There are just 1.29 million households left in Michigan that still pay for cable TV, according to an annual report by the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC).

That’s the lowest figure the state has ever reported. And considering that Michigan has more than four million households, it means that less than a third of residents pay for a cable service.

In all, the state lost an additional 190,000 cable video subscribers in 2023, a 13% drop.

The MPSC is measuring 31 cable television and other video providers that operate in Michigan, but does not include satellite TV distributors. 

Comcast alone lost 2 million video customers nationally last year, but the story isn't just about cord-cutting. A number of cable companies operating in the state have marginalized the video business or moved out of it altogether. WideOpenWest, for example, has been trying to steer its broadband customers to third-party virtual MVPD service YouTube TV for more than a year.  

At the same time, the MPSC reported 2,183 official complaints involving cable video in 2023, its highest rates of consumer dissatisfaction and an almost 200% increase since it began reporting in 2008.

Michigan customers have been increasingly dissatisfied with their cable offerings in last years, especially after the decision to broadcast University of Michigan’s 2023 opening football game singularly on Peacock left many fans unable to watch.

“Why would a Michigan game be peacock exclusive? That's ridiculous,” said one fan.

And when Peacock broadcast an Ohio State game last season, the fan response was even more aggressive.

“The Ohio State-Purdue game being a Peacock streaming exclusive is ridiculous. The Big Ten should be ashamed of themselves for agreeing to this,” said a fan. “I hope they get significant repercussions for doing so. Buckeye nation revolt!”

In fact, one Ohio state senator even pushed for legislation that would block the singular carriage of public university games by streaming services.

Fox Sports’s live 2022 FIFA World Cup coverage kicks off Sunday with a heavy emphasis on linear television for the 64-game tournament despite an unprecedented fall start, heavy competition from other North American major sports leagues and an unfriendly time difference between the U.S. and World Cup host country Qatar. 

Still, Fox executives are confident the World Cup will attract both the hard-core sports fan and casual viewers with its coverage of the premiere soccer tournament. The Fox broadcast network will air 35 matches throughout the tournament, including the semi-final round games and the World Cup final, according to the network. FS1 will air the remaining 29 games live. Most Fox televised matches will air between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. ET.

The November start of the World Cup — prior tournaments took place during the summer — presented some logistical problems for Fox. The network airs a full complement of afternoon and evening college football games on Saturdays as well as Sunday-afternoon NFL contests. Fox Sports VP of programming and scheduling Daniela Jeffries said Fox Sports was able to work around its crowded schedule and the eight-hour time difference between Qatar and New York to develop a lineup allowing consumers to watch most of the games during reasonable viewing hours. 

“There was a little concern about how this was all going to fit,” Jeffries told Multichannel News. “As the tournament revealed itself, we saw that it wasn’t so bad. There are some challenges in the sense that there are games that probably would have been Fox games versus cable games at a different time of the year, but overall we’re pretty happy and positioned to have over 200 hours, which is comparable to what we would have done in the summer when the schedule would have been lighter.” 

Jeffries also said Fox Sports worked hard to make sure it could distribute all the games on broadcast or cable TV to broaden viewership. “We felt good about being able to get in as much linear coverage as we were,” she said. 

Fans who wish to view World Cup games live online can watch on FoxSports.com, but only if they subscribe to a multichannel video programming distributor (MVPD) or virtual MVPD service. Replays of every game will be available on the app, as well as on the Fox-owned Tubi.com streaming service through its World Cup FAST channel, including in high-resolution 4K format.

Fox will also make in-match previews and live pre- and post-match shows for every World Cup game available via the Fox Sports soccer Twitter account. 

The addition of the digital outlets offers fans more options to consume World Cup news and highlights compared to 2018, as well as provides a powerful marketing tool to promote upcoming telecasts. “We’ll be able to offer more features and highlights available on the app and have replays on Tubi — all of which we weren’t able to offer in 2018,” Jeffries said.  

Also different from 2018’s World Cup is this tournament will include the U.S. men’s soccer team, which was eliminated from participating in the World Cup four years ago. The network hopes to draw huge viewership for its USA-England Group B matchup, which will take place in the early afternoon on Black Friday, November 25. 

Given the U.S. men’s team’s participation and Fox Sports broad distribution of the games, Sports TV analyst Lee Berke said the World Cup should perform well from a ratings perspective. In 2018 Fox and FS1 combined to average 2.6 million viewers, according to Nielsen. 

“The games are airing during the busiest time of the sports year, but there’s a built-in audience for the games, and with matches airing early in the morning they’ll avoid  running directly against college and pro football games,” he said. “It should achieve the numbers that they want to achieve this time around.”

NBCU’s Spanish-Language Coverage

NBC Sports Group holds the Spanish-language rights to the World Cup and will offer every World Cup game on Telemundo and, for the first time, on NBCU’s streaming service Peacock. Peacock will offer the first 12 matches free before making the remaining 52 games available to Peacock Premium (pay) subscribers, according to NBC Sports. 

For NBC Sports and Telemundo, having both the broadcast and streaming platforms available for fans to view the games will help boost both awareness and viewership, said Berke.

“The two growing platforms for sports right now are broadcast and streaming,” he said. “The Peacock component in particular will provide a substantial boost overall across different screens.”

The U.S. soccer team’s group stage games are listed below (all times ET). The full 2022 World Cup schedule can be found here. ▪️

• Nov. 21: U.S.-Wales (2 p.m.)
• Nov. 25: England-U.S. (2 p.m.)
• Nov. 29: Iran-U.S. (2 p.m.)

The New England Connectivity and Telecommunications Association is the new name for NECTA, the five-state regional trade association for companies in the cable-TV business. This weekend (October 23-25) NECTA brings back its annual conference hosting cable companies, regulators and legislative officials in Newport, Rhode Island. 

The plan is to make the gathering a summertime affair again in 2023, association president Tim Wilkerson said. The last in-person conference in Newport was held in 2018, before the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We think that making that change, even though it’s one word, it's a lot more than than that,” Wilkerson said of the rebrand. “We think that word, connectivity, really symbolizes and encapsulates what the future is. These world-class broadband networks that exist today, but are going to be powering those 10G networks in the near future, are really going to be driving our innovation economy and those connected emerging technologies like robotics, telemedicine, fintech, ed tech, sports wagering and then world-class entertainment like NESN and NBC Sports and NBCUniversal that they rely on.”

Cable-centric associations such as NCTA–The Internet & Television Association and more recently NCTC for years have been looking to make their names say more than just cable while retaining the same basic letters. NECTA worked with an agency, Seven Letter, on the new name, a new logo and a new website that for the first time spells out a mission statement for the group, Wilkerson said. A new tagline reads, “Connecting New England.”

Topics important to NECTA include how the $14.2 billion in broadband subsidies under the national Affordable Connectivity Program are handed out, and whether or not the states will adopt parallel programs that help subsidize the cost of a residential broadband subscription, Wilkerson said. The biggest cable companies in NECTA's territory of Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont are Comcast, Charter Communications, Cox Communications and Breezeline, Wilkerson said.

“NECTA has always played an important role in shaping public policy, analyzing trends in technology and implementing best practices for these industries,” Mark Reilly, senior VP of government affairs for Comcast, said in a NECTA statement about the rebranding. “With the constantly changing landscape and new technologies emerging on a rapid scale, NECTA’s role will be even more important to help policymakers grapple with advancements of technology and how it can help expand economic growth and improve the lives of all New Englanders. Their refreshed brand and focus reflect where these industries are going, and I am excited to see what comes next.”

NECTA formed in 1961 as the Community Television Association of New England, headquartered in Tilton, New Hampshire. In 1982, the association rebranded and became the New England Cable Television Association. In 2004, NECTA updated the name to New England Cable & Telecommunications Association.

The first, small NECTA conference in Newport was held in 1972 and grew to be a popular destination, peaking in size around the year 2000, the former NECTA CEO Paul Cianelli recalled in a 2012 interview. “We’d literally get every room in Newport and beyond,” he said then. Wilkerson said the decision was made over this past summer to restart the in-person convention, but by then it was difficult to find open dates, hence the October scheduling. This weekend’s conference will be held at the Newport Harbor Island and Resort. ■

Live sports programming continued to propel cable network ratings in primetime as ESPN and TBS topped last week's ratings chart.

ESPN — bolstered by its Monday Night Football and weekend college football telecasts — won its second-straight primetime weekly title, averaging 3 million viewers during the week of October 10-16, according to Nielsen. Coverage of Major League Baseball’s postseason American League Division Series helped TBS finish second in primetime with 2.4 million viewers, while the two National League Division Series led FS1 to a fourth-place finish with 1.3 million viewers.

Cable news networks Fox News Channel (2.1 million viewers) and MSNBC (1.3 million) took third and fifth place, respectively.

HGTV finished sixth with 808,000 viewers, followed by Hallmark Channel (780,000 viewers), TLC (673,000), TNT (656,000) and CNN (649,000).

Fox News (1.4 million viewers) held off a strong charge from ESPN (896,000) and TBS (848,000) to top the total day chart for the 41st consecutive week. MSNBC (843,000) and FS1 (562,000) rounded out the top five most-watched networks in the category for the week, according to Nielsen. ■ 

Streaming continued to increase its share of TV viewing in August, although cable and broadcast also gained share during the month, according to Nielsen.

Steaming’s share climbed to 35% from 34.8% in July, the first month in which streaming topped both cable and broadcast. 

Among the streaming services, YouTube tied Netflix for the first time with a 7.6% share. Time spent watching YouTube was up 2.8%, including a 14.9% jump from YouTube TV. Netflix had an 8% share in July, but its big hit Stranger Things has cooled down. 

Hulu edged up to 3.7% from 3.6%. Amazon Prime Video dipped to 2.9% from 3%; Disney rose to 1.9% from 1.8%. 

HBO Max posted a big gain, rising to a 1.2% share from a 1% share with the launch of House of the Dragon.

Cable’s share edged up to 34.5% in August from 34.4% in July. 

Broadcast viewing increased 1.2% and its share rose to 22.1% from 21.6%. Broadcast got a boost from shows like Big Brother in the “general variety” genre, and a rise in sports viewing, with baseball’s Field of Dreams game, the NFL’s preseason and college football attracting viewers.

Compared to a year ago broadcast viewing was down 10.9% and its share was off by 2.4 points.

Nielsen’s “other” category shrunk to 8.5% in August from 9.2%. 

Total time spent viewing was down slightly in August from July’s level.  ■

Fox News Channel continued its control over the top spot on the cable ratings charts heading into July.

The cable news service averaged 2 million viewers in primetime during the week of June 27-0July 3 to top the chart for the fifth straight week, according to Nielsen. MSNBC finished second with 1.3 million viewers, followed by HGTV with 866,000 viewers. 

INSP finished fourth with 784,000 viewers followed by Discovery Channel’s 746,000 viewers and TLC’s 216,000 watchers. Hallmark Channel (712,000 viewers), History (694,000), TBS (686,000) and CNN (672,000) rounded out the top 10 most watched networks in primetime.

On a 24-hour basis, Fox News averaged 1.3 million viewers to take top honors for the 26th consecutive week, followed by MSNBC (838,000), CNN (565,000), HGTV (507,000) and Hallmark Channel (468,000), Nielsen said. ■

Frontier Communications stock got a lift Monday after J.P. Morgan media and telecom analyst Phil Cusick initiated coverage on the company with an “overweight” rating and a $40 per share year-end price target, pointing to his belief that its fiber network push could lead to big upside.

Frontier emerged from bankruptcy in April 2021 and since then has begun an aggressive push to build its fiber network out to more than 10 million homes by the end of 2025. In his report, Cusick wrote that the company had already built fiber to about 3.8 million homes in its footprint. 

Cusick estimated that Frontier could grow its broadband subscribers by 32% to about 3.6 million by 2025, but also noted it won’t be easy. 

“We are encouraged by Frontier’s reinvigorated focus to rapidly deploy fiber and improved capital structure post-bankruptcy, but acknowledge building and selling fiber in an increasingly competitive broadband ecosystem remains a key risk,” he wrote.

As a result, Frontier stock was up as much as 10% on Monday ($2.57 each) to $28.61 per share, before closing at $28.17, up 8.8%. The stock was down slightly (0.5% in early trading February 8 to $28.03 each.

But Cusick sees huge potential in Frontier’s predominantly rural market, which has been severely underserved by fiber and is the focus of federal programs to boost broadband availability. While Frontier has offered fiber in the past to some of its customers, most of its high-speed subscribers have received service via copper-wire based digital subscriber line (DSL) offerings. It is Frontier’s intention to replace DSL with fiber throughout its footprint.

That replacement strategy should lead to deeper penetration of service and lower cost over time. Historically, Frontier’s penetration rates for DSL were low because of slower speeds. With fiber, those take rates are expected to climb, Cusick wrote, adding that the pandemic has accelerated consumer need for broadband at reliable speeds. 

Also: Analyst Says Telcos Better Positioned to Chip Away at Cable’s Broadband Lead 

In his note, Cusick wrote that Frontier’s main competition is cable, but believes over time the telco could achieve broadband penetration rates in the mid-to-high teens percentages in the first two years, and more than 40% over time. 

But Frontier’s ultimate broadband penetration could be even higher, given that other telcos that have expanded their fiber networks have reported rates as high as 30%.

“At the same time, we could see improved trends within Frontier’s base fiber cohort as Frontier improves go-to-market and promotional strategies,” Cusick wrote.

The big question is what will Frontier do with its markets outside of the 10-million base after 2025. Cusick estimates that there are about 5 million homes outside of the initial buildout, many in remote areas where it is cost-prohibitive to extend fiber. The analyst said the company could either build out those areas with the help of federal funding, or sell them to a third party. 

“Both are possible, as the prospect of Federal support could increase the value of the properties,” Cusick wrote, adding that Frontier management is likely to outline its plans for those areas by mid-year. He estimated those markets would be worth about $2 billion if the company decides to sell. ■

ESPN and Fox News ended October with a flourish, topping both the primetime and total day charts, according to Nielsen.

ESPN and Fox News tied for first place on the primetime ratings charts for the week of Oct. 25 to Oct. 31, each averaging 2.2 million viewers, according to Nielsen. Hallmark Channel, with the launch of its holiday-themed movies, finished third with 1.2 million viewers, followed by MSNBC’s 1.1 million viewers and HGTV’s 866,000 watchers.

TLC finished sixth with 785,000 viewers, followed by INSP (742,000 viewers), Discovery Channel (703,000), TBS (663,000) and Food Network (623,000), said Nielsen.

On the total day front, Fox News notched its 37th consecutive week at the top of the chart, averaging 1.4 million viewers. ESPN was a distant second with 782,000 viewers, followed by Hallmark Channel (764,000), MSNBC (674,000) and HGTV (531,000), said Nielsen. 

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit has upheld a district court's injunction against Maine's cable a la carte law, concluding that the lower court did not abuse its discretion in granting the preliminary injunction.

Also Read: Judge Blocks Maine A La Carte Law

In 2019, Maine passed a law requiring cable operators, but not other video distributors, to offer every channel and program à la carte, rather than bundled in a channel or tier of channels. They would have to buy the basic package before having the à la carte option for other channels and programs.

Comcast, A&E, C-SPAN, Discovery, Disney, Fox Cable, NBCU, Viacom and New England Sports Network sued Maine's governor, attorney general and and various cities and towns in district court arguing the law was unconstitutional since it singled out cable speech for regulation, but not satellite or online video distributors, and was preempted by the Communications Act. They then sought a preliminary injunction to block the bill's implementation while the legal challenge was heard.

The bar for an injunction is high--four different factors must be met: 1) probability of success, 2) irreparable harm to the plaintiff if the injunction is not granted, 3) the balance of harms if the injunction is not granted tilts toward the plaintiff, and 4) it serves the public interest. 

The district court concluded that it was a speech regulation that requires heightened scrutiny, another high bar and one that Maine conceded its evidence did not clear. The district court granted the injunction, saying that while the law did not impinge on cable operators' editorial discretion, it did single them out for disparate treatment.

Also Read: Court Blocks A La Carte Law

The appeals court agreed that the law implicated speech and, given Maine's concession, it affirmed the district court injunction.

The appeals court said the district court can now decode which level of heightened constitutional scrutiny applies, whether the state can offer "post-enactment" evidence to support the law, and "even whether, on a more fulsome record, the state law is preempted." On the current record the district court concluded it was not preempted.

The appeals court also said it was leaving open the question of whether the law would trigger "singling out" concerns if it applied to satellite and internet-based distributors, saying a fair reading of the law is that the broader the scope of a regulation, the less likely it will raise First Amendment concerns.

The launch of live sports league programming couldn’t slow down Fox News’ ratings momentum as the news network extended its winning streak on the primetime and total day charts.

Fox News averaged 3.1 million viewers in primetime during the week of July 27 to Aug. 2, topping all cable networks for the 28th straight week, according to Nielsen. The win comes as networks such as ESPN and TNT began airing live, high-profile Major League Baseball and National Basketball Association games after both leagues postponed play this past Spring due to the coronavirus outbreak.

MSNBC finished second with 1.9 million viewers, with CNN and HGTV tying for third with 1.3 million viewers, said Nielsen. TLC was fifth with 1.2 million viewers, followed by Hallmark Channel and ESPN (tied with 1 million viewers), TNT (966,000), TBS (944,000) and History (863,000).

Fox News also topped the total day chart for the 30th consecutive week, averaging 1.6 million viewers, topping MSNBC, CNN, HGTV and Hallmark Channel, said Nielsen. 

Cable operators are in agreement that the FCC's proposed lump-sum payment estimates for moving off C-Band spectrum are too low. 

Comments were due this week on how much earth station operators, which include cable and broadcasters, should get in those upfront sums if they decide to transition from their own earth stations either to new ones of some other technology--like fiber--rather than continue with the satellite delivery model, leave the transition costs and logistics to satellite operators, and not get any payment. 

Related: FCC Provides Guidance for C-Band Payment Clearinghouse 

Once the FCC has come up with a final sum for transition costs in different categories, MVPDs will have 30 days to take it or leave it. 

Earth station operators and satellite companies are using the 500 MHz C-band band for network program delivery, but the FCC is reclaiming 300 MHz for a December auction of the midband spectrum for 5G. 

In its comments, ACA Connects said some of the FCC lump sum payment estimates are only a third or less of ACAC estimates. Plus, if the FCC does not sign off on tech upgrades as part of the transition an operator who makes the "irrevocable" choice of a lump sum payment may wind up having to cover the difference. 

ACAC said language in the FCC lump sum proposal suggests the FCC make decisions about whether tech upgrades are covered after an irrevocable lump sum payment has been accepted. It said that will undoubtedly deter cable ops from electing that option and the expeditious transition the FCC had in mind when offering the upfront payment. 

ACAC President Matt Polka said the lump sum, properly priced and implemented, is a "win all around." But that win depends on the FCC recalibrating its prices so they reflect "all the activities and equipment associated with relocating earth stations," he said. 

Related: FCC Won't Delay C-Band Auction

In its comments, NCTA-The Internet & Television Association, agrees with ACAC that the FCC has seriously underestimated video provider earth station transition costs and "carefully reevaluate its proposed lump sum amounts and determine whether they should be brought more in line with what commenters suggested will be required in an average earth station transition." 

It also said the FCC should not adopt a proposed "demonstration or verification" process for determining what tech upgrades are covered and should ensure that "the election of a technology upgrade lump sum by an MVPD does not preclude any programmers (or the satellite operators acting on their behalf) from receiving reimbursement for their actual, reasonable technology upgrade costs." 

NCTA had asked the FCC to delay the Dec. 16 comment deadline until next week, after the satellite operators' June 19 deadline for turning in their transition plans. The FCC did not move that deadline, though it did move the satellite plan deadline from June 12 to that June 19 date. 

Coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic continued to capture viewers as the three cable news networks remained at the top of the weekly cable ratings charts.

Fox News led all networks in primetime for the 16th consecutive week with 3.5 million viewers during the week of May 4 to May 10, according to Nielsen. MSNBC finished second with 1.8 million viewers followed by CNN’s 1.4 million viewers.

Among the entertainment networks, HGTV and TLC tied with 1.2 million viewers, followed by TBS (993,000), A&E (977,000), Food Network (869,000), ESPN (868,000) and History (863,000).

Regarding the total day chart, Fox News won for the 18th consecutive week with 1.8 million viewers, followed by MSNBC, CNN, HGTV, Food Network and Nickelodeon, according to Nielsen. 

The FCC is seeking comment on whether to scrap a cable reporting requirement the FCC majority suggests is likely no longer necessary. 

The commission voted Friday (Feb. 28) to ask whether it could scrap the mandate that cable operators have to maintain a record in their FCC public file of their financial interests in any video programming services and their carriage of any of those services on their systems. 

That is just the latest in FCC Chairman Ajit Pai's Media Modernization initiative, in fact number 20 on that "regulatory hit" parade. 

The Media Bureau, which was recommending adoption of the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking seeking comment, called that reporting mandate a recordkeeping rule meant to comply with channel occupancy limits that were thrown out by a court almost two decades ago, so "the Commission is seeking comment on whether there is any remaining purpose for these recordkeeping rules, whether there are other potential sources for similar information, the burdens this requirement places on cable operators, and possible modifications to the rules," it said. 

FCC Commissioner Michael O'Rielly, who had recommended looking into scrapping the requirement, suggested it was ugly wallpaper left over from another era that was in need of removing. O'Rielly said that even if the information is determined to be useful, which he says he seriously doubts, the FCC needs to find a better way to get it short of requiring cable operators to "stockpile it by default." 

Commissioner Starks only concurred in the decision, which is approval but short of full-throated support. He said that was because the FCC had never addressed the court's 2002 remand of the channel occupancy item after it was reversed. He said the vote to eliminate the reporting requirement when the FCC had never responded to the court remand felt like sweeping the issue under the rug. 

Pai pointed out that the fact that there had been no response signaled that seven FCC chairs, Democratic and Republican, had concluded there was no need to do so. He also pointed out they were only voting to seek comment on whether or not it served any useful purpose. 

While virtual MVPDs (multichannel video programming distributors) and over-the-top competitors are each trying to outdo the other with increased service flexibility and lower prices, top-notch customer care is becoming the differentiator for traditional pay TV service providers today.

Cable operators, who have spent the past several years focusing on the nuts and bolts of customer care -- narrowing appointment windows, improving on-time service and increasing network capacity and reliability -- are now taking a more macro approach, concentrating on bettering the overall customer experience and ensuring that the customer journey is an enjoyable one.

Join B&C /Multichannel News Senior Editor Michael Farrell, along with two of the cable industry's top customer care professionals, and learn tips about the following:

•  Customer experience and customer journey mapping
• How terms like "trust," "effort," "reliability," "likability" and "forgiveness" are becoming essential pieces in the overall approach to customer service
• What role customer service and improving customer experience has in rebranding efforts

Have a scheduling Conflict? We have you covered! Register for the live event and we’ll send you the on-demand recording shortly after the broadcast date.

Speakers

Dr. Patti has deep international experience through consulting and academic appointments throughout Europe, Australia, and Southeast Asia, with extensive experience in building, delivering, and evaluating curriculum in a wide range of settings, including doctoral seminars, MBA and other specialized postgraduate courses, undergraduate programs, and professional and corporate learning. He has special expertise in case method learning and has coordinated several case learning workshops, including a Harvard Business School case workshop. Dr. Patti holds a A.B. (history and literature), an M.S. (advertising) and a Ph.D., all from the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana.

Courtney has been an integral member of the Atlantic Broadband Customer Care organization for the past 12 years. In her role, Courtney and her team work to ensure the company is delivering an outstanding customer care experience. She oversees residential and business call center operations including phone, chat and dispatch across all four operating regions. Courtney holds a BA from the University of Pittsburgh and is currently pursuing an MBA from St. Francis University. She is also a member of the Young Professionals of the Alleghenies.

Click here to watch! 

With the CTAM portion of the Television Critics Association’s 2020 winter press tour now in the books, the television industry is poised to continue its evolution, with linear networks vying with streaming services for the hearts and eyeballs of consumers.

Here are three trends that marked this year’s TCA Winter press tour presentations for cable networks and streaming services:

Streaming services stake out positions as streaming wars loom

While Netflix was absent from this year’s TCA tour and NBC unveiled its plans for its new streaming service Peacock during its investor day last week, several streaming services presenting at TCA offered a glimpse into their operating strategies as the streaming wars begin to take shape.

Amazon Studios head Jennifer Salke said Amazon Prime is not phased by the increased competition among streamers, adding that they are focused on giving its Prime subscribers quality original programming, which includes Emmy-winning series such as Fleabag. HBO Max chief content officer actually lamented the phrase “streaming wars” to describe the growing competitive landscape for streaming services, adding that many of the services currently offered are providing differentiated content offerings to appeal to different tastes and audiences.

“As these services premiere and roll out ... they really are quite different,” Reilly said.

Meanwhile, Discovery Inc. may soon step into the digital streaming ring with the potential launch of an SVOD service that would curate the company’s lineup of unscripted content from such networks as HGTV, Food Network, Discovery and TLC, according to Discovery CEO David Zaslav.

RELATED: Zaslav teases potential Discovery-based streaming service

Networks, streaming services continue to increase number of lead LGBTQ characters

Several new shows will feature LGBTQ lead characters, further increasing what LGBTQ advocacy group GLAAD recently reported as a noticeable increase in gay and lesbian lead characters on television.

RELATED: Diverse Images Increasing on Screen, but Viewers Want More

LGBTQ character-led shows announced at the TCA include BET’s Twenties, created and produced by Emmy-winning producer Lena Waithe which follows the exploits of a 20-something queer black girl and her two straight best friends; Freeform’s Everything is Going to Be OK, which stars Josh Thomas as a gay man who becomes the guardian of his two half-sisters; and TLC’s reality series Dragnificent!, which recruits four drag queens to rescue people in need of help. In addition, AppleTV+ will stream a documentary, Visible: Out on Television, a five-part docuseries that examines how TV has shaped the American conscience and how the LGBTQ movement has shaped television.

Scripted series still rolling out in record numbers, but cracks are forming in the "Peak TV" universe

Scripted content continued to grow at an unprecedented pace in 2019, with more than 530 scripted original dramas, comedies and limited dramas available on streaming services and broadcast and cable networks, according to FX. But while new entrants like HBO Max,  Peacock and Apple TV+ will help add to the number of scripted series, other companies are getting out of the original series game. Premium service Cinemax will no longer develop original scripted content, according to HBO Max’s Reilly. Cinemax joins AT&T’s Audience Network -- which will be re branded as an HBO Max preview channel -- as services that previously announced a complete elimination of scripted fare. Expect more services to exit the scripted series highway in the months to come. 

From a dozen interviews earlier this year, The Carmel Group was able to garner a strong set of data points and insight into the basic business dealings of small-to-mid-sized cable operators, focused this time on their overall and individual financial needs. Not surprisingly, core access and assistance was provided primarily by ACA Connects’ CEO/president, Matt Polka.

Respondents ranged widely from ACA Connects’ board members, to operators whose main data point is their mid-size subscriber base, to the very smallest of cable operators, in the most rural of locales.

Questions Asked

The Carmel Group concentrated on the responses to six key questions, all focused primarily on the capital and financial needs of ACA Connects’ hundreds of members and constituents.

1. What is your past experience with raising funds for your cable growth?

2. What is your cable experience with local banks?

3. Do the majority of today's banks "get it" when it comes to helping small cable operators grow and compete?

4. Are there any banks out there that do "get it" when it comes to funding cable?

5. How important are SBA/USDA/CAF funding sources to cable America?

6. What does the ACA community need when it comes to more banking and better financing?

Top Concerns

In two sentences, National Cable TV Co-op board member, Matt Weller, best summed up the overall situation. Weller is president of All West Communications, headquartered in Kamas, UT.

“You either have to have a deep relationship with a financial institute or find one that understands the industry. I have found that banks that understand the industry are really the best place for funds.” Both great wisdom and examples of practice reside in Weller’s responses.

A summary of responses noted that most local banks clearly do not understand the subscriber-based video and broadband telecom industry. Additionally, a too small number of mid-to-large-sized banks appreciate the value of a business model based upon cash flow.

ACA Connects board member, Bob Gessner, sorted the “funding” problem into three categories, each dependent on the size of the would-be or actual borrower. He noted that the “large” operators have what he called “sophisticated banking/financial relationships with no difficulty accessing capital,” and mid-sized well-run companies have “stable local or regional relationships.” Thus, the pressure to find funds falls on the smaller companies, “due to a “lack of understanding by both the operator and the local bank; a lack of experience and comfort.”

Of fascination, also, was Gessner’s and other’s emphasis upon every operator maintaining its system and investing in upgrades, no matter the subscriber size, over the course of many years and decades. “[Problems arise from] systems [that] slowly degrade over time, to a point where they were caught in a catch-22. They could not upgrade without debt, but the systems were insufficient to support the debt. Banks aren't going to do that. Private equity might, but not for tiny systems.”

In addition, getting any bank to transition from a lending model based upon collateral (e.g., trucks, buildings, and tangible items only) to one based on regular, reliable monthly cash flow, can be a challenge. But it is vital.

Top Solutions

Most respondents stated that they self-financed, typically based upon cash flow. This model was associated – positively -- with “slow growth.”

Firms like Merrill Lynch and Wells Fargo were cited among large national institutions for possible lines of credit (LOCs).

Surprisingly, Denver/Greenwood Village, Colorado-based CoBank was the only institution that was mentioned, unsolicited, in a third of the responses. ACA Connects members felt it satisfied the requirement of that rare financial entity that both “gets” the traditional pay TV and broadband industries, and has the size and deep pockets to make it capable of funding a wide range of projects.

Other local and specialty funders mentioned were RTFC, M & T, and PNC.

The USDA, SBA, CAF, and RUS government programs received a mix of favorable and not-so-favorable opinions. USDA and RUS were touted for their low rates. Concerns about CAF funding were tied to facilities-based funding requirements. Overall, most ACA Connects’ members do not turn to government-backed financial solutions.

Capable Cable Care and Capital

Special thanks are worth repeating, aimed again at both Matt Polka and VP, communications, Ted Hearn, of the Pittsburgh, PA-based ACA Connects, as well as the 10 anonymous and two named members who participated in this survey and write up. For more information, feel free to reach out to the author at jimmy@carmelgroup.com, or go online to www.carmelgroup.com. 

African-American consumers continue to lead the consumption of content across multiple platforms, according to a recent Nielsen 2019 Diverse Intelligence Series (DIS) report on African Americans.

Nielsen’s It’s In The Bag: Black Consumers’ Path to Purchase report states that African-Americans continue to be voracious consumers of television content, spending more than 50 hours watching live and time-shifted television a week in first quarter 2019, over 10 hours more than the total population, according to the research company.

“It doesn’t matter how many other streaming services we have access to, traditional television viewing is still number one with the African-American population,” said Cheryl Grace, senior vice president of U.S. strategic community alliances and consumer engagement for Nielsen. “What that looks like is 91% of every African-American can be reached weekly via television primarily through what we’re watching in real time and what we save on our recording devices.”

The tv shows African-Americans are watching don't always match that of the general population as black viewers gravitate more towards content that reflect their images and storylines -- particularly among younger viewers. Among adults 18-34, only Fox’s 911 and Empire show up among the top 20 most watched shows for both the African-Americans and the total population. VH1’s Love & Hip Hop franchise, Black Inc. Crew and Fox’s  cancelled Star are among the top 10 most-watched shows in young, African-American households that are not ranked on the top 20 most-watched TV show list for the total population.

Despite  heavy usage of traditional media, African-American consumers are on the cutting edge of new content distribution platforms and devices. Overall, 61% of African Americans are fascinated by new technology and 37% are more likely than the total population to be the first among their peers to try new technology products, according to Nielsen.

That includes a whopping 96% of all African-American adults having and using a smartphone, compared to 95% of the total population, according to Nielsen. Further, African-Americans 35 and older surpass all consumers in their age group by 2% for smartphone ownership.

Not surprisingly, African-Americans spend more time consuming video on their android phones and iPhones compared to the total population. Nielsen reports that Blacks spend nearly 30 hours a week on websites and apps on their smartphones, more than three hours more than the all consumers as a whole.

Youtube is the most consumed entertainment app for African-Americans at 79%, while Netflix has the highest market share among subscription video on demand apps with 39%, according to Nielsen. Hulu is second with 15%, followed closely by Amazon Prime Video at 14%.

On the social media front, Facebook is the top choice for African-American adults, with more than 65% of black adults using the service, according to Nielsen. Grace added that African-Americans overindex in the use of other social media services such as Instagram, SnapChat, Pinetrest and Twitter compared to the total population.

Yet despite African American consumers’ high consumption of traditional and new media -- as well as an estimated annual buying power of $1.3 trillion dollars -- Grace said companies are not increasing ad dollars targeting black consumers. She added that about $18 billion was spent on African-American-focused media in 2018, an overall decline of 5% from the prior year, with declines in such platforms as cable television (down 1%), digital media (-12%), network TV (-13%) and syndicated TV (-11%)

“Unfortunately despite how much we watch television and look at our digital devices, it doesn’t add up to the [ad] spend that we’re seeing,” she said. “We’re watching more, and yet [advertisers] are spending less to reach us. This is a problem.” 

Dish Network and DirecTV continue to bleed massive amounts of satellite TV customers, 809,000 in the first quarter alone, and a whopping 2.3 million in 2018.

And an “outsized share” of them are either keeping their cable broadband subscriptions intact, so as to better cut the cord with OTT services, or adding new cable TV service, according to equity research company Cowen.

“We find this of particular interest considering satellite subscribers are typically over-indexed to telco broadband, with our latest survey showing a 56/44 cable/telco mix among satellite subscribers,” read the Cowen report, which was lead-authored by Gregory Williams.

“With cable’s inherent price-value advantage over telco, and typically a better provider of OTT video, we find our survey results as a compelling share-stealing opportunity considering the ongoing outsized losses with DirecTV and Dish,” Cohen added. 

An emerging group of viewers are subscribing to both traditional cable and streaming services in an effort to satisfy their voracious viewing habits, according to a new viewer study from Horowitz Research. 

The Horowitz State of Viewing & Streaming study reports that 15% of viewers -- defined by Horowitz as “Mega Omnivores” -- view content both through a traditional cable subscription as well as through virtual MVPDs such as DirecTV Now, YouTube TV and Sling TV. On a weekly basis, this group -- comprised mostly of younger, male-skewing viewers with high incomes -- streams its content 54% of the time, according to the report.

The online survey of more than 1,600 TV content viewers also reported that traditional television viewers remain the biggest group, with 35% of “5 O’Clock Diners” watching live TV content through traditional MVPDs or through antennas, according to the study. These viewers tend to be older, have a lower average income and are less likely to have children in the home, said Horowitz.

“Omnivores” -- viewers who only subscribe to an MVPD but occasionally stream content through services such as Netflix and Hulu -- comprise 30% of TV content viewers, according to the study.

“With more options than ever for accessing on-demand and live TV content, consumers have the freedom to build a customized viewing experience based on what they want to watch and how they want to watch it,” said Adriana Waterston, Horowitz’s senior vice president of insights and strategy in a statement. “The good news is that we see most consumers still wanting a robust experience that includes a wide variety of networks, viewing experiences, and both on-demand and live opportunities.”

Among the study’s other findings, 12% of TV content viewers (Content Paleos) stream all of their content, but don’t subscribe to a vMVPD; 6% (Flexitarian Lites) stream most of their content but have an antenna to watch live TV; and 3% (Flexitarians) -- who tend to be young and multicultural -- stream all of their content and also subscribe to a vMVPD, according to the report. 

When a vision of growth arises in the mind of a small-to-mid-sized telecom entrepreneur/operator, often the very next step is for him/her to ask, “How will I pay for it?”

Described below are four distinct types of small-to-mid-sized telecom providers. Each delivers broadband content as a core part of its network.

Why do they need money? How much do they need? Who do they ask for funds? When do they ask? What is involved in the process? Is it public funding or private financing that they ask for?

These and a plethora of additional questions are “must asks,” if success is to be expected. This article presents the basics to get there from a private financing POV, and a view at what comes next.

Succeeding articles will provide operators with additional guidance through the lending process. These will include focused looks at key players in each silo, as well as a look at public funding.

Cable Operators

Likely no better spokes group for America’s small-to-mid-sized cable operators exists than the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based trade group, ACA Connects – America’s Communications Association (ACA). Formerly branded as the American Cable Association, ACA has, for decades, been guided by top execs including Matt Polka, president and CEO, Matt Polka; , Ross Lieberman , senior VP, government affairs; Rob Shema , executive VP/chief of staff; and Ted Hearn, communications VP. Like its peers below, ACA is eager to put new funding options and thus new funds into the hands of its then, usually, much better-off constituents.

For example, many small-to-mid-sized ACA cable operators are looking to study and implement new wireless operations, on top of their current wired models (See, article about cable operator, Midco, buying a regional wireless provider, WOW Lawrence (Kansas)).

Moves like this place the cable ops in the realm of a new generation of wired providers, known as “Hybrid Operators.” Another version of these “Hybrids” comes in the form of fixed wireless operators, adding more fiber to their infrastructures.

Not unlike their usual rivals, i.e., WISPs and FISPs (discussed below), the next generation of cable TV and other broadband providers needs mature financial support from those other than sometimes-unreliable friends and family. All broadband providers are competing aggressively in more populated areas, most are reaching deeper into rural areas, and thus are constantly looking at development options.

For these growth and long-term development opportunities, fortune supports them: more and more banks are “getting it.” More financing is coming to these four broadband sectors, as more banks understand and accept—as a substitute for traditional, personal, assets-backed collateral—the relative steadiness of loyal subscribers, together with a new-found appreciation for the financial strength that monthly cash flow presents.

WISPs

Wireless internet service providers (WISPs) have been around since the early 1990s. They are also known as broadband wireless access providers, or BWAs. These operators’ growth as a U.S. industry has been sometimes slow, but steady, to the point where today they number well over 2,250 nationwide (See, “2017 BWA Report“).

Recently revised estimates by The Carmel Group suggest WISP/BWA 2023 U.S. subscriber growth will stretch to over 11 million in the next five years, from a current base of over six million users. Growth in overall U.S. industry revenue increases during the next two years from just under $4 billion currently, to over $6 billion. Concurrently and well into the future, churn and subscriber acquisition costs (SAC) remain the lowest in the industry (i.e., lower than satellite, fiber, cable, mobile, or telco). In general terms, return on investment continues to exceed that of the four major competitors.

Most BWA operator funding today is aimed at expansion. This expansion comes typically in the form of spending for new infrastructure, such as more fiber in the ground to connect the broadband pipe to towers and some neighborhoods. Other WISP development needs include next generation, in-home equipment (AKA: consumer premises equipment, or CPE), towers and antennas, marketing, operational purchases, supplementing government grants and loans, partner buy-outs, employees, benefits, spectrum acquisition, working capital, refinancing, and audits, as well as mergers and acquisitions.

Yet, traditionally, WISPs have been stymied by traditional banks and those maintaining traditional banking perspectives that base lending decisions primarily upon the pure collateral of the business, rather than a focus on the steadiness of cash flow and the loyalty of a growing subscriber base.

Recently, several bankers are beginning to investigate broadband and are finding new avenues to introduce those operators to better choices, having to do with terms and lending decisions. CoBank’s website notes, “CoBank customers form the backbone of the economy in rural America –- agribusiness, power, water and telecommunications.” iNet Capital professes, “Financing that provides secured growth capital to businesses in the fixed wireless and broadband industries.” Live Oak Bank claims, “Financing to acquire, refurbish, refinance and operate America’s small businesses.” And United Community Bank states, “We have small business financing options offered through the Small Business Administration that help your business grow stronger…loans for major fixed assets, payment of operating expenses, equipment purchases and more.”

The main U.S. WISP trade group, WISPA, assists member operators and vendors in their quest for a better financial basis upon which to expand their businesses. Non-members are encouraged to join WISPA, and members are recommended to reach out to WISPA communications director Mike Wendy, specifically within WISPA, in order to discover more about WISP funding choices. WISPA’s CEO and president Claude Aiken, transitioned to WISPA a year ago from then-FCC commissioner Mignon Clyburn’s staff, where he served as that office’s wireline legal advisor. Before that, Aiken was associate general counsel and special advisor on internet law and policy in the FCC’s Office of The General Counsel.

FISPs

Newly appointed Fiber Internet Services Provider Association (FISPA) executive director Betty Burke has her work cut out for her on multiple levels, as she and her FISPA team try to grow a trade group of many hundreds, to many more hundreds of members, in the few years ahead.

FISPs are not unlike WISPs, in many regards. In fact, as noted above, many WISPs find that once they have created a wireless pipeline to profitably service their new wireless customers, that often the investment of wires into the ground or hanging from telephone poles is a good one, because of enhanced capabilities offered only by fiber. Those WISPs then become both FISPs and WISPs, in the true “hybrid” sense of the word.

As fiber continues to be generally regarded as the optimum form to deliver content to the world, the attractiveness of FISPs, to more and more consumers, will rise. Thus, as more and more financiers realize the trend of more broadband being delivered by more fiber operators, that financial playing field will become more fruitful and accretive.

Hybrids

These new “hybrid providers” (such as WISPs becoming FISPs, and cable ops becoming WISPs) then need additional funds to supplement their wireless with wired (and vice versa) growth. This is often because fiber can be so much more expensive to deploy than wireless (See, “2017 BWA Report,” page 12, figure 6, which notes on a relative scale that fiber usually costs five times more than fixed wireless to deploy, and cable costs typically three times more).

Taking Oklahoma-based @Link as a model, it calls itself a “Hybrid Wireless-Fiber Network.” Within its systems, @Link typically deploys fiber to its towers in the form of the trunk or backhaul of the content to that distribution point. Less often, @Link takes fiber right to the home, but only in rare cases where that makes sense. Adds @Link principal, Samual Curtis, “@Link still uses some wireless point-to-point backhaul wireless links, but when use increases, we often switch to fiber.”

More Money Moving

As noted above, in recently updated figures, The Carmel Group finds both the subscriber and revenue growth of just the WISP industry, to be substantial. Indeed, in a world looking inside the traditional pay TV industry and seeing significant shrinkage, there is on the other hand optimism among FISPs, WISPs, and “Hybrids.”

Much of this expansion comes as the wise money minds become more creative, making money not just for their institutions but, as importantly, working with and guiding their broadband lending clients toward making far more money – and thus “wise money” – in the process. That “wise money” will typically be the funding that comes from things like the lowest rates, plus less or no business collateral, longer payment time frames, and serving the borrower and its business after the loan closes.

It’s a good time – and getting better – to be a WISP, a FISP, a “Hybrid,” and/or a small-to-mid-sized cable operator in America. It’s also a good time to be a specialized SBA- and USDA-backed government lending bank, because those banks are increasingly jumping in, as well.

The money is beginning to move. And America’s broadband borrowers are delivering much better answers to that age-old inquiry: “How will I pay for that?”

Jimmy Schaeffler is the chair and CSO of The Carmel Group, a broadband, broadcast, and pay TV/video consultancy. He has spent nearly five decades studying, writing, researching and analyzing, working with every type of player in the space. If you are a small-to-mid-sized operator looking to expand or better understand the industry, and the financing and funding available, feel free to reach out to him at jimmy@carmelgroup.com.

The FCC will vote April 12 to eliminate the requirement that cable operators have to keep hard copies of their channel lineups in their offices. The item will almost certainly be adopted.

It is the latest (actually it makes an even dozen) in FCC chair Ajit Pai's regulatory weed whacker effort--officially the Modernization of Media Regulation Initiative.

"[I]magine physically going to the offices of your local cable operator to get a current listing of the cable television channels it offers," said Pai in a blog post about the agenda for the upcoming public meeting. "Obviously, the very notion is ridiculous, which is why it's equally preposterous that the FCC still has rules requiring cable companies to keep such listings in such offices in hard copy. Recognizing that this information about the channel lineups is now available through other sources, the Commission will be voting to eliminate this requirement."

Another media modernization item, adopted last year, eliminated the requirement that broadcasters and cable operators keep paper copies of the FCC's regulations on file.

Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.) and Sen Ed Markey (D-Mass.) have teamed up on House and Senate versions of the Truth-In-Billing, Remedies, and User Empowerment over Fees (TRUE Fees) Act, which would require cable, internet and phone providers to include all charges in advertised prices, and provides remedies for wrongful charges.

The bill would also allow subs to end contracts without early termination fees if their provider raises prices, prevents increases in equipment prices unless that equipment is improved, and requires bills or notifications that bills are available must be e-mailed or the "functional eqivalent" that does not require viewing an online account.

It will also prohibit arbitration clauses for wrongful billing errors.

Mandatory arbitration clauses are contractual requirements that a sub seek private arbitration, rather than lawsuits (particularly class action suits)--to settle disputes with their cable or Internet service provider.

“For too long customers have been surprised each month to find that their cable, phone and internet bills are much higher than the advertised price," said Markey. "The TRUE Fees Act would put an end to these advertising practices that only confuse consumers about the true costs."

“Customers deserve to know exactly what they’re paying for in their monthly cable and Internet service bills," said Eshoo. "All too often they’re sold a service for one price, only to be blindsided by higher bills at the end of the month from tacked on ‘service’ or ‘administrative’ fees. These fees add up to hundreds of millions of dollars each year for cable and Internet providers at the expense of consumers who have little to no option than to pay up."

“Below-the-line fees are one of the most persistent and universal frustrations with communications services,” said John Bergmayer, senior counsel at Public Knowledge, which is a big supporter of the legislation. “This bill is a great way to address them. With this bill, Rep. Eshoo and Sen. Markey are empowering consumers to make smarter choices by giving subscribers the information they need to decide what service to buy.”

The Senate bill is co-sponsored by Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), and Tina Smith (D-Minn.). The House version is co-sponsored by Reps. Mark Takano, Eleanor Holmes Norton, Tim Ryan, Earl Blumenauer, Jamie Raskin, Joe Courtney, Donald S. Beyer, Jr., Janice D. Schakowsky, and Mike Thompson.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed Tuesday up nearly 550 points, beginning what the market hopes is a long crawl back from big losses last week.

The Dow lost nearly 1,400 points between Oct. 10 and Oct. 11 as investors bailed out of the market fearing a slowdown in the economy and increasing trade tensions. Losses continued in subsequent trading but at a slower pace on Oct, 12 (down about 67 points) and Oct. 15 (down 81 points).

The Dow finished Oct. 16 at 25,798.42, up 547.87 points, or about 2.17%, its biggest one-day percentage rise since March.

Cable stocks reaped some benefits, with stocks in the sector rising between 1% and 3%.

Comcast was the biggest gainer on the distribution side, up 2.5% to $35.96 per share on Oct. 16. Charter Communications followed, up 2.2% to $320.86 per share, and Liberty Global rose 1.5% to $26.34.

On the programming side, Viacom was the big winner, rising 3.3% to $32.83 per share, while The Walt Disney Co. rose 2.6% to $116.34; 21st Century Fox was up 1% to $45.86 each and Discovery rose 2.2% to $33.05 each.

AT&T was essentially flat at $32.38 per share as was Verizon at $53.73 per share. Dish Network increased 1.4% to $34.15 per share.

Technology stocks, battered during last week’s sell-off, continued their climb back. Netflix, slated to release its Q3 earnings after the close, rose 4% to $346.59 per share; Amazon up 3.4% to $1,819.95 and Apple up 2.2% to $222.13 each. Facebook finished the day up 3.4% to $158.37 and Google closed at $1,120.02 per share, up 2.5%. 

The FCC is asking whether it should deregulate rates for small cable systems owned by small operators, in part because it isn't sure three are any such systems currently rate regulated.

It is also seeking comment on whether it should simplify the rate reg framework for everyone, eliminate rate regs by local franchise authorities on equipment used to receive cable service beyond basic, and tentatively concludes it should deregulate rates for commercial customers including bars and restaurants, pointing out that it has never applied its rate regs to cable business customers anyway.

That is part of a cable dereg item--a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) combined with a Report and Order, teed up for an Oct. 23 vote. It is just the latest potential regulatory underbrush-clearing in FCC Chairman Ajit Pai's Media Modernization efforts.

In the NPRM, the FCC signaled it was time to rethink cable rate regs given that rate regs beyond the basic tier were deregulated a couple of decades ago, most basic service is deregulated because the FCC now presumes a market is competitive given the presence of satellite TV and other options.

"We seek comment on whether to exempt from rate regulation those small cable systems, defined by our rules as cable systems serving 15,000 or fewer subscribers, that are owned by small cable companies, defined by our rules as cable television operators serving 400,000 or fewer subscribers," the FCC said.

The Report and Order (R&O's) takes the regulatory whacker into the weeks, getting rid of rules the FCC says are obsolete, like ones linked to non-basic service no longer regulated; or are unnecessary given current industry practices, or for other reasons; it also sunsets some obsolete forms.

Among the R&O's other housecleaning measures is to codify that where an operator offers its equipment for sale and lease, the sale price is unregulated.

The satellite operators providing the majority of C-band satellite services to U.S. customers have banded together to create the C-Band Alliance, which will advocate for their proposal to clear portions of the band for 5G wireless while pledging to protect the broadcasters, cable operators and others who currently use the band.

The C-band is currently used for satellite delivery of cable and broadcast network programming to TV and radio stations and cable head-ends. The FCC wants to open it up to wireless broadband to help close the digital divide and promote 5G, both prime directives for the commission.

Related: NAB Says C-Band Sharing Isn't a Given

The FCC voted unanimously in July to find ways to open up the C-band spectrum (3.7-4.2 GHz) for terrestrial wireless use, either all of the 500 MHz or some portion of it, and through either an incentive or capacity auction, a market mechanism where incumbents voluntarily strike deals to reduce their footprint--the alliance's proposal--or some other means. 

Related: FCC Opens Door to C-Band Sharing, Auction

The alliance, which comprises Intelsat, SES, Eutelsat and Telesat--says it will strike secondary market deals for the spectrum within three years of an FCC decision.

It argues that secondary market transactions are the only way to repurpose the spectrum. "An FCC auction of mid-band spectrum could not take place until 2021-2022 or later. Litigation with current satellite operators could push that date much further into the future. By that time, the United States would be a small object in China’s 5G rear view mirror."

It also says they are in the best position to protect incumbents.

"Only the proposal of the C-band carriers begins with the question 'How much spectrum do we need to retain to serve our customers and their consumers?,' it says. "Every other proposal puts at risk C-band service to existing cable, broadcast and programmer customers and their more than 100 Million U.S. television households and radio listeners."

Related: Broadcast, Cable Tell FCC C-Band Needs More Study

Broadcast and cable trade associations have cautioned the FCC to slow down a bit and consider the impact of sharing the band on what is essentially the distribution backbone for their respective video services. Both want the FCC to consider whether the band can be shared at all given the potential for interference, particularly if the FCC wants dynamic sharing. 

The National Association of Broadcasters declined comment.

Bill Tolpegin, who is CEO of independent TV operator OTA Broadcasting, will be CEO of the C-Band Alliance and former Fox and Disney top exec Preston Padden will advocate for the consortium in Washington. Padden was also head of an alliance of independent stations that sought to give up spectrum in the broadcast incentive auction.

“The 3.7 to 4.2 GHz band, or C-band downlink, is a key component to having a solid U.S. mid-band spectrum play for 5G services," said FCC Commissioner Michael O'Rielly. "This announcement appears to be a great step to quickly and orderly reallocate the spectrum to commercial wireless use.  It also further establishes the private market option as the lead proposal to do so.  I am impressed and pleased to learn the new alliance will be run by an experienced hand, Preston Padden, who knows how to get projects completed.”

As expected, the FCC has voted unanimously to eliminate an annual cable data reporting requirement, including on "network structure, system-wide capacity, programming, and number of subscribers."

The commission had voted unanimously to seek comment on the proposal back in November 2017. It had tentatively concluded that "marketplace, operational, and technological changes have overtaken the utility of Form 325 and rendered it increasingly obsolete, as reflected by the Commission’s extremely limited use of Form 325 data in recent years," and that the data could also he gleaned from other sources without burdening cable with the requirement.

It was just the latest in a serious of process "modernization of media regulation" reforms undertaken by FCC Chairman Ajit Pai.

The form 325 info had to be submitted by all cable systems with 20,000 or more subs and was required from a random sample of smaller systems.

"The record was unmistakably clear that the public benefits of Form 325's data collection no longer outweighed the significant burdens that the requirement imposes," said the American Cable Association. "Although cable operators expend considerable effort to provide the FCC the information collected by Form 325, the record shows that the value of this data to the FCC was fairly minimal and accessible to the FCC from alternative sources."

Liberty Global confirmed perhaps the worst kept secret in international cable, agreeing to sell its cable businesses in Germany, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Romania to wireless giant Vodafone in a deal valued at about $22.7 billion.

Liberty and Vodafone had been in talks about a deal since February. On Tuesday, The Financial Times reported the two were close to a deal. 

After the transaction is completed, Liberty Global will continue to have European cable operations in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Belgium, Switzerland, Poland and Slovakia, reaching 24 million homes and 26 million video, broadband and fixed-line telephony subscribers and 6 million mobile services. In addition, Liberty Global owns 50% of VodafoneZiggo, a joint venture in the Netherlands with 4 million customers subscribing to 10 million fixedline and 5 million mobile services.

“We have a rich history at Liberty Global of successfully developing and reshaping our business to drive innovation, advance customer services and create significant value for shareholders,” Liberty Global CEO Mike Fries said in a statement. “This is one of those moments.”

The deal values the Liberty Global assets at a double-digit cash flow multiple and will pump $12.7 billion in cash into the Denver-based company.

For Vodafone, which already owns Kabel Deutschland in Germany and Ono in Spain, the deal solidifies its standing as one of the leading wireline and wireless providers in Europe.

The deal, which is expected to attract intense scrutiny from European regulators, is anticipated to close in mid-2019.

“This transaction will create the first truly converged
pan-European champion of competition. It represents a step change in Europe’s transition to a Gigabit Society and a transformative combination for Vodafone that will generate significant value for shareholders,” Vodafone Group chief executive Vittorio Colao said in a statement. “We are committed to accelerating and deepening investment in next generation mobile and fixed networks, building on Vodafone’s track record of ensuring that customers benefit from the choice of a strong and sustainable challenger to dominant incumbent operators. Vodafone will become Europe’s leading next generation network owner, serving the largest number of mobile customers and households across the EU.”

LionTree and Goldman Sachs are acting as financial advisers to Liberty Global on the transaction. Morgan Stanley, Robey Warshaw and UBS are acting as financial advisers to Vodafone, and Slaughter and May is acting as legal adviser to Vodafone.

Pay TV subscriber rolls fell by 3.7% in 2017 according to industry researcher Kagan, fueled by larger than expected losses at satellite TV providers and accelerated declines at cable operators.

Total pay TV subscribers fell to 94 million in 2017. Including virtual MVPDs like Sling TV and DirecTV Now boosts the total count to 97.3 million, according to Kagan, a unit of S&P Global Intelligence.  Combined Kagan estimated that cable, satellite and telco subscriptions were down by 7.4 million customers from their peak in 2012.

Cable operators lost 986,411 video subscribers in 2017, more than twice their 2016 drop. That, according to  Kagan, broke the sector’s three-year streak of decelerating video subscriber losses.

Telcos slowed their net subscriber losses for a third consecutive quarter. The sector shed 903,262 subscribers overall in 2017 to end the year at 10.6 million.

The satellite TV sector was down nearly 1.7 million subscribers in 2017, its biggest annual loss on record, as DirecTV joined Dish Network in posting traditional subscriber declines.

Virtual MVPDs like Hulu, DirecTV Now and Sling TV helped push pay TV into the black in the fourth quarter, with total subscriber gains of about 210,000 customers, according to Evercore ISI media analyst Vijay Jayant.

The growth was behind the 260,000 additions in the fourth quarter of 2016, but a big improvement over the 419,000 subscribers lost in the third quarter of 2017. The difference this quarter was a strong showing by vMVPDS – up by 773,000 customers in the period – and improved losses in the cable and telco sectors. According to Jayant, cable lost about 164,000 subscribers in the period, more than the 105,000 the sector lost in Q4 2016, but a huge improvement over the 367,000 shed in Q3.

Telco TV providers also improved significantly, shedding 128,000 in the fourth quarter, better than the 328,000 customers lost in Q4 2016. Satellite TV service providers continued to slide in the period, down 268,000 customers in Q4 2017, versus a loss of just 23,000 subscribers in the prior year.    

Related: Tracking Sling TV

According to Jayant, all of traditional pay TV (cable, satellite and telco) lost about 560,000 customers in the quarter – up from 456,000 in the prior year – offset by the vMVPD increase.

Stronger housing formation helped temper some of the pay TV losses. Citing information from the U.S. Census Bureau, Jayant wrote that occupied housing units in the U.S. increased by about 1.1 million during the quarter. 

Cable still dominated the broadband sector with 655,000 broadband additions in the quarter, down slightly from the 720,000 added in the prior year. Even at that lower number, cable still accounted for 115% of all broadband additions, Jayant estimated.

Actor/director Tyler Perry took to Facebook Tuesday to chastise Altice USA for removing Starz from its systems as part of an ongoing carriage dispute between the two parties.

Related: Altice Fires Back at Starz FCC Petition

Perry referred Altice USA's customers upset over the Jan. 1 removal of Starz to visit the website keepstarz.com to register their complaints or to call the MSO directly. Perry specifically referenced the loss of Starz’s popular drama series Power, adding that New Yorkers in particular make their dissatisfaction with the removal of Starz known to the MVPD.

The Starz premium channel has been dark to Altice USA’s Optimum subscribers in the greater New York City area as well as to Suddenlink customers since Jan. 1 after the parties failed to reach a carriage agreement. 

 “This is not right – you’re just going to take Power off the air – we love this show and you’re just going to take it off the air, and we’re paying the same amount?” Perry said in the Facebook post. “It ain’t cool.”   

Altice reacted by sending a previously released statement calling such tactics “unproductive public spin” to mislead consumers regarding the dispute. That statement follows.

"We are disappointed and surprised that Starz continues to engage in unproductive public spin to mislead consumers after they spent the last few months insisting on terms that would force the majority of our customers to pay for programming that they don’t watch. Despite numerous attempts by Altice USA to reach a deal, Starz refused all offers, including many offers to extend our current arrangement. We would be delighted if Starz would allow us to offer and promote their channels to any and all of our customers who want them, which they have rejected.  At the heart of this issue is our customers’ desire for greater flexibility and choice in our video bundles, and we will continue to advocate for their interests and to change the current model imposed by programmers. Luckily, any of our customers who want to watch Starz can do so by subscribing directly to their OTT service, which makes it all the more surprising that Starz wouldn’t enter into an agreement with us to help them promote their own product.”

Related: Starz’s Chris Albrecht Calls Altice USA ‘Disingenuous’ in Carriage Dispute’

The video comes after Power producer/star 50 Cent’s video post on Instagram this past Friday of him contemplating ramming an Optimum cable technician van in New Jersey.

Altice USA said Starz wanted rate increases that would make it difficult to compete with the channel’s own standalone app, which is available for $8.99 per month. Optimum charges $11.95 per month for Starz service.

Broadband, long the segment of the cable business that has propped up declining video performance, is showing signs of slower growth, a byproduct of both its immense popularity and a fiber push by telco competitors that threatens to take back share.

Cable has long dominated broadband, accounting for well above 90% of overall growth for at least a decade and more than 100% of new subscribers since the first quarter of 2015, according to MoffettNathanson principal and senior analyst Craig Moffett. While that dominance didn’t decline dramatically in the most recent third quarter — 111% compared to 123% in Q3 2016 — it is starting to become more pronounced for large and small providers alike.

Related: Barclays Downgrades Cable Sector to ‘Neutral’

At Comcast, broadband additions slowed to 818,000 in the first nine months of the year, 17.2% behind last year’s pace of 988,000 adds. The same has held true for Charter Communications, with 908,000 broadband additions in the first nine months of 2017, down 17.9% from a year ago.

Broadband-centric MSO Cable One actually lost high-speed internet customers in its legacy systems in the last two quarters of this year — about 3,300 subscribers — and its broadband sub base is growing at a 1.7% annual rate, according to Moffett, considerably lower than the 2.9% growth rate of six months ago.

Overbuilder WideOpenWest, another provider that has concentrated on broadband, reported its first quarter of positive broadband subscribers in nine months in Q3, with 2,400 customers.

Double-Digit Decline in Adds
In the cable sector as a whole, broadband additions have declined 15.5% from 2.74 million in the first nine months of 2016 to 2.32 million in the first nine months of this year, Moffett noted in a recent report.

The stocks are beginning to reflect the sluggish broadband growth, too. WOW stock has fallen 44% in the past six months, followed by Comcast (down 11.8%), Cable One (down 4.5%) and Charter (down 3.8%). Altice USA, which went public in June, has dipped 44% since then, but much of that decline has been due to leverage concerns for its parent company, European telecom provider Altice N.V.

Overall, though, cable valuations are down. Pivotal Research Group CEO and senior media & communications analyst Jeff Wlodarczak said that trend is expected to continue. “Cable multiples are contracting over concerns about pay TV, slowing overall data market growth and competition,” Wlodarczak said. Add in WideOpenWest’s leverage (about 5 times cash flow) and the fact that it overbuilds some of the largest cable operators and telcos in the country, and the decline becomes less shocking.

And it doesn’t take much to spook the market. When Comcast said prior to releasing Q3 results in September that because of recent hurricanes and competitive factors it would lose 100,000 to 150,000 video customers in the period, shares fell as much as 7% to $38.60. The stock has not yet fully recovered — priced at $36.25 per share on Nov. 28 — even after results came in at the middle of the new guidance (a loss of 125,000 video customers). Part of the reason for that could be slower-than-expected broadband additions at 214,000 customers, behind the 330,000 additions in the prior year.

The shift started happening in the beginning of the year, when the two biggest telcos, AT&T and Verizon, reported net gains in broadband subscribers. It was the first time in almost two years that has occurred, other than a small increase in Q3 2016.

As AT&T continues to build out its fiber network, the gap is closing. In 2015, as part of the conditions around its purchase of DirecTV, it pledged to build out 12.5 million more homes with fiber by the end of 2019; now it says it will pass 14 million homes. Overall, AT&T said it expects to offer speeds of 50 Megabits per second or greater to 50 million homes by 2020. Those efforts have helped lift AT&T’s total broadband subscribers into positive territory for all three quarters this year. As Verizon’s losses decline, cable’s advantage should shrink.

Reversal of Fortune for Telcos
Cable is still expected to dominate, just not as much. Telsey Advisory Group analyst Thomas Eagan estimated telcos could end the year gaining 6.7% in broadband customers, compared with a loss of 8% in 2016. The shift is also cutting into trading multiples for the stocks. Wlodarczak noted that trading multiples have contracted between 0.5 times and 2 times in the first half of the year and will continue to fall.

Eagan also noted that Comcast’s trading multiple has dropped from about 8.2 times cash flow in the summer to 7 times after it released Q3 results. But despite the slowdown, he said, there is still plenty of growth ahead for cable broadband. “To me, it means they are underpenetrated and there is a lot of runway left,” Eagan said.

It’s no secret that cable companies have earned a rather unsavory reputation over the years, due in large part to things like surprise service costs and customer grievances. Fortunately, there are specific steps cable companies can take to flip the script — and many don’t require a ton of effort. Little things like increased transparency, improved home visits, and more product flexibility can all go a long way.

Transparency that adds clarity
Over the years, transparent billing practices have been a serious shortfall for cable companies, and a major point of contention for customers. No one likes to be surprised by product and service limitations or additional fees showing up on the bill.

Want to build trust? It’s pretty simple: Be straightforward about your products and services and what they can and cannot do.

Customers will be much more forgiving of shortcomings as long as they know exactly what they’re getting into. Listing services and products individually and in specific detail online, including any limitations, is a great place to start. With popular sites like Yelp and Google reviews aiding customers prior to purchase decisions, consumers expect full details to be available at the outset. Not every service or product will be perfect for every customer; so being upfront on the exact pros — and even the cons — is a key selling point.

The same is also encouraged when it comes to billing. No one enjoys getting surprised by unexpected charges. If extra fees do need to be applied to a bill, then the customer should be notified as soon as possible. From there, providing a concrete explanation can smooth over an uncomfortable situation, improving customer relations.

House calls that bring the love
Home installation of cable and internet services is one of the few times customers have a face-to-face experience with the cable company. That rare connection makes these interactions some of the most important moments your company will have with each customer, and can leave a lasting impression. Narrowing down appointment time slots and quickly replacing damaged goods on these visits are simple ways to mitigate negative customer feelings.

As some companies have begun to figure out, a shorter appointment window is a huge (and easy) way to improve the service experience, because it allows customers to maintain a better sense of their personal schedule. If you can pull it off, a two-hour timeframe is preferred.

In more serious scenarios, the longer appointment window could cause previously installed hardware to become inoperable or damage to personal belongings. No matter the situation, it should be handled quickly and without additional cost to the customer. Resending a technician to replace malfunctioning products or a customer’s damaged personal electronic devices at little to no extra cost should be offered as soon as possible. This can be accomplished by partnering with a third-party warranty provider.

Personalization that increases flexibility
Today’s consumers live in an a la carte world. By offering more personalized packages with set prices for each individual service, cable companies can set themselves apart and better compete with streaming options, while also catering to customer lifestyles and budgets.

Cable companies have earned a negative reputation over the years — but it doesn’t have to be that way. With these tips and suggestions for breaking harsh stereotypes, you can make your customers’ lives a whole lot easier.

Roger High is vice president of new markets for Fortegra, a credit protection, warranty and underwriting provider.

ESPN kicked off 2017 as it ended 2016 – in first place among the most watched cable networks on a weekly basis.

ESPN averaged 3.2 million viewers in primetime during the week of Jan. 2 to Jan. 8 to top all cable networks, according to Nielsen. Fox News finished second with 2.4 million viewers, followed by HGTV with 1.7 million viewers. TBS, Discovery Channel and USA all tied for fourth with 1.5 million watchers.

History (1.2 million viewers), Investigation Discovery and Disney Channel (tied with 1.1 million), and Food Network, MSNBC and TNT (tied with 1.0 million) rounded out the top 10 most watched networks for the week.

Fox News garnered the most viewers on average on a 24-hour basis for the week, besting in order ESPN, Nickelodeon, HGTV and Disney Channel.

ESPN was easily the top choice among viewers 18-49 for the week over TBS, USA Network and Discovery, according to Nielsen.

Most Watched Cable Shows For The Week of Jan. 2 to Jan. 8

Date    Show                                                   Network                                 Total Viewers

1/2     Rose Bowl (USC/Penn St.)               ESPN                                       15.7 million

1/2     College Football Studio Show           ESPN                                       9.5 million

1/2     Sugar Bowl (Auburn/Okl)               ESPN                                       9.5 million

1/7     NFL Wild Card (Oak/Hou)               ESPN                                       6.3 million

1/2     College Football Studio Show           ESPN                                       6.1 million

1/2     Cotton Bowl (W. Mich/Wis)             ESPN                                       5.4 million

1/2     Sugar Bowl Post Show                      ESPN                                       5.2 million

1/4     The O’Reilly Factor                            Fox  News                               3.9 million

1/3     The O’Reilly Factor                            Fox News                                3.9 million

1/5     The O’Reilly Factor                            Fox News                                3.8 million

Source: Nielsen

Veteran cable critics Sens. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) have started out the new Congress by pressing Charter and Comcast on fees and promotions.

That came in joint letters to Charter President Thomas Rutledge and Comcast President Brian Roberts dated Dec. 23.

Portman and McCaskill head up the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, which held a hearing on cable fees and customer service last year in conjunction with a report it issued at the same time. Both the report and the hearing were rough on MPVDS, who pledged to do better.

In a joint release Tuesday (Jan. 3), McCaskill and Portman said they were pressing Charter and Comcast over what they characterized as "the misleading placement of fees on customers’ bills, and inadequate advertising disclosure for service promotions."

They want more information on both from both companies.

Citing the hearing in the last Congress, they said in letters to the two companies that, as they signaled in the hearing, they thought that using separate line items like the "broadcast TV surcharge" for retrans fees or "Regional Sports Network Fees" charge for the cost of that programming "obscured" the real cost of programming when it was grouped with regulatory fee line items and charges.

"[N]o federal, state or local government levies the Broadcast TV Surcharge or Regional Sports Network Fee, which are charged entirely at the discretion of [Charter/Time Warner or Comcast]," they said.

They also said they had gotten insufficient answers on how and whether they promoted the non-promotional price of service to customers.

They said they want copies of online and paper bills and service orders as well as a briefing on any changes in ad or billing practices prompted by the hearing.

“Charter provides its customers with simple, easy to understand bills that inform customers what they are paying for," the company said in a statement. "In addition, Charter doesn’t charge many additional fees common in the industry such as modem lease fees and early termination fees."

LGBTQ representation on broadcast television networks is at a high point according to the latest GLAAD “Where WE Are On TV” report, the LGBTQ advocacy organization reported Thursday.

According to the report, LGBTQ characters represent 4.8% of all characters on broadcast television shows during the 2016-17 television season, the highest percentage since GLAAD began tracking all broadcast regular characters 12 years ago. There was also an increase in the number of regular LGBTQ characters on cable, up to 92 from 84. However, LGBTQ recurring characters dropped year-over-year from 58 to 50, according to the survey.

In addition, GLAAD reported a record number of black regular characters (20%) as well as regular characters with disabilities (1.7%) on broadcast TV series during the 2016-17 season. Also, the number of transgender regular and recurring characters has more than doubled since last year’s report.

On the downside, more than 25 lesbian and bisexual female-identifying characters were killed off on scripted television and streaming services since the beginning of 2016, according to the report. GLAAD also said that cable and streaming platforms still need to include more racially diverse LGBTQ characters. On cable 72% of LGBTQ characters are white, while 71% of LGBTQ characters on streaming services are non-ethnic, according to the study.

“While it is heartening to see progress being made in LGBTQ representation on television, it’s important to remember that numbers are only part of the story, and we must continue the push for more diverse and intricate portrayals of the LGBTQ community,” said Sarah Kate Ellis, GLAAD President & CEO in a statement. “GLAAD will continue to work with Hollywood to tell nuanced LGBTQ stories that accelerate acceptance – and hold the networks, streaming services, and content creators accountable for the images and storylines they present.”

Pay television providers lost a collective 1.1 million subscribers in 2015 according to SNL Kagan, despite gains by some cable companies, which the research firm interpreted as a share shift rather than a retreat from cord cutting.

According to Kagan, the losses were more than four times those in 2014 and it was the third consecutive overall annual drop for the industry.  Kagan added that the sectors showed some signs of stabilization during the latter part of the year, losing a collective 15,000 total customers in the fourth quarter of 2015, matching the losses of the same period in 2014. 

In its monthly subscriber report, SNL Kagan noted that cable operators lost 599,000 total video customers in 2015, its best performance since 2007 when the industry lost 458,000 customers. It was also the platform’s first sub-1 million drop in 7 years. The satellite sector shed 478,000 subscribers during the year to end at 33.1 million customers, compared to a loss of 39,000 in 2014. The telco segment ended 2015 essentially flat, with downward pressure from AT&T's shift away from U-verse to the lower cost video platform of DirecTV weighing on the overall platform’s performance.

Nearly half of customers surveyed said they would take their business elsewhere within a day after a bad service experience as long as the price and products are comparable, according to a study by [24]7, with cable and satellite service providers the most vulnerable.

In its [24]7 2016 Customer Engagement Index, the research company surveyed 1,200 U.S. consumers and found that 47% of those surveyed would take their business elsewhere within one day of being on the receiving end of poor customer service (79% would switch providers within one week).

 “The way customers engage with brands has dramatically shifted, yet many enterprises’ approach to customer service and sales is stuck in yesterday’s paradigm,” [24]7 founder and CEO PV Kannan said in a statement. “For this reason, it’s more important than ever for brands to be where their customers are, and allow them to engage on their own terms. Companies that fail to prioritize the customer experience risk falling behind.”

According to the survey results, cable and satellite providers are the most susceptible to losing customers due to poor service, and a quarter of millennials have changed retailers due to poor customer service.

Cable and satellite service providers had the lowest customer satisfaction scores in the survey with 59%, with Internet service providers the second lowest at 63%.

Customer service has been a major priority for cable companies in the past, with major providers like Comcast, Charter Communications and Time Warner Cable pumping resources and stepping up efforts to improve the customer experience. In the past few years cable operators have made big strides in reducing basic video customer losses, with Charter and Time Warner Cable reporting their first positive full-year basic video customer growth in several years in 2015. 

Automated phone service appears to be a common frustration for customers. According to [24]7, 37% of consumers who ended a business relationship from poor customer service did so because they were frustrated with the interactive voice response (IVR).

Additional findings from the [24]7 2016 Customer Engagement Index include:

• 95% of customers use three or more channels and devices to resolve a single customer service issue
• One in five consumers who ended a business relationship from poor customer service did so because they waited too long to talk to someone on the phone
• 86% of consumers describe a great customer service experience as one of the following: the company anticipates their needs, the self-service is optimal and they’re able to contact the company any way they want.
• 35% of millennials report that optimal self-service is what they look for in a great customer service experience.

Cable stocks took a hit in an overall market sell-off Monday, but most managed to keep losses in check in the early hours of the session, even as the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 450 points in early trading.

The Dow was down 450.52 points to 16,974.51 at 11:01 a.m. Monday, the result of what appears to be an economic slowdown in China, according to the NASDAQ website. Weaker than expected manufacturing data and a falling currency triggered a 7% drop in mainland China stocks, leading authorities there to halt trading before the end of the session.

The moves forced many U.S. investors to the exits as optimism for a strong 2016 waned. While some tech stocks were hit hard – Netflix fell 7% and Google parent Alphabet dipped 3% -- cable stocks managed to keep their losses manageable, with declines in the 1% to 3% range.

Charter Communications was down 4%, or $7.42 each, to $175.68 per share in early trading, and QVC Group fell more than 3%, while The Walt Disney Co. was down 2.6% ($2.68 each) to $102.40 and Viacom was down 2.8% ($1.17 each) to $40 per share.

Other stocks showed more modest losses – Time Warner Inc. was down about 1%, Discovery Communications fell about 2%, and Comcast was down about 1.7%.

Cable and OTT services were the big recipients of Golden Globe nominations, announced Thursday morning by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.

OTT services and cable networks swept the Best Comedy category, with Hulu’s Causal, Amazon’s Mozart in the Jungle and Transparent, and Netflix’s Orange Is the New Black competing against HBO’s Veep and Silicon Valley.

Overall, Netflix drew the most nominations with eight, followed by HBO with seven and Starz with six. Amazon Studios and FX finished with five each, according to the HFPA.

HBO’s Game of Thrones will compete with USA’s freshman series Mr. Robot and Netflix’s Narcos in the Best Drama category along with Fox’s Empire and Starz’s Outlander.

FX’s Fargo will look to win its second consecutive Globe in the Best Television Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television category when it goes up against ABC’s American Crime, FX’s American Horror Story: Hotel, Starz’ Flesh and Bone and PBS’ Wolf Hall.

Starz’s Outlander garnered three nominations, tying for the most among all shows with FX’s Fargo, USA’s Mr. Robot, PBS’s Wolf Hall, Amazon’s Transparent and ABC’s American Crime.

Jeffrey Tambor will look to make it two straight Golden Globe wins in the best actor in a comedy category when he goes up against Aziz Ansari (Netflix’s Master Of None), Gael Garcia Bernal (Amazon’s Mozart In The Jungle), Rob Lowe (Fox’s The Grinder) and Patrick Stewart (Starz’s Blunt Talk).

Downton Abbey’s Joanne Froggatt will also go for her second Globes win in the best supporting actress in a series of TV movie category against formidable competition from Orange Is The New Black’s Uzo Aduba, American Crime’s Regina King, The Affair’s Maura Tierney and Transparent’s Judith Light.

The winners of the Golden Globe Awards will be announced during a live telecast aired by NBC on Jan. 10.

Nominees in the television categories are below:

Best Television series -- Drama

Empire – Fox

Game of Thrones – HBO

Mr. Robot – USA

Narcos – Netflix

Outlander –Starz

Best Performance By An Actress In A Television Series – Drama  

Caitriona Balfe -- Outlander (Starz)

Viola Davis -- How To Get Away With Murder (ABC)

Eva Green -- Penny Dreadful (Showtime)

Taraji P. Henson -- Empire (Fox)

Robin Wright -- House Of Cards (Netflix)

Best Performance By An Actor In A Television Series – Drama

Jon Hamm -- Mad Men (AMC)

Rami Malek -- Mr. Robot (USA)

Wagner Moura -- Narcos (Netflix)

Bob Odenkirk -- Better Call Saul (AMC)

Live Schreiber -- Ray Donovan (Showtime)

Best Television Series Musical or Comedy

Casual -- Hulu

Mozart in the jungle -- Amazon

Orange Is The New Black -- Netflix

Silicon Valley -- HBO

Transparent -- Amazon

Veep -- HBO

Best Performance By An Actress In a Television Series – Musical Or Comedy

Rachel Bloom -- Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (CW)

Jamie Lee Curtis -- Scream Queens (Fox)

Julia Louis-Dreyfus --  Veep (HBO)

Gina Rodriguez -- Jane The Virgin (CW)

Lily Tomlin -- Grace and Frankie (Netflix)

Best Performance By An Actor In A Television Series – Musical or Comedy

Aziz Ansari – Master Of None (Netflix)

Gael Garcia Bernal – Mozart In The Jungle (Amazon)

Rob Lowe – The Grinder (Fox)

Patrick Stewart – Blunt Talk (Starz)

Jeffrey Tambor  -- Transparent (Amazon)

Best Television Limited Series or Motion Picture Made For Television

American Crime -- ABC

America Horror Story: Hotel -- FX

Fargo -- FX

Flesh and Bone -- Starz

Wolf Hall -- PBS

Best Performance By an Actress In A Limited Series Or Motion Picture Made For Television

Kirsten Dunst –Fargo (FX)

Lady Gaga -- American Horror Story: Hotel (FX)

Sarah Hay -- Flesh & Bone (Starz)

 Flelicity Huffman -- American Crime (ABC)

Queen Latifah – Bessie (HBO)

Best Performance By An Actor In A Limited Series Or Motion Picture Made for Television

Idris Elba – Luther (BBC America)

Oscar Isaac -- Show Me A Hero (HBO)

David Oyelowo – Nightingale (HBO)

Mark Rylance -- Wolf Hall (PBS)

Patrick Wilson -- Fargo (FX)

Best Performance By An Actress In a Supporting Role In A Series, Limited Series Or Motion Picture Made For Television

Uzo Aduba -- Orange Is the New Black (Netflix)

Joanne Froggatt -- Downton Abbey (PBS)

Regina King -- American Crime (ABC)

Maura Tierney -- The Affair (Showtime)

Judith Light – Transparent (Amazon)

Best Performance By an Actor In A Supporting Role In A Series, Limited Series Or Motion Picture Made For Television

Allen Cumming -- The Good Wife (CBS)

Damien Lewis -- Wolf Hall (PBS)

Ben Mendelsohn -- Bloodline (Netflix)

Tobias Menzies -- Outlander (Starz)

Christian Slater -- Mr. Robot (USA)  

Charter Communications’ pending $77.7 billion purchase of Time Warner Cable isn’t expected to stop the flow of deals in both the distribution and content areas, experts at a Paley Center for Media event said.

“I think we’re on the verge of a significant uptick in activity,” said JP Morgan global chairman, Technology, Media & Telecommunication Investment Banking Jennifer Nason at the Paley Center for Media’s 2015 Paley International Council Summit here Thursday. “We are sort of in this disruptive vs. incumbent world in just about every industry you can think of and media is no exception. With OTT taking hold, ad models being disrupted, I think there is a lot of concern out there by all players, the established ones and the new ones, as to do I have the right assets in the right location, who are my competitors. I think when you go through periods where there is concern about what tomorrow will look like, there’s the overwhelming temptation to do deals to feel better about your position in the ecosystem.”

In the session moderated by Multichannel News/B&C editorial director Mark Robichaux, Waller Capital Partners chairman John Waller said he expects deals to move away from the typical large-company-buys-small-company scenario and instead focusing on adding new aspects to existing businesses in content, technology and distribution.

“Although some of the bigger companies will be involved, a lot of the deals will be in those three sectors,” Waller said. “It will be opportunistic buying, media companies buying digital media companies or ad tech companies, or cable companies buying fiber companies. It will be opportunistic mergers to make their business better.”

Waller added that while the climate today is different than the last big period of consolidation in the industry – the 1990s and early 2000s – the reason for deals isn’t that different

Back then, he said, the bet was on building a broadband business. And now that the infrastructure is built, the bet is the same but with a twist .

“The bet is still on broadband, but there is so much data consumption,” Waller said. “Cisco says 90% of data consumption comes through WiFi. That means you still need broadband pipe.”

Nason said that wireless, over the top and xx are attracting other players to the media business. And she said that more are likely to come.

“Traditional players have to find out how to evolve,” Nason said, adding that we will likely see some great and not so great deals in the future. She pointed to 21st Century Fox’s aborted attempt to buy Time Warner Inc. in 2014, which didn’t attract other bidders after their overtures were rejected.

“If Time Warner was to sell today, the people that would jump into that race would be very different today,” Nason said, adding that possible bidders could be consortiums of international buyers and big technology companies.

“A lot has changed in the last 12 months,” Nason said. “There is a different universe of competitors.”

Live sports programming has arguably been the biggest driver of cable ratings so far this year, with a number of events setting industry and network ratings records.

The popularity of sports content is also causing former pay TV subscribers to think twice about their decision to cut the cord, according to a new Frank N. Magid Associates survey. 

Among consumers who have cut the pay-TV cord within the last two years, but have expressed an interest in subscribing again, 39% say sports channels are a reason to return, according to the survey commissioned by One World Sports. In addition, nine out 10 sports fans surveyed say they watch sports on a television set rather than a mobile device. 

The Internet however, is scoring points with sports fans. The survey reports that 37% of all sports fans say they often watch sports streamed online, while 37% say they watch sports on computers. Another 25% say they watch sports programming on smartphones and tablets.

“Sports remains the most DVR-proof form of video content,” said Alexander “Sandy” Brown, President & CEO of ONE World Sports. “The excitement, immediacy and community around sports contests demand live viewing, whether that viewing takes place via an antenna, or a pay-TV provider, or via a live web stream.” 

Sports fans can watch plenty of sports on various platforms – with a cable subscription. Authenticated cable subscribers can watch most nationally distributed live games through various TV Everywhere outlets from ESPN, Fox Sports 1, NBCSN, One World Sports and other services.

 Other standalone digital offerings, such as Dish’s Sling TV, include some sports networks, but nothing can compare to the multitude of live pro and college team sports, boxing, mixed martial arts and other sports offered as part of a traditional pay TV package. 

“Whatever the format, the findings support that people want to watch sports live, and on the best – typically largest and most crisp – available screen,” added Brown.