Matt Daneman

Charter Communications' free interconnection policy isn't completely settlement-free. In an ex parte filing posted Wednesday in docket 15-149, Charter said it spelled out its twin interconnection policies: one with settlement-free interconnection through 2018, the other a "long-standing policy that is available to typically smaller entities that may want a more flexible approach," in a conference call between company executives and FCC representatives. Under the second policy, there has and will continue to be free interconnection at times, Charter said, but it also is amendable by the company "and allows a case-by-case approach by which the entities can establish a relationship that accommodates individual needs." The company is seeking FCC approval to buy Bright House Networks and Time Warner Cable.

The FCC could end up back before the U.S. Court of Appeals if it goes ahead with proposed rules on treatment of confidential information, said an attorney for a cable programmer that's among a group of programmers raising concerns about how proprietary confidential information will be used and shared during Charter Communications' purchase of Bright House Networks and Time Warner Cable.

The cable TV bundle isn't going away anytime soon, and programmers diving into over-the-top self-distribution may ultimately be hurting themselves, Charter Communications CEO Tom Rutledge said Tuesday. While the traditional cable bundle model may have peaked, "My sense is it is not about to all fall apart, and we will be having this same conversation three years from now," Rutledge said during an earnings conference call.

The cable industry increasingly is pushing for a new regulatory look at retransmission consent rules. Cablevision said the FCC should launch a rulemaking on ways to address such issues as broadcasters forcing affiliated networks into particular tiers and requiring networks to reach a certain percentage of customers. The American Cable Association told the FCC the agency should seek comment on whether certain negotiating tactics it accused broadcasters of employing ultimately harm the public interest. The FCC should "re-examine its existing presumptions that certain types of conduct are consistent with competitive marketplace conditions [and] seek comment on whether these presumptions ... are contributing to current market dysfunctions and thus should be modified or eliminated," ACA said in a filing posted Friday in docket 10-71.

Satellite operators increasingly are considering orbital debris issues due to the rapidly growing number of low earth orbit (LEO) satellites planned for launch in coming years. Debris "has not raised alarm bells quite yet, but the trend [of increased LEO traffic] is only going to increase," Tim Taylor, Globalstar vice president-finance, business operations and strategy, told us. "[Debris] is something we are keeping an eye on."

That Charter Communications would end Time Warner Cable's paid peering and usage-based pricing policies came as little surprise to TWC and won't be a major broadband business disruption, TWC CEO Robert Marcus said Thursday. "Different companies have different philosophies," he said during a conference call on quarterly earnings. Charter earlier said it would extend its settlement-free interconnection policy to Bright House Networks and TWC once it bought the two (see 1507160021), following Charter's public interest statement in the merger that pledged broadband without data caps or usage-based pricing (see 1506250039).

The crafting of new confidentiality rules shouldn't put Charter Communications' buy of Bright House Networks and Time Warner Cable on hold, FCC Commissioners Ajit Pai and Michael O’Rielly said Thursday, urging the agency to begin its regulatory review. The FCC "should follow the direction that the D.C. Circuit previously provided in a similar case: 'The agency has access to the relevant documents at issue in this matter and can continue to evaluate the proposed merger....' So let’s start the ‘aspirational’ merger review shot clock and get on with the process," the two said in a statement.

Altice's $9.1 billion entrance into the U.S. cable market should include a $9.95 broadband offering for the types of households least likely or able to subscribe to broadband services, the California Emerging Technology Fund (CETF) said in one of the few comments submitted to the FCC as the European company looks to buy a majority of Suddenlink Communications by the end of the year.

SpaceX's experimental satellites to be tested next year in advance of the much larger low earth orbit (LEO) constellation it has planned for a global broadband service will turn off and on to avoid geostationary satellite signal interference, the company said in an Office of Engineering and Technology filing. The risks of those thousands of small satellites colliding with anything in orbit are microscopic, said the filing posted Monday.

The FCC Connect America Fund Phase II requirement of monthly broadband allowances of 100 GB could be a hurdle satellite broadband can't clear. "There is simply a physical limit to the amount of capacity that satellite broadband providers can make available," Hughes Network Systems said in a filing posted Monday in docket 10-90 in which it asked that a minimum use allowance be "a more achievable" monthly data allowance requirement of 50 GB. A universal requirement of 100 GB per month everywhere "is likely unattainable at this time" and could keep satellite broadband providers from being able to take part in the bidding, Hughes said.