International Trade Today is a service of Warren Communications News.
Subscriber Login
Cable
to
Refine Category Search
Clear Terms

Search Primer

Multi-word term: Place inside quotes to ensure an exact match together (e.g. "forced labor").

Term list: Separate terms with spaces, not commas or semicolons to find either word (e.g. AD/CVD CBP).

Acronyms: Use all capital letters (e.g., ACE).

Required term: If a term must be included in any resulting articles, prefix it with a plus sign (e.g., tariffs +Canada).

Excluded term: If a term should be excluded from any articles being found, prefix it with a minus sign (e.g., FDA -alert).

Simplest form: Use the simplest form of a term (e.g. "metal" instead of "metals" or "entity list" instead of "entity listing" or "entity listed").

NCTA Washington Event Seen as Cable Show Replacement
March 7, 2017 |Cable

A cryptic postcard sent to some cable industry officials and a save-the-date website appear to indicate NCTA is planning an event to replace the defunct INTX (formerly The Cable Show) for April in Washington, D.C., cable sources told us. NCTA President Michael Powell announced the convention's end in September. “The Near Future” and the date April 27, 2017, are printed on the card recently received by one cable official, along with an address of a web page that touts an “invitation-only event [that] brings together today’s influencers in technology, policy, media and more for an exclusive look at a future that is closer than you think” in Washington D.C.’s Union Market. The website also indicates the event will feature speakers, demonstrations and “interactive exhibits.” The event will be hosted by NCTA and CableLabs, the web page indicated. NCTA didn’t comment.

Indie Programmers Powerless Before Vertically Integrated MVPDs, Cinemoi Says
March 6, 2017 |Cable

If AT&T's buy of Time Warner goes through, the two largest multichannel video programming distributors -- covering more than half of TV households -- would be vertically integrated, putting the survival of independent channels further in jeopardy, Daphna Ziman of Cinémoi North America told aides to Commissioners Mignon Clyburn and Mike O'Rielly, according to ex parte filings posted Friday in docket 16-41 (see here and here). The indie programmer said "the arms race for marketplace leverage" among broadcasters, big programmers and MVPDs has resulted in consolidation, creating "an untenable environment for emerging independent channels." Indies will need to be carried on one of the two vertically integrated MVPDs to survive, and thus will have to agree to worse contract terms than would be required by MVPDs that aren't vertically integrated, Ziman said. She also said most favored nation language is commonplace, meaning concessions made to those major MVPDs "will become standard language in all independent programmer contracts without offering commensurate value," and the FCC should proceed on its NPRM prohibiting unconditional MFNs.

NTCA Pushes for Reconsideration of Charter Overbuild Requirement
March 3, 2017 |Cable

Charter Communications' residential overbuild requirement "veered drastically" from what originally was proposed in the company's Time Warner Cable/Bright House Networks takeovers application and wasn't transaction-specific, NTCA said in an ex parte filing posted Thursday in FCC docket 15-149. NTCA -- urging agency action on its petition seeking reconsideration of the overbuild requirement (see 1606100043) -- said the agency didn't give notice it was "considering a forced competition requirement" until after the order was drafted and being circulated. Vice President-Legal and Industry Jill Canfield told Commissioner Mike O'Rielly aide Robin Colwell that NTCA wasn't seeking reconsideration of the merger but just that build-out requirement. The group said the requirement could lead to wasted resources and Charter neglecting some unserved areas while other companies cut back or exit markets. A draft order on circulation would eliminate Charter's requirement for 1 million-subscriber overbuilds, keeping the total buildout requirement at 2 million (see 1702240029).

NCTA Asks FCC to Clarify Advanced Telecom, Broadband Nuances in Next 706 Report
March 3, 2017 |Cable

NCTA asked the FCC to bring more "clarity and economic rigor" to its Telecom Act Section 706 report. The commission should "state clearly in the next report that 'advanced telecommunications capability' simply denotes an 'advanced' level of broadband, and that the previously adopted benchmark of 25 Mbps/3 Mbps is not the only valid or economically significant measure of broadband service," the cable group said in a filing Thursday in docket 16-245 on a meeting with an aide to Chairman Ajit Pai. It recommended the FCC "keep separate its discussion of whether 'advanced telecommunications capability' is being deployed in a reasonable and timely manner, on the one hand, and any discussion of the state of the 'broadband' marketplace on the other." The next report gives the commission an opportunity "to recognize that competition in the broadband marketplace is robust and rapidly evolving in most areas, while at the same time identifying opportunities to close the digital divide in unserved rural areas," the group said.

PewDiePie Dustup Shows Schism Among Video Industry Players, TDG Says
March 2, 2017 |Cable

"Legacy brand" content companies and multichannel video programming distributors are held to a higher standard for their content than "so-called ‘Internet companies’ like Google and Facebook," said The Diffusion Group (TDG) senior adviser Joel Espelien in a blog post Tuesday. Pointing to the controversy over YouTube star PewDiePie's content and Disney's Maker Studios division's dropping most of its YouTube channel roster, TDG said AT&T's DirecTV Now, Verizon's Go90 and others have partnerships with new media stars with the aim of original exclusive content on their platforms: "Be careful what you wish for, guys. You just might get it." The research firm said YouTube kicked PewDiePie off only its paid YouTube Red service, but it left his YouTube channel alone since the viewers and ad dollars he drives are "simply taken as a given." Disney's reaction, meanwhile, "seems to be an overreaction," TDG said. "Clearly not everybody’s brand needs to be as squeaky clean as Disney," it said. "But not everybody can get away with YouTube’s casual indifference either."

YouTube to Be Part of Comcast's Xfinity Platform
February 28, 2017 |Cable

The YouTube app will be integrated into Comcast's Xfinity platform later this year, including through the X1 voice remote, the companies said in a news release Monday. Along with being accessible through X1's Apps and Networks section, the Google product will be integrated through Xfinity On Demand, they said.

Charter Call Center Suit Will Proceed Regardless of Arbitration Decision, Counsel Says
February 28, 2017 |Cable

A class-action complaint by Charter Communications call center workers will go forward regardless of how U.S. District Court in Cleveland rules on a Charter motion to dismiss and compel arbitration involving just the named plaintiff in the complaint, we were told Monday by Anthony Lazzaro of the Lazzaro Law Firm, counsel for named plaintiff Daylon Howard and the others. Lazzaro said that of the close to 50 workers represented in the suit, only Howard signed an arbitration agreement. In a memorandum (in Pacer) in support of its motion to dismiss and compel arbitration filed Friday in the federal court, Charter said opposition to the motion is based on arguments rejected by the court elsewhere and on inconsistent out-of-circuit authority. The suit was filed in November for unpaid pre-shift work such as the time spent logging into the call center computer system. Charter pointed to a 2016 decision by the Ohio court in a separate case which said Fair Labor Standards Act claims could be subject to arbitration, and arbitration agreements aren't invalid because employees are prohibited from collective or class-based arbitration. Opposition to Charter's motion largely relies on precedent outside the court and outside the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in direct contravention to the court's stated preference, the company said. It said the burden is on the plaintiffs to show individual arbitration is prohibitively expensive and that the arbitration agreement isn't substantively or procedurally unconscionable. Lazzaro said the Supreme Court is expected to rule later this year on the validity of class collective waivers, an issue over which U.S. Circuit courts are split, and that could have sizable implications for the litigation.

NY Broadband Speed Suit Against Charter Moved to Federal Court
February 28, 2017 |Cable

A lawsuit by the New York attorney general alleging Charter Communications deliberately lied to customers about internet speeds (see 1702010048) has moved from New York Supreme Court to U.S. District Court in Manhattan. In a notice (in Pacer) of removal Friday, Charter said the claims, while citing New York state law, "actually arise under federal law" since the FCC regulates broadband internet access service speeds, including representations of those speeds. Section 207 of the Communications Act also allows litigating the conduct New York says is deceptive, Charter said. It said Congress barred other federal regulators from regulating common carriers regarding deceptive acts or practices, and that prohibition would be undercut if, instead of the FTC, state AGs were permitted to sue, Charter said.