to air “the same programming as the ATSC 3.0 broadcast, with approximately the same geographic coverage, in the same format (high definition or standard definition) and at the same bitrate as the broadcast station’s current DTV over-the-air broadcast.”

AT&T should modify or end some claims it makes in advertising its fiber-to-the-home AT&T Fiber product, the National Advertising Division said Thursday, noting AT&T plans to appeal the finding to the National Advertising Review Board. NAD said the AT&T claims were challenged by Charter Communications, which also will appeal two of its findings. The companies didn't comment.

Sure Universal will demo at CES interoperability among manufacturers' set-top boxes, gateways, smart TVs and appliances with the Open Connectivity Foundation standard, it said Wednesday. Sure’s client software is the first to be certified by OCF and it will enable remote operation of smart home devices, it said.

Cable companies invest heavily in voice remote capabilities, but there isn't strong evidence consumers are embracing such capabilities, nScreenMedia's Colin Dixon blogged Tuesday. Pointing to TiVo data indicating half the people with access to voice search capabilities actually use it, with that percentage being roughly flat year over year, he said voice search is apparently slow to catch on with consumers. The analyst said one area showing growth is use of voice assistants like Amazon Echo and Google Home for searching for video content.

Charter Communications and Viacom's announcement this week they reached a tentative carriage agreement gives Viacom CEO Robert Bakish "breathing room" for his turnaround strategy and also is a vote of confidence in the value of Viacom's networks to MVPDs, Credit Suisse's Omar Sheikh emailed investors Wednesday. The deal, when finalized, likely will include full carriage of Viacom networks, though Charter might enjoy a reduction in its affiliate rate, the analyst said.

Charter Communications urged the FCC to spur broadband deployment "in a technology-neutral manner," including by pre-empting "the practice, by some municipalities, of assessing broadband licensing fees on providers who already have compensated municipalities" through cable franchise fees covering rights of way. Citing the agency's wireline and wireless infrastructure proceedings, the cable company said pole-attachment "reforms" should "balance the streamlining of new deployment and the rights of existing attachers." Communications Act "Section 214 discontinuance proposals should not have the unintended effect of creating regulatory burdens on non-discontinuing providers," said a filing Monday in docket 17-84 on a meeting with an aide to Chairman Ajit Pai and other agency staffers. Localities repeated arguments and said a model small-cell license agreement is "being replicated" throughout Colorado, said a filing by a counsel representing the Colorado Communications and Utility Alliance (a NATOA chapter); Ranier Communications Commission, Seattle and Tacoma, and King County, Washington; Jersey Access Group of New Jersey (another NATOA chapter); and the Colorado Municipal League. The counsel and other local representatives met with Commissioners Brendan Carr and Mike O'Rielly and various agency staffers. Countering industry comments "that all small cell sites look good and only have minimal visual/aesthetic impact," the counsel attached photos "of good siting and best practices" to "demonstrate that collaborative efforts are working and without local impact, significant negative impact to local community character will occur."

Concurrent agreed to sell its Content Delivery & Storage business to network technology manufacturer Vecima Networks "for a base purchase price of $29 million, subject to adjustment for normalized net working capital," the VOD and streaming gear maker said Monday. "Rapid growth in IPTV delivery across both MVPD private" content delivery networks and over-the-top "providers will continue to accelerate," said Vecima CEO Sumit Kumar.