Ben Munson

Google Fiber has been transitioning away from its traditional TV product toward virtual MVPD alternatives since 2020, and the shift is now almost complete. Liz Hsu, director of product strategy for Google Fiber, provided an update about retiring Fiber TV in all Google Fiber markets. Hsu said the company has completely upgraded Fiber TV customers in Nashville, Huntsville, Salt Lake City and Provo, while Raleigh-Durham, Charlotte and Irvine will finish their transitions by the end of September 2021. Austin and Atlanta will finish up by the end of November 2021.

The second-quarter earnings season has wrapped up for the top publicly traded pay-TV operators in the US, and it's time to break down the numbers. Altice USA, AT&T, Charter Communications, Comcast, Dish Network, and Verizon combined to lose approximately 1.1 million video subscribers during the second quarter across both residential and commercial subscriber bases, down significantly from the 1.6 million combined subscribers lost in the first quarter. Morgan Stanley analyst Benjamin Swi

AT&T has defended its decision to exclude HBO Max from counting against AT&T wireless subscribers’ data caps while competing streaming services don’t get the same treatment. The company said the move will save money for millions of consumers and that it’s not unlike what some of its competitors already do.

With some states beginning to lift stay at home restrictions during the coronavirus outbreak, Charter is offering a free month of service to new business customers.

When AT&T officially closed its $85 billion acquisition of Time Warner, it spun up advertising as one of four core pillars of its newly expanded business. Over the next few years, that business could grow into a beast tough enough to fight off the digital ad giants of the world. Though linear television is experiencing some secular decline, it’s still a massive advertising magnet. Before the merger, AT&T had access to a modest amount of ad inventory through its DirecTV platform.

Sinclair Broadcast Group has extended the deadline for the Justice Department’s decision regarding its proposed $3.9 billion acquisition of Tribune Media. In an SEC filing, Sinclair and Tribune said that they had agreed to not consummate the merger before Jan. 30, 2018, but now that deadline has been moved to Feb. 11, 2018. Tribune and Sinclair also agreed to provide 10 days’ notice to the DOJ before closing the merger.

[Commentary] 1. Presidential election hangover: Advertising revenue comparisons can often be a drag on earnings, but nothing stings quite like a quarter that has to stack up with a presidential election, particularly one as contentious as the 2016 race.

2. Mobile future: It might be hard for programmers to continue to grow their affiliate revenue. But Viacom CEO Bob Bakish sees mobile content as a potential growth driver in the future.

3. Retransmission express: The retransmission revenue train just keeps on chugging along.

With the prospect of the Sinclair-Tribune megamerger on the horizon, groups are urging the Federal Communications Commission to block the return of the UHF discount in order to slow broadcast industry consolidation. In a joint filing to the FCC, Free Press, United Church of Christ, Prometheus Radio Project, Media Mobilizing Project, Media Alliance, National Hispanic Media Coalition and Common Cause requested a stay of the reinstatement of the UHF discount, which would allow broadcasters to once again count UHF stations as 50 percent toward the national broadcast ownership cap. The groups argued that the technical logic for the UHF discount is no longer valid.

“It is arbitrary and capricious to adopt a provision that lacks any independent technical or policy support, and which contravenes the statutory limit on national television ownership,” the groups wrote in the filing. The groups also argued that news of the reinstatement is effectively triggering a new wave of broadcast industry mergers and acquisitions and allowing deals like Sinclair’s $3.9 billion bid for Tribune to move forward. The groups also said that a stay will benefit the public interest by maintaining more diversity in broadcasting. “Maintaining a diversity of voices goes to the heart of the Commission’s mission to promote competition and diversity, and all Americans will benefit from the grant of a stay,” the groups wrote.

President-elect Donald Trump may not like the idea of AT&T and Time Warner merging, but there may be little he can do to stop it, according to analysts. AT&T’s $85 billion deal for Time Warner is likely to go through, although it may come with concessions, including a possible spin-off of major Time Warner brands, Wells Fargo analyst Jennifer Fritzsche said in a research note. “While we expect there likely will be concessions (possibly a CNN spin-off, and continued infrastructure investment by T), from a legal standpoint, we note that if denied this deal would be precedent setting given the fact that no vertical merger in the TMT space has been denied,” wrote Fritzsche, adding that, while many mergers cut jobs, the small amount of overlap in core business and expertise for AT&T and Time Warner likely means no major headcount reductions.

BTIG analyst Rich Greenfield shared the view that it’s unlikely the merger could be halted. He said that it would be a “novel interpretation of the law” should the deal be blocked.

FierceWireless went digging to find the clearest positions from Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump on a number of different telecommunication issues and compiled the answers into a handy chart.

Network Neutrality: Clinton has recently voiced support for the Federal Communications Commission’s net neutrality proposal and the agency’s intent to place broadband service under Title II regulations. Trump does not specifically call out net neutrality as a major platform within his campaign, but his past remarks suggest he is against government intervention in the form of Title II regulation.

Broadband Access: Clinton has pledged that all Americans will have access to 25 Mbps internet service by the end of her first term in 2020 should she be elected. As the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation pointed out, this includes continued funding of programs like the Connect America Fund and $25 billion set aside for broadband projects within her proposed $275 billion infrastructure investment plan. Trump has yet to make public his policy on promoting broadband network expansion, but Trump’s campaign did hire a new aide earlier this month to help formulate a plan. According to Politico, Jeffrey Eisenach, who is a staunch supporter of light-touch regulation, has joined the campaign to help Trump solidify his stance on broadband issues.