The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied Comcast's motion for rehearing and rehearing en banc of its rejected appeal of a lower court's denial of a motion to compel arbitration in a complaint alleging false advertising of cable TV pricing (see 1908120009). That's according to an order (in Pacer, docket) Friday by Judges Margaret McKeown, William Fletcher and Mary Murguia. The company didn't comment.

Cincinnati Bell will partner with YouTube TV to provide video streaming content to Cincinnati Bell fiber-to-the-home customers in greater Cincinnati and Hawaiian Telecom customers in Hawaii, the telco said Wednesday.

The antitrust complaint by the Altitude Sports and Entertainment regional sports network (see 1911180062) doesn't show a refusal to deal on Comcast's part, just its legitimate efforts to save money, the MVPD said in a motion to dismiss Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Denver (in Pacer, docket 19-cv-03253). Comcast said Altitude's pled facts show Comcast isn't a monopolist, with 57 percent of video subscribers in the Denver area, and the RSN fails to show harm to competition in the sports rights market. Altitude outside counsel didn't comment Wednesday.

The Massachusetts Department of Telecommunications and Cable asked the FCC to pause consideration of Cox's and Comcast's effective competition petitions for various Massachusetts markets (see 1912190070). In a nearly identical docket 20-10 posting and docket 19-385 posting Monday, MDTC said the abeyance wouldn't hurt Cox or Comcast. Without one, the state agency would be litigating both petitions before the Media Bureau while pursuing the same issues before the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. That's where the FCC effective competition finding for Charter Communications in 32 Massachusetts franchise areas is being challenged (see 1912230063). Comcast outside counsel and Cox didn't comment Tuesday.

Universal Electronics Inc. is in the “early innings of a powerful product cycle,” Dougherty & Co.'s Steven Frankel wrote investors Monday. In CES meetings, management laid out a path toward better software content, said Frankel. It's "far more than a remote control company.” He noted LG and Samsung introduced 2020 TVs powered by UEI for device discovery and control. This software platform simplifies set-up by identifying the devices connected to the TV, including set-top boxes, game platforms and streaming devices, and it scans the Wi-Fi network to add smart devices. In its booth, UEI displayed designs for Android TV-based set-tops, giving it a chance to provide advanced remotes for overseas MVPDs. The company is expanding security offerings, the analyst noted.

Atlantic Broadband is buying Thames Valley Communications, the Connecticut broadband services company, said the cable ISP Friday. Atlantic expects to close on the deal within three months, pending regulatory approval. It would give Atlantic 10,000 additional customers in Connecticut, atop the MetroCast operations it bought there in 2015 (see 1508210008), it said.

8K TV “won’t happen in 2020,” said ABI Research. Though 8K TV announcements by major vendors last year attracted attention and “raised many questions,” said analyst Khin Sandi Lynn, native 8K content is not available and the pricing of 8K TV sets is "exorbitant.” Moving from HD to 4K continues with fewer than 1 million 8K shipments globally, she said Wednesday. Direct-to-consumer offerings will play a larger role in over-the-top video this year as consumers move away from “forced packaging” of channels into fixed bundles (see 2001090012), said ABI. Consumers’ ability to choose channels that best fit their needs will become more important, said analyst Michael Inouye, and that’s creating challenges for vMVPDs facing declining subscribers. In 5G, fixed wireless access will have accelerated growth, said Lynn. Such trials have begun, with barriers similar to those for traditional 5G -- expensive infrastructure and time-consuming to scale, she said. Qualcomm’s recent announcement of 5G FWA partnerships with more than 30 OEMs, and ongoing spectrum acquisitions by operators, indicate “the ecosystem is getting ready to speed up the rate of deployment,” Lynn said.

ViacomCBS and Comcast renewed carriage agreements, including retransmission consent of 23 CBS owned-and-operated stations in 15 markets, they said Wednesday. CBS All Access will be available via Comcast's Xfinity X1 and Flex platforms later this year, in the first such deal for the streaming service. The CBS TV Network and CBS Sports Network content will be available for live streaming to Xfinity customers via CBS.com, the CBS app and Comcast's Xfinity Stream.

Comments are due Feb. 6, replies Feb. 21 on the cable TV lineup notification NPRM approved 5-0 in December by the FCC commissioners (see 1912120063), says a notice for Tuesday's Federal Register.

The FCC Media Bureau granted extension requests from the Massachusetts Department of Telecommunications and Cable and Comcast for responses to Comcast’s petition for effective competition in Massachusetts (see 1912230063), said an email posted Friday in docket 19-385. Oppositions and comments are now due Jan. 23, replies from Comcast “24 days after oppositions or comments are filed.”