The FCC Media Bureau opened docket 15-149 on Charter Communications' proposed buy of Bright House Networks and Time Warner Cable. The three companies have said they expect to close the deals by year's end, with the result being a company with 23.9 million customers in 41 states. Applications seeking FCC consent to the two deals are still expected, the bureau said Tuesday. The pay-TV universe is paying close attention to the deal in large part because of the regulatory pushback that Comcast's proposed TWC acquisition faced. Comcast in April said it had withdrawn its $45.2 billion offer (see 1504240066).

Contributions in honor of the late founder of Comcast, Ralph Roberts, can be made to two charities in the company's headquarters city of Philadelphia, a spokeswoman for the operator said Monday: The Germantown Boys & Girls Club and the United Way of Greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey. Roberts died Thursday at 95 in Philadelphia (see 1506190014).

Sequential Brands Group is buying Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, the consumer brands firm said Monday. Martha Stewart will remain as chief creative officer of the publishing, merchandising and TV content firm and will be nominated to the board of the combined companies. The deal is expected to happen in the second half of the year, with Sequential paying $6.15 per share. Brand promotion and licensing business Sequential's portfolio includes Jessica Simpson shoes, clothing and perfume and Avia running shoes.

Cablevision objections to some Game Show Network evidence "lack merit" and often come from "a misunderstanding of the nature of the evidence the motion seeks to exclude, as well as the rules of evidence," the network said in its opposition posted Monday in docket 12-122. Cablevision earlier this month objected to some evidence and experts GSN had hoped to bring in its carriage complaint against the cable company (see 1506150013). A hearing before FCC Chief Administrative Law Judge Richard Sippel regarding GSN's complaint is scheduled to commence July 7. GSN, in its opposition to Cablevision's objection, said Sippel should rule on evidence admissibility at the hearing itself "in the context of the relevant testimony." GSN also filed a separate opposition to Cablevision's objection to work done by Hal Singer, Navigant Economics' managing director, on the profit supposedly given up by Cablevision in the retiering move. Those analyses "are based on record evidence produced by Cablevision and utilize sound and generally accepted methodologies. Contrary to Cablevision’s suggestion, Dr. Singer has not changed his opinions to avoid unhelpful evidence," GSN said.

The Library of Congress is considering adjusting royalty rates cable systems pay for retransmission of broadcast radio and TV signals, it said in Friday's Federal Register. The royalties are calculated based on the cable system's gross receipts from subscribers who receive the retransmitted broadcast signals, with cable operators lumped into tiers of small, medium and large. The deadline for a petition to participate in the proposed adjustment is July 20.

Expansions of Comcast and Time Warner Cable outdoor Wi-Fi systems got the green light, as the FCC Office of Engineering and Technology granted both companies waivers to operate in the 5,150-5,250 MHz band. The waivers allow for using systems already certified for the U-NII-3 band to be used in the U-NII-1 band, with Comcast planning to deploy an additional 3,583 outdoor Wi-Fi access points certified for U-NII-3, while TWC looks to deploy 10,000, the Thursday waivers said.The Comcast and TWC deployments "should not pose a threat of harmful interference to the incumbent services in the U-NII-1 band" since in both cases the companies' operational parameters and operating power can be adjusted, the OET said.

Charter Communications faces a tougher road than it knows or acknowledges in getting regulatory approval to buy Bright House Networks and Time Warner Cable, BTIG analyst Richard Greenfield said in a note Wednesday. While the White House is particularly focused on promoting broadband competition, the pricing history of Comcast and TWC points to "size/scale ... not leading to the fastest speeds at the lowest prices," Greenfield said. "The government is concerned that new Charter will replicate the behavior of Comcast and Time Warner Cable." Pointing to a transcript of an internal Charter video of a talk between Charter CEO Rob Marcus and TWC CEO Tom Rutledge, Greenfield said Rutledge "appears to completely disagree with President [Barack] Obama, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, the FCC and the [Department of Justice]'s viewpoint that there is no meaningful broadband competition, which creates monopoly power." Post-deal Charter "can complete against the great powers in the world ... the Verizons and the AT&Ts and the Comcast and others," Rutledge said in the chat. "Charter does not appear to appreciate how painful approval will be, if it is even possible," Greenfield said. Comcast withdrew its planned buy of TWC after likely DOJ and FCC opposition. Charter had no immediate comment Wednesday.

Cablevision hopes to block some experts and evidence that Game Show Network claims bolsters its carriage complaint against the cable company. Cablevision motions were posted in docket 12-122 Friday as it sought FCC administrative law judge orders blocking or partially blocking various pieces of evidence. In Cablevision's crosshairs is the testimony of Hal Singer, Navigant Economics' managing director, on his analysis of the profit supposedly given up by Cablevision when it moved GSN in 2011 from its basic cable tier to its Sports & Entertainment tier. Cablevision has argued that the move was for cost savings, with lower affiliate fees. Singer's work "is based on groundless assumptions and flawed methodologies that do not meet the basic legal tests of admissible expert testimony,” Cablevision said in its motion. It said Singer’s calculations about customer churn and lost goodwill were based on assumptions instead of actual data. Four categories of evidence also should be declared inadmissible, Cablevision said: evidence about the alleged similarities of GSN and Cablevision's affiliated networks WE tv and Wedding Central; what Cablevision called hearsay testimony from some GSN witnesses; written testimony that didn’t come from firsthand factual knowledge; and some GSN exhibits. GSN declined to comment Monday. A hearing before FCC Chief ALJ Richard Sippel regarding GSN's complaint is scheduled to commence July 7.

Most of Time Warner Cable's residential video customers will go all digital by year's end, the cable company said Friday. The TWC Maxx program -- a series of broadband and cable upgrades -- was announced in early 2014. So far this year, close to 2.4 million new set-top boxes, digital adapters and new modems have been installed as part of the conversion of analog video to digital, TWC said. Metropolitan areas already converted are New York City, Los Angeles, Austin/Central Texas, Kansas City and Dallas, with Raleigh and Charlotte to be complete before summer's end and San Antonio by year's end. San Diego is to be finished early in 2016, TWC said.

Global over-the-top video service subscription revenue will more than double from nearly $9 billion in 2014 to over $19 billion in 2019, said a Parks Research report Thursday. OTT service penetration among broadband households is 57 percent in the U.S. and U.K., 29 percent in Spain and 24 percent in Germany, said Parks. Some 8.4 million U.S. households, roughly 7 percent, subscribe to broadband and at least one OTT video service but not to pay TV, it said. In other Western countries, comparable rates are 4 percent or less, Parks said, and operators are introducing their own OTT services to appeal to consumers. Citing the “rapid rate of change” in the OTT services market, Director-Research Brett Sappington said, “While operator attempts at TV Everywhere have made little impact, OTT video services are experiencing a boom.” New operators entering the market with their own OTT video services include Bell Canada, Dish Network, Rogers Communications and Sky. “How the industry responds to this change will ultimately affect the fundamental structure of the video industry for years to come," Sappington said.