A growing wave of Video Privacy Protection Act suits in U.S. district courts targeting streaming video provision isn't expected to crest anytime soon, data security and privacy lawyers tell us. While there have been other bursts of VPPA litigation in the past, Susan Israel of Loeb said the latest crop is focused largely on use of Meta Pixel for analytics and ad targeting -- Pixel being a piece of JavaScript code that allows for tracking visitor activity on a website.
Matt Daneman
Matt Daneman, Senior Editor, covers pay TV, cable broadband, satellite, and video issues and the Federal Communications Commission for Communications Daily. He joined Warren Communications in 2015 after more than 15 years at the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, where he covered business among other issues. He also was a correspondent for USA Today. You can follow Daneman on Twitter: @mdaneman
While residential broadband growth remains anemic at Comcast, wireless subscriber numbers and revenues are accelerating. Residential broadband had been a revenue driver, but it won't be a significant one at least for the near future, CEO Brian Roberts said on a call with analysts Thursday. But Comcast is "still in the very early growth phase" in wireless, he said.
The FCC owns a dozen bulletproof vests, but no firearms or ammunition, the commission said in response to a Freedom of Information Act request we filed in August. It said the vests, all Galls SE Series IIA and IIIA body armor, were purchased in response to a 2016 recommendation by the commission's Inspector General.
Facing a growing number of partnerships that would meld satellite and terrestrial mobile coverage, the FCC is likely to continue to take an ad hoc approach with applications rather than instituting a proceeding on satellite use of terrestrial spectrum, satellite and spectrum experts told us. Hughes repeatedly pressed the agency to start such a proceeding and reject pending applications from AST SpaceMobile and Lynk Global (see 2206290004). The commission, AST and Lynk didn't comment.
ASPEN, Colo. -- Governments’ prioritization of data localization turns out to be a bad idea in times of crisis, with vital government data one of the early Russian targets in its invasion of Ukraine, tech security experts said Tuesday at the Technology Policy Institute’s Aspen Forum. A panel on Ukrainian connectivity focused repeatedly on the need for rebuilding the country's communications networks to use providers not controlled by authoritarian regimes. Ruth Berry, acting deputy assistant secretary, State Department's Bureau of Cyberspace and Digital Policy, said there's wide agreement there's not enough diversity and resilience in the telecom network supply chain, which is why Open RAN is such an imperative.
Localities' lawsuits seeking franchise fees from streaming services have faced challenges in federal court, but experts said they expect the legal fight to increasingly focus on state courts. In a Texas court, Dallas, Houston and other cities sued Disney, Hulu and Netflix last week, claiming the streamers ignored their video service provider obligations to get their state certificates of franchise authority and pay required franchise fees. The streamers didn't comment Thursday.
Increasing numbers of cable operators say they aren't seeing major residential broadband competition from fixed wireless access (FWA) providers. Some industry watchers are unconvinced.
Charter Communications, like Comcast, had its broadband growth slow to a halt between Q1 and Q2. Charter ended Q2 with 28.26 million residential broadband subscribers -- up 54,000 year over year but about flat from the previous quarter. The sputtering growth made some analysts bearish. The two companies' broadband news "had a decidedly 'end of an era' feel," MoffettNathanson's Craig Moffett wrote investors.
Between fewer people moving and increased fixed wireless competition, Comcast saw its residential broadband subscriber numbers flatline between Q1 and Q2. CEO Brian Roberts said it expects that to be temporary and residential broadband growth to resume as the company looks to housing and business growth in its current footprint and accelerated edge-outs into new areas, driven by government digital divide spending. Comcast shares took a body blow Thursday, closing 9.1% lower at $39.41.
Cable operators are moving increasingly toward acting as over-the-top video service aggregators, often as a way of replacing the lost customer stickiness due to ongoing cord-cutting of traditional linear video packages. Cable executives, analysts and others tell us that probably will someday replace the linear programming bundle, though not soon.