Charter Communications and Cox Communications are justifying their planned $34.5 billion combination on flawed premises, a Public Knowledge-led group said in an FCC posting Tuesday (docket 25-233). PK, Communications Workers of America, the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society and the Center for Accessible Technology have petitioned to block Charter/Cox (see 2511190049), and the filing was a reply to the Charter and Cox response (see 2512050028)

Mediacom said Tuesday that it's expanding eligibility for its low-cost broadband service to first responders. The Xtream Connect plan is $30 per month and is available to households in Mediacom's footprint that participate in federal programs such as Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Offering the reduced rate plan for first responders is "our way of saying thank you,” said Tapan Dandnaik, Mediacom's senior vice president of operations, product strategy and consumer experience.

WideOpenWest, the subject of litigation over its disclosures about its forthcoming purchase by Digital Bridge and Crestview Partners, said Tuesday in an SEC filing that it was adding to its proxy statement. WOW said it didn't think supplemental disclosures were needed, but it made them in order to avoid the risk of delaying the special meeting of stockholders. The new information included the aggregate value of unvested shares held by WOW board members.

Comcast will pay $1.5 million for a vendor breach that compromised personally identifiable information of cable subscribers, the FCC Enforcement Bureau ordered Monday. The company will also implement a compliance plan that includes vendor oversight practices related to customer privacy and information protection, the bureau said. The 2024 data breach involved information about 237,702 current and former Comcast customers that was held by debt-collection firm Financial Business and Consumer Solutions.

The Public Knowledge-led petition seeking various conditions on or denial of the Charter/Cox deal (see 2511190049) "may have set a new low bar for extreme hyperbole," Free State Foundation President Randolph May wrote Friday. The combined company clearly wouldn't enjoy gatekeeping power over internet distribution, and the communications and media landscape is seeing vigorous competition among cable, fiber, satellite, fixed wireless, wireless and hybrid facilities-based platforms, May said. "Talk of 'gatekeeper power' may have been slightly relevant in the early 2000s," he argued. "Now it's downright frivolous."

Charter Communications' proposed acquisition of Cox Communications would mean more gatekeeper power over internet distribution, less competition, higher prices and unequal treatment of underserved communities, according to a petition to deny filed Tuesday (docket 25-233) with the FCC. Petitioners Public Knowledge, the Communications Workers of America, the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society and the Center for Accessible Technology laid out an array of criticisms of the deal, including over plans to cut Cox employees and their prediction of price hikes on consumers enabled by market concentration.

Just over 40% of apartment renters expect that their internet service will be “ready-to-go” the moment they move in, said a new survey by Parks Associates, released Monday by Comcast’s Xfinity Communities. "With today's renters skewing older, more family-oriented, and often working remotely, robust digital infrastructure is a requirement," said Kristen Hanich, Parks' director of research.

Altice USA is now Optimum Communications, the company said Thursday as it also announced its latest quarterly earnings. Optimum said it lost 58,000 broadband subscribers in the quarter due to increasingly aggressive price offers and greater marketing spending by fiber and, especially, fixed wireless access competitors. It ended Q3 with 3.9 million residential broadband subscribers, versus 4 million in Q3 2024.

WideOpenWest has "been on a tear" when it comes to expanding its fiber network, CEO Teresa Elder said in a call with analysts Wednesday as the company announced its latest quarterly earnings. It reached 15,000 greenfield locations in the quarter and 106,000 so far this year, she said, in addition to expanding its network to 3,700 more homes in its legacy markets.

Viamedia’s long-running antitrust case against Comcast has been set for a jury trial on Oct. 5, 2026, said a docket entry in U.S. District Court for Northern Illinois (1:16-CV-05486). Viamedia has been pursuing litigation against Comcast over its control of cable TV advertising interconnects (see 2002260020) since 2016. The case is proceeding to trial after the court denied Comcast’s motion for summary judgment Oct. 14. The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a lower court’s dismissal of the case in 2020, and the U.S. Supreme Court declined to take up a Comcast appeal of that ruling in 2021. Viamedia is seeking up to $387 million in damages and an injunction forcing Comcast to give it interconnect access.