Using forbearance to ease the burdens of Communications Act Title II regulation of broadband Internet would likely become a “regulatory morass,” NCTA said in a blog post Thursday (http://bit.ly/1vkLiBC). The FCC would have to “create an entirely new regulatory regime for broadband Internet access from whole cloth,” NCTA said. Nearly all forbearance petitions are opposed, and often opposed “vigorously,” NCTA said. Forbearance petition deadlines are typically extended, and decisions on them are often made by the FCC on the last week or last day, NCTA said. The agency could also provide different relief for different types of entities or for entities in different locations, adding to the complexity, the association said. “The idea that it will be easy for the Commission to decide whether to forbear with respect to dozens of Title II provisions for hundreds of companies defies all logic and experience,” NCTA said. Many of the parties supporting forebearance have filed comments “suggesting that there are almost no provisions of Title II for which they would support forbearance,” NCTA said. “Given the entirely speculative benefits this exercise is likely to produce, the Commission should decline to start down this road at all.” NASUCA sought Title II rules, in a filing posted in the net neutrality NPRM docket Thursday. (See separate report above in this issue.)

A patent for the automated transmission of time-sensitive product information was granted for the e-commerce platform for TV shopping channel HSN2, said HSN in a Tuesday night news release (http://bit.ly/Y3slYW). It said No. 8,768,781 is the sixth e-commerce patent HSN has received.

Arris and Comcast will do field trials of a new, open-source software stack integrated into cable modems that they expect to be a foundation for a coming version of RDK (reference design kit) for broadband devices. Cable operators and vendors use RDK to help run customer devices like set-top boxes in a standardized way that makes upgrades easier and allows for improved features for customers (CD March 3 p4). After next quarter’s field test, new Arris Touchstone TG1682 DOCSIS 3.0 voice gateways with the new software will see general availability in Q1, said the cable equipment vendor and Comcast in a news release Wednesday (http://bit.ly/1rnqLwS). “The RDK was designed to accommodate multiple devices,” said General Manager Steve Heeb of RDK Management, a joint venture that has included a few big cable operators and administers RDK. “This new broadband software development for modems and routers is based on open source code, and plays into the philosophy of the RDK to provide operators with more transparency to the code that runs their video and broadband devices.”

Nielsen and Simulmedia partnered to develop a measurement solution for unmeasured cable network TV audiences. Joint research by the companies will seek to capture the sizable audience activity “that goes unmeasured today on niche cable networks to enable these networks to sell advertising based on reliable, qualified ratings systems,” Nielsen said Tuesday in a news release (http://bit.ly/1x7sHwU). The research was accumulated through the Nielsen People Meter panel and Simulmedia’s set-top box viewing data representing 50 million viewers, it said.

Rovi Corp. has deployed its programming guides on more than half a million standard and high-definition digital terminal adapters (DTAs), the company said in a news release Tuesday (http://bit.ly/Zcgqti). Rovi is providing its TV programming guide “throughout the U.S. and Latin America” through deals with Armstrong, Arris, Cablevision Argentina, Evolution Digital, Pace and “more than a dozen leading cable operators,” Rovi said. DTAs convert incoming digital signals into analog signals that can be viewed on older TV sets, it noted. The devices help cable companies upgrade local systems from analog to digital and optimize bandwidth to support HD channels and high-speed data, said the company. It said Rovi’s DTA Guide “eases the digital transition and enhances the experience for consumers by offering cable subscribers an Interactive Program Guide for navigating content choices."

Time Warner Cable’s responses to FCC information requests about its planned purchase by Comcast were posted in docket 14-57 Friday (http://bit.ly/1wOdj8B). Heavily redacted under a joint protective order, the responses don’t yet include all the information requested by the commission, TWC said. “All non-privileged documents requested in the Commission’s Request for Information will be submitted shortly following adjustments to reflect ongoing clarification discussions with Commission staff,” several responses read. Some responses, such as a request for a list of program access disputes with multichannel video programming distributors, are wholly redacted. Other items contain brief paragraphs of explanation above long columns of redacted information.

The FCC and U.S. would be better served by net neutrality rules based on Communications Act Section 706 rather than Title II, said NCTA in a blog post Friday (http://bit.ly/1ujKL2b). Title II doesn’t provide a “bright line” standard for what would be reasonable under open Internet rules, said NCTA. Such decisions are “rarely simple or straightforward and they are never quick,” the association said. NCTA also disputed the idea that Title II regulation would cost less. Imposing new Title II regulations on the Internet “will involve significant legal, regulatory, and administrative work” even under the mildest form of Title II regulation, NCTA said. Forbearance provisions won’t make being regulated under Title II any easier, NCTA said. “The idea that it will be easy for the Commission to decide whether to forbear with respect to dozens of Title II provisions for hundreds of companies defies all logic and experience.” The American “light touch regulatory regime” is more successful at attracting broadband investment than European models, said the association, which has been sparring with groups that want Title II in comments on the net neutrality NPRM. “Imposing Title II regulation on broadband providers and services introduces a risk of stagnation that should be of significant concern to the Commission."

Alaskan cable and telecom company General Communication Inc. joined the American Television Alliance in an effort to “reform” retransmission consent, GCI said in a news release Thursday.

Comcast’s buying Time Warner Cable would have a “direct and harmful effect” on the spot cable advertising market, said spot ad company Viamedia in an ex parte filing posted in docket 14-57 Thursday (http://bit.ly/1DlYITB): “Eliminating TWC and facilitating Comcast’s ability to achieve significant growth and even greater scale will have a direct and harmful effect on competition within the $5.4 billion spot cable advertising market.” Comcast/TWC would have a 71 percent share of the spot cable ad market, and already owns 80 percent of cable ad company National Cable Communications (NCC) and controls 54 percent of the interconnects used for spot cable commercials, Viamedia said: “Holding the dominant share of cable homes, owning NCC, and controlling the Interconnects are the three bottlenecks that would allow Comcast absolute control of the distinct cable spot cable advertising market.” The FCC should address this through deal conditions, said Viamedia. “Comcast’s increased dominance means that any technological development in next-generation advertising technologies would be on Comcast’s terms."

Ericsson agreed to pay $95 million for Fabrix Systems, a provider of video cloud storage, computing and network delivery that includes cable and telecom cloud DVRs. The deal lets video providers more quickly move customer services and applications to the cloud and ensure high-quality video delivery to TV Anywhere devices, the companies said in a news release Friday (http://bit.ly/WTf4Sa). It said the deal is expected to be completed next quarter. IDT said separately that it agreed to sell its approximately 78 percent stake in Fabrix to Ericsson (http://bit.ly/YDuv2R).