Multichannel News

AT&T U-verse Drops A Spot In Netflix Speed Rankings

Netflix posted its Internet service provider (ISP) Speed Index for July 2014, and there was not much shuffling among the top 16 US providers that the streaming giant measures.

In fact, there was just one change in that grouping -- AT&T U-verse dropped one spot, to number 14, delivering an average Netflix streaming speed of 1.44 Mbps. That allowed Clearwire (1.48 Mbps), the only US wireless provider measured in that group, to rise one spot, to number 13.

The final rankings of Verizon FiOS (No. 12/1.61 Mbps) and Verizon DSL (No. 16/970 kbps) were unchanged from the Netflix index for June 2014.

Comcast Sets Appointment with Doctor On Demand

Doctor On Demand, a healthcare service that provides “video visits” with board-certified physicians, announced that it has landed a $21 million “A” round and signed on Comcast as a customer.

Comcast has signed on to offer the service to all of its US employees and will integrate Doctor On Demand into its health and wellness offerings. For certain plans, Comcast will also fully subsidize employees’ visits with Doctor On Demand physicians.

ACA Asks FCC to Prohibit Some Affiliation Switch, Multicast Moves

The American Cable Association wants the Federal Communications Commission to prevent television stations from swapping affiliations in a market so that one station owner programs two of the Top Four networks and to disallow a Top Four network-programmed station in a market from carrying a second Top Four net on a multicast stream. ACA argues broadcasters will subvert the FCC's new prohibitions on coordinated retransmission consent. Swaps and multicast moves, it argues, would result in the same undue leverage and potential harms the FCC's recent rule changes were meant to prevent.

AT&T Says ‘GigaPower’ Is a Go For Greensboro, Houston

AT&T said it will offer broadband speeds of up to 1 Gbps to parts of Greensboro (NC) and Houston (TX) through the deployment of its new fiber-based “GigaPower” network.

As it’s been with recent, similar commitments in other markets, AT&T said specific locations of availability and pricing for GigaPower services in the Greensboro and Houston markets will be announced at a later date.

Charter Bumps Biz Broadband Speeds In St. Louis

Charter Communications has raised the downstream speeds supported by its business-class broadband service for small- and mid-sized businesses in St. Louis, with its high-end tier now maxing out at 200 Mbps.

Charter Business said it is raising speeds for three of those business Internet tiers for no added cost:

  • Customers on the 60 Mbps tier are now getting 100 Mbps;
  • Customers on the 80 Mbps offering are now getting 150 Mbps; and
  • Customers on the 100 Mbps plan are now getting 200 Mbps.

Is Faster Always Better?

Perhaps there’s too much of a focus on raw speeds and the focus on megabits and gigabits. An initiative underway at CableLabs is lavishing some attention on milliseconds.

CableLabs is exploring the implementation of Active Queue Management (AQM), a technology that’s designed to reduce latency, buffering and packet loss – elements that can improve the overall performance of DOCSIS-delivered broadband services.

Posting big speeds will always provide grist for the marketing people, but CableLabs believes that an additional focus on latency can juice up the performance of broadband-fueled multiplayer gaming, video conferencing, video streaming and even the simple task of loading Web pages.

Analyst: No Sprint/T-Mobile Deal Helps Comcast/TWC, FCC

Bernstein Research says that if T-Mobile and Sprint drop their merger plans, as expected, it will benefit other potential merger partners Comcast/Time Warner Cable and AT&T/DirecTV, as well as the Federal Communications Commission, the regulator faced with those two, already filed, deal proposals.

Black Caucus Wants Diversity Boilerplate in FCC-Vetted Mergers

Rep Maxine Waters (D-CA) and other members of the Congressional Black Caucus are urging the Federal Communications Commission to use its upcoming merger reviews to promote more diversity in the media business through a laundry list of enforceable conditions mandating diversity in virtually all aspects of company business.

In a letter to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, and 50 other legislators outlined a set of guidelines for the commission as it vets the proposed Comcast/Time Warner Cable and AT&T/DirecTV and Sprint/T-Mobile mergers, saying those unions are an opportunity to "encourage" diversity.

Frontier Tries Out Prepaid Broadband

Following Comcast into the world of prepaid broadband, Frontier Communications has introduced Pay-As-You-Go Internet, a service that allows customers to buy access in increments of one day, seven days or 30 days.

Like Comcast’s prepaid offering, Frontier’s does not require a credit check, a Social Security number or a bank account, opening up a way to obtain customers who don’t want or otherwise don’t qualify for a post-paid broadband service.

Comcast Speed Upgrades Hit Houston, California

Comcast has begun to roll out speed upgrades in Houston and parts of California, according to customers. Comcast is jacking up speeds without a price increase.

However, some customers might need a new DOCSIS 3.0 modem to get the new speeds, which Comcast will swap for no additional cost.

Small Cable Eye Ways to Unload Old TV Service

A growing number of small and independent cable operators are preparing to get rid of the very product that once drew customers to their business: TV programming.

With the wholesale price of programming increasing at a rate far higher than the retail cost, many operators are generally ready to get out of the programming business and instead allow customers to pick and choose programming services with an IP, or over-the-top system.

AT&T To Bring ‘GigaPower’ To Nashville

AT&T will extend its fiber-based “GigaPower” network to parts of Nashville, where it will eventually offer speeds up to 1 Gbps. Nashville, served by incumbent cable operator Comcast, is also one of 34 potential expansion cities being sized up by Google Fiber and its 1-Gig-capable platform.

Rep Latta Urges Senators to Pass STELAR

Rep Bob Latta (R-OH), vice chairman of the House Communications Subcommittee, has asked Senate Commerce Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) and Committee Ranking Member John Thune (R-SD) to vote on and approve the House version of the STELA Reauthorization Act, which passed in the House.

Reps Latta and Gene Green (R-TX), who also signed the letter, point out that the House bill was bipartisan, that STELA needs to pass by the end of 2014 and that it includes targeted video reforms.

DOJ: Make Unauthorized Streaming a Felony

The Justice Department continues to press the Congress to clarify that Internet streaming can be prosecuted as a felony and not just a misdemeanor.

Felony prosecution would mean larger penalties, and DOJ argues, better deterrence to online pirates.

AT&T Preps Summer GigaPower Debut In Dallas/Ft. Worth

AT&T shed some light on its coming launch of fiber-fed “U-verse with GigaPower” services in pockets of Dallas and Ft. Worth, announcing that it’s on track to boot up service this summer.

AT&T, which tangles with Time Warner Cable and, to a lesser extent, with Charter Communications, in that area, didn’t pinpoint a launch date, but said the deployment will initially focus on the Dallas-area communities of Highland Park and University Park, offering “speed capability up to 1 Gbps.”

In Ft. Worth, the initial deployment will also be limited to 100 Mbps, with plans to offer up to 1-Gig by the end of 2014.

AT&T: State Reviews of DirecTV Merger Complete

AT&T Chief Financial Officer John Stephens told Wall Street that the states that have been reviewing its proposed merger with DirecTV have concluded those reviews without proposing any conditions.

Those states are Arizona, Louisiana and Hawaii, all of which had "unique statutes or commission rules for the transfer," said a source familiar with the reviews.

The Federal Communications Commission won't open the docket on the proposal until it has confirmed that A&T's filings square with FCC rules and it has outlined how sensitive information collected from the companies and others as part of its review will be treated.

Cohen: Comcast's Diversity Efforts Are Getting On Up

Comcast executive vice president David Cohen got a chance to showcase some of his company's diverse content at a premiere screening of Comcast's Universal Pictures biopic, Get on Up, about the life of the Godfather of Soul, James Brown.

Cohen spoke to the audience about the company's diverse hiring and casting practices -- which drew applause from the crowd -- and its addition of four new, diverse cable channels including Revolt and Aspire. While expounding on Comcast's diversity efforts, Cohen also said he knew "how much farther we have to go" to achieve its diversity goals, adding that the company's proposed merger with Time Warner Cable would allow it to do more.

NY District Court Signals FilmOn Likely In Contempt

The US District Court for the Southern District of New York appears poised to grant broadcasters a motion finding online TV station signal streamer FilmOn in contempt for continuing to deliver network TV station signals over the Internet after the Supreme Court found similar service Aereo in violation of copyright.

FilmOn says it has since stopped. In a hearing on July 22, Judge Naomi Buchwald, who has already found FilmOn in contempt once, said she was likely to do so again.

House Homeland Security Committee To Hold 9/11 Hearing

The House Homeland Security Committee has scheduled a hearing for July 23 on the just-released Tenth Anniversary Report from the members of the 9/11 Commission.

Among the recommendations of that new report were that Congress needs to drop the partisan brickbat swinging long enough to pass cybersecurity legislation and that data collection is important to national security so long as civil liberties are protected.

STELAR Passage Gets Stellar Reception

The House's bipartisan passage of the STELAR Act satellite bill on July 22 got plenty of stakeholder praise after it passed on voice vote in a fast track move that signaled it was a non-controversial item.

Cable operators, who were able to secure retransmission consent and set-top reforms, applauded House leaders for the bipartisan offering.

Rep Latta: Nixing Integration Ban Is Win-Win

In advance of what is expected to be a bipartisan vote on a House Commerce Committee version of a bill reauthorizing the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act (now christened the STELA Reauthorization, or STELAR, act), Rep Bob Latta (R-OH) talked about the importance of scrapping the ban on integrated set-tops, which he says will save cable operator costs and consumer's on their energy bills.

Rep Latta, vice chairman of the Communications Subcommittee, was instrumental in getting his CableCARD bill added to the legislation in the House Commerce Committee, a move strongly backed by cable operators. Also in the bill is a prohibition on coordinated retransmission consent negotiations among non-commonly owned TV stations in a market, another provision strongly backed by cable operators.

The bill, including both provisions, is expect to pass with bipartisan support on July 22 in the House. It is being voted on the suspension calendar, which is a short-cut for noncontroversial bills.

Analyst: Something Has Got to Give

The rising number of media mergers expected to fall on the Federal Communications Commission’s doorstep could force the regulatory agency to consider blocking at least one of the mega-deals before it, influential media analyst Craig Moffett wrote.

In his report, Moffett noted that all of those deals -- and probably several more that haven’t been announced yet -- trace their reason for being to the enormous scale and power that Comcast/TWC will have over the television and broadband industry. And that, Moffett wrote, is why at least one of them could be blocked by the agency.

But which one will get the boot? Moffett isn’t speculating -- he added that the anti-trust case against Comcast/TWC is weak, the companies’ footprints don’t overlap and no competitor would be eliminated. But he noted the combined company would control about 40% of the broadband customers in the country, a figure that could raise eyebrows.

Roberts: AT&T/DirecTV ‘Powerful Combination’

Comcast chairman and CEO Brian Roberts told analysts that he believes AT&T’s pending deal to acquire DirecTV is a “powerful combination,” adding that the $67 billion merger validates the idea that the market is changing rapidly.

Roberts said the two companies are “part of the reason we have lost video subs,” over the past six years. “And it sort of for me validates the changing and dynamic nature of the market that we are living in, the technological changes, the consumer behavior changes that are happening at very fast speeds,” Roberts said.

Justice Officially OK With Sinclair/Allbritton Deal

The Justice Department signaled that it has no antitrust issues with Sinclair's purchase of Allbritton stations. Sinclair will run WHTM Harrisburg-Lancaster-Lebanon-York separately during the period between the closing of the deal and the sale of that station to Media General, which Justice had made a condition of its approval.