ESPN and a viewer suing for an alleged Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA) violation are at odds over whether the plaintiff has standing under the Supreme Court's 2016 Spokeo v. Robins decision and the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals' Robins v. Spokeo ruling on remand. In a docket 15-35449 filing (in Pacer) Friday with the 9th Circuit, ESPN said plaintiff Chad Eichenberger's complaint doesn't allege any concrete injury-in-fact that Article III requires, only a computer-to-computer transfer of information when ESPN disclosed to Adobe Analytics his Roku device information and what WatchESPN channel videos were watched using that Roku. There's no material risk of the embarrassment or chilling effect that VPPA is supposed to protect against, the programmer said. Eichenberger said (in Pacer) Friday that the remand decision reinforced privacy interests "are 'real' enough" for Article III purposes that a violation is injury-in-fact. The plaintiff said since Congress enacted VPPA to avoid harm of privacy invasion from disclosure of video-viewing habits, disclosures of information that violated VPPA are actionable without showing any further harm.

The FCC released on Monday its order requiring QAM-based cable system operators to adopt the Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers standard 40 as the performance benchmark for their systems. Commissioner Brendan Carr, in a Monday statement, said the order meets Congress' requirement the agency update its signal quality rules but that it avoids "unnecessary burdens on digital cable operators." The item, which had been on Tuesday's meeting agenda, was approved unanimously last week (see 1709220057). Unlike the draft order, the final order doesn't solicit petitions for rulemaking with proposals for preventing interference in bands above 400 MHz; NCTA lobbied against that solicitation (see 1709150003).

C Spire and MobiTV scheduled a workshop Oct. 4 at C Spire’s Ridgeland, Mississippi, corporate office for pay-TV operators interested in an IP video delivery platform that provides in-home streaming service without a set-top box. The app-based solution, MobiTV Connect Platform, launched in July and runs on devices including Amazon Fire TV, Android TV, Apple TV and Roku, said the companies.

Federal code is clear that recovery of non-taxable costs are part of the "full costs" available, and Cox Communications arguing "full costs" means only taxable costs and not items like travel costs and expert witness fees is clearly contrary to Congress' intent, BMG said in a docket 16-1972 reply brief (in Pacer) Thursday in the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. It said Cox arguing BMG recovering nearly $8.4 million in attorney's fees and expenses atop the Digital Millennium Copyright Act verdict against the cable ISP (see 1709110017) doesn't cite authority for its argument non-taxable expenses can't be recovered. Cox outside counsel didn't comment Friday.

A U.S. District judge in Oklahoma City was right to overturn a jury's decision that Cox Communications illegally tied cable services to set-top box rentals (see 1511130005), since plaintiffs didn't show the tying foreclosed sizable amounts of rival set-top business, the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Tuesday, with a dissent. The 35-page docket 15-6218 opinion (in Pacer) by Judges David Ebel and Greg Phillips and penned by Phillips said the case involves "what it means to foreclose a 'not insubstantial' volume of commerce," and Cox didn't foreclose any commerce or discourage competitors from entering the market. That all cable companies, like Cox, tie premium cable to set-top rentals points to net efficiencies and technology constraints rather than a push for monopoly power, it said. The court said FCC regulation of the set-top market "diminishes the possibility" Cox's tying could hurt competition. Judge Mary Briscoe's dissent said she would reinstate the jury's $6.3 million verdict against Cox. She said there was sufficient evidence sellers can sell set-tops and cable service separately. She also said the 10th Circuit's role is only to determine if there was enough evidence in the record to support a jury's decision, and that in this case there was. Plaintiff's counsel Todd Schneider of Schneider Wallace said Wednesday they were "disappointed" by the decision and "evaluating our options for the Oklahoma case going forward.”

Nuance and Universal Electronics Inc. announced they're powering a conversational interface for Israel’s yes pay-TV service, working in Hebrew and English. “The challenge is to get the system to flawlessly work with over 95 percent accuracy, or else consumers will try and stop,” said Menno Koopmans, UEI managing director-Europe Middle East Asia/International.

Altice's Economy Internet low-cost broadband service is now available in its Suddenlink and Optimum footprints, the company said Tuesday. Altice said the $14.99-a-month service was launched in select areas of the New York region last year before becoming available across its Optimum and Suddenlink territories. The New York Public Service Commission required creation of the low-cost broadband offering as a condition on Altice's buy of Cablevision (see 1605200070).

Comcast's service contract doesn't authorize or speak to "secret credit checks" on customers who also paid a security deposit, plaintiff Mounang Patel said in a docket 1:17-cv-02570 opposition (in Pacer) filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Chicago in response to Comcast seeking to dismiss a putative class-action complaint (see 1707180004). Patel said the Fair Credit Report Act claim, contrary to Comcast assertions otherwise, satisfies heightened pleading standards. In a filing (in Pacer) Monday in response to Comcast seeking to strike class-action allegations, the plaintiff said Comcast's motion shouldn't be decided without further discovery, that Comcast's customer agreement expressly allows civil actions and the one-year limitation for bringing claims in the customer agreement is unenforceable. Comcast outside counsel didn't comment Tuesday.

The FTC won't oppose Discovery's buy of Extreme Ventures, said an early termination notice Monday, ending the transaction’s Hart-Scott-Rodino waiting period.

Altice expanded its partnership with Arris for 4K high dynamic range set-top boxes in the U.S. and Europe starting next year. Altice-owned Portugal Telecom will use Arris STBs for its Meo 4K TV service in Portugal, said the company in a Friday announcement, and Altice and Arris will partner to deploy the Arris E6000 Converged Edge Router in France, the U.S. and the Dominican Republic.