Charter Communications settled two copyright suits, per notices Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Denver (dockets 1:19-cv-00874 and 1:21-cv-02020). They follow its Bright House Communications settling a lawsuit brought by music labels alleging contributory copyright infringement via inadequate policing of broadband subscribers' music piracy (see 2208020034). Neither of the new notices supplied any terms of the settlements. Charter didn't comment Wednesday.

Bright House Networks and record labels suing it have settled, the sides said Monday in a joint notice of resolution (docket 8:19-cv-710) Monday in U.S. District Court in Tampa. A jury trial on the labels' suit charging the Charter Communications subsidiary with not adequately policing music piracy by its broadband subscribers was to start Monday (see 2207140026).

A U.S. District Court decision enforcing the mixed-use rule reinforces the point that the FCC doesn't need to reopen the order on that rule and shouldn't do so, NCTA told Office of General Counsel and Media Bureau staff, in a docket 05-311 posting Tuesday. The district court confirmed in June in a partial summary judgment order the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found the FCC's mixed-use rule valid, NCTA said. It repeated its argument (see 2205100051) that to implement the 6th Circuit decision, the FCC just needs to tweak wording on in-kind contributions, and can use a ministerial order that doesn't require notice and comment. U.S. District Judge Michael Simon granted plaintiff/counterclaim-defendant Comcast partial summary judgment on one of its claims against Beaverton, Oregon, which it was suing over the rights-of-way fees the city was charging for Comcast's broadband service provision.

Altice dropped its Suddenlink brand, putting all its products and services under its Optimum brand, it said Monday. It said it will transition all Suddenlink properties and assets, including vehicles, stores and websites, in coming months.

The National Cable TV Cooperative is now the National Content & Technology Cooperative, it said Monday, unveiling a new name and logo at the Independent Show. It said it's close to a set of partner agreements to offer mobile virtual network operator mobile services to members. It said members should be able to launch services in Q4 with branded billing and tiered bundle discounts for broadband. It said multiple suppliers will be incorporated into one program.

DOCSIS 4.0 field trials could start by year's end, said Asaf Matatyaou, vice president-solutions and product management in Harmonic's cable access business, in a Light Reading webinar Thursday. He said the DOCSIS specifications and technology are ready, but the actual upgrades of cable operators' plants to allow 10G service will be a multiyear effort. Teleste Intercept Director Steve Condra said the time frame for 10G rollout varies from operator to operator. Some in particularly competitive marketplaces with high-end users "need it now," while in others could go for years before there's a critical need, he said. He said operators need to start upgrading equipment now in preparation. DOCSIS 4.0 will play a big role in the 10G rollout, but 10G is a platform requiring multiple technologies and cable operators have to have a systemwide perspective on planning, said Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers Chief Technology Officer Chris Bastian. Mike Whitley, ATX Networks vice president-access network products, said there should be lab and initial trials later this year and into 2023 of some DOCSIS components such as amplifiers, with more products coming to market in the next six to nine months.

WideOpenWest's wireless service partnership with Reach Mobile (see 2202220045) is now available to customers across WOW's entire footprint, said the company Thursday. Under the partnership, WOW broadband customers get a discount on the mobile service.

States and localities hoping to protect their cable franchise fee revenue streams in a world increasingly switching to over-the-top streaming will face some big challenges, said government finance and communications regulation experts Monday in a NATOA webinar. The wave of litigation from localities seeking franchise fees from streaming services could prompt Congress to revisit legislative efforts to define digital goods and digital sales and create a uniform framework for how they're treated by taxing authorities, said Michael Belarmino, Government Finance Officers Association senior policy adviser. That could be to states' and localities' disadvantage if Congress reintroduces provisions of the Digital Goods and Services Tax Fairness Act, which tried to prohibit multiple taxes on digital sales of goods. The bill was last reintroduced in 2019 (see 1903130071). "It's not a sustainable path" to count on traditional franchise fee statutes as a route to getting revenue from online services, said Public Knowledge Legal Director John Bergmayer, noting court efforts to pursue streaming services for franchise fees haven't borne much fruit. The underlying purpose of cable franchise law is about physical buildout and physical access, but streaming services don't touch a town the way cable operators do, he said. He said an effort is needed to put public interest requirements on ISPs. He said one upside of NCTA's challenge of Maine's public, educational and government (PEG) access channel carriage provisions is the U.S. District Court deciding and 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upholding that channel placement and PEG picture quality requirements are consumer protections. Some members of Congress have been struggling for years with how to promote localism by streaming offerings, Bergmayer said. Newspapers and local broadcasters have an inherent local quality and there are mechanisms like promotion of local ownership, he said. Those issues and levers aren't as clear with online content, he said. Bergmayer said a cable operator offering fiber to customers in part of a community and traditional cable to customers in another part is "not good enough" and could be evidence of redlining.

A jury trial is scheduled to start Aug. 1 on record labels' claims of Charter Communications' Bright House Networks not doing enough to combat music piracy by its broadband subscribers (see 2108120002), per a docket 8:19-cv-710 order Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Tampa.

Altice boosted the download speeds of its Affordable Connectivity Program broadband service from 100 Mbps to 300 Mbps, the cable ISP said Thursday. ACP-eligible homes can receive the 300 Mbps service at no cost after the program’s up to $30 monthly credit is applied, said Altice.