Telepak Networks, Inc. (C Spire Fiber) has filed a retransmission consent complaint against Gray Television at the FCC alleging lack of good faith bargaining, and has asked for a declaratory ruling that when the FCC modifies a market to add communities served by a significantly viewed station, that that station's digital streams are also considered to be in that market for the purposes of retrans negotiations.

Retrans negotiation complaints are filed occasionally at the FCC, often in concert with impasses or blackouts. Many of those are quietly dropped when the parties resolve the issue themselves, so it can be another arrow in the negotiation quiver.

The complaint also comes as Congress is considering whether to get more specific about what should and shouldn't be in that retrans negotiation playbook.

In 2018, CBS lined up Raycom's (now Gray's) WLOX Biloxi-Gulfport, Miss., to air the CBS network programming on its digital subchannel since Biloxi lacked a CBS affiliate.

According to C Spire Fiber, WLOX is significantly viewed in Diamondhead, Miss., was deemed such by the FCC in response to a market modification petition, but that Gray, at CBS' insistence, won't negotiate for carriage of that CBS subchannel unless C Spire also carries WWL the designated in-market New Orleans CBS affiliate, which is owned by Tegna.

"[U]nder the standard CBS affiliation agreement, CBS prohibits its affiliates from granting any new out-of-DMA carriage. The market mod does not change the Nielsen boundaries for the Biloxi-Gulfport DMA, and Diamondhead remains in the New Orleans DMA. Therefore, under our CBS affiliation agreement, we are prohibited from granting consent for WLOX-TV’s CBS affiliated multicast channel on the Diamondhead system..." Gray told C Spire, according to the company. It then followed up with the news that it could provide the signal, so long, said CBS, as C Spire also carried WWL.

C Spire said forcing it to carry both CBS stations, WWL and the subchannel of WLOX, violates the FCC's good faith bargaining rules because now that WLOX is deemed to be a local Diamondhead station, it is subject to the more rigorous good faith provisions of a local station.

C Spire said that while Gray did discuss the situation, CBS essentially required it to condition the subchannel on WWL carriage pursuant to terms of its network affiliation agreement, which C Spire suggests is trumped by the good faith bargaining requirement.

C Spire also said that is a per se violation of the good faith rules for a number of reasons, including refusing to negotiate by offering only a single, unilateral proposal--take WWL or it didn't get the WLOX CBS subchannel.

While the FCC rules say an out-of-market station has simply to ask its network to waive its limitations, C Spire says, now that WLOX has been modified into the Diamondhead market, the rules on how Gray has to handle the negotiations are stricter and Gray has violated them.

It wants the FCC to declare that is the case to "remove any future uncertainty regarding the good faith negotiation status of stations deemed local as a result of market modifications granted by the Commission."

"Gray has bent over backwards to accommodate C-Spire, and I have little doubt that the FCC will quickly dismiss their complaint. It is completely without merit," said a Gray spokesperson.

A CBS source confirmed that there was language in the contract that allowed Gray to negotiate carriage of WLOX and the subchannel, but only if the C Spire also carried WWL, which the source said was standard language in its affiliation contracts to protect the in-market station in retrans disputes.

“It’s outrageous that corporate executives at the CBS network are keeping a CBS-affiliated television station from a local cable operator even though both the operator and the station operate in the same local Mississippi television market," said ACA Connects president Matt Polka. "By forcing the citizens of Diamondhead to watch a CBS affiliate in New Orleans instead, CBS is blocking access to local news and programming for a small rural Mississippi community.

“The Good Faith Complaint and Petition for Declaratory Ruling filed June 3 by ACA Connects member C Spire against Gray Television cuts to the heart of a problem that ACA Connects has long raised – third-party interference in retransmission consent negotiations."

Congress is currently looking at whether to renew the law that requires broadcasters and cable operators to negotiate in good faith, and if so, whether to potentially add a provision that makes clear what constitutes bad faith tactics. An ACA Connects official testified on that topic Tuesday (June 4) at a House hearing.

To date, no TV stations have ever been found by the FCC to violate the good faith bargaining rules, a point National Association of Broadcasters president Gordon Smith made in that same hearing, though Sinclair did settle such a complaint in the run-up to its effort to get the FCC to approve its Tribune station purchase, which ultimately didn't happen.

C Spire announced the formation of a consortium including Microsoft, Nokia, Airspan Networks and Siklu, intended to better deliver broadband services to rural areas.

Ridgeland, Miss.-based C Spire said that “real-world testbeds” will be established in Mississippi and Alabama, regions in which a third of residents don’t have broadband access, to test and deploy a variety of broadband technologies and service models.

The consortium will advance blueprints for new broadband adoption models that will be shared with regional fixed and wireless internet service providers, utilizes and other operators.

C Spire will kick off the its rural broadband initiative by hosting an International Wireless Industry Consortium’s event, “Enhancing Rural Connectivity: New Wireless Opportunities and Deployment Scenarios” at a New Orleans workshop Jan. 29-31.

"Access to and adoption of broadband technology is critically important to economically move rural communities forward and ensure they are not left behind in today's new digital economy," said C Spire president Stephen Bye, in a statement.

"Our nation's broadband adoption gap is a solvable problem that will not be limited in the next few years by the coming breath of new technologies themselves, but rather how well we facilitate them to scale at the edge," added C Spire Chief innovation officer Craig Sparks. "Hyperlocal collaboration and highly automated tools combined with these easy-to-deploy network technologies are going to be key enablers," he added. "C Spire's intent is to bring the thought leaders in this consortium together to disrupt our own thinking in these areas." 

C Spire said it has launched its app-based C Spire TV, an IPTV service that the wireless operator has been beta testing with customers of its 1-Gigabit fiber-to-the-premises network in Mississippi. The service works on Amazon Fire TV, Android TV and Apple TV with Roku availability expected "in the coming days," the company said.

READ MORE: C Spire teams with MobiTV on next-gen IPTV service

C Spire has said previously that the new service will start at $65 per month for a “Standard Pack” of channels (all in HD format), with additional packages and services, including premium networks and expanded sports channels, available for $10 and $20 more. C Spire TV (link to more information) also supports a cloud DVR service, TV Everywhere apps for out-of-home viewing of live and VOD fare, and a Replay TV offering that enable viewers to watch certain shows that aired within the last 72 hours. It has emphasized that the new offering is not an “over-the-top” video service that travels the public Internet, but is instead a managed IPTV service that will be available to homes that have access to its FTTP-delivered 1-Gig broadband service. 

“Consumers get the best of both worlds with robust software platforms from the biggest names in the technology world and our cutting-edge apps and superior service,” Ashley Phillips, general manager of C Spire Home Services, said in a release.  

C Spire said an app-powered IPTV service that doesn’t rely on traditional set-top boxes is currently in beta trials and will launch commercially in the “coming weeks.”

C Spire stressed in an FAQ that the new offering, called C Spire TV, is not an “over-the-top” video service that travels the public Internet, but is instead a managed IPTV service that will be available to homes that have access to its FTTP-delivered 1-Gig broadband service in Mississippi.

The new service will support several platforms, including Amazon Fire TV boxes and sticks, Apple TV devices (fourth generation), Android TV devices, Roku players and integrated Roku TVs, iOS and Android mobile devices, and Web browsers.

The new service will start at $65 per month for a “Standard Pack” of channels (all in HD format), with additional packages and services, including premium networks and expanded sports channels, available for $10 and $20 more.

C Spire TV will also support a cloud DVR service, TV Everywhere apps for out-of-home viewing of live and VOD fare, and a Replay TV offering that enable viewers to watch certain shows that aired within the last 72 hours.

Among other bells and whistles, the service will include “skills” for the Amazon Echo voice assistant, and its guide will use machine-learning technology to personalize the experience.

Here’s a short promo video about C Spire TV:

C Spire’s new in-home service, which includes local TV and national cable networks, stems from a partnership with MobiTV, which provides and integrates components such as the content management system, digital rights management, media players, cloud DVR, content policy, billing and authentication.

RELATED: C Spire Teams With MobiTV on Next-Gen TV Service

C Spire’s new offering will succeed a legacy pay TV service, called Super HD TV, that features TVE support, an interactive guide and whole home DVR that was developed in partnership with Innovative Systems.

RELATED: MobiTV Targets a New Opportunity

MobiTV recently landed a new $21 million round of funding  to accelerate and expand MobiTV Connect, a new IP-based, app-powered platform that enables MVPD partners to deliver services on a wide range of smartphones, tablets and TV-connected streaming devices while also sidestepping the need to use traditional set-top boxes.

MobiTV is focusing on that market as cable operators and other MVPD push ahead with IP video migration plans. MobiTV’s competition includes Evolution Digital and Comcast, which has undertaken a licensing strategy that has resulted in deals with Rogers Communications, Cox Communications and Shaw Communications.

RELATED: Rogers to Tap Comcast’s X1 Platform for IPTV Shift

Layer3 TV, the Colorado-based next-gen cable operators, has been offering an IPTV service of its own in select markets and has shown an interest in partnering with municipal providers that lack a pay TV service in their service bundles.

C Spire said it is working with MobiTV on a next-gen, in-home TV service that will do away with “traditional” set-tops and instead target a wide range of connected streaming platforms, including Roku players, Amazon Fire TV and Apple TV devices, select smart TVs, and iOS and Android smartphones and tablets.

The Mississippi-based wireless operator, which timed the announcement with this week’s The Independent Show in Orlando, Fla., said it expects to launch beta testing in November and obtain customer feedback and input prior to a commercial launch.

C Spire said the new service will feature a full linear TV lineup, including local broadcast TV stations, VOD, a cloud DVR, and seven-day TV “catch up” service. C Spire said it also has plans to pair that full-freight pay TV service with optional “skinny” channel packages

"Since the service relies on in-home streaming and mobile devices, it eliminates the need for traditional set top boxes,” Suzy Hays, SVP of consumer markets at C Spire, said in a statement. “This next generation service leverages our long-standing history of providing customer-inspired wireless experiences and will look and feel more like an app than your standard cable TV service with features such as in-depth search, personal recommendations and catch up TV.”

C Spire’s decision to go with an apps-style pay TV service comes amid the FCC’s pursuit of new set-top rules. The cable industry, led by the NCTA, has been advocating for an apps-based approach under its “Ditch the Box” proposal. Last week, the NCTA fed the FCC a pile of data and information about the technical and operational components of its proposal.

C Spire’s legacy pay TV service, called Super HD TV, features a mobile app with TV Everywhere support, interactive guide, and a whole home DVR that can record up to 400 hours of HD and record six shows at the same time. The company has been asked for more detail on its legacy vendor partners. C Spire has been rolling out fiber networks in several communities, including Clinton, Flora, Jackson, Madison, Quitman, Ridgeland, and Starkville.

Updated: A C Spire official confirmed that its legacy video platform was developed in partnership with Innovative Systems, and that its next-gen, app-focused TV product will be delivered into the home via managed IP connections.

MobiTV said C Spire is the first U.S. MVPD to tap its IPTV platform, which integrated several components, including the CMS, DRM, Media Player, nDVR, content policy, identity management, billing and authentication.

MobiTV has historically focused on mobile operators, and counts clients such as AT&T, Deutsche Telekom, Sprint, T-Mobile, TELUS, US Cellular and Verizon.

“The in-home TV experience is changing rapidly, creating both challenges and opportunities for providers as they navigate the new reality of delivering pay TV services in today’s market,” said Charlie Nooney, CEO of MobiTV. “This is only the beginning for us. We continue to break barriers and utilize our long-history in the video delivery space to help more companies’ future-proof their offerings through our ever-evolving, agile solutions within the video delivery ecosystem.”

Stephen Bye, an exec late of Sprint, AT&T and Cox Communications, has been named CTO of Mississippi-based service provider C Spire.  He’ll start on November 1.

With nearly 1 million total subs, C  Spire is a privately held wireless communications provider that has also been making waves with a 1-Gig fiber network initiative that will pair high-speed broadband with TV services in 10 Mississippi cities in its initial phase.

"I have known Stephen for many years," Hu Meena, president and CEO of C Spire, said in a statement. "Stephen makes our management team even stronger and he will be a great cultural fit at C Spire. His technological expertise and leadership will be valuable additions to our company."

Bye most recently was CTO of Sprint, and, before that was VP of wireless at Cox, which decided to shut down an ambitious wireless effort in 2011.

Bye, a 23-year telecom industry vet, also served as executive director of converged Services at AT&T. He’s also a Chartered Engineer, a Senior Member of the IEEE and a Fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology (UK). 

Bye earned a bachelor's degree with honors in electrical engineering from the University of Tasmania, Australia, and a bachelor's degree with honors in banking and finance from the London School of Economics, University of London. Bye is also a  veteran of the Royal Australian Navy, and is on the advisory board for Sutter Hill Ventures.