Charter Communications is pushing back at critics of its proposed takeovers of Bright House Networks and Time Warner Cable, meeting with the FCC to rebut arguments raised against the deals. Separately, it received some ammunition in its arguments from Discovery Communications, which also met with the FCC to say claims that New Charter might try to use its power to keep Discovery content from rival multichannel video programming distributors are off base. In an ex parte filing posted Wednesday in docket 15-149, Charter said executives met with FCC staff including General Counsel Jon Sallet and Media Bureau Chief Bill Lake to address individual filings by such critics as Incompas, Nvidia, TiVo (see 1601220017) and Time Warner Inc. (see 1601140033). Incompas' arguments that cost savings that New Charter would enjoy could hurt broadband competition aren't backed by any evidence and depend "on the questionable assumption that a provider's decision to enter a particular market depends on the incumbent providers' costs," Charter said. It also said there's no basis for conditions requiring New Charter support of CableCARD since it plans "to purchase, distribute and service CableCARDs ... for years to come." And Charter said it "has been transparent and unequivocal" that it backs the rise of over-the-top services like HBO Now since they drive broadband demand, and thus has no motive to harm OTT. It also disputed Nvidia claims Charter has blocked access to TV Everywhere apps to disadvantage Nvidia's Shield TV device. Discovery, in a separate ex parte filing Thursday in the docket, said it told commission staff -- including Lake and Owen Kendler, who's heading the FCC working team overseeing the deals' review -- that it has no incentive to withhold programming from any MVPD and though John Malone and BHN owner Advance/Newhouse own equity stakes in both Discovery and Charter, the programmer "has made many deals with alternative distribution providers" and that it doesn't vary its pricing across regions in a given MVPD contract to target any overlapping Charter areas. Withholding its programming from a rival MVPD to benefit Charter would hurt Discovery's top line and would cause only limited switching to New Charter, it said. Given the decline in linear TV viewing and the growth of OTT platforms, "cutting back on reaching viewers through these platforms would harm [its] ability to evolve with the changing video marketplace," Discovery said. In ex parte filings Thursday in the docket on meetings they had with FCC officials (see here and here), Charter/TWC/BHN foes Stop Mega Cable coalition and the Writers Guild of America, West said the deals would give New Charter too big a hold on the U.S. broadband market and incentive to stifle growth in the online video market.

Google Fiber's choice of Kansas City, Kansas, for its first fiber project taught Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kansas, that his job is to take actions that help "keep barriers low and costs less" for industry innovators, he said. That recipe is what convinced Google to pick Kansas City for its fiber deployment, said Moran, a Commerce Committee member, speaking at the Incompas conference Wednesday. Google Vice President-Access Services Milo Medin said Google was looking for "a place that's easy, not just from a construction standpoint" but that would "work with us and get things done." He said Google looked at Kansas City's permitting rules, pole-attachment policies and other "boring things" that really matter, and decided it was the best choice among 1,100 communities that competed for the company's initial fiber foray, which was followed soon thereafter by Kansas City, Missouri, and by moves in Austin and some other cities. He said one of the keys was a "demand model" that invited consumers to commit to the fiber service, and thereby aggregate demand. Medin, who worked on the Kansas City project, said he's now working more on wireless issues. He said much of the industry's focus is on using low-band frequencies for broad coverage and building penetration but higher-band frequencies for making smaller cells that allow spectrum to be re-used. He lauded the FCC's 3.5 GHz band effort to find ways to share government spectrum with private users. He said most of that spectrum traditionally was used for naval radar, and specifically aircraft carrier air-traffic control. "Have you ever seen an aircraft carrier in Kansas?" he kidded Moran. Medin said sharing arrangements were an innovative way to avoid the traditional, protracted battles where industry seeks to take over government spectrum. He said the sharing arrangements can actually be a "win-win" because they allow government communications users to better "leverage" commercial innovations that had escaped them.

As next Thursday's FCC meeting approaches where a set-top box NPRM may be considered on making it easier for consumers to get encrypted TV content carried through the boxes without getting one from their multichannel video programming distributor, MVPDs with concerns about any rules and NPRM backers are lobbying the agency. That is according to ex parte filings posted Tuesday and Wednesday in docket 15-64. If the FCC moves forward with its proposals for the set-top market, it should seek comment on possible exceptions for smaller cable operators, said the American Cable Association in meetings with aides to Chairman Tom Wheeler and Commissioners Jessica Rosenworcel, Ajit Pai and Mike O’Rielly. “At a minimum,” the FCC should “tentatively conclude that all-analog systems should be exempt from any new requirements,” ACA said. The agency's proposals would “directly interfere with and jeopardize” its ability to provide programming for Latino viewers, programmer Hola TV wrote Wheeler. “The proposal would allow some large Internet companies to unilaterally take our content without our approval, or compensation, disassociate it from existing negotiated channel placements, and enable those entities to sell intrusive advertising absent a mechanism to share any revenue with programmers." Dish and EchoStar don’t oppose “exploration of the [Downloadable Security Technology Advisory Committee]’s recommendations regarding adoption of competitive navigation devices,” they said jointly. The FCC shouldn’t adopt “overly simplistic solutions that could damage competition and hinder innovation,” Dish and Echostar said in a meeting with staff from Clyburn’s office. Pai should vote for the NPRM, said the Consumer Video Choice Coalition in a meeting with him, according to an ex parte filing. “The Coalition has proven that competition holds the technology solution for ending the era of forced set-top box leasing from large incumbent" multichannel video programing distributors, said the filing. By moving forward with the NPRM, the FCC “will be fulfilling its mandate” in Section 629 of the Communications Act to “ensure that consumers have access to competitive devices that are interoperable with MVPD networks,” the CVCC said. Coalition members include Google, Incompas, Public Knowledge and TiVo, its website said. Another group, begun the day FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said he would circulate the NPRM (see 1601270064), includes ACA, Dish, MPAA and NCTA, its website said.

Google Fiber's choice of Kansas City, Kansas, for its first fiber project taught Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kansas, that his job is to take actions that help "keep barriers low and costs less" for industry innovators, he said. That recipe is what convinced Google to pick Kansas City for its fiber deployment, said Moran, a Commerce Committee member, speaking at the Incompas conference Wednesday. Google Vice President-Access Services Milo Medin said Google was looking for "a place that's easy, not just from a construction standpoint" but that would "work with us and get things done." He said Google looked at Kansas City's permitting rules, pole-attachment policies and other "boring things" that really matter, and decided it was the best choice among 1,100 communities that competed for the company's initial fiber foray, which was followed soon thereafter by Kansas City, Missouri, and by moves in Austin and some other cities. He said one of the keys was a "demand model" that invited consumers to commit to the fiber service, and thereby aggregate demand. Medin, who worked on the Kansas City project, said he's now working more on wireless issues. He said much of the industry's focus is on using low-band frequencies for broad coverage and building penetration but higher-band frequencies for making smaller cells that allow spectrum to be re-used. He lauded the FCC's 3.5 GHz band effort to find ways to share government spectrum with private users. He said most of that spectrum traditionally was used for naval radar, and specifically aircraft carrier air-traffic control. "Have you ever seen an aircraft carrier in Kansas?" he kidded Moran. Medin said sharing arrangements were an innovative way to avoid the traditional, protracted battles where industry seeks to take over government spectrum. He said the sharing arrangements can actually be a "win-win" because they allow government communications users to better "leverage" commercial innovations that had escaped them.

As next Thursday's FCC meeting approaches where a set-top box NPRM may be considered on making it easier for consumers to get encrypted TV content carried through the boxes without getting one from their multichannel video programming distributor, MVPDs with concerns about any rules and NPRM backers are lobbying the agency. That is according to ex parte filings posted Tuesday and Wednesday in docket 15-64. If the FCC moves forward with its proposals for the set-top market, it should seek comment on possible exceptions for smaller cable operators, said the American Cable Association in meetings with aides to Chairman Tom Wheeler and Commissioners Jessica Rosenworcel, Ajit Pai and Mike O’Rielly. “At a minimum,” the FCC should “tentatively conclude that all-analog systems should be exempt from any new requirements,” ACA said. The agency's proposals would “directly interfere with and jeopardize” its ability to provide programming for Latino viewers, programmer Hola TV wrote Wheeler. “The proposal would allow some large Internet companies to unilaterally take our content without our approval, or compensation, disassociate it from existing negotiated channel placements, and enable those entities to sell intrusive advertising absent a mechanism to share any revenue with programmers." Dish and EchoStar don’t oppose “exploration of the [Downloadable Security Technology Advisory Committee]’s recommendations regarding adoption of competitive navigation devices,” they said jointly. The FCC shouldn’t adopt “overly simplistic solutions that could damage competition and hinder innovation,” Dish and Echostar said in a meeting with staff from Clyburn’s office. Pai should vote for the NPRM, said the Consumer Video Choice Coalition in a meeting with him, according to an ex parte filing. “The Coalition has proven that competition holds the technology solution for ending the era of forced set-top box leasing from large incumbent" multichannel video programing distributors, said the filing. By moving forward with the NPRM, the FCC “will be fulfilling its mandate” in Section 629 of the Communications Act to “ensure that consumers have access to competitive devices that are interoperable with MVPD networks,” the CVCC said. Coalition members include Google, Incompas, Public Knowledge and TiVo, its website said. Another group, begun the day FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said he would circulate the NPRM (see 1601270064), includes ACA, Dish, MPAA and NCTA, its website said.

Growing subscriber rolls at some cable TV providers, even as the over-the-top (OTT) market booms, indicate people "really like to watch TV," said Corie Wright, Netflix director-global public policy, Wednesday at Incompas' 2016 Policy Summit. "It's not an either/or proposition -- a price point for something like Netflix or [Amazon] Prime makes it easy to add onto your core package," she said on a panel on the streaming video content marketplace.

An FCC draft cable set-top box NPRM "fully respects" content copyright interests, General Counsel Jonathan Sallet said Wednesday at an Incompas conference. The draft, which the agency is to consider Feb. 18, is intended to encourage competition and give consumers more choice in the cable set-top retail market, he said, lauding the vision and principles of the 1996 Telecom Act. Meanwhile this week, filings on lobbying for and against the NPRM were posted in docket 15-64 (see here and 1602100036).

An FCC draft cable set-top box NPRM "fully respects" content copyright interests, General Counsel Jonathan Sallet said Wednesday at an Incompas conference. The draft, which the agency is to consider Feb. 18, is intended to encourage competition and give consumers more choice in the cable set-top retail market, he said, lauding the vision and principles of the 1996 Telecom Act. Meanwhile this week, filings on lobbying for and against the NPRM were posted in docket 15-64 (see here and 1602100036).

The war of words over draft FCC proposed rules on untying set-top boxes from the multichannel video programming distributors that often provide the boxes to MVPD customers (see 1601270064) escalated Wednesday. After AT&T slammed Google over the Internet company's transition plan and by extension the FCC for considering it, the Justice Department emailed us a statement backing the commission's tack. That statement was the subject (see 1602030055) of a Communications Daily Bulletin. The FCC likewise defended its plan.

The war of words over draft FCC proposed rules on untying set-top boxes from the multichannel video programming distributors that often provide the boxes to MVPD customers (see 1601270064) escalated Wednesday. After AT&T slammed Google over the Internet company's transition plan and by extension the FCC for considering it, the Justice Department emailed us a statement backing the commission's tack. That statement was the subject (see 1602030055) of a Communications Daily Bulletin. The FCC likewise defended its plan.