Public Knowledge's complaint against Comcast's Stream TV streaming video service and data caps is no surprise, even though other companies have their own zero-rating products that have raised red flags, legal experts said in Thursday interviews. Comcast is a far more obvious target than T-Mobile's Binge On, "which can build a case we need to engage in zero rating in order to compete against the big dogs," Boston College Law School associate professor Daniel Lyons said. Stream TV's being "an obvious net neutrality violation ... makes it an obvious target," said Barbara van Schewick, director of Stanford Law School’s Center for Internet and Society.
Public Knowledge's complaint against Comcast's Stream TV streaming video service and data caps is no surprise, even though other companies have their own zero-rating products that have raised red flags, legal experts said in Thursday interviews. Comcast is a far more obvious target than T-Mobile's Binge On, "which can build a case we need to engage in zero rating in order to compete against the big dogs," Boston College Law School associate professor Daniel Lyons said. Stream TV's being "an obvious net neutrality violation ... makes it an obvious target," said Barbara van Schewick, director of Stanford Law School’s Center for Internet and Society.
Price increases in the cable industry could be reaching a point where cable distributors' dropping particularly expensive programming -- such as Cable One's and Suddenlink's drops of Viacom in 2014 -- could begin to snowball, said cable experts and insiders. Only smaller distributors have dropped programming thus far, but the next couple of years might see large distributors drop large programmers, BTIG analyst Richard Greenfield said at an American Cable Association's summit Wednesday. ACA members "are looking at these kinds of opportunities really seriously," CEO Matt Polka said separately, but "not everybody within our membership is there yet.”
Price increases in the cable industry could be reaching a point where cable distributors' dropping particularly expensive programming -- such as Cable One's and Suddenlink's drops of Viacom in 2014 -- could begin to snowball, said cable experts and insiders. Only smaller distributors have dropped programming thus far, but the next couple of years might see large distributors drop large programmers, BTIG analyst Richard Greenfield said at an American Cable Association's summit Wednesday. ACA members "are looking at these kinds of opportunities really seriously," CEO Matt Polka said separately, but "not everybody within our membership is there yet.”
Federal regulatory approval of Charter/TWC/BHN coming before the California Public Utilities Commission decision expected by May 12 (see 1602120055) is "a possibility," Charter Communications CEO Tom Rutledge said Tuesday at a Morgan Stanley conference. The FCC's unofficial 180-day shot clock for review of the Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks deals was at 158 days Wednesday, with the agency "working ... to be consistent with their shot clock," Rutledge said. While upward of 95 percent of Charter video customers take an expanded video package, affordability "is a real issue," Rutledge said, saying video expenses are driven by programmers and programming bundles. He said optimally Charter would sell smaller, tailored programming packages but "I don't have the right to buy programming that way." Pricing is seeing "some moderation," Rutledge said, saying New Charter's bigger scale should help with video pricing. He said Charter's cloud-based Spectrum Guide user interface was rolled out in Missouri and Nevada, and is being introduced in other parts of the company's current footprint. He also said the company sees it as a means to increasing its customer base: "There's a tremendous amount of entertainment in that [video] package; it's hard to represent because of the user interfaces." Asked about future mergers and acquisitions opportunities for Charter, Rutledge said, "At the moment, M&A isn't really attractive to me. Just out of sheer exhaustion. But there's opportunity out there and we'll take advantage as those things come to us." In a separate presentation at the Morgan Stanley conference, Comcast CEO Brian Roberts said that the day after it called off its attempt to buy TWC, Comcast Cable CEO Neil Smit "said we're going to make customer service our best product." Referring to Smit's being a former Navy SEAL, Roberts said, "I thought to myself he's had some worse missions than a merger that failed. It is early innings but were seeing the beginning of a turnaround and results" with video customer growth in 2015 -- the first such growth in years. Roberts said he sees Comcast moving toward providing a variety of broadband-related services, such as remote diagnostics of connected devices in homes: "We are looking at smart Internet as an opportunity not any other company has -- even if all those aren't our devices." A Comcast goal this year is to move to a system where all customer transactions can be done on mobile devices, Roberts said.
Federal regulatory approval of Charter/TWC/BHN coming before the California Public Utilities Commission decision expected by May 12 (see 1602120055) is "a possibility," Charter Communications CEO Tom Rutledge said Tuesday at a Morgan Stanley conference. The FCC's unofficial 180-day shot clock for review of the Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks deals was at 158 days Wednesday, with the agency "working ... to be consistent with their shot clock," Rutledge said. While upward of 95 percent of Charter video customers take an expanded video package, affordability "is a real issue," Rutledge said, saying video expenses are driven by programmers and programming bundles. He said optimally Charter would sell smaller, tailored programming packages but "I don't have the right to buy programming that way." Pricing is seeing "some moderation," Rutledge said, saying New Charter's bigger scale should help with video pricing. He said Charter's cloud-based Spectrum Guide user interface was rolled out in Missouri and Nevada, and is being introduced in other parts of the company's current footprint. He also said the company sees it as a means to increasing its customer base: "There's a tremendous amount of entertainment in that [video] package; it's hard to represent because of the user interfaces." Asked about future mergers and acquisitions opportunities for Charter, Rutledge said, "At the moment, M&A isn't really attractive to me. Just out of sheer exhaustion. But there's opportunity out there and we'll take advantage as those things come to us." In a separate presentation at the Morgan Stanley conference, Comcast CEO Brian Roberts said that the day after it called off its attempt to buy TWC, Comcast Cable CEO Neil Smit "said we're going to make customer service our best product." Referring to Smit's being a former Navy SEAL, Roberts said, "I thought to myself he's had some worse missions than a merger that failed. It is early innings but were seeing the beginning of a turnaround and results" with video customer growth in 2015 -- the first such growth in years. Roberts said he sees Comcast moving toward providing a variety of broadband-related services, such as remote diagnostics of connected devices in homes: "We are looking at smart Internet as an opportunity not any other company has -- even if all those aren't our devices." A Comcast goal this year is to move to a system where all customer transactions can be done on mobile devices, Roberts said.
The Small Business Broadband Deployment Act (HR-4596) has strong chances of passing the House this year, said Rep. Mike Pompeo, R-Kan., Wednesday at an American Cable Association summit. "It looks like it's going to be broadly bipartisan, like it's going to happen," said the member of the House Communications Subcommittee. "I'm confident the Senate will see that and pick it up as well." The House Commerce Committee approved a modified version of the bill last month (see 1602250015). Its passage "would be a huge reprieve for our members," ACA President Matt Polka said.
The Small Business Broadband Deployment Act (HR-4596) has strong chances of passing the House this year, said Rep. Mike Pompeo, R-Kan., Wednesday at an American Cable Association summit. "It looks like it's going to be broadly bipartisan, like it's going to happen," said the member of the House Communications Subcommittee. "I'm confident the Senate will see that and pick it up as well." The House Commerce Committee approved a modified version of the bill last month (see 1602250015). Its passage "would be a huge reprieve for our members," ACA President Matt Polka said.
Satellite operators inevitably will have to cede some of the 28 GHz band to 5G applications, and the key question is how best to do that, industry speakers said Tuesday at an FCBA CLE. "The first step is to accept these terrestrial services … are important and they'll get spectrum," said communications lawyer Scott Blake Harris of Harris Wiltshire, saying a majority of FCC commissioners seem committed to allocating some of the band to 5G. So industry priorities have to focus instead on "how to work this process … to have space to flourish," he said. "You have to look at spectrum sharing," he said. "'No' is not an acceptable answer."
Satellite operators inevitably will have to cede some of the 28 GHz band to 5G applications, and the key question is how best to do that, industry speakers said Tuesday at an FCBA CLE. "The first step is to accept these terrestrial services … are important and they'll get spectrum," said communications lawyer Scott Blake Harris of Harris Wiltshire, saying a majority of FCC commissioners seem committed to allocating some of the band to 5G. So industry priorities have to focus instead on "how to work this process … to have space to flourish," he said. "You have to look at spectrum sharing," he said. "'No' is not an acceptable answer."