The FCC should grant Buckeye Cable a waiver of the integration ban to allow it to deploy its new set-top “Hybrid Box,” Buckeye said in a request filed Wednesday (http://bit.ly/1ndQNyP). “The Hybrid Box represents an innovative development in set-top technology, combining in one device a unidirectional QAM digital terminal adaptor ('DTA') and an Internet Protocol ('IP') video interface,” Buckeye said in the filing. Buckeye needs the waiver so it can gradually transition to an all-IP network, the filing said. “The Hybrid Box will enable customers to continue to receive QAM digital video as currently delivered. Then, as video services are transitioned to IP, customers will have immediate access to those services, without the inconvenience, delay, and cost of obtaining and setting up a new set-top.” The IP portion of the new box “utilizes an industry standard, downloadable security solution supporting third party retail devices” that will “help achieve the Commission’s goal of common reliance on an industry standard conditional access technology,” Buckeye said. The cable provider said it would commit to making at least 85 percent of its video services available in IP within 36 months of receiving the waiver.

Mediacom urged FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn to take a fresh look at its filings in the retransmission consent proceeding. Mediacom has “demonstrated persuasively that the commission not only has the authority to update its retransmission consent rules, but the obligation to do so,” it said in an ex parte filing in several dockets including 10-71 and 07-18 (http://bit.ly/1l1ZScp). Net neutrality regulation proponents seek to prevent Mediacom from asking edge providers “to share a fair portion of Mediacom’s burden in operating and upgrading its facilities to handle the volume of traffic created by those edge providers,” it said. The filing pertains to a meeting with Clyburn and Adonis Hoffman, Clyburn’s chief of staff.

Cable One launched a Wi-Fi service that will allow small-business owners to streamline communications and operate more efficiently. It also will allow small businesses “to reduce mobile phone data charges by switching from cellular wireless data plans to unlimited on-site Wi-Fi,” Cable One said in a news release. “With the addition of Wi-Fi service, small businesses will be able to increase productivity by mobilizing their workforce with a seamless and secure on-site connection."

All commenters on TiVo’s request for an extension of the June deadline for HD boxes to have IP outputs support the idea, and the FCC should extend the deadline, TiVo said in reply comments Tuesday (http://bit.ly/1dnp2Rg). Though NCTA, Verizon and others were in conflict with TiVo about whether the EchoStar decision stripped away the rules underlying the requirement, TiVo said the commission should clarify its position on the matter. “NCTA and Verizon’s arguments illustrate the need for the Commission to act on TiVo’s outstanding Petitions seeking clarification that the Commission’s CableCARD support rules continue to apply and reinstatement of the technical rules adopted in the Second Report and Order,” TiVo said. CEA and the AllVid Technical Alliance also filed reply comments asking the commission to clarify its rules, and all three entities went further, asking the commission to reinstate the CableCARD rules that were vacated by EchoStar, as TiVo requested. TiVo “stands ready and willing to work with the industry on a successor to CableCARD that achieves these objectives, but urges the Commission to act to reinstate the CableCARD technical standard until such a successor solution is in place,” TiVo said. If it extends the deadline, the commission should give small cable operators an extra three months to comply, the American Cable Association said.

An initiative to reduce the power used by set-top boxes expanded to include another STB maker. Pace PLC joined the voluntary agreement between makers of consumer electronics and multichannel video programming distributors that itself expanded in December to also include advocates for reducing the devices’ energy consumption, said NCTA on its blog Tuesday (http://bit.ly/1n7GVGK). It said a request for proposal for field verification of STB energy use was finalized Feb. 25, when the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy and Natural Resources Defense Council first met with the steering committee of CE and MVPD interests that ACEEE and NRDC joined. The RFP will be issued next week, and those interested in being a contractor to confirm that the amount of energy the set-top boxes promise to use isn’t exceeded can contact cable lawyer Paul Glist of Davis Wright at paulglist@dwt.com for a copy, said NCTA. It said CableLabs has now put on its website (http://bit.ly/1czw5mv) information on STB power use of the six largest cable operators, which also are participating in the initiative. CableLabs helped assess the devices (CD March 3 p4).

Comcast NBCUniversal has fulfilled the merger conditions imposed by the FCC as a condition of approving it’s merger deal, the company said in a news release (http://bit.ly/1dgzJF3) on its third annual report on the conditions to the FCC Tuesday (http://bit.ly/1dTHJJc). Comcast said it exceeded conditions requiring preservation of local news by airing more than a thousand hours of local news programming than required on NBC- and Telemundo-owned stations, and surpassed conditions requiring expanded broadband deployment by 6,289 miles, 141 percent of the requirement, said the report. Comcast “extended its broadband plant to 718,511 additional homes, or 180% of the year-three milestone of 400,000 homes-passed,” said the report. Comcast exceeded requirements for the number of VOD offerings it provided, and the number of PSAs it aired. “Total children’s VOD programming choices during 2013 averaged 6,871 per month. This represents 4,093 more children’s VOD choices than the 2,778 average monthly choices available before the deal,” Comcast said. Comcast has also “repositioned Bloomberg Television in all relevant markets” into news neighborhoods as ordered by the commission in September, though its appeal of the matter is still pending. Comcast fulfilled conditions on online video deals by entering into “a variety of contract arrangements” with online video distributors without entering into arbitration, though an application for review remains pending filed by several content companies of a merger condition that would give Comcast access to third-party contract information, the report said. Comcast has not received any program carriage complaints from multichannel video programming distributors, the report said. “It is simply indisputable that we have honored -- in fact, over-delivered -- on our commitments,” said Comcast Executive Vice President David Cohen in the release. “And we'll continue to do so."

CableLabs plays “a significant role in advancing key strategic cable industry initiatives,” said NCTA CEO Michael Powell about the industry’s research and development organization’s work under its CEO Phil McKinney. CableLabs has been increasingly working on technical issues with stakeholders who disagree with its members on policy (CD March 3 p4). “CableLabs’ expertise was critical in assessing the technical capabilities and power consumption of set-top boxes that led to the historic energy agreement” in December between pay-TV companies and power-use efficiency advocates, said Powell in a written statement Friday. CableLabs has “also led the effort to provide a thorough technical analysis demonstrating Wi-Fi’s ability to successfully share spectrum” in the 5 GHz band “without causing harmful interference,” he added.

After the Supreme Court’s rejection of the Tennis Channel’s cert petition (CD Feb 25 p15), it’s now “appropriate” for the parties in the program carriage case between Cablevision and Game Show Network to consider “scheduling preparation needs for trial,” said Chief Administrative Law Judge Richard Sippel in an order issued Friday. The case had been on hold pending resolution of the Tennis Channel matter, which involved a similar dispute over whether program carriage rules require a provider to carry a channel on a specific tier. GSN and Cablevision must submit a joint status report by March 6, “describing discovery needs and proposed dates for deposing witnesses, exchanging evidence, and commencing trial,” the order said.

Time Warner Cable’s placement of its new SportsNet LA network on its basic tier will cause Los Angeles subscribers to pay an additional $60 per year, said broadcaster advocacy group TV Freedom in a blog post Wednesday (http://bit.ly/1fUmtU1). A Time Warner Cable deal with the L.A. Dodgers to air all of the team’s regular season games for the next 25 years on SportsNet LA cost $8.35 billion, a “hefty pricetag” that will motivate TWC to “force” subscribers to pay higher fees, TV Freedom said. Time Warner Cable is also negotiating with DirecTV, Dish Network and Cox Communications to allow them to offer the channel, which would translate to higher fees for their subscribers as well, TV Freedom said. “At a time when it’s increasing rates for its own programming, and forcing all of its customers to pay for a channel some may not want, TWC is in Washington seeking government assistance to change the rules of the game on retransmission consent negotiations related to TV broadcast programming.” Time Warner Cable didn’t comment. The company agreed in February to be bought for about $45 billion by Comcast.

A letter from the Department of Justice asking the FCC to decide joint sales agreements are attributable also condemns joint retransmission consent negotiations, said the American Cable Association in an ex parte filing. DOJ said joint retransmission consent negotiations by separately owned broadcasters in the same market should be deemed illegal unless “reasonably necessary for some other efficiency-enhancing combination of the station’s operations,” ACA said. DOJ also expressed skepticism that circumstances making joint retrans negotiations necessary could arise, ACA said. In the wake of the DOJ letter, the commission should “deem the coordination of retransmission consent negotiations as per se attributable under the media ownership rules,” ACA said.