The Wireless ISP Association is opposing AT&T's proposed $108.7 billion buy of Time Warner. The deal "would disadvantage the small, entrepreneurial companies that are investing private capital to bridge the digital divide while further solidifying the market power of the same massive conglomerates that have failed to provide choice and competition in the rural broadband market," said WISPA Legislative Committee Chairman Jimmy Carr in a statement Monday. WISPA also cited AT&T's zero rating of its DirecTV Now service and said ISP favoritism of content negatively affects small broadband providers that don't own content, and said regulators should block the deal unless there are enforceable conditions that prevent consumer harm. It still isn't clear if an AT&T/TW deal could be structured so the FCC wouldn't have regulatory oversight (see 1610260022). The acquirer didn't comment Monday.

Cable has little to fear from cord cutting -- especially from customers dropping their video service for a competing over-the-top offering -- since much of that lost revenue will come back from charging for stand-alone broadband and from customers opting for higher speed tiers, said MoffettNathanson analyst Craig Moffett wrote investors Thursday. His analysis is based in part on a Survata survey of 507 online respondents, with the analyst saying the results indicating those who said they are or would consider dropping their pay-TV service for OTT also would upgrade to a faster broadband service if they switched, even though most of them said their current speed was sufficient for satisfactory Internet video. Moffett said that and the net recovery that could come from dismantling a bundled discount provide "dramatic" protection against cord cutting.

Netflix added off-line viewing as a feature to its streaming video service, it said in a blog post Wednesday. The company said the download function comes at no extra cost, and some content is available for offline viewing "with more on the way."

Altice plans to roll out a fiber-to-home network across most of its territory delivering up to 10 Gbps broadband speeds by 2022, it said in a news release Wednesday. The deployment will start in 2017, reaching all of its Optimum footprint and most of its Suddenlink footprint within five years, it said. The company said the U.S. plans mirror similar fiber deployments in its territories in France and Portugal.

TiVo and Netflix signed licensing agreements that will have TiVo continue integrating the streaming video service into its set-top boxes and Netflix having access to TiVo patent portfolios and to Intellectual Ventures' over-the-top patent portfolio, the companies announced Monday. They said the deal is one of the first licenses given under TiVo's exclusive partnership with Intellectual Ventures.

CNN bought video messaging app firm Beme, Beme Chief Technology Officer Matt Hackett wrote on Medium. Beme will shut down Jan. 31, he said, saying he's "unsentimental about ending it." Beme "as a single product failed. Beme as a vision for the kind of technology and media that must be built is just getting started," Hackett said Monday, saying the company will be able to do more with CNN resources. CNN said separately it's starting a stand-alone company with Beme founders Hackett and Casey Neistat, with Hackett and the Beme development team building the technology behind it, and developing mobile video capabilities for CNN, while Neistat will be the focal point of "a new media brand for a new audience." CNN said the company -- to launch by summer 2017 -- will focus on "filling the world with excellent, timely and topical video and empowering content creators to use technology to find their voice. It won’t be what most people think of as 'news.'"

Defending an independent Star Trek film as a fan film "is a legally irrelevant designation" since fan films don't receive special treatment under the Copyright Act, said CBS Studios and Paramount Pictures in a motion (in Pacer) for partial summary judgment filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles. Prelude to Axanar, distributed free online by Axanar Productions and principal Alec Peters, doesn't even qualify as a fan film -- that being an amateur work created by fans simply for fun -- since Axanar is making professional productions intended to be unlicensed independent Star Trek films targeted at the same audience as Paramount/CBS' Trek movies and TV shows, said the plaintiffs, who are suing for copyright infringement (see 1609300002). The motion asks the court to enter a judgment against Axanar and Peters on liability on the copyright infringement claims and enjoin them from further infringement, such as completing filming of a full-length Axanar motion picture. In the motion, Paramount/CBS said Peters repeatedly referred to the Axanar works as professional productions. They also argued against the Axanar works constituting fair use, since making "an authentic and 'independent Star Trek film' that stayed true to Star Trek canon down to excruciating details" falls well outside Section 107 of the Copyright Act, which covers fair use. Counsel for Axanar and Peters didn't comment Friday.

With wireline and wireless industry convergence leading to a "coopetition" industry framework, cable "has the most to win" due to its fiber assets, Wi-Fi and mobile virtual network operator agreements, said Macquarie Research analyst Amy Yong in a note to investors Friday. Backhaul needs will grow with 5G rollout, meaning telcos could forge closer ties to operators like Charter Communications and Comcast for their fiber assets, she said. Meanwhile, the new Trump administration could see more mergers via "a fresh and business friendly DOJ-FCC team," she said, with likely scenarios including cable-wireless combinations such as Charter and Comcast or Charter and Altice uniting to buy T-Mobile or Sprint, a Dish Network/wireless or Dish/cable deal, or a wireless merger of T-Mobile and Sprint.

With Charter Communications' withdrawal of its appeal and petition for stay of a Massachusetts Department of Telecommunications and Cable local rate order, the FCC Media Bureau said in an order Tuesday it dismissed the appeal.

TiVo's waiver of FCC rules requiring that its set-top boxes include a digital interface for connecting to other consumer electronic devices expires June 1, 2017, and the company is seeking an extension through Dec. 31, 2018, the Media Bureau said in a public notice Tuesday. Comments are due Dec. 6, replies Dec. 13.