Consumer demand for cable-offered wireless service remains a question mark, but "content bundling creativity is the glue that might stick," Raymond James analyst Frank Louthan wrote investors regarding Comcast. His email Wednesday said Comcast has customer relationships, retail presence and marketing to help it deploy a wireless service, something other MVNOs typically lacked. The analyst said the key test for Comcast will be lowering its churn and creating "a stickier customer base," as AT&T is chasing the same goal and that company will likely be first "to see how well this concept works." Raymond James said Comcast's small and midsized business strategy is increasingly to focus on areas outside its footprint, partnering with other cable companies, and on national franchises with multitudes of end-user locations.
The arbitration clause in Time Warner Cable's customer agreement is "fatally overbroad and unconscionable" under California law, said subscriber Michael Song -- suing TWC parent Charter Communications -- in opposition (in Pacer) to Charter's motion to compel arbitration posted Monday in U.S. District Court in San Diego. Song said the arbitrability reference in the customer agreement doesn't clearly and unambiguously give arbitrators the right to determine claims for injunctive orders and consigning such an injunctive order to arbitration would be contrary to the Federal Arbitration Act. Song alleges Charter is deceptively advertising cable TV at lower-than-actual prices, then concealing broadcast TV and sports surcharges in its ads, contracts and bills. Counsel for the cable operator didn't comment Tuesday.
The Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers, International Society of Broadband Experts (ISBE), and the Multimedia over Coax Alliance put out an SCTE/ISBE Standards operational practice aimed at ensuring interoperability between MoCA 2.0 and the DOCSIS 3.1 specification for advanced broadband services, SCTE 235, the groups said in a news release Tuesday. SCTE 235 lays out best use of frequencies and filters in environments where both DOCSIS 3.1 and MoCA 2.0 are being employed, they said. SCTE 235 is based on a MoCA/CableLabs technical study and was created by the Special Working Group on HFC (hybrid fiber coax) Readiness for DOCSIS 3.1 in the SCTE/ISBE Standards Program's network operations subcommittee, they said.
Multiple small ISPs and NTCA are pushing the FCC to revise the network overbuild requirement that was a condition on Charter Communications' buys of Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks. The condition "undermined" plans for network expansion or improvement investments, 38 cable operators said in a letter to the FCC posted Tuesday in docket 15-149. "Mere threat of government-mandated, uneconomic entry undermines our ability to make investments that would benefit existing subscribers ... or expand our networks to reach unserved households," the 38 said, seeking elimination of the overbuild condition. Among them were MCTV, USA Communications, Cable America Missouri, TVC and Reach Broadband. NTCA also pushed for eliminating that condition when it met with an aide to Commissioner Mignon Clyburn and made much the same arguments it had made in a previous meeting with Commissioner Mike O’Rielly’s office (see 1703020068), according to an ex parte filing Monday. The FCC didn't comment Tuesday on the status of a draft order on circulation to lift the overbuild condition (see 1702240029).
Six A+E networks will be part of the lineup on Hulu's forthcoming virtual multichannel video programming distributor service, Hulu said in a news release Friday: A&E, History, Lifetime, LMN, FYITM and Viceland. “We’re pulling together the most valuable, well-rounded package of channels available for under $40,” Hulu Mike Hopkins said. The firm said its service, to launch this spring, has similar deals with CBS, 21st Century Fox and Disney covering more than 40 networks. Some of those companies own Hulu, as does Comcast's NBCUniversal.
Pay-TV penetration declines will likely be in the 1.5 to 2 percent range annually over the next five years -- and even lower if factoring in subscription VOD pay-TV players, Pivotal Research Group's Jeffrey Wlodarczak wrote investors Thursday. He said the growth of virtual multichannel video programming distributors, plus the growing cost to consumers of traditional MVPD service, means the era of traditional pay-TV growth is "likely over" as any modest gains in cable video subscriber growth will be offset by telco and direct broadcast satellite subscriber losses. The analyst said there's "a reasonable chance" the Trump administration and GOP-controlled Congress may "scuttle" the FCC's ability to enforce Title II Communications Act regulation of cable.
Comcast wrapped up its acquisition of Icontrol Networks’ Converge business for connected home security Wednesday, said Daniel Herscovici, senior vice president/general manager, Xfinity Home, in a blog post. Converge is the platform behind Xfinity Home, ADT Pulse and other connected home security services. IControl Networks agreed to sell the Converge platform to Comcast last summer (see 1606230060 and 1701120067) and its Connect business to Alarm.com. With the Converge platform, Comcast Xfinity Home is expanding into a “new wholesale line of business,” said Herscovici. Converge will continue to provide the underlying platform that powers home security and automation services to multichannel video programming distributors that Icontrol was serving in the U.S., Australia, Canada, and Japan, he said, and it will offer wholesale services to new domestic and international customers. Xfinity Home is establishing an IoT Center of Excellence in Austin, where IControl is based, to act as a hub for engineers and developers to support Xfinity Home’s various IoT businesses, he said.
The International Trade Commission began an investigation into imports of Arris set-top boxes and remote controls that allegedly infringe Kudelski's patents, the ITC said Feb. 27. In a complaint filed in January, Kudelski and its affiliates OpenTV, Nagra and Nagravision said set-tops made by Arris, and voice-enabled remote controls made by Universal Electronics, are being imported for use with Comcast's Xfinity X1 service. Each copies Kudelski's patented designs, the complaint said. The ITC will decide whether to issue a limited exclusion order and a cease and desist order banning import and sale of infringing set-top boxes and remote controls by Arris, Comcast, Universal Electronics and some affiliates. Arris declined to comment, and Comcast and Universal Electronics didn't comment Tuesday.
The FCC granted withdrawal of an application for review by the Massachusetts Department of Telecommunications and Cable, the commission said in a Tuesday order. In December 2013, the department sought review of the Media Bureau’s decision concluding that Charter Communications is subject to effective competition in various communities in Massachusetts, New Hampshire and New York. But the department asked to withdraw the application Nov. 16.
Charter Communications' efforts for discovery about other transactions and general industry practices are "not likely to lead to the discovery of relevant or admissible evidence at this time," New York Supreme Court Judge Peter Sherwood of Manhattan said in an order Monday denying Charter's discovery request. Charter sought discovery on Fox News Networks' contractual practices with other multichannel video programming distributors that go through mergers as part of FNN's fight with the MVPD over whether the legacy contract it had with Charter or with Time Warner Cable survived the Charter/TWC deal. (see 1607200065). Charter didn't comment.