For 2019, the cable ISP market will see extra pressure on legacy multichannel subscriptions due to launch of AT&T, Comcast and Disney online offerings and little impact from 5G rollout due to that initial deployment being limited and to belated entry of Apple mobile handsets, Kagan said Friday. Kagan said those online offerings could mean long-term disruption of content licensing deals, especially with direct streaming video competitors, and put pressure on incumbent subscription VOD service growth. Kagan expects a "bloated" online subscription market, crowded with $10 to $15 offerings. It said 5G's rollout could put downward pressure on wireline broadband rate increases, while its enabling of smooth, reliable streaming of live events could make vMVPDs more attractive to subscribers. The researcher said competition with 5G for customers will likely deter widespread implementation of usage-based billing. Meanwhile, telcos likely will focus on fiber deployment to support fiber to the home and 5G backhaul, it said. Kagan said legacy MVPDs could move toward partnership with vMVPD services, offering broadband/video bundles, instead of dealing with the hassle of video distribution. AT&T could make an "abrupt deliver strategic shift" and quit marketing satellite services to new customers, having indicated it's not planning to launch more satellites, Kagan said. AT&T didn't comment. Kagan also predicted a crackdown on password sharing and sluggish deal activity.

The Secure Telephone Identify Governance Authority requested proposals to be the STI Policy Administrator, said ATIS Wednesday, noting responses remain due Feb. 4 (see 1811160016). "The STI-PA will apply and enforce the rules as defined by the STI-GA to put the SHAKEN (Signature-based Handling of Asserted information using toKENs) framework into action," ATIS said. "SHAKEN specifies a practical mechanism for service providers to implement the IETF's STIR (Secure Telephone Identity Revisited) protocol to authenticate calls and let consumers know that the information displayed on their caller ID is accurate. It also alerts them when that may not be the case."

Universal Service Administrative Co. remains "open for business as usual and all universal service deadlines remain in effect" during the shutdown, it said Monday. "Events such as conference calls and webinars will take place as scheduled."

The Communications Workers of America said AT&T scrapped 10,700 union jobs in 2018, despite receiving "an unprecedented windfall" from the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. "AT&T lobbied aggressively in favor of the tax cuts" and promised "to create thousands of jobs should the bill pass" but cut more than 16,000 call center jobs in the past seven years, CWA reported Monday. Though profit more than doubled to $29.5 billion in 2017, and the carrier expects a $3 billion annual increase starting in 2018 due to tax cuts, it "plans to spend just $1 billion more on capital projects and pay a bonus of merely $1,000 to its employees" totaling $200 million, CWA said. The company continues "to invest in good middle-class careers in areas where we’re seeing increasing customer demand for our products and services. We’ve hired 87,000 people in the U.S. in the last three years alone, we hired over 17,000 people in the U.S. in 2017 and we hired nearly 19,000 people in the first 11 months of last year," a spokesperson said. "Most of our union-represented employees have a job offer guarantee that ensures they are offered another job with the company if their current job is eliminated."

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court will review the Public Utility Commission’s 3-2 ruling that distributed antenna systems aren't utilities requiring state certification under state law (see 1703020066). In an order last week, the state’s high court granted the PUC’s appeal of a lower court’s decision (see 1806080061) agreeing with Crown Castle that the PUC’s March 2017 decision was inconsistent with Pennsylvania precedent and federal law. Issues include if the PUC is entitled to deference for interpreting its enabling statute and if the agency's interpretation of “public utility” and statutory exclusion for wireless service is consistent with statute.

The FCC Public Safety Bureau sought comment Thursday on how to ensure communications providers and power companies better cooperate before, during and after an emergency or disaster. The bureau said the notice is part of its broader look at the wireless industry’s wireless resiliency cooperative framework (see 1812100027). The notice asks about existing best practices and current preparation and response coordination. “What particular challenges during the 2017 and 2018 hurricane seasons impacted the efficient and timely prioritization of service restoration for either power or communications services?” the bureau asks: “How can power companies and communications providers better coordinate efforts to prioritize efficient restoration of communications services?” Comments are due Feb. 2, replies Feb. 17, in docket 11-60.

Financial savings could spark interest in U.S. broadband homes that don't own or intend to own smart home devices, Parks Associates blogged Wednesday. Roughly 46 percent of households surveyed currently have no intention to buy any smart home devices. The prospect of saving money -- through reduced household bills or an insurance premium discount -- raises interest in smart home devices among those customers, said analyst Patrice Samuels.

AT&T said Friday it will release Q4 results Jan. 30. At 8:30 a.m. EST the same day, AT&T plans a conference call to discuss them.

Telecom blockchain financial tech software company Surge Holdings is buying 40 percent of Centercom Global, said Surge Thursday. The agreement calls for a cashless share exchange of Centercom equity stock and SURG restricted class stock, with final details to be released when the deal closes in January, it said.

Microsoft told FCC Chief Technology Officer Eric Burger the FCC shouldn’t provide a safe harbor for blocking legitimate voice calls as part of its attack on robocalls. “The FCC has never before authorized a voice provider to block a legitimate voice call without first obtaining customer consent to do so,” Microsoft said in a filing posted Monday in docket 17-59. “The voice network was developed and operated based on a carrier having a duty to deliver the signal, without regard for the contents of that signal or the identity of the sender. Reliable operation of the network has always been of paramount importance.”