The FCC likely will classify linear over-the-top distributors as multichannel video programming distributors, but that won’t increase OTT competition (see 1503060046), said Guggenheim Securities analyst Paul Gallant in an emailed note Friday. It would offer OTTs access to vertically integrated programming and require local TV stations to “negotiate in good faith” for signal carriage by OTTs and MVPDs, he said, but that wouldn’t give OTTs more access to marquee content and the Copyright Office would have to say that OTTs qualify for compulsory copyright licenses. Comcast's planned buy of Time Warner Cable is focused on its effect on online video competition, Gallant said. Mediacom’s requested FCC inquiry into programmer leverage over OTTs and other pay-TV distributors could affect OTT entry, he said. There's a small chance the commission could ask about programmer bundling and volume discounts and start such an inquiry, he said. A programmer inquiry could improve OTTs’ access to programming more than OTT-as-MVPD would, he said.

The FCC Downloadable Security Technology Advisory Committee (DSTAC) plans its second meeting March 24, the FCC said in Thursday's Federal Register. At the meeting, two working groups studying the currently available forms of downloadable security and the requirements of the companies that would use the solution developed by the DTSAC will present their findings, it said. The meeting will be 10 a.m.-4 p.m. in the Commission Meeting Room. DSTAC first met in February (see 1502230067).

The Federal Emergency Management Agency's Integrated Public Alert & Warning System will send a common alerting protocol message containing the national periodic test event code along with geocodes for four participating states March 18 at 2:30 p.m. EDT, said Al Kenyon, FEMA’s IPAWS national test technical lead. He spoke on an IPAWS north central regional emergency alert system (EAS) participant webinar Thursday. The test will be done for about 2,000 EAS participants in Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee, he said. “This is above and beyond the day-to-day requirements of EAS,” Kenyon said. “We’re doing what we can to make it better.” Representatives from Digital Alert Systems, Monroe Electronics, Sage Alerting Systems and Trilithic Emergency Alert Systems discussed how to configure their devices for the upcoming test. In a Sept. 17 IPAWS test, about 90 percent of the participating stations successfully transmitted the test message, Kenyon said. “A 90 percent success rate where you don’t have the opportunity to pretest the test is very good.”

TV manufacturers intend to make caption display settings accessible “through several methods including a button on the remote or access through the first level of a menu,” CEA said in an ex parte letter in docket 12-108 reporting the results of an informal poll it did of TV manufacturers on the interface used for accessibility features such as closed captions. No TV manufacturers that responded plan to provide access to closed captions and video description via only voice or gesture control, CEA said. Manufacturers are instead using buttons and icons to provide access to those features, and some are incorporating voice or gesture commands as “additional access mechanisms,” CEA said.

The 13 largest U.S. pay-TV providers lost about 125,000 net video subscribers in 2014, and annual net pay-TV losses in 2014 were 95,000 subscribers, comparable to 2013, said the Leichtman Research Group (LRG) in a news release Tuesday. In 2014, the top nine cable companies lost about 1.2 million video subscribers, the fewest since 2008, it said. In 2014, the top phone providers added 1.05 million video subscribers and satellite-TV providers added 20,000 video subscribers, it said. Comcast had the most video subscribers for cable, and DirecTV, the most subscribers for satellite TV, a spreadsheet in LRG's news release showed. Meanwhile, U.S. pay TV had modest year-over-year growth in Q4, Pivotal Research Group (PRG) said in a Tuesday report. Pay TV will also have growth in subscribers in 2015, PRG said. Pay-TV penetration in U.S. households declined 0.9 percent to 85.9 percent, it said. Broadband remains healthy and cable will continue to take net new broadband subscribers, PRG said. Wireline phone subscription losses dropped 50 percent year over year, PRG said. The cable industry faces the risk of reregulation, especially with reclassification of broadband as a Communications Act Title II service creating the "potential for regulation medium to long term," analyst Jeffrey Wlodarczak said. If the government doesn't approve Comcast's planned buy of Time Warner Cable, it could create a "temporary downside in all the names," he said. Other risks for cable include aggressive product price increases, increased competition from Google Fiber, potential over-the-top video competition and wireless substitution for phone and data, and rising programming costs, he said. The satellite-TV industry faces the risks of increasing competition and programming expenses, Wlodarczak said. If cable makes higher speeds more widely available, like 500+ Mbps, there could be Internet-based alternatives for satellite TV, he said. AT&T and Verizon pushed their video products "at the expense of satellite," he said. Satellite-TV operators lack internal triple-play bundle services, but since they are partnered with major telcos, the coming of 4G might help, he said. DirecTV focuses on the same market that regional Bell operating company and cable companies do, and Dish Network's market is at risk in the current economy and from consumers switching to over-the-top (OTT) alternatives, Wlodarczak said. OTT and retransmission rights will become substitutes for multichannel TV, he said.

Connected TVs moved past Blu-ray players on the list of most-used TV app platforms, to become the third most prominently owned device that delivers apps to TVs in the U.S., said the NPD Group. In Q4, 22 million connected TVs were installed and accessing the Internet in the U.S., said NPD, up from 13 million in the year-ago quarter, while Internet-connected Blu-ray Disc players numbered 20 million. By 2017, 47 million connected TVs in 30 million U.S. Internet homes will be delivering content through apps, said NPD, saying usage trends led the TV to become a more prominent connected device ahead of forecast. Availability of apps from top TV networks will be key to the future success of connected TV as HBO and Showtime join CBS in becoming available to consumers this year without the need for a cable or satellite pay-TV subscription, said analyst John Buffone. The most-used TV app platforms are video game consoles, followed by streaming media players, said NPD.

The FCC should reject NAB’s assertion that the interservice interference methodology is too complicated, CTIA said in comments filed in docket 14-14 Friday. Though NAB asked the FCC to abandon the current interference methodology, CTIA said the current plan and its support of market variation is “the best available means of addressing this highly complicated issue.” The FCC should also use the F(50,10) statistical measure supported by Sprint and broadcasters, CTIA said. Sprint officials meanwhile asked the agency to revise the F(50,50) statistical measure (see 1502270028).

Comments on the rulemaking on creating FCC registration numbers (see 1502120066) that don’t require users to give the agency their Social Security information are due March 30, said a commission notice in Thursday's Federal Register. Replies on the item, in docket 07-294, are due April 13.

The FCC Media Bureau asked several programmers for information on their dealings with online video distributors, as part of bureau’s review of Comcast's planned buy of Time Warner Cable, said letters posted in docket 14-57 Thursday. The companies queried include all those currently embroiled in a court challenge against the FCC over the proposed release of their contract information: CBS, Discovery Communications, Disney, Scripps Networks, 21st Century Fox, Univision and Viacom. The companies have until March 13 to submit the data about their dealings with Comcast and information about any limitations imposed on distribution of their programming.

Information and comments for the FCC Media Bureau to use in preparing a required Satellite Television Extension and Localism Reauthorization Act report on designated market areas and “considerations for fostering increased localism” are due May 12, the bureau said in a public notice Wednesday. Replies are due June 11, and the report itself is due to Congress June 3, 2016, the PN said.The bureau wants comment on the appropriate methodology for analyzing consumer access to broadcast stations outside their designated market areas (DMAs), the PN said. The bureau also wants comment on alternatives to DMAs and how they would affect localism, and how to increase localism in counties served by DMAs outside their own state, the PN said.