Mike Snider

Comcast plans to begin offering its own wireless service by the middle of 2017.

Comcast CEO Brian Roberts said the company planned to launch a wireless service by the middle of 2017. The service would deliver connectivity over the Verizon Wireless network and Comcast's own millions of Wi-Fi hotspots around the US. It essentially would be, he said, "the Verizon network maybe improved with our 15 million hotspots." Comcast can lease bandwidth on Verizon's network as part of a Justice Department agreement four years ago in which Verizon bought $3.6 billion in wireless spectrum from Comcast and other pay-TV companies. Current Comcast customers -- and those within its service areas -- would be able to sign up for larger bundles of Comcast services with the availability of wireless service added to current TV, broadband and phone offerings. "We believe there is a big payback with reduced churn, more stickiness, better satisfaction and better product purchasing," Roberts said.

New York City wants its broadband and is taking on Verizon for failing to deliver. City officials have told Verizon Communications that it considers the telecommunications provider in default of its agreement to provide broadband and pay-TV services throughout the city. Verizon, which is headquartered in New York City, says its agreement with New York covers only cable TV and that the terms of the 12-year agreement, signed in 2008, are being met.

"The City has now chosen not to work with us to resolve impractical processes for getting access to more buildings which seems at odds with bringing the benefits of competition to New Yorkers," Verizon spokesman Ray McConville said. This isn't the first time that New York City and Verizon have had conflicting views of their agreement. In June 2015, the city released an audit that found Verizon had failed in extending its FiOS network throughout the city by June 30, 2014. "Through a thorough and comprehensive audit, we have determined that Verizon substantially failed to meet its commitment to the people of New York City,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said at the time.

A federal appeals court has dismissed a case brought by the Federal Trade Commission against AT&T for throttling, or slowing data speeds, on millions of customers with unlimited smartphone data plans. The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, in a decision filed Aug 29, reversed a lower court's denial of AT&T's motion to dismiss the throttling lawsuit. The appeals court ruled that because AT&T was a common carrier, the service provider cannot be held liable for the violations that the FTC brought in its case.

The FTC filed the complaint in October 2014 charging that the nation's second-largest wireless carrier failed to adequately unlimited-data customers that their data speeds are reduced, or throttled, if they use too much data in a given billing cycle. Throttling would often make many common smartphone functions such as using the Web, getting directions and streaming video difficult or nearly impossible to use. The FTC had alleged that AT&T began throttling data speeds in 2011 and, overall, throttled at least 3.5 million unlimited data customers a total of more than 25 million times. AT&T did not offer new unlimited plan contracts after June 2010, but customers who had them could keep them. AT&T and other carriers that offered unlimited plans at the time argued that at some point they must throttle customers who used excessive amounts of data as part of network management. "We're pleased with the decision," AT&T said.

In ruling against Aereo, the US Supreme Court may have just bought broadcasters more time.

With Aereo announcing in a tweet that it would pause operations, questions linger as to what similar -- but legal -- alternatives will come to consumers who want to divorce their cable companies and still get reliable local TV. One can always monkey around with rabbit-ear antennas.

But broadcasters will be better served if they take the initiative to further develop their streaming options for those without cable, says Richard Doherty, technical director for the Envisioneering Group, a tech consulting firm.

"Broadcasters have their mandate, and they're under attack (by upstarts)." The nation's broadcasters have been given free spectrum to deliver free over-the-air broadcasts and have a responsibility to "make it easier for people to get their stuff," Doherty says. If they don't, "I dare say, people inside the Beltway may decide it for them."

The TV networks have a case of the Innovator's Dilemma here. Push forward with live streaming on their own, and they stand to trigger the ire of cable and satellite distributors that pay dearly to distribute their content. Ignore the savvy cord-cutters who vent on Twitter their frustration at the lack of streaming options, and the networks will increasingly come to look like slumbering giants interested only in retaining revenue streams.

[Commentary] Fans of streaming prime-time network TV live will have to wait a bit longer. In a 6-3 decision, the US Supreme Court ruled that Aereo, a start-up backed by media mogul Barry Diller, violated the copyrighted work of major TV networks by streaming their content to paid subscribers. Who are the winners? Primarily, the major TV network owners -- Disney, CBS, Comcast and 21st Century Fox -- that have argued in court that Aereo is stealing their content. They also have plans to stream TV over the Internet and don't want to see start-up technology companies get in the way. Pay-TV providers are also breathing a sigh of relief. Aereo would have given consumers one more reason to "cut the cord" by getting rid of cable. Who loses the most? Obviously, those associated with Aereo, including employees and primary investor Diller. But consumers are also complaining loudly on Twitter and other social media channels, as they saw Aereo as a David charging up the hill against the Goliaths of the pay-TV business.

We love our Internet in the US, to the tune of more than $113 billion in 2014. And we will spend more in the coming years. Consumers will spend more than $174 billion on Internet access in 2018, estimates PricewaterhouseCoopers in the consulting firm's Entertainment & Media Outlook 2014-2018.

Even as spending on digitally-delivered movies, music and video games rises, the amount spent on Internet access far surpasses any other spending category in the consulting firm's report. That makes sense because "those pipes are what deliver all that digital content," says PwC partner Sean De Winter.

And we don't leave home without it. In 2013, mobile Internet spending accounted for $53 billion of the total $102 billion Net access pie, PwC says. Home broadband accounted for 49 billion, PwC says. Reliance on mobile access is expected to remain vital. By 2018, 86% of the US population will have mobile service compared to 85.6% with home broadband.

[Commentary] Bundling is at the heart of AT&T's desire to acquire DirecTV's satellite service.

By folding the 20 million-strong pay-TV service into its broad telecom portfolio -- wireless, phone and fiber-optic broadband and TV -- AT&T hopes to actually create better bundled packages that, in turn, will lead to increased revenue from customers.

Talks between AT&T and DirecTV were reported in April, and stepped-up discussions and AT&T's willingness to pay a premium, about $50 billion, to consummate the deal came to light. "This deal is about getting more money from the same customers," says Roger Entner, analyst at Recon Analytics. "We are running out of people who want to buy wireless service."

AT&T wants to build a better bundle of services, wrapping up mobile and data connectivity, TV programming and other services like home security. But the company can only do that in 22 states where it offers its U-verse fiber-optic service, which bundles broadband, phone and TV.

Currently, AT&T has 11 million U-verse customers, but only 5.7 million of them get TV. With DirecTV -- the second-largest pay-TV provider in the US, behind only Comcast -- AT&T instantly becomes a national TV player. New bundling could include AT&T wireless voice and data services with satellite TV, and eventually wireless TV.

For the pay-TV industry, 2013 was a down year. But pay-TV providers can look forward to growth in the next five years.

Subscriptions dropped less than 1% in 2013 -- the first decline for providers. But homes that subscribe to pay TV are expected to grow annually from 2014 to 2019, increasing from about 101 million to 103.2 million, according to a new report from Strategy Analytics.

Better pay-TV services that incorporate Net TV content providers such as Netflix and deliver improved on-the-go content viewing will help drive increased subscriptions, the research firm says.

And more homes will opt for pay TV from telecom providers such as AT&T and Verizon. That explosion of choice -- in TV delivery and programming -- puts the onus on viewers, says Joel Espelien of The Diffusion Group. "You have to be so much more of a sophisticated consumer," he says, "because these services are part-technology, part-user interface and part-original content."