Suddenlink Slaps Usage Meters on Cable ModemsSuddenlink Slaps Usage Meters on Cable Modems

Elsewhere: Cablevision taps PC-TV help, NCTA bristles at spectrum 'hoarding' claims, and the FCC proposes its retrans fix

March 4, 2011

2 Min Read
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Happy Friday, cable gang. Suddenlink Communications 's addition of broadband usage meters leads today's industry roundup.

  • While Suddenlink has yet to adopt usage-based billing for cable modem services, it may be laying the groundwork by launching usage meters aimed at "educating" customers about how much bandwidth they're consuming. (See Comcast Expanding Broadband Meter Trials , Charter Presses Usage-Based Broadband and Cox Boots Up Its Bandwidth Meter .)

  • Cable operators would be required to notify subscribers within 30 days of a possible loss of a local broadcast station from their lineup, under a retransmission-consent proposal issued by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Thursday. (See FCC Reexamines Retrans Rules and ACA Hails FCC Review of Retrans Rules.)

  • The National Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA) responded to accusations by the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) that cable operators such as Time Warner Cable Inc. (NYSE: TWC) are hoarding wireless spectrum, claiming in a letter to the Senate Commerce and House Energy and Commerce committees that such charges are "flat wrong" and "nothing more than a finger-pointing exercise transparently designed to distract policymakers from the important task of evaluating national spectrum policy." (See Cable Wants In on TV Spectrum Auction .)

  • Pay-TV providers targeting Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL)'s iPad and smartphones may want to add home video surveillance functionality to the apps they are building. That's what Verizon Wireless is doing through a deal with Lextch Labs. (See CableLabs Pours Home Security Foundation .)

  • Long Island, N.Y.-based Cablevision Systems Corp. (NYSE: CVC) went all the way to Hong Kong to find a developer to write software for its highly anticipated Optimum Link PC-to-TV media relay product. (See Cablevision Eyes $50 Set-Top and Cablevision's Ready for Streaming & Slinging.)

  • HTML5 is quickly becoming the most popular format for Web video, with the proportion of Web videos compatible with HTML5 jumping from 10 percent to 63 percent in the last year. (See HTML5 v Flash: The Battle Is Only Beginning.)

    — Steve Donohue, Special to Light Reading Cable

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