The Massachusetts Department of Telecommunications and Cable (MDTC) still has the power to regulate basic cable service rates in Falmouth, the FCC Media Bureau said in an order Wednesday, dismissing as moot the town's petition for the bureau to reconsider a determination that Comcast is subject to effective competition in some communities, including there. Citing a joint motion by Falmouth and Comcast requesting it remove the town from its list of communities where the operator is subject to effective competition, the bureau said MDTC has shown the effective competition presumption doesn't apply to the town.
The Fox Sports Go streaming service is now available via Chromecast and Xbox One, Fox Sports said in a news release Tuesday. It said Chromecast and Xbox One customers who get Fox or one of its sports networks as part of their pay-TV subscriptions can access Fox Sports’ programming through the streaming service, including extensive live programming and Fox Sports 1 shows.
Eighty percent of people surveyed are somewhat or very satisfied with their wireline home Internet connections' reliability, NCTA said in a blog post Tuesday, citing an NCTA-sponsored survey done by Morning Consult, the results of which the trade group announced last month. "While that 80 percent number is great, we’re not resting," NCTA said, pointing to broadband speeds domestically vs. those in other nations.
Nielsen's Digital Content Ratings (DCR) service -- giving a daily measurement of viewing audiences across digital content types, with metrics comparable to TV -- will be available for clients starting Friday, the company said in a news release Tuesday. Nielsen said DCR "marks progress toward industry adoption of consistent and comprehensive measurement in digital." The company said DCR is based on complementary methodology to its Digital Ad Ratings. Mike Wann, head-business development and strategy at Nielsen client TasteMade, said it has "been a challenge to get a full view of your audience across every screen and distributor. We have been enthusiastic working with Nielsen Digital Content Ratings to begin truly unlocking the value of our community wherever they are."
Since Comcast's appeal of an August order denying its motion to compel arbitration is without merit, that also makes its motion to stay the underlying Telephone Consumer Protection Act complaint while that appeal is underway without merit, plaintiff Malik Brown said in a memorandum (in Pacer) filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles. "Comcast has no chance on appeal and yet its brief skirts the issue entirely," said Brown, who's suing the company for repeated debt collection calls when he was never a Comcast customer (see 1608220037). Pointing to the multifactor test for granting a stay set up in Supreme Court's 1987 Hilton v. Braunskill decision, Brown said Comcast doesn't make any showing about its likelihood to succeed in its appeal, and it doesn't present any serious legal question that would favor a stay. In its August motion (in Pacer) for a stay, Comcast said its appeal raises two substantial questions about the arbitrability of the claims -- whether an arbitration agreement in a cable service's terms and conditions is binding on a resident of an address who uses the service and whether Federal Arbitration Act Section 4 required a trial to determine whether Brown agreed to arbitrate his claims.
A+E Networks channels will be included in AT&T's DirecTV Now streaming service when it debuts in Q4, A+E said in a news release Monday. The network said the DirecTV Now lineup will include A&E, Lifetime, History, LMN, FYI and Viceland channels.
CableLabs joined the CBRS Alliance and its effort to "evangelize LTE-based citizens [broadband radio service] technology, use cases and business opportunities," the organization said in a blog post Monday. CableLabs said the alliance also is working on a product certification program for LTE equipment in the 3.5 GHz band. It said its Kyrio subsidiary will look at expanding its testing services to support CBRS. According to the alliance website, other members include Alphabet, Intel, Nokia and Qualcomm. CableLabs earlier this month joined the MulteFire Alliance consortium, which is focused on LTE mobile standards (see 1609210009).
The FCC-proposed set-top box plan would unfairly burden multichannel video programming distributors, Cox said in a meeting Wednesday with aides to Chairman Tom Wheeler, according to an ex parte filing in docket 16-42 (see 1609230058). The plan would unfairly require MVPDs to “provide and support an unspecified number of native apps, while, in contrast, platform manufacturers or developers would not need to make any changes and effectively would be in a position to dictate the terms of MVPD compliance,” Cox said. An “unworkable” amount of separate, customized apps would be required under the FCC plan, Cox said. “With each new app, customer service becomes far more complicated and costly, an expense for which the Fact Sheet does not indicate any sunset.”
That the Communications Act's Section 616 and FCC precedent include a TV station as a video programming vendor is reason enough to warrant FCC Media Bureau revisiting its August rejection (see 1608260046) of Liberman Broadcasting's carriage complaint against Comcast, the programmer said in a petition for reconsideration posted Monday in docket 16-121. The bureau order also flubbed by questioning whether Liberman sells its video programming when Comcast never disputed that the programmer sought payment, Liberman said in the petition. It asked the bureau to vacate the order and refer the complaint -- alleging Comcast dumped the broadcaster's Estrella TV network in favor of Spanish-language networks in which it had a financial stake (see 1604080013) -- to an administrative law judge. The FCC didn't comment. Comcast in a statement said the Media Bureau "rightly dismissed Liberman’s program carriage complaint as failing to meet the core standing requirement. This decision was well grounded in both law and policy. As we’ve said from the start, the complaint is without merit. We look forward to responding to this latest filing.” The ruling that Liberman didn't have standing to bring a carriage complaint ignored the Communication Act's Section 602, which defined "video programming" as being provided by a TV broadcast station, and the obvious next logical step -- that under Section 616, which covers regulation of carriage agreements, video programming vendors would include involved in production, creation and wholesale distribution of programming provided by a broadcast station, Liberman said. The programmer said nothing in Section 616 or its legislative history makes it mutually exclusive from sections 325 and 614, covering must-carry and retransmission consent. It said FCC precedent -- in the form of 1993 interim and final reports on implementation of the 1992 Cable Act and in a 2015 brief to the U.S. Court of Appeal for the D.C. Circuit regarding Tennis Channel's discrimination complaint against Comcast -- also includes broadcast networks as video programming vendors. Liberman took issue with the order's logic that Estrella sought compensation for its signal, not its programming; in electing for retrans in lieu of must carry in its markets, it was trying to sell both its content and signal to Comcast, Liberman said. The programmer said even if Section 616 did only apply to cable channels, the bureau erred in not considering the case against Comcast in "white area" markets lacking either an Estrella affiliate or a Liberman-owned and -operated station.
CBS News streaming news service CBSN will incorporate Instagram Stories content into its live-streaming coverage of the presidential and vice presidential debates, CBS said in a news release Friday. CBS said Instagram Stories content from CBSN anchors and CBS News staffers will be part of CBSN's coverage book-ending the debates.