November 10, 2020 - Public Issue

ACA CONNECTS: MEMBER NEWS

Appalling: Why Is Wyoming Trying To Put My Family’s Small Broadband Company Out Of Business?

By Robert Jacobson, Founder & Co-Owner, Tongue River Communications

In Wyoming, the state government – through the Wyoming Business Council — has been wasting millions of dollars by failing to earmark broadband Internet access funds supplied by the taxpayers to their proper destination: Unserved households.

Rather than focus on those without broadband, Wyoming is in the process of awarding millions in CARES Act money to broadband companies that intend to compete with other broadband providers that already achieve data transmission speeds far in excess of the Federal Communications Commission’s minimum definition of broadband: 25 megabits per second (mbps) downstream and 3 mbps upstream.

Small broadband Internet providers are being victimized by Wyoming’s fiscally wanton practices, which are unfair and need to stop to prevent irreparable harm. Our company is a prime example of a firm that could be put out of business by broadband funding polices that have run amok.

My wife, Lynda, our son, Rob, and I are owners of Tongue River Communications in Ranchester, Wyoming, a community of 1,000 people located about 200 miles east of Yellowstone National Park just beneath the Montana border. Tongue River also serves neighboring Dayton, Wyoming, which is just as small and remote as Ranchester. Read more. Robert and Lynda Jacobson (front row, far right) and the Jacobson family. Robert and Lynda are founders of Tongue River Communications in Ranchester, Wyoming, a cable and broadband provider started in 1979.

ACAC Members Invited To Gain HR Insight At C2HR CON

C2HR, the content and connectivity industry’s human resources (HR) association, invites ACA Connects Members to gain insight into today’s most timely HR topics at the virtual C2HR CONference on November 10-17. The event will feature 35 thought leaders sharing knowledge on today’s most timely HR topics including diversity & inclusion, employment law, analytics, leading with empathy, virtual recruiting & onboarding, and more. Strategically scheduled over six workdays, it’s easy to integrate the C2HR CON sessions into your busy schedule. Plus, most sessions will also be available for on-demand viewing.

Participants can earn 10-12 continuing education (CE) credits for SHRM and HRCI. In addition to the learning, attendees can make cross-company connections via a variety of networking roundtables.

As a bonus, ACAC members will receive a $100 registration discount and three months of C2HR membership with a C2HR CON registration. Use registration code ACA2020. Check out the topics and register now for just $189.

ACA CONNECTS: FILINGS

ACA Connects has been actively representing independent cable in many other ways and on many issues in Washington, D.C. Those efforts are described in the filings, letters, and testimonies linked below for your review:

10/29: FCC Ex Parte re Accelerating Wireline Broadband Deployment by Removing Barriers to Infrastructure Investment w/ Office of Chairman and Wireline Competition Bureau

10/27: FCC Ex Parte re Amendments to Part 4 of the Commission’s Rules Concerning Disruptions to Communications w/ Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau

ACA CONNECTS: NEWS HEADLINES

PE Firm To Pay $8.1B For Astound Broadband (Fierce Telecom, 11/2) Wave, RCN, Grande and enTouch have passed from one private-equity firm to another with Sunday's news that they were sold for $8.1 billion. The U.S. cable operator group, collectively known as Astound Broadband, was sold by TPG Capital and Patriot Media Management to Stonepeak Infrastructure Partners for $8.1 billion, including debt. The deal appears to be the largest private equity acquisition this year in the U.S. As part of the deal, Stonepeak will partner with Patriot Media, which is a management team headed by cable industry veterans Steve Simmons and Jim Holanda, who currently manage Astound Broadband.

Antietam Broadband Joins AMBER Alert Program (Release, 10/29) Antietam Broadband announced that it has become a secondary distributor of AMBER Alerts. Effective immediately, all field technicians will receive AMBER Alerts on their company issued devices when there is an active alert in Maryland, D.C., Virginia, West Virginia and Pennsylvania. With this announcement the company will become one of the largest employers in Washington County, MD to be a secondary distributor of AMBER Alerts.

MCTV Selects MOBITV To Offer Innovative Video Services (Release, 10/27) MOBITV, a global leader in app-based TV video delivery solutions, announced that MCTV of Massillon, OH, has selected MOBITV Connect managed services for delivery of MCTV Stream, its streaming video content and Internet-based services to residential subscribers in throughout Ohio. MCTV turned to MOBITV to replace end-of-life legacy technology and to offer more advanced IP-based video streaming applications.

Charter To Hike Fees For Broadband-Only Subs (Light Reading, 11/3) confirmed that it will soon raise high-speed Internet service fees by $5 per month to a subset of customers – broadband-only subscribers as well as customers who bundle broadband with one of the cable operator's streaming-based video services.

Comcast Adds Record 633,000 Broadband Subs In Q3 (Fierce Telecom, 10/29) posted the best broadband quarterly results in its history by adding more than 633,000 residential and business subscribers. Over the past nine months, Comcast has added more broadband subscribers than it did in all of last year.

ESPN In Billion-Dollar NFL Battle For ‘Sunday Night Football’ (N.Y. Post, 11/2) A billion-dollar battle for “Sunday Night Football” is emerging between incumbent NBC and Disney/ABC/ESPN as the NFL moves toward agreements on its new TV deals that could be completed by the end of the year. It has been known for a long time that Disney/ABC/ESPN would be very aggressive for more NFL, the most valuable programming in television.

ESPN Laying Off 300 In Huge Pandemic-Related Cuts (N.Y. Post, 11/5) ESPN informed employees that it would lay off 300 people across its business, while also not filling 200 currently open positions as the pandemic continues to harshly impact it and its parent company, Disney. The message was sent from ESPN president Jimmy Pitaro in a company-wide memo. AT&T Considers Selling Significant Minority Stake In DirecTV (CNBC, 11/2) AT&T is in discussions with private-equity firms, including Apollo Management, to sell a minority stake in its DirecTV, AT&T Now and U-Verse pay-TV businesses in a complicated transaction that would shift legacy assets off the wireless carrier’s balance sheet, according to people familiar with the matter. A deal may value DirecTV at less than $15 billion including debt. AT&T acquired DirecTV in 2015 for $67 billion with debt.

Broadcasters Want $9M Retrans Penalty Slashed 95% (Cablefax, 10/27) The broadcasters involved in the FCC’s first ever forfeiture order over failure to negotiate retransmission consent in good faith aren’t giving up the fight. The Commission voted last month to deny an appeal of the Media Bureau’s determination that a number of station groups failed to negotiate retrans consent in good faith with AT&T, proposing a forfeiture of $512K against each station.

ACA CONNECTS: ACTION BRIEF TOP THREE

Most-Clicked Links From Oct. 21 ACAction Brief:

1. GCI To Bring Internet To Aleutian Communities (Fierce Telecom, 10/15)

2. DOJ Files Long-Awaited Antitrust Suit Against Google (Fox Biz, 10/20)

3. Blacksburg, Va., Council OK's Franchise (Roanoke.com, 10/14)

ABOUT ACA CONNECTS

Across this vast country, small and rural markets participate in the digital revolution by receiving video, broadband, and phone services from more than 700 small and medium-sized independent operators represented by ACA Connects - America’s Communications Association.

ACA Connects' members -- cable, phone, and fiber-to-the- home operators and municipalities -- deliver affordable basic and advanced services to nearly 8 million households and businesses. ACA Connects members operate in every state, offering high-definition television, next generation Internet access, and digital phone service.

Access to advanced communications is not a luxury but a critical necessity for consumers and companies, schools and hospitals. America's economic prosperity in smaller markets and rural areas depends on the growth and success of ACA Connects members, who believe a connected nation, is a united nation. ACA Connects asks lawmakers and regulators to ensure fair treatment so that small and medium-sized independent operators may continue to supply affordable video, broadband, and phone services to Main Street America. Through active participation in the policymaking process, ACA Connects members and leaders advocate for the interests of their customers, their companies, and their communities to help ensure the continued viability of their way of life in hometown America.

For more information, visit www.acaconnects.org, or contact:

Ross Lieberman, SVP Government Affairs 202-494-5661 | [email protected]

Ted Hearn, VP Communications 202-713-0826 | [email protected] By clicking unsubscribe, your email address will be taken off all email distribution lists of ACA Connects - America's Communications Association. If you have clicked unsubscribe by accident and wish to re-subscribe, please call 412.922.8300.

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