Comcast’s FreeWheel launched a partner program to certify TV and premium video buyers and sellers, plus data and technology companies, to create “a more efficient and effective media supply chain for the TV ecosystem,” it said Wednesday. The goal is to “provide another tool to make TV simpler and more efficient to plan and transact upon, while continuing our commitment to interoperability,” said FreeWheel General Manager Mark McKee. Partners will be listed on FreeWheel’s online portal.

FuboTV subscribers can access Olympics programming, including 4K HDR coverage and Dolby Atmos sound provided by NBCUniversal to its customers, in select markets, said the virtual MVPD Tuesday. NBC prime-time 4K coverage will also be made available via a next day re-air. The Winter Olympics are Wednesday through Feb. 20.

Charter Communications will ramp up broadband speeds throughout its network this year with more high-split deployments, CEO Tom Rutledge said Friday as the company announced Q4 results. The high-split upgrades allow symmetrical gigabit speeds or multi Gbps downstream, and are cheaper than network capital spending such as new nodes, he said. Rutledge said Charter will expand its 800,000-mile network by 100,000 miles over the next five years through Rural Digital Opportunity Fund funding. He said beyond RDOF, the company is using broadband stimulus money and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act funding to reach other rural areas, plus expanding into areas adjacent to subsidized builds. That rural spending, including RDOF and other subsidized rural projects, will be about $1 billion this year in capital expenditures, said Chief Financial Officer Jessica Fischer. Rutledge said Charter continues to work on DOCSIS 4.0 tech development, with recent tests delivering speeds of more than 8 GB downstream and more than 6 GB upstream. He said Charter is rolling out its 5G hybrid mobile network operation using citizens broadband radio service small cells in an unspecified market, letting people connect to CBRS small cells when they're not in Wi-Fi reach. Charter said it ended 2021 with 28.1 million residential broadband customers, up 1.1 million year over year and 15.2 million residential video subscribers, down 400,000. It reported 3.4 million residential mobile lines, up 1.1 million, and 8.6 million residential voice customers, down 600,000. Revenue was $13.2 billion, up $600 million. The stock closed up 5.3% at $590.47.

The FCC should "take a leadership role" in pole access, Charter asked Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and an aide during a meeting Thursday, per a filing Monday in docket 19-126. Charter has "experienced significant pole delays" as it deploys broadband through the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Phase I auction, it said, saying some pole owners are "delaying negotiating new agreements, refusing to process permits, and creating artificial limits."

Netflix forecasts a 37% year-over-year decline in net paid additions to 2.5 million for Q1, it said, reporting Q4 adds below its forecast (see 2201200069). COVID-19 “has introduced so much noise” to such predictions, co-CEO Reed Hastings told investors Thursday. The “ability” of streaming competitors “to grow even as we've been growing” is a “really strong endorsement for the core idea that consumers around the world are willing to pay for great entertainment,” said Chief Operating Officer Greg Peters. “It encourages us to continue that investment and to try and deliver more entertainment value and earn more of that share.” The stock closed down 22% Friday at $397.50.

Eugene, Oregon's petition for writ of certiorari on the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision upholding part of the FCC's cable TV local franchise authority order (see 2111010048) was distributed for a Feb. 18 conference, said a notice Wednesday in Supreme Court docket 21-661.

Comcast Technology Solutions launched Video Artificial Intelligence, to help content providers, MVPDs and advertisers analyze live and on-demand video, audio and closed captions to improve advertising efficacy and manage content. VideoAI identifies and tags onscreen elements such as hard cuts, black frames and transitions, or specific sounds, to provide enhanced understanding of video content, Comcast said Thursday.

The past year saw technology and specification developments enable higher capacity and improved speeds for the cable industry's 10G broadband platform, said CableLabs Wednesday. Those developments include rollout of coherent termination device specs that allow more efficient use of fiber assets when paired with wavelength-division multiplexing in the optical access network and release of gateway device security best common practices, it said.

FuboTV expanded Multiview mode on Apple TV to support elements of its FanView feature as part of its interactive live TV streaming experience, the virtual MVPD said Wednesday.

Eugene, Oregon's appeal of the FCC local franchise authority order is "an excellent vehicle [for the Supreme Court] to curb the broad expansion of implied preemption doctrine," the petitioner said in a docket 21-661 reply brief filed Tuesday. Eugene petitioned for a writ of certiorari on a 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision partially upholding the FCC's 2019 local franchise authority order (see 2105260035). It said there are multiple examples, going beyond FCC preemption of local franchise authority based on the Cable Act, of preemption of state and local authority not tied to the statutory text or application of implied preemption jurisprudence. It said SCOTUS should hear the case because of the fundamental schism between the 6th Circuit decision and a previous Oregon Supreme Court decision.