ACA Connects is backing NCTA's request that the FCC delete the fair market value language from its in-kind contribution rules to align with the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision on the agency's cable local franchise authority order (see 2205100051). In a docket 05-311 filing Tuesday, ACA said arguments that the agency instead begin a rulemaking to revisit that language haven't shown why that approach is necessary, nor have they challenged NCTA's position that the agency can make the change ministerially.
The Q2 2022 inflation adjustment figure for cable operators using Form 1240 is 9%, said the FCC Media Bureau and Office of Economics and Analytics Tuesday. In the year-ago quarter, it was 6.07%.
The FCC's cable operations and licensing system (COALS) won't accept filings between 5 p.m. Oct. 11 and 8 a.m. Oct. 18 as the agency moves to an updated version, the Media Bureau said Tuesday. The updated version, here, should bring more security, reliability and performance, the bureau said. It also makes cable antenna relay service filings completely online and will host cable equal employment opportunity annual filings, it said. Draft filings stored in the current COALS version and filings with unpaid fees won't be processed or migrated to the new system, it said. Filings to transfer community units that haven't been accepted by the recipient will also be canceled, it said. Legacy COALS ID logins will be canceled with the transition, it said. A webinar here and on the agency's YouTube channel at 1 p.m. EDT Oct. 26 will give more information on the features, capabilities and login of the updated COALS, it said.
A combination of factors drove set-top box shipments to another decline in 2021, including the migration to streaming, market saturation, consumer cost-cutting measures and supply chain constraints, reported ABI Research Thursday. ”Subdued demand” will cause continued market “contraction,” with annual shipments declining to 195.2 million units globally in 2025 from 203.1 million in 2022, it said. ABI projects that shipments thereafter will “level off” at around 194 million set-tops between 2025 and 2028. “Vendors must adapt to remain competitive in a contracting market,” said ABI. “To counter the competition from streaming, particularly in mature markets, vendors should look to develop more hybrid set-top boxes that integrate streaming services.”
Some Comcast claims about its Xfinity Wi-Fi service being faster than AT&T's Wi-Fi are supported, but others should be modified or dropped, the Better Business Bureau's National Advertising Division said Wednesday. AT&T challenged Comcast's comparative internet and Wi-Fi ad claims. NAD said Comcast agreed to make the recommended changes.
Shipping of self-installation equipment to cable customers was up 200% in 2021 over 2020, WideOpenWest said Monday in its inaugural annual sustainability report. It said it expects self-installation trends to grow. It said it decreased its real estate footprint by 59% in 2021, in part due to its move to a hybrid work environment. It said 98% of customers have access to 1 Gbps data service.
Agriculture, healthcare, education and entertainment will all get major changes in a 10G future, NCTA blogged Tuesday. Citing an analysis by Future Today Institute in partnership with the cable industry group, NCTA said cable's high-speed and high-capacity data networks, when delivering 10G, will enable smart farming using sensors and nanotechnology for real-time monitoring and autonomous harvesting of produce, plus widespread use of wearables and smart-home sensors to capture health data, along with many medical appointments happening virtually. It said 10G will also allow immersive, remote educational and entertainment experiences and artificial intelligence-driven lessons.
Comcast will start offering multi-gigabit symmetrical broadband speeds to subscribers before the end of 2023, following successful testing of technical components, it announced Tuesday. Comcast said it will start live trials of the service later this year. It said the testing demonstrated delivery of Full Duplex DOCSIS 4.0 service over specially designed amplifiers. Teleste said Tuesday it successfully tested a 1.8 GHz end-to-end network using its and other cable equipment vendors' equipment.
Disney stands by its decision to raise pricing 38% to $10.99 monthly on the ad-free Disney+ offering, effective when it debuts the ad-supported Disney+ Basic tier in December (see 2208110015), CEO Bob Chapek told a Goldman Sachs investment conference Wednesday. “I think it’s what the market will bear, which is a direct reflection of price value, and I think we are way underpriced relative to the value that we provide,” said Chapek. “We owe it to our shareholders to try to get that recognized.” Disney has “lots of data” in terms of “what consumers’ intentions are,” he said. “Suffice it to say that we think we made the right move and we are still in some cases significantly under where our competitors are, which again speaks to that introductory price that we came out at.” Disney’s “whole approach” in evolving ESPN as an a la carte streaming service available outside the traditional pay-TV bundle is to “proactively prepare for that moment” without “prematurely” or “unnecessarily” disrupting the business "that it is today,” said Chapek. “Everybody knows” that the traditional cable bundle “is deteriorating over time, and we’re preparing for the moment when the consumer tells us that they are ready for such a step,” he said. “We’ve got tremendous abilities to read the marketplace and understand when it might be time to do that.” There are “significant benefits” to Disney maintaining its cable business, “but at some point, we see the writing on the wall where this is going, and we’re preparing for that,” he said. “But we’re not going to do anything rash or harsh, and we’re going to follow the consumer.”
Yuma, Arizona, suffered no actual harm or damages and it didn't mitigate any purported damages it claims it might have or will suffer, Charter Communications told the U.S. District Court in Phoenix in a response Tuesday to Yuma's amended counterclaim (docket 2:20-cv-01204). Charter is seeking declaratory relief from a set of 2015 right-of-use and maintenance agreements with the city on the cabler's fiber network (see 2208100002). In its amended counterclaim, Yuma said Charter failed to act in good faith under the 2015 agreements and filed suit without any notice or discussions and is acting in bad faith.